With air temperatures skyrocketing this week, and humidity making it feel even worse, water surface temperatures hit a high of 79 F.
I have been fishing for some years and have never seen surface temperatures higher than 74 F up here.
This could only mean one thing, "Big Fish Time"" and by the posting of all the big fish being caught on social media sites, anglers were taking advantage of this and were setting some hooks on some of the biggest Walleyes that swim in Northeastern Ontario.
During these high water temperatures, I read some years ago that a Walleye needs to eat more so I reached out to world-renowned and Canadian Outdoor writer/angler Gord Pyzer to find out how much more they needed to eat.
Gord says that during this time a Walleye needs to eat three percent which is considerable more compared to the winter for instance when a Walleye "maintenance feeding" and is less than one percent.
As luck would have it, temperatures dropped and the winds changed from a week of south to south west winds to north winds last Sunday.
To make it a little tougher, the water surface temperatures dropped from 79 F to 72 F.
When air and water temperatures drop even in the summer like this, it's a cold front situation.
Walleye, like other fish, before any weather change go on a feeding spree before moving to a different location than they were in prior to the weather change. This, in turn, makes for a tougher bite.
Knowing this, local angler and NPS angler, Al Marin and I knew we would be fishing a little deeper for fewer fish.
After jumping from spot to spot and only catching a limit of nice eaters, I heard Al finally say, "Big fish."
As I looked over, I could see by the bend of his Wild Wild Black Carrot Stix Rod he had a good fish on.
After a good fight and several runs, I finally slide the net under her. I then took a couple of quick pictures of Al holding her before he tried to release her.
Unfortunately she didn't swim off right away. Here is a little tip guys when a big fish doesn't swim away right away. Put them in your live well, add some fish clip weights to the fish and leave your live well pump on.
After spending 5 minutes in the live well doing just that, Al then successfully released her as we watched her swim back to the depths.
You can see the entire fight and release in the video above.
This bite is only within a short timeframe so if you're looking to catch a true brute, now's the time to get out there before it's over.
Remember to release these big Walleye or any other big fish during this time so future generations will have a chance to experience the same thrill as you just did.
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