Eye candy works

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Hello friends, Each spring I load up my canoe and drive over to the Fox River at De Pere and paddle troll for walleyes. Walleyes from Green Bay swim to the dam at De Pere and can go no further so they spawn there. Lots of large walleyes (the limit is one over 28 inches) means lots of fishermen from all over the Midwest in what can be true “combat” fishing. I have caught two over 30 inches and several over 28. This year, as you are about to read, I did things totally different, at least for myself.

Sunday, March 25 High 44, Low 27

My stepson Travis Dushek is 31, lives near Portage and is a self-employed carpenter. Travis, and there is no one that will argue with the following statement that knows Travis, is the most go-for-it outdoorsman on the planet. He seeks, enjoys, and goes back for more and it does not matter if it is deer with a bow, especially ducks and dog training, and in the spring it is working Wisconsin’s walleye run.

Travis is not your average fisherman as he uses an 18.56 Pro/Drive. In simple terms, it is a mud motor on a flat bottom boat. In this case it is top of the line in both areas. The first weekend of March I was on Little Bay de Noc living on the ice and Travis was fishing on the Fox at De Pere with his fiancée Ann Shabin. We spoke on the phone and over two days they caught over 100 walleyes. The way that Travis fishes is like a predator and he is very good at it. By using spot lock on his 50-pound thrust Minn-Kota he works the river below the dam.

Tonight, we would fish from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. and I would learn about his newest idea and that is creating his own color patterns with crankbaits. During the month of March Travis fished at De Pere for seven nights. He came up with the idea to buy blank crankbaits, invest some money in air brushes and create incredible patterns that catch walleyes.

So, I have to admit, I kind of wanted to be in my canoe as we idled up to the area below the dam in Trav’s boat, but it was also very cool to watch him go to work and all I had to do was fish and observe. I didn’t even have to bring a rod and reel. Trav had me choose one of his “Eye Candy Custom Baits.” He just came up with the name and got an LLC in the last four weeks. I chose a pattern of pink, brown and green.

Here is how you fish. Throw your crank downriver and twitch it, then let the current and the crankbait do all the work. It took six minutes, I had a hit and caught an 18-inch walleye. A half an hour later I had caught four and was “NOT” missing my canoe. So Trav is on a cold spell at first and working every rock pile and drop in the river that he knows of. We would work a spot for five to 10 minutes and then move 20 or 30 yards to another, keep the Minn-Kota on spot lock and catch fish. At first the evening was slow but we both knew it would heat up. The northeast wind was a challenge to handle the boat in and not let your body get too beat up, but the walleyes added up. By 2.30 a.m., I think we were at 24 and both of us felt great. Travis had the big fish which was a 25 and at about 4 a.m. I caught a 27.

What amazed me about this entire experience was that over the course of four weeks an idea was hatched, the thought process went forward, the investments were made and fish-catching crankbait patterns were developed. When Travis was a kid going to school in Necedah his two favorite classes were phy ed and art and he was really good at art.

When I took Travis duck hunting for the first time, he was 6 and we laid in a picked corn field, covered ourselves up, and watched the sky. I did some whacking that day and it was very obvious by the look in his eyes that he was addicted.

At 8 a.m. we had landed and had released 42 walleyes. Both of us felt great and I was not missing my canoe a bit. You can check Trav’s idea out on facebook at Eye Candy Custom Baits.

Next up is a trip to Canada! Sunset