What is the best day of fishing you've ever had?

[Davey Crockett]

Holey mackeral, I don't think I have ever saw a fatter school of walleyes in my life.

 

[Up Y'oars]

I was a mentor to a young 12yo kid in Big Brother / Big Sister program. I took him up to Lake Audubon (north arm) shore fishing in October when I had shortened daylight after work. Taught him how to cast with a lindy weight & floating jig. The first time out we didn't catch squat. He felt bad that he may have been the cause.

The next time out we limited out with 10 walleye and more kept coming on the lines. Ryan was just exstatic about this trip. On the way home I told him about the realities of fishing: "You appreciate days like this because of the days like we had last week". He was content and was asleep a few minutes later until we arrived back in Bismarck.

So true... Even though today I'm frustrated with a skunk or just getting one, I still appreciate those two times out with him up to that shoreline. We didn't get back there because of the layering of ice in the bay.

 

[eyexer]

about fifteen years ago on fourth of july we didn't get to the lake till noon. fourth was on a friday. I wanted to go down thur. night so I could be on the water early friday morning. Wife wouldn't have it lol. So noon we launch and head down to the flats (van hook). Two hundred boats on there, it was crazy. so we wiggle our way into an opening and start to drift. realized I didn't even have rods made up so rigged one for the kid. Dropped it in and started to rig another for him. I was watching other boats all the time so I wouldn't get into one. Kid snags one before I get the rod rigged. Put it down to net it. Nice 21" fish. This goes on and on before I finally tell him to net his own damn fish I have to rig my rods lol. In thirty minutes we had our ten fish all right around 21". What's crazy is nobody else within eyesight caught a fish that whole time. We stayed and threw back a few more and headed back in. We were back to the ramp an hour and fifteen minutes after we launched. Craziest thing I've ever seen.

 

[Rowdie]

Late 90's Easter weekend shore fishing the Grand River on Oahe. I caught 6 of the 8 (legal in SD) and my biggest four went over 25 lbs total.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Every damn day I get on the water is "the best ever".

Period. And yes, that included this 17 degree morning!

I'm with Allen on this one. Many trips are great for very different reasons.

 

[Duckslayer100]

Man, GREAT topic! But best day of fishing?? That's a toss-up. The 90-walleye weekend on URL is up there, as is the quick 3-man Devils Lake bank limit of walleyes while being nearly crowded out by other shore fisherman who could not for the life of them figure out what we were doing right.

But the day I'll never forget was the time my then-girlfriend (now wife) and grandfather went to Ottertail the first weekend of June. I've fished OT all my life. Grandpa used to have a cabin there, which my uncle now has as his soon-to-be retirement home. For as long as I can remember, I'd either sit on grandpa's lap and help jig or we'd bounce around on rock piles and drop-offs looking for those elusive walleyes. Prior to this particular day, I'd never seen anything close to a limit of walleyes. It just never happened.

This was a particularly un-walleye day. Barely a ripple on the water. Clear skies. Almost no other boat traffic (I believe it was mid week, which would explain it).

It was the time of year when shiners are the name of the game, so we purchased a couple dozen of those gilded, limp-wristed wallet depletes and got to work. My little lady was still a bit green on the ways of fishing, so I did a quick once-over on the reel and what to do if she got a bite. I no sooner turned around and she said, "I got a bite."

"It's probably a perch, but just give it some line," I responded, brushing her off as I busied myself setting up my own pole.

It took me 45 minutes to set up my pole between taking walleyes of her line, rebating, and netting fish for grandpa. They weren't giants by any means, but we soon started putting 15 inchers in the live well.

I was have a bit of a problem keeping us on the structure, even with the light wind. You see, Ottertail has a drop-off that goes from about 10 feet to 40 feet in the span of a boat-length. If you're not ON THE SPOT, you're not catching fish. Somehow, I found a little ledge that allowed me to vary a bit.

Then, the wind completely stopped. I'd never, ever seen OT that glass-calm. It was to the point that you could visibly watch your line and see your shiner get nervous and then WHUMP, get bit. And you'd coil some line out on the surface and just watch it slowly, slowly peel away as the valleye took it.

We had to quit after a bit because we ran out of shiners and hadn't caught enough keepers. Quick run to the bait store to freshen up and we were back at it. We went through those minnows, too, but not before finishing what we started.

I've never been able to duplicate that, since, despite my best efforts. It was truly a magical day with two of my favorite people.

 

[LBrandt]

The best. 20 years ago, Dead Colt creek, 14ft lund boat, Mom and Dad both in their 80's Parked over favorite sunfish spot, moved to middle seat with wire basket over the side. baited hooks and took off fish until my hands were raw. laughing until it hurt, if only I could do it again. Take those kids and parents fishing,memories last forever, life is too short.

 

[gonefshn]

Early 90's on Devils Lake. 5 of us went out duck/goose hunting and got our limits of both ducks and geese and were home by 11:00am. We decided to go fishing as there was a good fall open water perch bite going on by the Dome house and a great fall walleye bite on Bird Island. The perch bite was awesome. We caught 7 five gallon pails of perch, a limit of walleyes, and one walleye was an 11 pound 10 ounce walleye that was the new lake record for Devils Lake at the time. That day and many close to it over the years are why I moved back to Devils Lake after college and decided to spend my entire life here. It really doesn't get much better!

 

[Account Deleted]

Always the "next time" I go fishing.

 

[wildeyes]

One of the best was fishing with the daughter at fish creek when she was 5 and I couldn't get my rod set up because she was catching trout no-stop for 3 hrs and the nap later with her. That by far was the best.#$%^&>

 

[MSA]

Just way to damn many....

 

[sweeney]

http://nodakangler.com/forums/showthread.php?500-Your-best-fishing-day-ever

thought we had one of these before

 

[Walleye Slayer]

I think my best day was back when I was going to college in Bottineau the winter of 96-97. We were bored and didn't want to ice fish so we drove south to Nelson lake. By the time we got there it was a full blown snowstorm. We probably fished about 4 hours in this storm flipping jigs. I caught at least 6 bass over 6 lbs, lots of 2,3,and 4 lbers. and a bunch of smaller fish. I quit counting at about 35. I figure I caught somewhere between 50 and 60 largemouth in those four hours. The guy with me said he probably caught 30. if not my best deffinately one of the most memorable

 

[Duckslayer100]

http://nodakangler.com/forums/showthread.php?500-Your-best-fishing-day-ever

thought we had one of these before

You know how your grandpa would tell the same three stories over and over and over again, yet you'd listen to them intimately despite the fact you knew every detail by heart?

If a story is good, it's worth retelling.

 

[Ragnar]

Fresh water was during the Missouri river flood when they opened the spillway. Water in the river was about 60 degrees and water in the new spillway channel was 71 degrees. Just throwing 1/4 jigs with twister tails we kept a four person limit of walleyes all between 16 an 18 inches. We released about 4 big walleye to every one we kept. Plus 5 Catfish over 10lbs, multiple Pike, Salmon, Trout, Small Mouth and my son caught the biggest buffalo I have ever seen. Could not have our jig in the water for more than 10 seconds without a bite. I will never experience fishing like that again.

 

[sweeney]

yeah thought linking it would allow other stories from the other thread to be shown too

 

[H82bogey]

Mine was actually recently. Not because it was the biggest fish or the most we have ever caught. A couple weeks ago My dad, a friend and me were able to make it down to the river. This day was special because on 12/30/15 my dad had a stroke. It paralyzed the right side of his body and he now has aphasia.(Both expressive and Receptive). After the last few months of therapy, he has gained some of his speech back and has use of the right side of his body. He can walk and use his right arm, but has not gained back his sense of feeling/touch. He still cannot drive and his reasoning skills have a long way to go, but two weeks ago we did make it out. The best part was he caught his limit on jigs, his favorite way to catch em. It might be one of my best memories of him for so many reasons. His strength and perseverance to come back from the stroke and do something he loves is just amazing. Unfortunately last week he had his 3rd, yes 3rd heart attack. He is still with us but is having double bypass surgery tomorrow. We are keeping are fingers crossed. He is the poster child of why you shouldn't smoke. 3 heart attacks, a stroke, and multiple seizures since the stroke. 2 stints in his heart, double bypass surgery tomorrow and a surgery after the stroke to remove a blockage of plague in his carotid artery from smoking.

Sorry for the long winded post, but that day will be one of my most memorable days for years to come no matter what. I am hoping to have many more with him, but with how the last 4 months have gone, it just might be my last.

Enjoy the time with your loved ones. You never know when it will end.

 

[Still_Learnin']

For numbers, it wasn't that great of a trip. But for size and a great experience, I'll never forget it. My best day of smallmouth fishing ended with me catching my personal best smallies twice in about 10 minutes. First I caught a 5-1 then a 5-15. And that was right here in ND.

 

[JayKay]

Like many here, the best day is a moving target. I swing back and forth from times with my dad, catching bullheads on the Mouse in Minot, to pike fishing with my girls.

 

[Enslow]

One day a few years ago i drilled in on some ass cheek sized perch. It was nutso in the butso.