Day 11: What a Whopper!

PC: Nathaniel Watkins 

I love to fish. Some people have told me I'm pretty good at it. When I'm fishing, I'm usually in a very happy place. I have plenty of pictures of fish I've caught, so why did this one make the top of that list? Well to answer that question, I have to take you back in time.

When I was around the age of nine, we were spending three weeks in Wisconsin with our family out there. At one of the evening cookouts, my uncle brought walleye that he had freshly caught. I remember the reaction on my mom's face after she took a bite. She looked like she had eaten something divine. From that point on, I associated walleye with deliciousness.

Fast forward to 2015 . My brother Nathaniel, who's much better at this than I, said it was the perfect time to go walleye fishing off the shores of lake Erie. I'd never caught one before so of course I was down. We got there and began flinging husky jerks into the surprisingly calm waters. We ended up continuing to do so well after the sun set because that's when the fish feed.

Hours passed and we still hadn't caught a single thing. At one point, I laid down on the rock, cast the lure into the night, and as I laid there staring up at the stars, I said "Please Lord, just one?" A few minutes later I felt a small tug. I lurched, but paused, thinking I had been fooled. I started reeling again and felt a bit harder of a pull. I snapped the rod backward and began reeling like mad. At one point, I thought I had lost it because it felt too easy, but once I reeled most of the line in, the fish surfaced and splashed like crazy. We grabbed the net and hauled him in. My first walleye and he was a 28 inch monster. 

What makes this picture more unique is that  I asked Nathaniel to take a picture, but I was so excited, I had to call my mom and tell her I caught a walleye and was bringing home. He snapped the picture mid-conversation and it's a photo my mom talks about on and off to this day. I think I may have to get back to the lake soon and see if I can top this one.