Brian and Jackie have been repeat customers for the past 5 years. It’s always fun to catch up on what has changed since our last get together. It is usually just the two of them.
This year they brought brother-in-law Dave who recently lost his wife of many years. It was special to listen to the conversation during the trip and hear how close this family is and what a great husband Dave was to Jackie’s sister.
You couldn’t tell it was Dave’s first time walleye fishing because he was all in. He wanted to learn it all and was an excellent first mate setting lines, catching and netting fish. We were catching many fish but they all seemed to small to keep. Dave started in on me as we have developed a kidding relationship back and forth over the years. “We usually catch our limit every year” he said. “We tell everybody how great the fishing is” with a big grin on his face. After changing things up and moving out to deeper water the keepers finally started to come in. I would rib Brian after every keeper hit the cooler and said, “I couldn’t believe you would give up on your skipper that soon.” We managed to fill the cooler with their keepers and had just one fish left for limit when time ran out. I offered to stay out for 10 more minutes and get the last one. Brian smiled and said they had plenty and they were all getting warm as the temperature was soaring. He smiled and thanked me for working hard, but I couldn’t help thinking inside he one upped me. He said, “We will get him next year” 🙂 Better to be lucky than good.