Though I’m only a fair hand with a fishing rod, my greatest success has come at lilac time – a time when anyone can be successful. For the rest of the year, I have to work at it, and work hard, to be successful.

On Tuesday, May 17th, as I mowed past a lilac bush in our yard, the irresistible fragrance captured my attention. The flowers were in full bloom, and Mother Nature, by far our most accurate fishing prognosticator, was telling me to hit the river. In my situation that would be the banks of the Francis Case reservoir. I would join my longtime partner, Dave Isebrands, for a go at the walleyes and smallmouth bass.

We arrived at our North Bay shore location around 8:00 P.M. and began chucking minnow-tipped jigs toward the setting sun. I’ll call it relevant, not merely chance, that Dave caught the three biggest walleyes, a 17, 18, and 19 inch fish, on an eighth-ounce jig while my 15-16 inch fish came on a heavier quarter-ounce jig. I can’t explain that, but it might have to do with how high off the bottom the jig rides. It appeared that there was a ledge in front of us about 15-20 feet out. I’m guessing that the fish cruised that ledge until near darkness when most every cast brought a fish or a strike in shallow water. Francis Case walleyes numbers appear to be well beyond one’s wildest imagination.

The biggest fish came before sundown with 6 to 15 inch fish making a relentless assault as darkness fell. If one waits until after sundown to sample this action, some sorting is necessary. Other than a frisky 15 inch smallmouth bass, my greatest thrill of the evening was a hard-fighting 17 inch white bass laden with eggs – probably the heaviest white bass I’ve ever caught.

The best times to enjoy this shoreline action are either late in the evening or early in the morning with first light being best. Walleyes in particular will inhabit 12 inches of water as darkness falls in search of baitfish. I’ve had walleyes hit between my feet as I stood in shallow water. I’ve also had a big pike snatch a walleye from my hands as I lifted it from the water.

It amazes me how many boat anglers quit for the day before the really hot action begins. If I were a guide during later May and early June, I’d pull my boat up onto the bank and have my anglers toss minnow-tipped jigs from shore beginning around sunset. Over the past forty years, on numerous occasions boats have crowded Dave and me while we enjoyed splendid action from the bank.

I returned to my bank spot on Thursday evening, May 19th. It was slow as I took home only two keeper walleyes. Perhaps a cold front was moving in. At the time I concluded that the days leading up to full bloom lilacs were more productive than the post full bloom period – at least for this year. I also wondered where the smallmouth bass were as I knew they hadn’t spawned yet. They should have been hitting with abandon.

Sunday evening, the 22nd, looked good. It had warmed up a bit, and the wind was negligible. I arrived around 7:00 P.M. Not a fish, not even a strike, for an hour. As it was slow, I decided to throw out a slip-bobber rig with a minnow as bait. With my essential tremor problem, baiting the hook was time consuming. At least it kept me busy. Ten minutes later I caught a chunky smallmouth bass, put it on my stringer, and re-baited my slip-bobber rig. This rig proved to take my undivided attention. I couldn’t man the slip-bobber rig and toss minnow-tipped jigs for walleyes at the same time.

By the time you read today’s column, this shore fishing might slow down. I’ve spelled out some very effective methods, and you might want to save this column for future reference. Exactly where you might be wondering? Most shoreline is good, but I like both the east and west Svatos Points in North Bay. If Hwy 44 is your access point, my late friend Andy Wayne Klein had great success in the Buryanek area north of the Platte-Winner Bridge. The Chamberlain shorelines are also excellent.

A while back when I wrote about guns as investments, I promised to let you know what President Grant’s Remington pistols brought at the May Rock Island auction. They brought $5.17 million dollars. See you next week.