Finally got out for some walleye (Lake St. Clair)
It's been a terrible start to the walleye season, with all the wind and rain it's made for poor conditions on this side of Lake St. Clair...the US side hasn't been bad as they have been getting the clean water flowing down from Lake Huron.
I finally made it out yesterday, although conditions weren't ideal, they were fishable. The trip out to the 'sweet-spot' was further this year than past years. It's usually a little over 1.5 miles, but when I got out there, the pack was much further away.
I started heading towards the pack until I came to my waypoints from previous seasons. Once I got past them I decided I would drop my lines and troll towards the pack. It didn't take long before I picked up my first walleye... on the smaller size compared to what I usually keep, but with the conditions and rain moving in, I wasn't going to be picky today. From what I've been hearing, it seems to be the trend this year with the smaller walleye.
I kept heading towards the pack of boats, picking up one here and there between cats and whitebass. I kept a couple cats as my son prefers them over the walleye. The rain was coming down, but I figured I could could get wet fishing or I could get wet pedaling back in, so I decided to stick it out.
It wasn't that long before I picked up my fifth walleye and with two cats on the stringer, the wind was picking up and heavier rain coming in, I decided it was a good time to turn around and head back, hoping to pick up my sixth walleye for my limit. The pack was still about 1/2 mile away.
It didn't take long to pick up the sixth, so lines in and full steam back in. It took me 1.5 hours to make the 3 mile trip back. The rain and brisk headwind made for a less than enjoyable trip in.
Once back in I loaded up and headed home to clean some fish.
The electric fillet knife makes for short work cleaning the fish. I ended up with some nice clean fillets of walleye and catfish... a little for dinner and some to give to family.