An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Big eyes on Little Bay de Noc

Hello friends, We are all almost constantly going through life changes. I grew up with Jeff Moll; he has been a part of this column since I started it back in ‘89 and back in October, Jeff retired after about 40 years in the vending machine business. Now instead of participating in all of our playtime on weekends, Jeff can play on weekdays as well.

This week I am writing about a two-night camping trip that Jeff and I made on the frozen waters of Little Bay de Noc while fishing for walleye.

Wednesday, Jan. 29 – High 32, low 20 There would be several unique and memorable parts of this trip, and one would start at the beginning when we were getting minnows at Bayshore Resort Bait and Tackle and were told the bite is good but almost nonexistent after dark. I have been fishing Little Bay de Noc since about ’98, and in the past it seemed the most reliable bite was from an hour before dark until an hour after daylight.

So, I am driving a rental car because a tree fell on my truck. It reaffirmed my belief that I hate cars; I kind of felt like a cowboy in a buggy instead of on a horse. In case you don’t know, Red’s mom, Ruby, passed away, so this would be Red’s first hardcore trip without her mom. Jeff and I each put out three tip-ups and because he retired, I bought him a gift, which was a Beaver Dam tip-up, and I rigged it with Power Pro line, a flourocarbon leader, a red number 10 hook, and a chartreuse piece of Gulp on the hook. I may have told Jeff a fib when I mentioned that I had the tip-up custom painted with U.S. flag-type colors just for him and it cost me $300. So anyways, we set up camp using an Eskimo Outbreak 850XD for our cabin on the ice, complete with cots, propane lights, a Mr. Buddy heater, and a kitchen. While we were working, we had our only meaningful flag of the afternoon and it was a good fish that got away. At the same time, the spool fell off the Beaver Dam tip-up that I was using. Come primetime and all night, we patiently waited for a flag to go up and had zero action, but we sure had a ton of fun. Thursday, Jan. 30 – High 38, low 20 Today would be a classic in the days of Jeff Moll and his good buddy, “Master Guide Extraordinaire,” which Jeff and everyone else in our gang loves to call me. Zero action until 8:30 a.m., then I get a flag, have a great fight, and ice a 27-inch walleye that definitely looked like it was eating too many Twinkies. We are back at camp basking in the glory of the moment when Jeff gets a flag with his new tip up. The fight lasted a good five minutes. Was he ever happy when he iced a dandy that looked bigger than mine, and seeing as we had a 5-dollar bet on big walleye, I did not want it to be.

The tape measure read 27.75 and I was about ready to kill him. He wins the big buck bet at deer camp because I let him sit on my stand one night and now this. Well, the good Lord knew this could not be, and while we were still rigging his tip-up, I get a flag that I had set in shallow water a good 200 yards away. When I got to it, I was kind of spooled but pleasantly surprised that I had a fish on. Mr. Moll was living large back in Mollville and had no idea what was going on, as I had a very long tussle with a good fish. I got it to the bottom of the hole before it swam off again and could see it was at least the great-great-great-grandma to his rather sickly-looking fish and I knew I had to ice it.

Lo and behold, I had it flopping on the ice and it was a true 30.25-inch beauty walleye from the deep. About all I could say was, let the festivities begin. We fished all day and night, caught some small gators but had nothing happen at primetime, that night, or the next morning’s primetime. The wind switched to the north and it was nasty, I had one flag at the shallow water tip up, caught it, and it was a 25.5-inch “eye.”

Moll told me I looked like someone/something I cannot mention when we loaded my car and I drove home with the sweet revenge feeling of beating the Big Buck Thief!

Sunset

Mark Walters