Preface: I really love my wife. What other wife would ask to go fishing as an anniversary trip, when offered virtually any alternative she wanted? If you are married to one, you are blessed. Of course this is the same woman who saw Thunder Jet aluminums cruising smoothly on Roosevelt and decided we had to trade our 16' Hewes for a 20' TJ, and paid for it.
Okay, the fishing. We went with the double pontoon and the 2 dogs to Potholes. We caught plenty of bluegill in the 9-11" range. Had a ball with them on ultralight. Kept 12, and returned about 30, as well as about 40 perch. Decided to try for bass, and caught a few littles, while my wife stayed with walleye tackle. Kinda hard combining the 2, burt workable by cliffs and dropoffs. It had to hap[pen. I have had a phenominal year for Largemouth up to 10 lbs. First year in 20 that the size and numbers came together the way it did this year. Used to be more often, but I'm glad they are still out there. Well, all good things...
So we fished pretty hard for bass, catfish and walleye to no avail. until...
Simultaneous strikes, mine on topwater, hers on a worm harness (blue). A 4 ring circus with 2 excited dogs, 2 excited humans and a race for the net, which had been buried from disuse. To make sure my wife's anniversary walleye was landed, I horsed my 22" bass and swung her into the boat as she lept, using her momentum and my 17lb test. I grabbed the net, now free of encumberance, and netted her 23" walleye. The bass did more fighting on the floor of the boat than she got to in the water. We were both laughing so hard it was difficult to unhook the fish. Kept the walleye, and returned the bass.
Other than some perch who managed to swallow hooks almost bigger than themselves, that was it. Two at once, then nuthin'. Still and all, it was fun. The 4 rating was primarily for the bluegill.


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