I have been getting excited for this derby for weeks now and finally the day is upon us.  Lights and batteries are charged, the worms are purchased and the rods are tooled and ready to go.

This will be my very first time night fishing.

11:00 – We launched from the mouth of the Trent River.  Docking was mostly easy except for dodging the odd pack of drunken teenagers and party goers.  Apparently the Kiwanis Walleye derby is quite the social gathering.

After launching we crawled out through the dark to our spot and waited for 12:01.  Waiting half an hour before opening day was torture, but the excitement and promise of a good day fishing.

12:01 – Lines were dropped and we began trolling.  20 minutes in and I get a fairly strong hit.  Was this the tourney winner already? Sadly no, just a stinky drum, albeit a big stinky drum.

The next four hours were filled with more big drum, including one that we suspected to be at least 15 lbs.

So with the rise of the sun we left our spot for deeper waters and hopefully some viable fish.

After motoring to a spot we knew to have deep water I was saddened to see it full with other boats all jigging.  We dropped out lines anyways and trolled through.  Sure enough, after passing the first boat we hooked into a decent 4 lb walleye. Finally the first good fish of the day!  We caught more than a few glances from the resident boats as we proceeded to catch 1o more walleye in the same stretch of water.

8:00 fatigue was setting in and the walleye bite was over.  We packed up and headed back to the launch satisfied with our catch.  We didn’t get the winner but had enough action to keep us busy and happy.  There is always next year!