Even the best anglers need a little bit of lucky timing when it comes to catching the fish of a lifetime! Fortunately, spring is one of the best times for anglers hitting water to enjoy catching great numbers of fish and possibly the biggest fish of their life as well. In fact, anytime you hit the water, you could be seconds or minutes away from a memory that will last a lifetime.
One of my most memorable stretches of fishing so far in my life took place while I was going to school at South Dakota State University in Brookings. I was fortunate that the Brookings area, as well as the entire Glacial Lakes region really, offers some incredible shore fishing opportunities that were perfect for a college student like me. Fishing within a half hour of campus, I could find numerous areas where I could catch both numbers and trophy caliber walleyes all while fishing on my own two feet.
Springtime was no doubt the best time for this. This is because spring brings spawning conditions, which puts walleyes close to the shoreline and within a cast’s reach for shore anglers like myself. This includes both males and females, with large females offering the chance at the fish of a lifetime.
Fishing so close to campus, I was fortunate to spend nearly every evening out on the water. It was during this time, I was able to really dial in an incredible bite. As I said above, every angler needs some lucky timing and I was fortunate to find what this lucky timing was. This gave me the opportunity every night to get someone new on what could be the biggest walleye of their life.
My secret to success was placing a 4” plastic with a ringtail that turned at very slow speeds on a 1/16 oz jig. I could cast this offering out, let it sink to the bottom and very slowly retrieve it in. I wanted the bait moving just fast enough that the tail would barely turn. It was painfully slow, but patience was the name of the game.
I would arrive early and would occasionally catch a few white bass and the occasional pike, but the walleye bite took plenty of patience. After complete darkness set in, roughly a half hour after sunset, a 10-15 minute window would open up. In this window, was the opportunity to catch big walleyes. It wasn’t a guarantee, but one or two fish was common each night.
From March 27-April 1 in 2017, myself and those fishing with me caught nine total walleyes. That’s nine fish in seven days, so consistently one or two each night. Of these nine fish, the average walleye was 23 ⅓ inches.
Over the course of 10 days (March 27-April 5, 2017), we caught 12 fish over 20 inches. Of these 12 fish, 10 of them came from between 8:30-8:45 p.m. All of these fish came from the exact same spot, on the exact same bait I mentioned above.
The best part of this bite was I was able to share it with others. As I mentioned above, this was a group total. Once I dialed in this bite, I would bring one or two fellow classmates with me each night so they could experience it. During this time, I was fortunate to help many of these individuals land their largest walleyes to date.
Indeed, spring of 2017 was a memorable one for me. But that is the beauty of the sport of fishing, you never know when you’re going to experience a memorable stretch and each one of them is going to be unique and leave you with new memories. You never know when you will be fortunate to experience this, but there is one thing you need to know: springtime is the right time for you to hit the water!
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