Walleye weekend

Moving back to Canada, in particular Ontario, means a complete re-orientation of my fishing. Almost a 180, but not quite: see Dustin's 2011 post.

Enter walleye and the 250,000 lakes situated throughout Ontario. The first week of November I set out to Point-aux-Baril to catch the walleye migrating from Georgian Bay to the inland rivers. I'm a bit curious about this movement behaviour - Dustin / Oliver can you verify this is indeed a seasonal migration?

We were not the only ones there to fish:

Fishing walleye is surprisingly technical. While the basic set up is a jig + worm / minnow, it always takes me a full day to re-develop my walleye senses. Walleye don't "hit" the bait most times, rather they suck it in and you simply have to feel for the added weight. While I was still building up my walleye mojo, my party promptly limited out and donated a few so I could reach my five within the slot. This led to our daily assembly line:

Andy (left) has probably filleted >5,000 walleye in his lifetime. Alan (right) is not far behind.

Lunch, dinner, freezer

Supporting Ontario's wildlife

On a personal note it's been pretty amazing to be back in Ontario and embark on these expeditions again with some of my closest friends. Days on the boat are filled with me rambling and talking shit to Andy and Alan, all of us laughing the whole time. I can not stop talking when I'm on a boat fishing.

Another apparent 180 that happens in your 30s is our dads become the ones that drink the most. I got through 8 beers in two nights while Andy's father-in-law almost caught on fire (*we were all 10 feet back at this point).

Here was the big fish from the weekend and some mushrooms I got into: stay tuned for a for a mushroom cream sauce connected to D's recent post.

It was an all male fishing party, and we only caught male walleye.
Apparently the females come in later - D / O?

Black trumpets - I was VERY stoked to find these guys

Georgian Bay bonding

An evening on the island