Apr. 22—The Herald’s Trophy Room Gallery is the place for hunting and fishing photos from across the region. Do you have a hunting or fishing photo you’d like to share with Herald readers? Email it to Brad Dokken at bdokken@gfherald.com. Please include information about the hunter or angler, such as where they live and general area where the fish or game was taken. Photos will be posted to the
Northland Outdoors section of the Herald website
and some will be printed in the Saturday Northland Outdoors section as space and photo quality permit.
Chad Maloy of Fargo shared this story of a fishing trip he and Dave Wasness of West Fargo took to Devils Lake last weekend, Saturday, June 22, and Sunday, June 23. Wasness is president of FM Walleyes Unlimited, and Maloy is a past president.
“Fishing was excellent,” Maloy writes. “On Saturday, we found several shallow bays on the main lake in 3 to 6 feet of water that were stacked with 16-18 inch walleyes. We threw Northland Rumble Shads and Mimic Minnows. Bobbers also worked. We tipped our one-eighth ounce Northland tungsten jigs with leeches and crawlers. Both worked.
“On Sunday, we decided to try to move around more and target large fish. We found a different shallow bay and caught several nice walleyes in the 23- to 25-inch range. Most of them came on Northland Mimic Minnows and quarter-ounce jigs with Eye Candy again. A few were (caught) casting shallow-diving crankbaits. Later in the morning, we moved out deeper to about 18 feet and fished a dropoff. It was an area with some flooded timber, and we used slip bobbers and jigged with Northland Pitching Puppets.
“On our first spot, I dropped down the Pitching Puppet and caught a 27.5-inch walleye on the third stroke. We got a few more nice fish with slip bobbers and leeches before we moved back to the shallows.”
Do you have a fishing tale you’d like to share with Herald readers? Send your tale, along with a photo (jpeg preferred), to Brad Dokken at bdokken@gfherald.com. Please include the person’s name, town of residence and whether the fish was kept or released.
Fargo anglers Peter Matthei (top photos) and Rex Carlson (bottom photos) scored these muskies, among others, while attending the third annual Minnesota Musky School, held Aug.26-Sept. 7 at Agency Bay Lodge on Leech Lake near Walker, Minnesota. Matthei’s muskies measured 52.25 inches (top left photo) and 44 inches. Carlson’s muskies measured 43 inches (bottom left) and 47 inches.
The “school” includes seven days of fishing, daily wrap-ups on what’s hot and where to fish, presentations by professional guides and guided trips, Carlson said.
“Peter and I did well,” he said in an email. “We fished four of the seven days and caught eight decent muskies, including two over 52 inches. We caught most of them at or just after sundown — on a full moon — on large rubber baits fishing the weeds and drop-offs in Walker Bay.”
Carlson says he and Matthei fish muskies as often as they can starting about the end of June. Carlson has been fishing muskies for four years, he says, while Matthei has been in pursuit of the big fish — some might call it an addiction — a bit longer.
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