Frank will be back in town on one of his business trips and wants to try his hand at some spring walleye fishing.

I’ve done told him it ain’t gonna be what he’s expecting, but as usual, I’m gonna hafta show him.

See, I’ve explained that spring is when the walleyes are spawning so they’re awfully protective of them eggs. Fishing regulations say we hafta plan our fishing trip for opening weekend for walleye fishing, because it’s just after the spawn.

Spring fishing for walleye is great because they’ll strike at just about anything you toss in the water, but if we ain’t careful we can spook ‘em real easy. They don’t spawn for long, and, because of the cooler waters, the walleye are looking for bait fish in the shallow water. Unlike other times of the year, we’re gonna hafta stay in the shallows, too.

Our best bet is to hang out close to shore and just play a bit to find the best walleye lures to see what they bite and what they leave alone. Once we find a school of walleye and we know what color of lure they are biting on, then the fun begins!

Frank and me have a spring walleye fishing side bet, too, so I can’t wait to leave him in my dust!

Photo: Kashabowie Outposts

Frank still has so much to learn about walleye fishin’. The first time I threw one back, I thought he was gonna jump in the water and try to grab it with his bare hands!

He had never heard about walleye catch and release, so I had to explain it.

Sometimes, if the fish is a really big one, the regulations say you gotta take a picture and let it go – but most of the time, we know where the walleye are, and so we catch so darn many of  ‘em that we just can’t keep ‘em all!

I told Frank to take special care of the trophy walleye ’cause it helps keep the walleye population goin’. And as much as I love fishin’ ‘em, I sure wanna keep them walleye youngins comin’.

The bigger female walleyes produce a ton of eggs, so it’s important to let the larger fish go if you happen to catch ‘em.

The little ones we could keep and add to the growing pile in the bucket. Once he got the hang of it I didn’t have to worry about any fines after our fishin’ trip.

Part of reeducatin’, and sometimes just plain educatin’, Frank on the fine art of walleye fishin’ includes the topic of casting for walleye from shore.

He is frighteningly underprepared for this activity, but I aim to fix all that. Besides, this way I ain’t gotta pay for gas for the boat. Frank’s first mistake is that he tosses his lure out there and then wiggles it around. I told him, you’ve got to let it do its thing slowly.

Them rapid movements clue the walleye in that there’s a predator on the other end of that lure. They ain’t stupid, these fish, and you gotta treat ‘em as if they know what’s up.

If you know where to find walleye, then the key is to cast your line into areas where the walleyes gather, near underwater rocks and stuff so they can hide. Then use your walleye lure to draw ‘em out with slow and steady movements.

Before you know it, you’ve caught a mess of walleye in the spring and fall, just by casting from shore.

Frank decided on this last trip that he wants to go trolling for walleye in a boat next time.

Boy howdy, is he in for a treat or what? He heard about it while we were gettin’ some bait up at the Bait N Tackle, and he got all excited about it. Some of the boys have caught some huge walleyes by trolling.

Frank asked what line is too big for walleye trolling? Merv told him he needs to get him some longer rods and some thinner line, because them walleyes, they can see stuff normal fish just can’t.

Then Frank asks – where are we going to troll for them, and we reminded him about how we know where to find walleye, and how we already have our shore lunch spot planned out!

We’ll also need some of that stretchy fishing line, or that new fireline, so the fish don’t break it. He’s not used to this, but we’ll hafta let out a lot of line behind the boat and if we don’t run with the wind then we’ll get blown all over that lake.

I’m lookin’ forward to seein’ Frank’s face the first time one of those big walleyes takes a hit at his line.