Hook and bullet club: Fishing and hitting 'em

An adult bald eagle was perched on a snag, watching us paddle into the wind, perhaps waiting to see if we would leave any goodies behind. We were about 10 minutes into a 40-minute paddle and the wind was making itself known on a Sunday morning. The sky was overcast and the temps were in the upper 40s. Roger aimed us toward a rocky shoreline and Jake grabbed hold of the ledge. Our first catch of the day would be several stones to fill our anchor bags. One Kondos-made mesh bag went in the front of the canoe and one in the back and we were on our way again.There was company waiting for us as we turned the corner into the bay, a canoe with three people from Ely, also in search of a walleye dinner or two. Unfortunately, they were smack dab in the spot we were hoping to fish. But in the fishing game, the advantage goes to those who get there first. So we tried jigging on the opposite shoreline but the fish there must have already eaten because while they appeared on the fish finder, they did not appear on the stringer.“Reel up, we’re moving,” Roger declared. That’s the kind of quick decision making that can turn a day around and it did. We moved over toward a rock pile and found a spot where the depth dropped from 15 to 20 feet. Bang. Fish. Bang. Fish. Bang. Fish. You get the idea.The walleyes were congregating on that drop-off and they were hungry. We used minnows and jigs and the jig heads with a dab of pink seemed to make a difference. The wind kept us moving and the rock anchors helped keep us in the same spot. We culled as we went, tossing back the smaller ones and keeping the eating size fish. We took a break for lunch with a good number of fish on the stringers. The wind really picked up while we boiled Polish on a narrow point. The jackpine and cedars whistled in the wind as the lake water boiled in the pot. This was an easy shore lunch and with a small Coleman burner attached to a propane bottle, it was simple as well. We boarded the canoe again and redistributed the remaining minnows. Our cook pot again became the spare minnow bucket, except this time it would have give the minnows a venison Polish flavor. The fish didn’t care. We went back to the rock pile and tried to anchor in the same spot. That didn’t work, though. The spot we were fishing was a muddy bottom and our anchors could find nothing to bite on until we were back in shallower water. We decided to move back to the bay where the other canoe had been. They had their fill of fishing and were headed back for the landing. The fish finder put us back in 23 feet of water and Jake and I each hooked bigger walleyes. But the wind was again winning the battle. The bigger fish were in deeper water but keeping the canoe in that spot was a real challenge. We fished the shallower water and came right up to limiting out. The fish weren’t as big but they were definite eaters. Finally, we decided it was time to go and started to reel in our lines. I gave it one last cast and added the final fish to the stringer. Paddling back was a breeze with the wind at our back. We found a nice point with some table-sized boulders to use as cleaning tables. “Zip” went the knife and the fillets popped out, were rinsed in the lake and put into Ziplock bags with a good-sized patch of skin still on as the law requires. We left the remains behind for our winged friends who had been watching us all day. They would eat like kings that night, cleaning up the fish along with the turtles and whatever else was looking for an easy dinner.Our meal was fresh fillets cooked in Bearden Farms breading mix. As fast as they were done they disappeared. That’s the way it went that day. The eagles had their dinner and we had ours.