bunczak
05-09-2011, 09:33 PM
For the last several years, a group of my friends and I have all rented a cabin for the opening day of walleye season in the great northwoods. This year, we had a bag limit that was reduced from the traditional 3 down to 2. This, of course, is no surpise to readers of this board and I was no happier than the rest of you to see it on my favorite body of water this year. However, the reaction by the rest of the group when I informed them of the "new rules" was interesting. They were not interested in hearing about the reasons why the limit was lower and just wanted to know what the rules were for this year so they could comply. In my boat, we had our limits by 8:30 on opening day and spent the rest of the day fishing for perch, releasing walleyes, catching pike, and enjoying the beautiful weather. One of our boats decided to target smallmouth bass as their "alternate species". We still had our annual poker tournament and still gave out the trophy for the biggest walleye caught by our group (17" this year). We still had just as good a time as any other year, enjoying the scenery, each other's company, and the fact that we were in a wonderful part of the world, doing something we love to do.
It made me feel good that, for our group at least, no one's enjoyment of the opener was in any way diminished, no matter what the Chippewa decided to do and we have already reserved the same cabin for next year. Here's to a great fishing season for all of you.
It made me feel good that, for our group at least, no one's enjoyment of the opener was in any way diminished, no matter what the Chippewa decided to do and we have already reserved the same cabin for next year. Here's to a great fishing season for all of you.