by Stan Fagerstrom for The Mack Attack, May 15, 2014

The message came from a fisherman I’d never met.But while I hadn’t met the man who wrote the e-mail message, I indeed had heard the question he asked. It went like this: “Where would you recommend a guy like me go if he wants to finally catch a walleye that weighs 10-pounds or
more?”

I wound up sending that guy a stringer full of my own questions along with a bait bucket full of “ifs” in my endeavor to respond. The questions for the most part were my own. Most of the “ifs” came from an angler who is as knowledgeable as they come when it concerns the walleye fishing in the area I suggested the guy should go.

So what was the area I suggested? It was the Columbia River. I was, you see, living almost within casting distance of the big river where it divides the states of Oregon and Washington when those elusive critters called walleyes first showed up there.


I started writing an outdoor column for a daily newspaper in Washington State way back in 1946. There weren’t any walleyes in the Columbia River at that time. For that matter, at that time in the sloughs and backwaters of the lower river there weren’t any smallmouth bass either.

Today the smallmouth and those hard to figure fish called the walleye are all over the place. I know experienced bass men who’ll tell you they’re finding some of the best smallmouth angling they’ve ever had on the Columbia. All you need do to check the potential size of the big river’s walleyes is look at the state records anglers in both Washington and Oregon have already established.

I’ll save you taking the time of doing that. The current Oregon State walleye size record is 19-pounds, 15.3-ounces. The biggest walleye ever taken out of the Columbia by a Washington State angler is 20.32 pounds. It’s not uncommon to find walleye anglers in both states who’ll tell you they expect the river to eventually produce a new world record.

They could darn well be right. Before you snort something about my saying that simply sounds like wishful thinking, do you know what the existing world record for walleyes actually is? I can tell you. It’s 22-pounds, 11-ounces. This big one of all time came out of Greer’s FerryLake in Arkansas in March of 1982.

The size of the Oregon and Washington officially recorded walleyes already caught aren’t all that far below the record fish. I’ve heard rumbles about even larger ones having been taken in Native American nets on the Columbia. Those reports haven’t been substantiated but as far as I’m concerned it wouldn’t be all that surprising if it happens.

What you’ve just read provides some of the reasoning I used in providing what I thought was a reasonable answer to the question I talked about in the beginning. I know there are many excellent walleye lakes in other areas of the United States. But none of them that I’m aware of have been producing the size of the fish as has the Columbia River.

There are those who will tell you that the Columbia isn’t now producing as many big fish as it once did either. I’m inclined to agree with that myself. As far as I’m concerned, that should be expected. Why? It’s because that building population of walleyes in the Columbia was virtually untouched by fishing pressure in the beginning.

That’s certainly not true today. It didn’t take long for Oregon and Washington anglers to discover the many challenges consistently catching walleyes presents. Many also didn’t know going in about the wondrous things a fresh walleye fillet can do for a hot frying pan.

I wish I’d had an opportunity to spend more time fishing Columbia River walleyes than I did when I lived in that part of the world. I did manage to sample a limited amount of it. Even with that limited time, I saw walleyes of more than 10-pounds put in the boat I was on and to shoot pictures of one that topped 13-pounds netted in a friend’s boat.

How does that compare with what you’ve seen in your own walleye fishing back there in the Mid-West or other areas of the United States far better known than the Pacific Northwest for their walleye fishing?

Whenever I find myself thinking “walleyes” one of the first guys I think of is the man who is responsible for one of the steadily growing tackle companies that specializes in lures for this species of sports fish. That company, of course, is Mack’s Lure. The individual I’m talking about is Bob Schmidt. Bob’s the man who calls the shots at this Washington State based lure company.

One of the reasons I feel as I do is reflected in what I’ve seen some of those lures Bob’s company produces. It was one of the Mack’s Lure that nailed the huge walleye for the angler who held the former Washington State record.

I had told Bob about my plans to do a column series about Columbia River walleye fishing. I asked him for names of anglers he might know who could best provide the answers I intended to share in some of my future Stan’s Corner columns. Bob had an immediate recommendation as to an individual who is well qualified to provide those answers I was after. I’ve followed up on his recommendation. Catch my next column. I’ll tell you who that individual is as well as what he had to say.

To be continued...