For our twelvth year of fishing at Birch Island, we had some unusual conditions. The water was high and still rising, with a lot of current. This tended to concentrate the walleye and made for a banner year that will probably never be repeated. The eight of us boated over 1,700 fish for the 6 days of fishing! The walleye were so plentiful it became almost a game at times to see what one could do. I caught 9 walleye on the same minnow before one finally cleaned my hook. Plus, there were plenty of BIG walleye boated.

The big fish were not as plentiful this year, however. Although we had several musky follows daily, only one was hooked and boated. I had a mean 39" Northern literally destroy my smallmouth lure (and steel leader) on the last day but still managed, somehow, to get a photo op with it.