I am an avid fisherman, have been since my father shared it with me when i was 2 at a farm pond near our home in Faucett, Mo. You could say i have been fishing for 24 years now and i have to say that i have met my match in the form of a Walleye. We moved from Faucett and Dearborn Mo to Odessa, Mo when i was 7, We lived at a private lake i had the opportunity to fish every day in a lake that no one fished. I learned a lot at that lake, with the help of Bill Dance, Babe Winkleman, Roland Martin and my father. I loved to watch those shows and go fishing with my dad, we spent a lot of quality time together. He doesn't fish as much now , but i still go every chance i get, with three sons that is not as often as i like, but i still get to go. Now i live in Independence, Mo and i have a lot of good lakes here to keep me busy, one in particular which is teeming with Walleye, Longview Lake. I had never caught them or really cared to until one morning in January of 2008 i decided to do some fishing at Lake Jacomo before i went to work. It was chilly outside, about 45 and the water temp was around 40 or so and we had a lot of freezing rain and snow the week before so the water was up, the wind was blowing out of the north and smashing against the rocks fairly hard, You walleye fisherman know where i am going with this. I was unaware that these were good cold water walleye conditions, i threw my rattle trap up against the rocks and began a slow retrieve back and caught a small bass, under 15 inches, returned it feeling good and kept casting, about 30 minutes went by and i was ready to go when on a cast i got a pretty good hit, i knew it was too aggressive to be a bass because the rod almost got ripped from my grasp, i did not know what to expect but when i finally got the fish to shore i realized i had caught a walleye, nothing special maybe 14 inches but from there i was hooked. I chased them all year with no luck, until, this March 2009, when off a tip i got from a guy about Lonview Lake being good walleye waters, proved to be true. There are a lot of walleye in this lake, i hooked an 8 pound female, she was full of eggs so i turned her loose. Feeling pretty good about my self and cocky i might add i kept going back, with not much luck until Monday, April 20,it was just after sun up and the walleye were rolling in the shallows i started casting near them and i got a strike, the most aggressive strike i have ever felt, i set the hook and fought the fish right to the bank, now i was fishing on the dam,where mobility is rather tough, i was trying to walk this monster to where i could get to him, it was a male probably 27 0r 28 inches and at least 10 pounds, a very good fish for Missouri waters. I was almost to where i needed to be and the fish rolled and i felt a thud against my chest, the rattle trap i was using dug the hooks right in my coat. I stood there in disbelief and just stared at the water, here was the biggest walleye i had seen and i lost it. I learned a lot from this experience, the hooks did not get set well because of all the rocks i was bouncing the rattle trap off of rounded my points, they didn't even go past the barbs. Now i keep a hook sharpener with me in my pack and sharpen often. I hope you enjoy this and that you don't get Walleye Wisdom in the same way i did.
Good luck and Good fishing.
Brandon Holmes
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