Tim Geni talks about his pending world record walleye

Little did Tim Geni know when he woke up on January 5 that he was going to catch a world record class walleye. He was fishing with a film crew- filming a television show for PK Lures, a lure company located in Cheyenne, Wyoming; along with Pat Ogrady, Owner of PK Lures, and 9 of his friends and family.

The day before, they were catching some decent walleye in the 9 to 10 pound range when Tim realized he was a participant of an online fishing contest with Ice Shanty.com. "When I realized we were catching big fish, and remembered I was in an online fishing contest, I had to take out my ruler and a cooler so we were prepared to measure and photograph the fish. I lost a nice one that would have been nice to enter in this contest." said Tim.

There was no indicator that they were going to catch a walleye that big. At 9:30 am, when the walleye bite was well into being tapered off, Tim hooked into the world class walleye. Tim explained to me "The fish came into 21 feet of water, rather shallow for that lake, and bit. I knew it was a big fish because when a big walleye bites they swim up, almost like they know they did something wrong." The walleye came up 6-8 feet then stopped, forcing Tim to walk back away from the hole to compensate for the line slack and to keep the line tight. "I knew he was going to be big, but not THAT big" said Tim when he described the moment he realized he had the fish hooked.

The walleye made 3 real long runs (when a fish pulls line away from the rod and reel) before it came up. When the fish came out of the water, Tim Fell to his knees and screamed "YES" at the top of his lungs. One of the bystanders told Tim to turn the fish to the camera and they filmed it. At no point did they know or even thought of it as a world record classwalleye, they were focused only in getting its measurements for the online fishing contest. They placed the fish in the cooler to preserve it while people got the recoding materials together, measured the fish at 86 CM. "I was so excited that I couldn't see the inches side of the ruler, my friend flipped the tape measure over giving the fish 33 3/4 inches, and after a couple quick photos, we released the fish."

Tim takes great pride on the fact they let the fish go. "I am relieved we were able to let him go and he's swimming to give someone else a chance to catch another day". When asked how it felt to have caught the fish around the crew of friends and television equipment. Tim replied "It was a nice day we had a BBQ, some shacks, and a good group of guys. When someone caught a fish we would swing the camera over to them and they would get a chance at getting one on film. Catching a world record class walleye with these guys around only added to part of the unbelievable excitement. Catching a big fish alone is a different experience, but to catch a big fish with witnesses gives a shared feeling of gratification and sanctification that they will recall over and over again."

Tim caught the walleye on a 3/8 pearl chartreuse PK Spoon.

To drill my holes, I use either my StrikeMaster 8 inch Lazer Mag with the 42cc 2.5 horse Solo engine when I know we are going to fish the spot, or I go ultra-lite with my 23 pound Four Stroke StrikeMaster Strike-Lite II with a 6 inch bit, to make the work load lighter when searching new areas for fish.

I start drilling a zig-zag pattern of holes on top of the bar or hump and then continue to drill down the sides of the structure, concentrating on the most direct routes to the deepest water. If anglers work as a team and use a couple of augers, a spot can be drilled out on a short amount of time. My method of drilling holes through thick ice is to give one or two quick lifts on the auger as it drills, to clear some of the ice out of the hole, which makes it easier to pull the auger out of the ice when I am done drilling.

The powerful Solo engine and the stainless steel blades really rip through the ice, so I never have to push down on my StrikeMaster auger as I drill. Once the blades pop through the ice, I rev-up the motor as I pull the auger out of the hole and give the hole a quick sweep with my boot, which will clear out most of the ice out of the hole if it is done right.

I continue to drill a zig-zag pattern in the ice, to cover a range of depths on the piece of structure. I make the distance between holes closer on the portion of the structure with a sharp breakline and further apart in areas with a more gradual taper. Once the holes are drilled, I walk between the holes with my Hummingbird Ice55 flasher and look for fish and other interesting structure with sonar.

Panfish will usually school up, so I look for suspended fish in each hole and watch for up to a minute, to see what swims by under the hole. Walleyes and large pike may not be readily visible, but I should be able to see panfish if they are present. I also watch for interesting features like boulders, changes in bottom hardness or turns in the breakline. If I see fish, I set down my Hummingbird and drop a line down the hole. If I see something I want to come back and check, I mark the hole by kicking a slash by the hole with by boot and come back and drill out any areas that show signs of fish or other interesting features.

A good game plan, combined with my Hummingbird GPS and Sonar and my super fast StrikeMaster LazerMag Solo Auger makes drilling holes and finding fish much faster and easier, whether I am fishing a new lake or one of my favorite lakes and it can work for you too!!!

See You on the Water,

Brian "Bro" Brosdahl