Fishing Fan

My folks were big fishermen and my grandparents often fished for food. My husband wasn't raised fishing and I don't particularly like eating fish, so we just never go fishing. But now I know why my folks loved it so much. While on the Grace Anne II, I got to try two different kinds of fishing. (Our fishing boats arrived in formation!)

I got up with the sun both mornings to fish for muskie. These magnificent fish can grow up to almost five feet long and are prized for their fight. The rod and reel used are sturdy and the lures are the size of a nice pan-sized fish. The technique involves casting and reeling in, giving a final figure eight with the lure before pulling it out and casting again. By the second morning I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I didn't snarl the line on the reel once. I didn't catch any fish -- but I saw one. As I did my figure eight, I saw a silver streak in the water. He didn't bite. I asked Paul, our guide, if he had been holding the rod and using his own special ju-ju, would he have caught that fish. "Nah," he said, "he was too passive, not really interested." I think Paul was just making me feel good but when he estimated the fish to have weighed over 40 pounds, I was glad I hadn't caught it -- I'm not sure I could have pulled it in!

I did better with walleye, catching a number of small ones and a couple of keepers. To fish for walleye, you use a minnow for bait and drop the line to the bottom of the lake, then jiggle the rod to keep it moving. Chris, another of our guides, caught a couple of impressive northern pike but I was happy with my walleye.

Almost everything was catch and release; we kept some of the larger walleyes for our lunch which the guides prepared on the shore. The fish were beautifully filleted, breaded (with a secret mixture) and fried -- and it was great!

So I fished in the early morning for muskie, after breakfast for walleye, had shore lunch, got a great massage (we were on an island where the Grace Anne people have a lodge, sauna, hot tub and gazebo) then reboarded the Grace Anne for a lovely shower. It was only four when I finished and I knew we wouldn't eat until much later (and I could skip the great, afternoon hors 'oeuvres) so I asked if I could go fishing again! More fun -- more walleye! I'd say I'm addicted, but I think I'm really addicted to fishing Grace Anne style -- everything prepared for me, no putting minnows on my own hook, no touching the fish, just dropping the line and reeling them in!