April 8, 2013 - Walleyes

I had a good, but frustrating night on Lake Ronkonkoma. It was the night of the short strike, and dropped fish. But, the fishing improved and I totaled 5 walleyes, including a nice one.

I met up with Darren and we launched around dusk.

I started trolling two rods. As I was rigging my second rod, my other rod went down hard, and I had a nice fish - the rod was really bent. After a very good fight, I got the fish to the boat, and saw a long slender figure with glowing eyes emerge from the dark water. It was a nice walleye. Although I thought it was over 20", it only measured at 19". It had a serious set of teeth.

After this, I hooked into two more walleyes, but pulled the hook out before I could land them. The 'eyes had mouths like weakfish tonight.

I made my way over to Darren at the opposite end of the lake. He was also having luck, but  was also having problems dropping fish. As I approached him, I hooked into a walleye, but the hook pulled out again.

The action was fairly constant and I caught another walleye the next pass.

15" walleye. 

Darren took off about this time, and I stayed out another hour. I picked away at three more walleyes working a point. After this, I decided to explore and come back. On my way back, I hooked into a big fish in a new area - it was fighting me like a walleye but it was heavy. It was definitely the biggest fish I hooked on the Ronk . . . . but again, the hook pulled out. I was not happy.

I had a few more hits trolling back to the launch, but it slowed down. For the entire night, the walleyes would hit hard, but just didn't fully commit. The walleyes didn't grab the crankbaits enough to get a good hook set. They seemed more like aggression hits than hungry fish.

Great night on the water. Flat. The water temp was 52 degrees. The air temp started at 70 and went down to about 60. A nice change from the horrible cold we have been experiencing.

I hope to get out again soon. The pre-spawn walleye fishing is about to peak.

19' walleye.