Bookend walleyes

We are back to the beginning - 175 days later. Today is the Minnesota rifle opener, and the deer are there, but relegated to the back of my mind. The walleyes, as they often do, have won the battle for my time. The boys and I started the open water season on the St. Louis River upstream of Boy Scout Landing. Today, nearly seven months later, we will wrap up our open water season on this same stretch.

We pull into the landing mid-morning; the parking lot is surprisingly full. The docks have been recently removed for the year, adding to the adventure of launching and loading our 20-foot Lund Alaskan. The water is also high, the result of weeks of cold, wet weather.

As we work our way upriver we come across musky, crappie, and the occasional walleye fishermen. The musky fishermen are the easiest to spot: they are drowning suckers the size of my forearm in the hope of battling a musky the size of my leg. Their offerings suspend below large yellow bobbers that remind me of softballs floating aimlessly downstream. We also encounter several groups of deer huddled in the tall grass that envelop this part of the river. I marvel at their locations, knowing they had to swim a healthy distance to secure their hiding places. For now they are tucked safely away from the orange army of hunters taking to the nearby woods.

We begin our morning trolling cranks. We find our first fish within minutes: a fat and healthy "under." The St. Louis River has special regulations allowing us to keep two walleyes: both have to be over 15 inches. Therefore, fish that don't make the cut are considered an "under." Several more "unders" fall to our cranks in short order. The water is unseasonably high, and I find myself trolling so close to shore I can high-five a homeowner or jogger as they enjoy the sunny morning along Water Street.

Our "overs" don't come to the livewell until we switch up our game plan. We work our way farther and farther upstream. White, frothy foam floats atop the wider, slower stretches of the river. The foam foreshadows high-current areas upstream. In these areas, we strike gold. We stow our trolling rods and break out the jigging sticks. A simple ¼ oz. jig coupled with a lively minnow proves to be the best combination. We anchor along several current seams and pitch our jigs upstream. Keeping our rod tips high, we can feel the jigs tumbling through the debris and rocks below.

I explain to Joseph and David that I picture a river like a treadmill. The current is the track of the treadmill, constantly in motion. It delivers an endless supply of food downstream to waiting walleyes. The walleyes don't necessarily want to stay on the treadmill and fight the current in order to eat. They prefer to sit just off to the sides and grab whatever tumbles their way. Joseph jokes that he would do the same if Gordy's burgers drifted down our treadmill in the living room. The drifts are interrupted by sticks and snags and the occasional break-off. We also find chunky walleyes, enough to make our struggles worth our time and effort.

Walleye season opened 175 days ago. Today we fished some of our opener spots, although we had them to ourselves compared to the armada of boats in May. The 2019 walleye opener is 189 days from today. No doubt we will be back here battling the masses, glad to be back at it, after a long Northwoods winter.

Bret Baker is a lifetime resident of Cloquet. He is a proud husband, father, educator and outdoorsman. Bret began guiding fishing trips when he was 16 years old. Today, in his 40s, his passion is to introduce people to the tremendous outdoor adventures available in our region.