Nearly every angler dreams of catching a trophy fish, one that’s large
enough to hang over the fireplace mantel. I’m taking about a largemouth
bass over 12 pounds, a walleye over 10 or a northern pike topping the 20-pound
mark.
Unfortunately, most never
achieve their goal. The closest they come is
a story about “the one that got away”,
that monster they couldn’t get off the
bottom or broke them off at the boat.
If catching a really
big fish—one so large that when telling
of it later there’s no need to lie—is
your goal, there’s one basic fact to
remember: To catch the big ones, you have to
fish for the big ones. That means being in
the right place at the right time, using the
best presentation and keeping your gear in
tip-top shape.
In the 25 years we’ve
been producing our “Good Fishing” television
show, we’ve learned a few things about
catching lunkers. Cynics often complain that
outdoor television hosts catch so many big
fish because they “cheat”. We’ve
been accused of having teams of anglers “put
up” the big fish we catch; or that Scuba
divers hook the fish on our lines.
I don’t know about
other shows, but we catch our own fish. The
reason we’re able to take bigger-than-average
fish week after week is that we always put
ourselves in the right place at the right time
to catch trophies.
In this two-part series,
we’re going to examine what it takes
to catch a lunker, regardless of species. In
the first part we’ll look at the where-when
aspect of trophy hunting, and next month we’ll
talk about the how what.
For the last 10 years
we’ve had a staff person—a former
outfitter—who does nothing but book our
hunting and fishing trips. His job is to locate
bodies of water that consistently produce big
fish, and then narrow his search to the exact
time of year when most of those fish are caught.
That’s important.
Often as not, his efforts
reveal a large, nutrient-rich body of water
with lots of high-protein forage and little
fishing pressure. A lot of walleye and pike
fishermen believe Canadian waters have some
magical ability to produce trophy fish. In
truth, most Canadian lakes—especially
the fly-in lakes—receive such modest
fishing pressure that the fish have a better
opportunity to reach trophy proportions.
A 10 or 12-pound walleye
in northern Manitoba may be 15 years old and
never been hooked. The vast majority of walleyes
in most US lakes are caught before they reach
two pounds.
Our booking agent seeks
out lakes with a proven track record for kicking
out big fish. Each year he checks with the
Canadian provinces and state wildlife agencies
and requests whatever publications are available
listing trophy catches for the previous year.
Once in a while his research will reveal a
diamond in the rough, an under-fished lake
that biologists say has a strong population
of over-sized fish.
Once he’s picked
the lake he wants to visit, the next thing
he does is examine when most of those fish
are caught. Some waters produce the majority
of their trophies in the spring; others kick
out the big ones in fall.
Next he’ll interview
guides, outfitters, bait shop owners and top
local anglers who may have further insights
into the best time to fish.
But finding the right
lake is only part of the challenge. Pinpointing
big-fish hideouts can be the biggest challenge
of all. About 10 years ago we received an invitation
from Jim Budd, owner of Budd’s Gunisao
Lake Lodge in northeastern Manitoba, to head
up a hog-hunting expedition. Gunisao consistently
leads the Manitoba Master Angler list in trophy
walleyes, which is quite an accomplishment
considering Budd’s is the only resort
on the lake.
Most of Gunisao’s
trophies were caught during the short spawning
season. The native guides continued to put
up lots of two to five-pounders during the
summer season, but the trophies mysteriously
vanished. Jim invited six of my staff members
to spend a week searching for those 10-pound
and bigger fish during July.
It didn’t take
long to figure out where not to look for big
fish—the guides were beating the shallow,
rocky shorelines of several big bays to a froth.
That left deeper main-lake structures.
After several days of
searching we uncovered a solid pattern—the
big fish were hanging on sharp breaking rock
structures in 30 to 55 feet of water. We systematically
worked the lake looking for shallow rock piles
surrounded by deep water, and in the process
caught more 30 to 35-inch walleyes than most
anglers will see in a lifetime.
If you’re interested
in the trophy trip of a lifetime, you might
want to do what we do and contact our booking
agent—Dream Trips. You can reach Dream
Trips by writing to Box 407, Brainerd, MN,
56401, or by calling 1-877-258-2767.
Next month we’ll
examine the how and what aspects of catching
big fish.
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