By Steve Weisman

This year’s Walleye Opener on the Iowa Great Lakes was a record-breaker with 2,246 anglers registered from a total of 20 states. Although none of the tagged walleyes were caught, there was still a lot of action for a wide range of game fish. Listed below are the winners in each of the categories:

Heaviest stringer of Walleye (under 17”) category:

1st place (Charlie Shuck Memorial Award) went to Laef Lundbeck of Royal, IA at 4.94 lbs

2nd place went to Torey Rogers of Worthington, MN at 4.73 lbs.

3rd place went to Spencer Braaksma of Worthington, MN at 4.58 lbs.

Heaviest Northern Pike category:

1st place went to Leonard Schiller of Ringsted, IA at 15.27 lbs.

2nd place went to Heath Gray of Dickens, IA at 9.01 lbs.

3rd place went to Cody Deruyder of Rock Rapids, IA at 6.86 lbs.

Heaviest stringer of Panfish category:

1st place went to Ryan Gilson of Milford, IA at 6.33 lbs.

2nd place went to Robbie Pietrowski of Windom, MN at 6.31 lbs.

3rd place went to Rafe Blau of Spencer, IA at 6.17 lbs.

Heaviest stringer of Bullhead category:

1st place went to Jared Fuller of Duncombe, IA at 14.27 lbs.

2nd place went to Zach Andrews of Fort Dodge, IA at 13.5 lbs.

3rd place went to Dylan Mouw of Sheldon, IA at 13.38 lbs.

The weather was definitely bearable! As usually happens, the best walleye fishing occurred after dark.

Happy Mother’s Day

This past Sunday was the day for us to recognize the mothers in our lives. I hope that it was a great day for all of you. It was like a breath of fresh air after last year’s pandemic that confined lots of older folk-including us-for nearly a year.

That old adage, once a mother, always a mother definitely describes my wife of nearly 50 years. She continues to watch over our two children and now our three grandchildren with great love and compassion. And, yes, she continues to watch over me and make sure I do things right-lol!

As I look back to my childhood, I was extremely fortunate to have rock solid parents! We lived on a farm in northcentral South Dakota, and there were always chores and “stuff” that needed to be taken care of. However, my folks made sure that I could participate in all of my activities, and they were my greatest supporters. How many hours they spent with me playing catch, hitting grounders and shagging for me. When I got to high school, no matter how I played, they always had positive words for me.

It was my mom who was the fireplug. She graduated from college, was a leader on the college debate team and became a high school instrumental music/English instructor. She was even a superintendent of schools during World War II! Later, as an adult, I would talk to her former students who still lived in the community and they’d tell stories of the taskmaster, who’d use every trick in the book to get her students to succeed. Yes, looking back on it, she instilled a love of English and athletics in me that led to a 33-year career in education.

My wife still talks about how amazed she was when she came to visit my parents for the first time and saw how huge my mother’s garden was. Flower beds, strawberry beds, hills of potatoes, rows of peas, beans, corn, cucumbers and a whole garden just for her different developing tomato plants. As each vegetable matured, the table was graced with the bountiful harvest. Then came all of the canning and freezing of the vegetables – of course, over a hot stove in an old farmhouse with no air conditioning.

My mom loved sports, listening on the radio to her beloved Minnesota Twins (it was way before cable tv). On Sunday after church, she and dad would load up the pickup and we’d head to Turtle Creek to catch bullheads. She loved to sit and watch that bobber dancing in the breeze. We always caught a mess of bullhead and then took them home to clean. Then she’d fry them up crisp and crunchy!

My mom would have been 104 this year. So many great memories that I will always cherish!