Two days and counting. In less than forty-eight hours, my partner, Patrick Langevin, and I will join 48 other teams on the Rainy River in search of elusive ol’ “marble eyes” in the third-annual Emo Walleye Classic.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been on the phone to each other almost every day. And then last weekend, we hit the water to put theory into practice.
The biggest difference between this year’s derby and last year is the river itself. Water levels probably are six feet higher than this time last May and that changes everything.
People will be going to areas that were inaccessible last year and formerly productive spots may well come up empty this year.
So, Patrick and I decided to try two different approaches and see which proved to be more productive. We also decided to concentrate on one stretch of the river, rather than try to cover everything.
On Saturday, we were faced with fairly clear skies but a strong breeze out of the east, which meant the wind and water were moving in the same direction. We decided that could present problems for drift fishing, so we elected to troll instead.
Since our boat only has a 30 h.p. motor, we were delighted to discover it could maintain just the right speed for our purposes without stalling.
Without giving away any secrets, we discovered a presentation and pattern that seemed to work under the prevailing conditions. We boated four decent walleye (not including one we lost because I screwed up with the net) as well as a couple of slimy pike.
We are reasonably confident we’ll weigh-in fish during the tournament (which runs this Friday and Saturday)—provided the water level remains where it is or even goes up a bit.
If the water drops, we’re probably toast because we didn’t have the time to formulate a plan ‘B.’
Actually, we originally weren’t planning to go out Saturday because Patrick’s wife wanted him to take her to Winnipeg for the day. But fortunately, she was a good sport and realized fishing is one of the more important things in life (thank you, Celine).
Then on holiday Monday, we went out again using a completely different technique, which turned out to be less successful than the first one.
Nonetheless, we did get into some smaller fish and with a little modification, we feel we should have two viable plans for game day come Friday morning.
Again, it all depends on the water level. We also are hoping for overcast conditions as opposed to bright sunshine.
We were a bit surprised to see only a few other boats out on the river Saturday, although there were quite a number on holiday Monday (despite the fact it was coldest, windiest, most-miserable Victoria Day I can remember).
There should be a law against that.
(Memo to Messrs. Harper, Layton, and Martin—whomever of you promises me nothing but warm, sunny summer long weekends for the next four years gets my vote).
Based on our own experience and from talking to other teams, I predict the total catch from this year’s tournament will be higher than last year—even though there are fewer teams this time around.
We even may see more big fish. With the spawn now finished, the larger fish (which generally are females) will start feeding heavily again and begin to move back toward their summer territories.
If the timing is right, we might be able to intercept a few of them en route.
That, essentially, is our game plan. Now, it’s just a matter of buying a few more jigs and other lures, and sharpening all the fish hooks. That’s a little trick Dale LaBelle showed me last year.
Also, when we stopped in at Witherspoon’s One-Stop for some minnows on Monday, former Fort Frances mayor Glenn Witherspoon graciously offered to supply our minnows for free during the tournament.
For us, the practice is finished. Now we just have to wait for the starting gun. For the rest of the competitors, the cut-off time for tournament pre-fishing is tomorrow (Thursday) at 3 p.m.
We’re also looking forward to the parade of boats, which gets underway tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Emo. We have decorated our boat, and we have some goodies for the kids along Front Street, so come on out.
It promises to be quite a party.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
