This past weekend Leah's boysfriend John had me up to his place to take advantage of a somewhat local event........the Maumee River Walleye Run. This river is in the Toledo Area and really is only a fishable river in the spring and summer. The water level drops and the river turns into a trickling creek in the fall. This time of year though the river is high an d full of spawning walleye. I spent friday, Saturday, and Sunday up with him while he showed me the ropes with catching these big guys. I have only caught 1 walleye before this and it was by accident and not very big. 
Friday John snagged a desent fish but had to release it because the hook was caught on its neck. This river is patrolled heavily by park rangers and others handing out fines to those who kept snagged walleye. This was a new topic for me, snagging fish. Very rarely have I ever snagged or "foul-hooked" a fish and never have I had to be told about it happening a lot. The fact is that this is a spawning place for so many fish that they try very hard to protect them. The daily bag limit is only 4 where as typically it is 6 in the summer.
We were using simple grubs on a floating jig head held down by a .5 oz weight. This carolina rig was needed to get down to the bottom where the fish were. The water was really murky and dirty so we used bright colors like pink, orange, bright yellows, and white. I found that the yellow grub on a orange and pink jig head was the ticket.
I caught a real nice 22 incher on Saturday that I ended up bringing home. This was my first REAL walleye. I found that even though these are BIG fish, they are tired out by the time they reach the spawning grounds so much that they don't fight much. In fact, they feel like drift wood. People were also catching sucker fish and carp. I saw one person take a BIG carp home. This is wierd to me because I heard that they taste like mud. They are fun to land though just because they are huge.
Sunday morning I had the rush and diappointment of a lifetime all at once. I pulled in a HUGE walleye. I couldn't even hold it properly because how long and fat it was. People all around were ooing and ahhing over it. The catch.........the hook was actually 2 inches outside his mouth, a clear violation and you could be fined for keeping them out of the water too long. People couldn't beleive it when I held this thing up just to let it slide away. At least I have John to vouch for me. This thing was FAT and long! A real shame, fun never the less. I caught other small one that didn't meet the 15inch minimum.
A small note, I saved John's life. He slipped in the river and went down face first. He laid there unable to get up until I pulled him up. He told me he was in shock from the cold and the waders were filled up instantly with water. Scary! The water was only 45 degrees. He had a crowd too. The banks were packed with fisherman all 5 ft apart for miles. It's amazing any fish make it through.
