Drumming up some dam walleye

Sunrise on Lewis and Clark Lake.

If you remember the post from last year, Karen and I took a road trip across the upper west/midwest/east with a stop with Rainydaze Guide Service to fish Rainy Lake along the Minnesota/Canada border.  This year, we trekked on a similar excursion -- starting in Idaho -- with a fishing trip booked with The Walleye Guys on Lewis and Clark Lake (Missouri River reservoir formed by Gavins Point Dam) on the Nebraska and South Dakota border.

Growing up, I watched just about every fishing show possible, and one of them was Tony Dean Oudoors, which seemed to target upper midwest and Canadian fisheries -- not the usual largemouth bass shows from southern U.S. states like Roland Martin, Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, etc.  This was kind of a "bucket list" fishing experience since Tony had several shows on the Missouri River reservoirs and since my parents didn't fish, I had to experience real fishing vicariously through him.

Anyway, Karen and I met up with Brian Bashore last Wednesday and hit the river.  I mean, lake.  Hopefully to get some walleye and maybe a surprise fish species.

First northern pike in 25+ years!

We started off trolling crankbaits in Brian's four-stroke (super quiet) Ranger boat.  After an hour or so, we didn't have a bite.  He decided to turn off the motor and let us drift lead jigs with nightcrawlers, and we caught plenty of fish that way, but none of them walleye.  Karen caught freshwater drum, and I caught channel catfish.  Literally, she caught the drum, and I caught the catfish. (You don't find Mr. Whiskers; Mr. Whiskers finds you!)  None of them really decent size, but the drum put up a good fight.  After awhile, it was clear the walleye didn't want any part of the jigs/nightcrawlers, so we went back to trolling crankbaits in five-plus feet of water.  

Almost immediately, a fish hit a crankbait on one of the four rods.  Brian grabbed the rod and handed it off to me -- "That's a good one!"  I started reeling, and it certainly felt like a good fish, but I didn't know how much of that was from resistance as the boat continued to motor slowly through the water.  This was also a new experience as (I found out later) I should have kept the rod tip high and reeled in at a steady speed, as opposed to catching river smallmouth where I want to keep the rod tip low (sometimes in the water) to keep the fish from jumping, and play the fish more on lighter line.

We never saw this fish.  The line broke when it was 10- to 15-feet from the boat.  Brian swore it was a nice fish, whatever it was (big walleye or decent northern pike), but he guessed it was probably some toothy creature like a pike or walleye that sliced the line.

Brian helps Karen unhook a drum.

We continued to troll doing racetrack patterns around a flat, featureless part of the lake.

We got a couple walleye (biggest 20 inches), a sauger (first ever for me) and two small northern pike (first time catching those since I lived in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan), but none of them felt like that first fish.  It was probably a catfish anyway.

We boated around 20 fish total -- not a bad day considering the heat, and the boats circling around us didn't seem to be having much luck.

For next year, I'm already looking to something else.  I like catching walleye (they are good eating -- we kept one and the sauger, which is almost identical to a walleye) but they don't fight hard.  I prefer more of the challenge of casting and reeling over live bait or trolling (we did both last year on Rainy Lake, too).  I tried finding a guide for smallmouth bass on the Snake River in Idaho, but most guides seemed to fly fish for trout plus wanted $$$$.  Maybe smallmouth on the St. Lawrence River?  Big pike or muskie somewhere up north?  Maine smallmouth?  I really, really want to fish Lake Erie, but the weather plays a big part, and a trip could be cancelled at the last minute because of unstable conditions.

The biggest walleye we caught, about 20 inches.