The plan was to go Yak Fishing on Lake Erie for Walleye. I had planned to leave at 0400 hours but over-slept 2 hours. I arrived at Cranberry Creek around 0830 and had the yak loaded and ready to go by 0900. The guy at the marina said to use natural colors and head for the pack of boats. The pack was in front of the Castles, about 1.3 miles northeast of the marina. Once I paddled there I spent about an hour in 16 foot of water, paddle-trolling with no luck. I started to head deeper when the fishfinder started sounding off. I spent about a half hour in 19-20 foot of water before I switched my left rod to a BareNaked Reef Runner. I set it out to 79 feet back and started paddle trolling. Within a few feet I thought I had gotten hung up on the bottom. I started reeling and the yak started turning. When I got to almost straight over where I thought it was hung the line started coming in. Just as I thought the Reef Runner would pop out of the water it took off for the bottom with a 4 ½ lb walleye on it. A few minutes later it surrendered. 1 in 5 to go. I marked the spot on the gps and trolled back and forth through the area, never going more than 100 yards away. On 7 passes I had landed my 5 other walleye. Then came the long paddle back. Its funny I don’t remember the paddle out there taking near as long. All in all it was a great day even though I over slept.

~ Jim Martin

Dagger Axis 12.0