 |
| Pro
walleye angler Ted Takasaki with
a large walleye. |
March 18-24 June
17-23
Long ago, at the tender
age of 14, Jim Hayes Sr. began guiding, on the
Clearwater/Pipestone chain of lakes, in Northwest
Ontario. In1938,
he purchased a camp there and got into the
lodge business full time. Little could Hayes have
known
at the time, how the precedence he’d
set would impact his family for generations
to come.
I first met his son Jimmy
Jr. Hayes, who I might add also started guiding
clients
with
his father
at the age of 12, on pipestone lake in 1977.
This was -soon after likewise purchasing
his own lodge on the lake. At the time and over
the coming years, I was just breaking into
the wide-open
frontier of TV Fishing. We filmed dozens
of
shows and brothers Brad and Shane Hayes were
always
in mix too. Man! Those were the days! We
were young, the fishing was absolutely untapped
and I’d hate to even guess how many
trophy smallmouths, walleye, lake trout and
muskie
memories were shared. Ultimately, brad went
on to own
and guide out of their home Loge on Pipestone.
Shane
Hayes? Well, after taking it over from brother
Jim Jr., he currently owns and operates
Lost Island Lodge, on magnificent Lac Seul,
near Hudson Ontario. Quite literally, the move
to
Lac Seul has meant bigger and better things
for the entire Hayes family. Not only is was
lake
much, much larger in size, Lac Seul was also
the first body of water in Ontario to see slot
limits introduced. All this pointed to a more
stable, long-term fishery and family livelihood.
Now 15 years after the move, Jim and Marlene
are retired, the lodge has changed hands to
Shane, Brad Hayes is the Top Guide on Lac Seul
and there’s
flickers of a third-generation lodge owner
coming into the light—Shane’s teenage
son Sam. On this show, together they’ll
fish for walleye, sharing in a father/son shore
lunch
at day’s end.
But you know, for walleye
fishermen dieing to get their strings stretched,
I know of few
places
better than Lac Suel. However, even where
big numbers and trophy potential are ever-present,
specific tackle choices and presentation
techniques
are still important to narrow down. In this
case though, I thought it would be cool to
see how
a former world champion walleye pro would
approach Canadian shield lakes with such endless
water
and rocky structure. Well, enter in Ted Takasaki,
who’s on hand at Lost Island Lodge
and ready to talk walleye tackle and techniques.
Learn all about dropper rigs with live bait
and jigs…lighted slip bobbers…and
no-snagg Lindy Rigs-. What better way is
there to learn
presentation intricacies than tagging along
with a pro and having him run through them
one at
a time?
In some ways, very little has
changed in walleye fishing since I first started
sharing
the boat
with the Hayes brothers in the 1970’s.
In other respects, the differences are
night and day! Slip-floats that light up
in the
dark, wide-gap jigs, dropper rigs, scientific
advancements
in soft plastics, a funky slip sinker design,
modern boat control devices, electronics,
outboards—Phew!
I guess we can’t turn back the clock,
but then again, why would we want to?
Fact
is, you don’t have to be a walleye
pro or a TV host to catch walleyes. All
anyone really needs is some free time,
basic tackle,
perhaps a 2nd or 3rd generation guide and
a good place to go like Lac Seul. From
there, I can
pretty well promise good fishing will take
care of itself.
