Got my first Michigan sunburn of 2012 today

[djkimmel]

Apparently, I've been talking to Walleye Mike (other websites) a little too much lately because all I could do for my first Michigan fishing trip of 2012 today on Hardy Dam Pond is pound the white spots off a bunch of walleye deep on blade baits!

Remember last fall's Grand River blade beatdown? I did it to cameraguy again only this time, he was fishing too! Apparently he has never talked to Walleye Mike. Or any other walleye angler because the walleye did not like him much today.

I was hurtin' them good but before long, as usual, Brian - our almost annual spring Hardy Dam Pond 'guide' started whooping on us both. For some reason, I changed from solid keepers to fish stick sized walleyes for a while?? Shoot! It takes talent to hook those little ones. I even caught the only perch of the day! You should have seen how tiny that dude was!!

The day actually started early with a blade bait pike. Hey cameraguy! Did I catch the first fish this morning? I think I did. We all put a decent hurting on a fair number of small to just keeper-sized pike today actually.

But nothing like the walleye whooping! Well, me and Brian anyway. I think smelly-hands... er, cameraguy 'lost' a few. He might have landed one?? Hard to remember between the doubles and singles the 'rest' of us were ringing up!

Boy... that 5 mph SE wind was enjoyable... good call there weather dude. I'm not actually technically sure if I have sunburn or windburn?!? During the very worst of the 5 mph SE wind when I couldn't feel my lure at all, Brian caught a super chunker smallie, lost a couple small ones at the boat and had a toad (6 pounder he says!) follow a ball of snot grass on a blade bait to the boat. There was a walleye (Brian again) and a few pike mixed in there too (not me).

I do have to admit that when we found a bunch of largemouths later that cameraguy finally got into the groove a little and put some real nice ones in the boat. Brian must have a felt pretty selfish because he didn't try as hard as normal and only landed a few more. Meanwhile, the early morning coffee had worn off (or been blown out of) me and I proceeded to only get bit by largemouth bass when I was distracted. I lost all 4 that I had on. I think a couple of them actually taunted me. Not sure. I was pretty cold for a while there. @$**@$# 5 mph SE wind!

I would like to add a hat (cameraguy's) and a life jacket (also cameraguy's) to my total catch. Lucky for cameraguy, some of my primitive reflexes still work when such an emergency occurs in conditions like today's 5 mhp SE wind (way to go weather guy!!!! Pat yourself on the back, then run and catch your hat! It just blew off your head! You might want to run about 20 to 25 mph!!! That's how fast your hat actually will be going!!!  ).

I also had to tap cameraguy on the head with my spinning rod one time when he drifted off. I thought he was going to tip over onto his camera bag. We can't have that.

All in all, not a bad day for the first Michigan fishing trip of 2012. Brian likes the walleye.

[Genie]

I followed up on your report on Sunday Dan ... you apparently need some new glasses as you missed all the smallies on beds.

[djkimmel]

I need new glasses AND new eyes! Clearer water would have helped a little too but that's okay. I had fun and I'm red in the face once again.

[customfishn]

If you got walleye it was worth missing all the smallies on beds, they will be there for the next month and a half. 

[Genie]

Customfishn - you'll have to take me out there walleye fishing.  I've never gone walleye fishing and the ones I have caught have always been on accident.  Eventually, the boys will be wanting to fish and I need to focus on more than just bass.

[cameraguy]

My trip was enjoyable despite my lack of walleye success. Hardy is a great place to fish. We didn't really check out any shallow water areas to look for spawners in the areas that had clear(er) water. We like to pound the deep water breaks with blades until the tactic just doesn't work. As Dan said, they (Yes-they. I didn't catch even one.) caught a number of nice walleye and we were getting a fair number of hard-fighting pike. Brian also caught a fat smallie so we kept fishing the deep water until the wind, chill, and late afternoon slow down sent us shallow. It was much fun hooking a few largemouth in a canal, but most of the cuts looked like coffee with cream. Anyway, here is Brian's smallmouth.

[djkimmel]

Who's that old dude in the back?!?

We didn't catch the walleye, we HAMMERED the walleye!!!

Well... two of us did anyway...