Vermilion Walleye 8/02/08

Got the call from Chris McKimm, captain of the "Inside the Great Outdoors" fishing team, to join him and a few friends on Lake Erie. There have been great fishing reports from our friends at Ohio Game Fishing, so we headed out. One of our crew, Paul, had never been fishing before, so we had to get him on some fish.

After a bumpy ride out to the sandbar, we were greated by a pack of 60 or so boats. There were drifters and trollers, and every once in awhile, you'd see a net go in the water. The fish were there, but action was spotty. After the lines were set, it wasn't long. First fish was a scrappy little sheephead, but Paul didn't really care. It was his first fish.

Shortly after resetting the dipsey again, a rod on the other side went off. The time had come for his first walleye. Paul did great, keeping pressure on without horsing it in, and brought it right up to the net. SCORE! First fish in the box and Paul's first walleye. Check out the video above and you'll see it all.

A nice eater, that's for sure. We ended up with 8 nice eyes for the day. Not a lot of fish, but as is always the case, it was a lot of fun. Lots of laughs hauling in walleye between sheephead and white bass. Chris's buddy Glen hauled in a GIANT sheephead, almost took the rod out of his hands when he saw the boat! Fish was around 8 pounds or so, a real slob.

The trip made some great memories for us all, and we got in some more trolling practice. There's a lot to learn about boat speed and direction, lure depth, lure type and color, and putting it all together in a pattern that catches fish.

Thanks Chris for a great day of fishing. We'll get 'em again soon.

Any questions about anything? Shoot me an email at cbachtel@wkyc.com.

I'm Carl "Big Daddy" Bachtel and I'll see you on the water.