Ross's Ramblings – The Red Hook

The Red Hook: You Never Know

I was on a guide trip about three years ago with a couple of guys. It was a cool, breezy, overcast fall day – like a lot of our fall days in Otter Tail County, MN. It was a fun outing and the guys were really enjoying the good walleye fishing. We hopped from spot to spot around Ottertail Lake and found good action everywhere we stopped. Finally, it was getting near the end of our outing and I thought I’d make a last stop near the landing. I remember we were fishing 32 feet deep and we were using night crawlers and red hooks and a lindy Rig (live bait), presentation. The fellow sitting right next to me had a walleye on right away. I readied myself with the landing net and waited for the fish to appear in the waves and motion. Before I could get my net under the fish, my guest hoisted the plump walleye about two feet out of the lake and as I lunged to save it, it had broken the leader and fell back into the dark water. I vividly remember the bright red hook stuck in the corner of the walleye’s mouth – and then it was gone. That’s how quick things happen.
I don’t waste a moment when I’m guiding – efficiency is key. I plopped myself back onto my seat, grabbed a new red hook from my stash, and began tying it on the hookless lead. I was about ready to thread the end of the lead through my series of twists to create my knot, when I saw my angler up front set the hook with a quick stroke of his rod. First come first. I stopped tying the new hook on, and reached for the landing net and stood ready – again. It hadn’t been much more than a minute since the break-off. That’s quick action; I knew we must be on a “hot” school. After a nice little fight, I scooped a nice 16 inch walleye into the net. The very first thing I noticed was the bright red hook stuck in its jaw. Wow.
Angler #1 brought the walleye, 32 feet off the bottom, pulled it out of the lake, it swam straight back to the bottom, and bit less than a minute later – to be hauled back up 32 feet – again!
There are a couple things that are always striking to me when I share this story. First of all, it wasn’t a nice day weather-wise. I don’t think there were more than 1 or 2 boats on all of Ottertail Lake’s 14,000 acres. I love being on the water in all conditions and especially tough weather. Why? Because we never know what’s going to happen. You can’t catch a fish sitting at the kitchen table. It wasn’t a 12lb walleye, but that doesn’t matter – it was amazing that the walleye re-bit! It’s a fishing moment I’ll always remember. The second observation, something we can’t not think about, is what was that fish thinking? The answer: not a thing.
It’s a huge topic that I won’t get too deep into in this page, but it’s the ground-zero concept for knowing fish. It’s about the absolute basic, but amazingly complex, world of instinctive behavior. The walleye that day wasn’t “thinking.” It was simply “doing.” Walleye, musky, bass, salmon, barracuda, etc. don’t think. They only respond to cues in their environments, and what occurs in each lake, river, stream, or sea is persuaded/governed by another set of cues that are atmospheric and even cosmic – solar and lunar. When we put all of these variables into a pot and call it a lake and stir it up, fish become amazingly unpredictable. I think that what happened that cool fall afternoon with the over-zealous walleye – that just couldn’t help himself, was a metaphor for what fish and fishing really are. The perfect collaboration of uncertainly and excitement. If that fish had a “thinking” brain in its body, it would have never bit a second time. It’s important that we don’t try to out-think fish, because it’s impossible to outsmart instinctive behavior. And what’s most important is that we just go fishing, and give it a try, because you never know what’s going to happen. Good Luck on the lake!
Ross Hagemeister, Meister Guide Service