Minnesota Master Angler - Lee Winters
Lee Winters did, on December 22, 2013, caught and Released by sportfishing method from Minnesota waters a 28" / 9 lb Walleye and is hereby recognized as an official Minnesota Master Angler.
Fish Catch Details
- Angler Name: Lee Winters
- Angler Home: Duluth, MN
- Date of Catch: December 22, 2013
- County: St. Louis
- Lake/River: St. Louis River
- Species: Walleye
- Size: 28" / 9 lb
- Catch Was: Released
- Catch Story: I found out about the Master Angler program about two years ago. After reviewing the qualifications chart, in particular the walleye size requirement, I decided it'd be easy to get a Master Angler, after all, I had caught plenty of fish that big before. Well, maybe the fish I had caught before were bigger in my memory than in reality, or maybe I was just lucky before, but as I started to get serious about it I realized that it was going to be more difficult than I thought. Two years of targeting big fish brought multiple fish just under the limit but I couldn't find the big one. The obsession led to countless hours on the water and on the ice. It has led to a lot of research of different bodies of water and talking with other fishermen. It has brought me all over Northern and Central Minnesota and in the end I found it here in my own backyard. It's no secret that the St. Louis River is a phenomenal walleye fishery. For the second year in a row I have been anxiously awaiting early ice on the harbor. Every year trophies are pulled out of there and this year, it was my turn. It finally happened early one Sunday morning. It was probably the tenth time we had been to this spot in the last two weeks. We had caught multiple 15-18" fish and a couple in the low twenties and had heard of a couple people landing fish in the high twenties. It had been slow all morning. We had only marked one fish. I decided to down size and lower my bait to the bottom. I picked out the smallest jig and the smallest minnow I could find and hung it under a bobber. About an hour went by and I was hardly paying attention, since I had pretty much written the morning off. I lazily looked over toward my bobber and noticed it was sitting a little lower than normal I quickly picked up my rod and got ready. Once the bobber had sunk about an inch below the water I set the hook. My ultralight rod doubled over and my 4 lb line sprung as my drag screamed like I had hooked into a rock. I lifted it up about five feet with the initial pull but as soon as it saw the hole it decided it wanted to be on the bottom. My heart sunk as I realized that my gear was drastically undersized for this fight, but even with the big head shakes and running and rolling, it couldn't shake the hook. After 5 failed attempts to turn it up into the hole it finally started to come. As my buddy Ryan lifted it out of the hole I realized that I had finally found her! She was a fat, healthy, 28+" river monster! The last two years finally paid off in that one moment. My hands were shaking and I was ecstatic! We quickly got the pliers on the jig, spun her around for some pictures and watched as she gave us some strong kicks back down the hole. This obsession has taken me to some pretty cool places that I never would have seen otherwise and I finally found her in my own backyard. The only thing left to do now is figure out what the next obsession is going to be...Maybe a 15+" crappie? That should be easy. Right?
- Witness Name: Ryan Jones
- Witness Home: Duluth, MN
Official Certificate
