The Night of Reckoning

It was late in the afternoon, around 9pm on May 30th 2024. I was taking my mentor’s brother in law, Mark, out for a nice night of walleye fishing. We had no idea what was in store for us…

I had lent a custom painted Smithwick Perfect 10 to my mentor, Steve Korinek that night. It had produced some seriously nice fish in Sturgeon Bay that spring, several 27'“ and a 28.5” walleye in one night. Needless to say, Steve was thrilled to have it for the hot post spawn bite in Vilas County. We were several hundred yards apart, trolling towards each other along the shore line. As we pass each other, Mark hooks into a dandy 30” pike, and Steve tells us that a big musky on a weed point bit off the custom lure! My heartache did not last long though, as when we passed that very same weed point not 10 minutes later, I hooked into and landed an extremely solid 45” musky! Who knows if it was the same one that broke Steve off, but I’d like to think it was…

We went on to catch 11 fish that night, I kept an exact record:

45” Musky

30” Northern Pike

27.5” Walleye

27” Walleye

26.5” Walleye

25” Walleye

5 walleye between 15 and 20 inches.

ALL RELEASED!