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Richard Ofner
2014-04-20 21:15:38

Easter Weekend Walleye Hunt


At times I thought it would be May before we were able to hit local waters. Some timely weather and a slow melt has made for ideal conditions for Easter Weekend. Add to that water temperatures in the mid to lower 40s and light winds from the North East, it was going to be a good weekend of Walleye fishing. We launched early Friday morning and it is about one mile to where we would hit our first drift. I quickly realized that I had never fished the holiday weekend on the Detroit River during the Spring Walleye run. Our first area that we targeted was strong current and with hundreds of boats to share the drift with, we were glad that we were in Hobie Mirage Drive Kayaks (peddle propelled). It would have been almost impossible to share the river with this many boats if we were in kayaks using paddles, where at times we could almost shake hands with the boat next to us. We later moved to the west side of Fighting Island on the Detroit River where the current wasn't as strong, yet there were just as many boats, if not more to share the water with. The four of us that jigged for Walleye for about seven hours struggled to land four fish between us, though we had many bites and hookups, only to be frustrated over and over. On Saturday we were out early again, with higher winds and with the early morning temperatures in the high thirties, it was a little tougher to keep our lines vertical. Ironically though the fish were easier to catch and only after a few hours the three of us that were out in our kayaks landed nine fish with seven of them over twenty four inches. Over the course of the two days we saw hundreds of fish caught with some trophy sized, and I read later that the Cabelas Master Walleye Circuit, had 113 teams of 2 anglers in each boat, competing on Friday and Saturday. A long standing record was topped with the winners finishing the weekend with 10 fish total of 87 pounds, 3 ounces. It was a great weekend to be out on the river fishing for Walleye. Considering the number of boats that shared the water, I didn't see any incidents of poor sportsmanship or drama that we sometimes hear of. Being out in what most would consider difficult conditions for a kayak we were very comfortable fishing side by side with the wide range of power boats, thanks to our Hobie Mirage Drives.
1 anglers like this post
Apr 23, 2014 23/04/14
Jason Barnucz
Awesome report and pics! I know that river well and to see it from a kayak perspective is really cool.
Apr 22, 2014 22/04/14
David W. Reid
Great pictures Richard, nice to hear everyone shared the water without any incidents
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