The Walleye Fisherman That I'll never forget...

...my brother.  His influences on me are a huge part of my success in the outdoors world, probably about as much influence as I had on him as his older brother.  Not only did this influence me, but also some of my fishing friends, especially when it came to walleye fishing locally.  Kyle figured it out, and we took advantage of that.

Here's a nice 'eye that Kyle caught while night fishing from shore at one of his favorite spots.  

Kyle was an extremely intelligent and analytical person.  When he set is mind to do something, he was all in, one hundred percent, and he always seemed to succeed.  In this post, I'll detail one goal that he mastered, and what it taught my friends and I.

When our Mom began her battle with cancer, my Brother moved back to Maryland from Mississippi to help take care of her.  He coached a competitive swim team and had everything going his way.  He gave up everything to come back to Maryland and take care of my Mom.  But, he made the most of the situation with some of his free time by doing some fishing.

During his time in Maryland, Kyle read in the newspaper fishing reports that people were catching walleyes, and decided that he wanted to figure out how to catch them also.  We all knew that they were there, as we'd caught them now and then while fishing for smallmouth bass.  But, this was different...he only wanted to target walleyes and catch them consistently.  He wanted to catch a lot of them, and he was driven to be good at it.  That was his way, always strove to be the best.

Kyle became obsessed with walleyes.  He researched the web, read books, and watched fishing TV shows on how to catch walleyes.  In developing his strategy, the first thing that he did was to check out maps, both paper and on-line, and look for river structures that would hold walleyes, similar to the types of places that you'd see on fishing shows when they fished for river walleyes.  In 2004, Google Maps and Mapquest came out with satellite map imaging.  He used that to find specific spots to fish.

After researching, Kyle set out to catch them.  It took him a couple of trips to figure out which of the spots that he scouted held fish.  One afternoon, while at work, he emailed me a report after one of his trips and a picture of the fish that he caught.  He was so excited.  He had my attention.  At this point, none of my fishing buddies or I had really thought about doing this.

Here's what Kyle emailed me after his first successful trip. "I caught a walleye!  In fact I caught 3 and kept the two biggest, 18 and 18 1/2 inches.  There is a slot limit right now from 15-20".  These were filleted right after this horrid picture..."

Naturally, that night he had to call me and tell me all about it.  He was back at it two days later.  The picture and report are below.

"The water was like chocolate milk, but I found fish.  I fished where a small, clear creek flowed into the river.  The first fish I caught was 23" and dwarfed these.  I'd estimate around 4 pounds.  I had to throw it back because it exceeded the 20" limit.  Unfortunately I didn't have the camera.  These are 17", 18", and 19".  Targeting walleye has been challenging, but every bit as fun as I thought it could be."

The very next day, he was at it again.

"Caught several eyes in about 1 1/2 hours.  I left to clean a couple and I'm going to scout out another spot.  I'm confident I can catch more in that hole...I'm pretty psyched, this was my largest Maryland walleye (24") yet and today I brought my camera!  I released it right after the picture per MD regulations.  I kept the two 20 inchers in the other picture.  I've now caught 11 walleye and kept 7.  I'm going to start taking pictures and releasing them, the freezer is beginning to fill up."

Not a bad start, right?  One thing that I should mention, is that, after that trip, he consistently practiced catch and release.  He kept a few fish early on, mainly to help my Mother out and give her another healthy option for food.  Once he got the hang of it, I believe that he released all of the walleyes that he caught.

Just five days later, he really was dialing them in:
"I was fishing for walleye today and caught a 41" musky on a a 5" Rapala husky jerk, using a medium action rod with 12 lb test.  I'm estimating the fish weighed about 22 lbs.  At first I thought he was a little longer, but the measurement I made using my rod came out to 41 inches.  What a great way to end the day!  After this fish, I called it quits, 11 walleye and a monster."

After that, he consistently caught walleyes mixed in with a musky here and there.  Kyle eventually used his kayak for all day trips to gain access to more spots, mixed in by shore fishing for quick short trips.  After a little more than two weeks of fishing, he stated, "I've now caught 69 walleye and 2 musky since 1st of last month, and 107 walleyes to finish the spring.”

Below are a few pics.

I had the pleasure of shooting the picture of this nice walleye after one of our walleye trips.

Kyle caught this musky on a 5 inch twister tail jig while jigging for walleye.

Kyle caught this carp one day while jigging for walleye, fair hooked on a 5 inch Kalin's grub on a 1/4 oz. jighead.  He told me that, when fighting it,  he thought he had hooked the mother of all walleyes!

Here's the account from one of his fishing reports about that carp catch, "I threw a cast along a current break and it was slammed!  The fish immediately started peeling line off my reel and I just sat back and thought, "relax, relax and play this fish right, it's probably another muskie."  It was exactly where a muskie would be, hanging in the slack side of an eddy.  When the fish came closer, I could see that it was a carp and I could also see that it was "fair hooked (you can see the grub lodged in the upper lip)."  It was strong at times and a lot of fun to fight.  Good practice for other, more desirable big fish, as Fat Boy noted.  It was 30" long and somewhere around 10-15 lbs.  It was fun, although it didn't fight as long as the muskies did."

Here's a musky that he caught while fishing from his kayak.  He hammered the walleyes that day, and picked up two muskies, all on Rapala Husky Jerks.  He learned that it's tough to get a good picture of a musky out of a kayak!

When Kyle caught the second one, he wanted a better picture, so this was the best that he could do.  He towed the fish to shore, climbed out of the kayak, and placed the fish carefully in the yak.  He didn't want to beach the fish and get it all muddy, or risk hurting the fish.  The fish was released quickly thereafter, unharmed, and took off like a shot out of his hand.

Here's a big fat 26 inch walleye that he caught while night fishing for them out of his kayak, also released.

Here's another fish he caught that night out of his kayak.  He caught a dozen that night, all on 5 inch Kalin's grubs.  This pic, and the last one, were his two biggest fish.

This nice walleye fell for a five inch grub while Kyle fished from the bank.

Kyle landed this 25 inch walleye that hammered a 6 inch Rapala Husky Jerk while bank fishing the same night.

Kyle loved fishing that Husky Jerk.  Here's a kayak walleye that took that jerkbait.

So, how did all this influence us?  It changed the way we thought about our fishing calendars, to bring our attention to a couple new species that we could target.  Kyle paved the way for us.  My close fishing friends and I benefited from Kyle's desire to master walleye fishing in the area.

As a result of what we've learned, I've caught several walleyes since above 27 inches long.  What they'll bite is pretty simple, when they're hungry, they'll hit just about anything that you'd toss for smallmouth bass in our rivers.  But, they seem to particularly like shallow suspending minnow jerkbaits, like Kyle's favorite Rapala Husky Jerks, and large twister style tail grubs.  Those were the staples of Kyle's fishing walleye tackle.

When the water is up, shoreline current breaks, eddies, or wing dams are favorite targets.  During lower water river levels, they can pretty much be anywhere, but ambush points where current meets deeper river runs are likely walleye hideouts, such as ledges and rock outcroppings that hold deep water behind them.

Because of Kyle's influence, walleye fishing has become one of our fishing passions between my fishing pals and me.  Here's my buddy that I've referred to on this blog as Captain Steve Kelley with a really nice walleye.

My good friend and fishing pal Bob Barber has also developed a passion for walleye fishing.  He's done quite well catching them over the years.  Kyle's efforts paid off for all of us.

This walleye is probably is my personal best.  A 29 inch beast that hammered a musky lure.  

Kyle got us all fired up to catch walleyes locally when we hadn't really done much of that before.  He wasn't a pioneer by any means, as there were many local anglers targeting walleye successfully for years.  But, his efforts to learn about walleye fishing, and that fact that he figured them out so successfully and quickly, inspired us to get into that game.

However, from all of this arose another passion of mine.  It all started on one of our walleye fishing trips that got me hooked on something else, as told by an excerpt out of one of Kyle's fishing reports below:

"I recently witnessed the usually restrained, well mannered 'Fat Boy' go into an intense fit of rage!  We were walleye fishing in the river, and it had been a pretty slow day.  A roughly 30" muskie hit Fat Boy's grub and the battle was on.  The fish made a run along the bank around a pretty good sized sapling.  I quickly positioned myself to grab Fat Boy's rod if he wanted me to, so that I could hand it back to him and he could continue to fight the fish.  Fat Boy wanted to maintain control, so I grabbed the sapling and pulled it down to make it easier for him to get around.  Unfortunately, the line wrapped around a branch, giving the muskie a little slack in the line, which proved to be all it needed to release the lure.  

I was upset for Fat Boy, I know the fish would have eased the frustration substantially, but all I could do was sit in awe at the next serious of events.  After a brief silence, Fat Boy began to look like the Tasmanian Devil and a torrent of obscenities came out of his mouth for about the next 15 seconds.  After another brief pause, Fat Boy eyed his nemesis, the sapling.  Then, he lashed out at the tree, ripping off branches and bending the trunk!

This was the result of his tirade:

I've been told that you can cruise the shores and banks of lakes and rivers in Maryland and Pennsylvania and actually see Fat Boy signs where frustration reared it's ugly head.  This picture is evidence of a confirmed Fat Boy rub.  We're not sure if he scrapes, but considering recent events, it is very likely..."

Yes, that was embarrassing and a bit funny, but, it was out of character for me.  I guess that's why it was funny.  I haven't had those fits of rage since, keeping in mind that embarrassing fallout could result.  From the next few years until his passing, he never let me hear the end of it.

But, it was that story along with his success at walleye fishing, and especially his musky catches, that sparked my passion and obsession for musky fishing.  Because of Kyle, my personal best walleye, pictured above, and every musky caught since he passed away has been because of his desire to learn and master walleye fishing.  That musky, that caused all the rage, as mad as I was, really intrigued me, and lead to my intense desire to catch them.  They're such a challenging fish to catch.  So, I just took the next logical step, to upgrade my tackle and lure selection to target them, and learn to fish for them.  After all, they eat walleyes!!!

I've learned a lot about musky fishing from my musky fishing pals from present to recent past.  But my passion for fishing for them was sparked by Kyle's passion for walleye fishing, his musky by catches, and from that fateful raged tree incident.

Kyle's passion was walleye fishing at the time.  Eventually, after my Mom passed away, he moved back to Mississippi, and then, on to Southwest Virginia.  While in Mississippi, he became obsessed with catching flathead catfish.  He did fairly well at that too, even catching flatheads in Virginia.

With regard to muskies, this statement from him pretty much summed up where he was at the time.  "All the muskies I caught in the river were naturals, all while targeting walleye.  I thought about switching over to targeting muskies but I was already into a solid pattern."  

I'm certain that if Kyle was alive today, he'd be right at my side targeting muskies and the many other species of trophy fish that we target today.  I think that was a species that he meant to chase, but, simply ran out of time.

So, why write about this today?   This date of the year is the one that I dread most, the anniversary of his passing, 12 years ago today.  I miss him greatly.  You can read more about what happened to him on my tribute page, here:  Tribute to my Brother Kyle

I miss you Brother!