Memories made while fishing can last a lifetime

Making memories fishing is something we can all cherish forever. Imagine fishing with your dad on the boat you'd bought a few months earlier, then spent many hours personalizing and making seaworthy. You've added a few rod holders, some basic gear and hit the water in search of a few walleye for dinner, only to have the unexpected happen ... not a bad unexpected but a once-in-a-lifetime unexpected. Fishing on a fall afternoon, Andrew Masal and his dad, Ronald, from Mentor, headed out of the East 72nd Street launch ramp in hopes of catching walleye. The lake wasn't as they had hoped, but they knew they could still do some trolling around the inner harbor entrance. The wind and waves were just enough to make it a rough go. They'd toughed it out for awhile when Andrew said "let's make a move into some more protected waters" to finish the evening trip. It had been pretty quiet so far, so they decided to head back toward the ramp. It didn't take long before they caught their first fish -- a 22-inch walleye, great eating size. Encouraged, they fished on. Suddenly Ron saw his rod bouncing. Feeling that it was a big fish, he carefully reeled it in. But he didn't realize how big it was until was in the net. That did not come without some tense moments. The fish flopped out of the net when first netted. Once in the boat and placed the cooler with the first-catch smaller fish, the realization of its size became evident. "At that time we knew it was one we had to get to Cabela's and get it weighed in (as a Fall Brawl entry)," said Andrew. They made the quick trip from Cleveland to the Avon store, just beating closing time to get the beast weighed. When 12.665 pounds popped up on the scale display, they knew then that fish would put them in first place. That was Nov. 1 and Ron was right. It moved him to the top of the Fall Brawl standings with over a month left in the competition. After a few anxious weeks, the catch held and on Dec. 7 Ron was awas finally awarded first prize in the gigantic tournament. Ron has been fishing all his life and this was a "real thrill" to win, he said. A very cool thing Andrew told me was that while they were on their way to Cabelas they had placed the fish in water with an aerator in hopes of keeping it alive to allow them to release it back into the lake. Ron was hoping to let it live to allow another angler to experience the thrill of catching such a beautiful fish. Unfortunately, that was not to happen as the fish had succumbed to the battle. A very humble gesture none the less. Another angler fishing the derbies also had a memorable experience. Josh Monaghan was doing some shore casting for walleye when he set the hook on a heavy fish. It rolled while he reel it in and the line went slack. Thinking he had lost it, he continued to reel in when he felt the tug. When he was able to slip the net under the fish and place it on the dock, he realized that a very large walleye was laying at his feet -- 11.48 pounds,to be exact. Monaghan continued to fish that day. He said he knew it was really good fish and that it would weigh well to put him in the top 5. He continued to tell me a little bit about the rest of the evening. He was able to catch many more fish, calling it his "best night ever form shore." He not only caught a great fish to put him in a good spot in the standings, he'd landed a high number for an evening on top of that -- the recipe for a perfect night of fishing. An interesting thing that happened to Monaghan that evening ... he snagged bottom and broke off that special lure that he'd used to catch the monster fish. He was bummed because he'd already planned to have the fish mounted with that lure in its mouth. Two days later he went back to that spot to meet a few friends. One of them told a story of getting his own lure snagged. Not wanting to lose the lure, his friend made a contraption to slide down his line and hook it. It worked and he pulled up a whole ball of baits and line. Monaghan took a look at the ball of mess, turned it over and right there on the side was the Hammer Time Lures custom blue tiger shallow bandit that he'd lost. Of course his friend gave him the lure back. Not only did he have a phenomenal night fishing, a big fish to take to the scales, but also to be able to get that lure back along with a pretty amazing tale to tell about it. Speaking of fish stories!! The bait will have a special home back up on that plaque with the big walleye mount. All in a good few days fishing. As a friend always tells me, "better to be lucky than good." It sure feels fitting for Monaghan. The Walleye Slam results are official. Jacob Runyan was the overall winner and owner of a new Warrior boat! Congrats to all.