I NEED to take a quick inventory of November as it relates to my outdoor activities.
I have had half a dozen great days hunting upland birds, caught some black crappie and winterized the boat, and spent a whole weekend stalking deer with my muzzleloader.
I have also raked all of the leaves off my lawn and had to shovel snow twice.
It seemed like everything was moving forward in a typical New England fashion until last week.
Sometime right around the presidential election, the climate changed. This would seem a fitting opportunity for a clever metaphor but my brain works best when considering the outdoors.
Last week, the climate changed and we were given an extra week of summer. The unique weather pattern went well beyond a late fall or Indian summer. Temperatures soared into the mid-70s, I opened windows in my house, and even swatted a very confused mosquito while walking the dog.
I recognized this freak occurrence with childlike excitement and considered every opportunity afforded to me by the great weather. I am fortunate enough to have a well-rounded group of friends and, inspired by the same weather pattern, everybody seemed to have a good idea for the weekend.
I finally chose to accept an invitation to join a longtime friend named Gabe and fish the lower Connecticut River. Our target fish would be walleye and I had yet to catch one in 2020. The choice seemed obvious and Gabe’s expertise with this fishery all but guaranteed a great day on the river.
Walleye are one of the most popular gamefish in the United States and, although they are found throughout many New England lakes and rivers, their popularity here is not as great. Similar in appearance to the yellow perch, their coloration is somewhat bland and their cloudy eye (wall-eye) does little to add to their beauty.
It is this high-functioning eye that allows them great visibility in dark or murky conditions. Gabe and I targeted them in over 30 feet of water and chose brightly colored baits that we hoped they would gobble up.
Luckily, as a resident of a more mild climate, Gabe had not winterized his boat and we hovered in still water over these hungry fish. After having driven over three hours to get there, I was rewarded with immediate action and hooked up on my second cast.
Walleye are known for their soft, subtle bite but they were incredibly aggressive on this trip. Perhaps also inspired by the summerlike weather, they pounded jigs as we bounced them off the sandy bottom of the river. A common approach is to decorate any type of hook with a worm or minnow but we found it unnecessary on that day as the bite was aggressive and constant.
The size of our catch that day varied but most fish were between 12 to 16 inches. They are a slow-growing fish and do not reach sexual maturity until they reach five or six years old. Because of this, their population can be considered delicate and we were careful to quickly and carefully release most of our fish.
It is, however, universally known that walleye are one of the tastiest freshwater fish and we decided to bring a few home. Their fillets are soft and delicate, which translated into some very tasty fish tacos on Friday night. I ate them on my porch and took in the sunset of a very unique summer day in November.
November 15, 2020 at 07:00AM
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Andy Schafermeyer's Adventures Afield: A special fish for a special day - The Union Leader
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