Just Sharing This....:) 5/27/2025

I'm Out of A Lot of Money and It's Partially Your Fault!!!

Juls,

My first time walleye fishing was supposed to be an ice fishing trip with my grandfather, dad, and uncle in the year 2000. There wasn't ice during our scheduled trip so our guide took us jigging in a boat. I was the only one that caught a fish on that trip. I was young and do not remember much.

June 1, 2019 was my second time walleye fishing. My uncle, Jeff, and dad, Greg, booked a trip with you. I wasn't a fishing enthusiast but wanted to experience Erie again, only having a few memories of my first trip. You taught us how to troll using dipsies and boards with bandits and flicker minnows. The weather was good, we had a great time, and I have a photo of 24 fish in a cooler at 11am.

It'd be two years before we'd go again. A friend of my dad's, an exceptional walleye fisherman, Mike Bentz invited us up to fish. Our first time with you was an enjoyable experience so I wanted to go again. For a second time, good weather, minimal wind. Mike had us trolling with boards and bandits so everything we learned from our trip with you came in handy. We caught our limit and pulled in a 30" fish on that trip. We fished 4 days that spring with Mike and his son Andy. After that, the hook was set.

I was ready to try trolling myself but the only boat I had was a 27' SeaRay cruiser. I built my own rod trees out of exhaust tubing and bought some buggy bags to slow the boat down. I bought a pile of Bandits and four cheap counter rods. We went fishing for two days in late October and caught five fish. Had a fish fry and had a great time.

This year is my 5th year fishing on my own. I've collected an arsenal of rods and tackle. Last year I purchased a center console with an iPilot and added a kicker. Mike has been giving us colors, speeds, depths, and locations over the years, and I typically check your blog, but I've also found fish on my own. This year Mike showed us how to tie and run worm harnesses, and we limited out several days on those.

I've had the opportunity to introduce many people to walleye trolling. I've taken anyone from my family that wanted to go, countless friends, hosted their friends, and this weekend I'm taking three guys from work that have never been on a Great Lake. I've shared walleye fillets with so many people and they all rave about the quality. I've shared more fish frys with friends and family than you can shake a stick at. Everyone loves it.

My first trip with you and the next two with Mike were all decent weather. It wasn't until I started scheduling my own trips that I got to learn how often it's windy out there. This Saturday looks to be a blow day also.

I haven't kept an exact count of how many fish we've caught but im close. If it didn't already happen last week, with some luck this weekend, we'll have boated 500 walleye in the last five years. That's a pile of fish that came with a bigger pile of memories.

Thank you for everything you do. I'm sure you've gotten thousands of people addicted to this sport. There's tens of thousands of people that have caught fish because of your blog. But imagine the money I would have saved if you wouldn't have put us on fish that day!

Best of luck out there,

Ryan Withered