Walleye update

Talked with Tim Hobbs briefly today. He wasn't able to give me an update yet on Tuesday's walleye tourney at Lake German. I'm hoping to have an update for you sometime this afternoon.

It did sound like they caught a few out on German, so that has to be good news for the German and Jefferson Lakes Sportsmen's club. I imagine they like hearing success stories from the club's lakes.

Took the son out fishing Thursday. Best outing yet for the youngster. He's getting pretty good at casting, and that makes me proud.

It is amazing how easy it is to keep a kids interest when the fish are biting. Especially when, like today, they catch one on their first cast.

That hooked Tyler for sure. Other outings, he's lasted anywhere from half an hour to an hour, but mostly because he's trying to run around at the open space out at Madison Lake. Sometimes just trying to cast like his Daddy is enough to keep his interest.

But today, after 11 sunnies for him and eight sunnies and a walleye for the old man, the boy still wanted to fish more. We spent nearly two hours fishing, and he complained about leaving.

Now that's one heck of an outing. Even made his old man beam like a new father.

Reel memories

I was cleaning in my garage the other day, and I started organizing a new area for my fishing stuff. I have a few old tackle boxes I've set aside for my son.

One tackle box is filled with things I no longer fish with, for one reason or another, but will be neat for a little boy when he gets his first tackle box.

I've also stopped bringing several spools of line with me, mostly preferring to have one extra spool and four poles, which can be a load at times, too.

Among my minnow buckets and ice fishing tackle and poles, I also have several reels I've used over the years that have gone to heck.

My first real reel purchase came in 1996, which was the spring of my freshman year at then Mankato State.

I bought a Daiwa spin-caster with a little wooden knob on the end of the handle for $60. I probably spent my money foolishly at the time, considering I should have put it toward expenses, but that golden beauty lasted me nearly 10 years and brought me many memories of big fish, among them my first 5-pound bass.

I also used a Quantum S220 with a firing pin. The firing-pin option, basically a flip switch with a pin that allows the line to be hooked without actually flipping open the bale and grabbing the line, sold me on the reel at the time.

This option also came with my Daiwa. I look at those two reels now and think I was foolish to love such a little gimmick, mostly because of all the times the little pin inside the firing switch would catch the line and send my lure on a kamikaze dive toward my face or neck.

But I also have three cheap reels I purchased at Gander Mountain, and the bales on those reels tend to snap shut for no apparent reason, also sending my lure on a kamikaze dive toward my face or neck.

As much as I fish, you'd think I'd want to go back to investing bigger money in my reels and poles. Logically, I'd love to be frivolous when it came to my fishing equipment.

But that's not realistic, and I'm not a pro. I think if I ever tried to fish tournaments where money was the drive to compete, I'd spare no expenses on equipment. Unfortunately, I'm not and there are better bills to concentrate on.

Do I regret spending cheap money on Gander's reels? Absolutely not. I'm a big believer that if you pick through poles and reels and find deals when there are deals to be had, you'll be happy with your equipment and it will last you a while.

Even those newer reels lasted me a couple of years. At $20 for a cheap reel, a person could still come out on the cheaper end of the shelf life of some of the more expensive reels.

Then again, you might have to teach yourself how to dodge lures if you opt for the cheaper route. It could be interesting; you might enjoy the adrenaline rush. And if nothing else, when the reel goes ca put, you can throw it on a shelf and look at it from time to time for fond memories.

Looking for reels? I'd suggest checking out reviews first. A couple to consider would be Fishing Reel Reviews (I know, real simple, huh?!) and TackleTour.