justinhoffmanoutdoors

June 9, 2011

With my good friend Christine in town, and our schedules both open on Thursday, a plan was hatched to get out for a day of chasing walleye. With a front moving through, and a powerful storm hitting the area the previous day, hopes were high that conditions were ripe for a feeding frenzy.

We set off for Carleton Place and launched into Mississippi Lake at 9am. The air temperature was warm (but cooler than the day before) and winds were 10 to 15 clicks. A short boat ride and we were at a favourite spot of mine – a deep, rock strewn shoreline. A few casts in and Christine hoists the first fish of the day in – a jumbo ‘gill. Came on a crankbait. I was working an orange nuckle ball jig and a white, four-inch grub. Working the jig in 8 to 12-feet of water, I scored the first walleye of the day as we passed over a slight hump. It was a small, 14-inch fish. Felt good to get that first walleye in the boat of 2011!

Other than a few other panfish, and a pike bite-off, the area was lacking action. Next up was a windblown shoreline comprised mainly of sand with scattered cabbage weed throughout. Didn’t take long before the jig coughed up another fish – a 15-inch walleye. Christine made the switch to a BPS “fluke” and jig combo, and within a minute had her first ‘eye of the year on. A cookie-cutter to my fish…but with a big appetite!

Punched in the waypoint and worked the area hard, but no other walleye were caught. Took a run down to the main lake basin to check out some other spots. Worked over some weedlines with bucktail jigs – and tossed some spoons for pike – and caught a fish or two of the latter variety. The wind was really blowing hard now and whitecaps and rollers were par for the spots we fished. I picked up our last walleye of the day from a windblown island, tossing a pike-sized spinnerbait. Was a nice surprise.

With the day coming to a close, we decided to work over a calm bay adjacent to an island. Sand and cabbage in six to ten-feet of water was on tap, and we chose to toss some pike baits to see if we could score a few toothy critters. The fish were concentrated in good numbers at this one spot, and between us, we boated a good dozen. Christine came out on top with this decent specimen.

All in all a great day on the water. Plenty of laughs, a bunch of fish and a decent day weather-wise. Another trip to Mississippi this coming week is in the cards…figuring out the walleye is high on my list of things to do.

Good Fishing,

Justin

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