Prior to the spring of every year, my wife and I begin the fun task of preparing for our annual fishing trip with friends and family to Rocky Shore Lodge in NW Ontario Canada.  This year was no different in the sense that months prior to the trip, we began purchasing lures and upgrading our equipment in preparation for what is by far one of our most highly anticipated adventures. In addition to preparing our gear, we begin watching educational programs and videos on the latest techniques for catching walleye. More importantly, the trash talking among trip attendees about who would catch the biggest walleye and retain the coveted John Labatt Biggest Walleye Trophy and bragging rights for the next year begins.

     Now, there is one angler in our group who is known for historically catching big walleye. This angler has a reputation for not only catching the biggest walleye in our group but often times throughout the entire camp during the week of our trip. This year was no different because early on in the trip, this angler boated a nice 28 1/2" walleye, setting a difficult bar to be beat and more importantly, securing her position as the top place holder for our camp trophy, giving her bragging rights until next year's trip.

     Determined to dethrone her, my wife and I set out to a location on the lake known for producing big walleye.  Several nice fish were caught but none exceeded that 28 1/2" benchmark set early on in the week. That is until I dropped down a chartreuse Moon Eye Jig tipped with a minnow next to an old bridge piling in the lake.  I felt something heavy on the other end of the line, like a log. I set the hook on my light action rod and began fighting the behemoth on the other end of the line. As the fish came to the surface, I could see it was a very large walleye, one that appeared to be large enough to secure my position as first place holder for the camp trophy. My lovely wife and fishing partner, Lori, netted the large fish bringing it on board our vessel. Lori grabbed a measuring tape on the boat and measured the fish.  She loudly exclaimed the length of 29" for those fishing around us to hear. I was now in the lead as first place holder for camp trophy!!!

     Now, as anglers often do, I began bragging and trash talking about the gigantic walleye I had caught.  Word spread throughout camp about my catch, and I even went so far as to pose for a photo clutching the coveted camp trophy and sent it to my fellow anglers just to rub in the fact that I was now the leader and my catch would be hard to beat, likely securing my victory for Biggest Walleye of the Week!

     What happened next is sure to be a camp controversy for years to come! The day following my big catch, Lori and I were fishing and I boated a walleye that appeared to be in the acceptable slot size as an "eater" fish. I secured the tape measure previously used to measure my big catch just a day earlier. I extended the tape and noted the length of my catch to be 20", too big to keep.

     More importantly, I noticed something about our tape measure that caught my eye, something that was certain to cause suspicion and rumors throughout the camp - my tape measure appeared to begin at the 2" mark!!! I held the tape measure up to a Department of Conservation sticker adhered to the inside of my boat and my worst nightmare became realty. The tape measure I had used to measure my winning fish was 1 1/2" shorter than the sticker in the boat!!!

     I told my wife about my discovery. Her jaw dropped at the realization that my 29" walleye caught the day before, the one that secured my first place position for Biggest Walleye, was actually 27 1/2", one inch shorter than the previously noted first place holder.  I was in a pickle.  After considering my options and the grief I would catch should I come clean about this discrepancy, I did what any good fisherman would do - I threw the tape measure in the lake and my wife and I vowed to never speak of this incident again. Just kidding:)

     Once back at camp, I waited for the right moment when everyone in our group was present and told them of my discovery.  Jaws dropped, eyes went wide and rumors of the occurrence quickly spread throughout camp. Now, to put into perspective just how serious this announcement was, one angler in camp went so far as to inquire whether or not I had used this measuring tape to measure fish caught during past years. Thankfully I had not and have photographic evidence to prove it! Regardless, despite doing the right thing, suspicion had been cast and I will now have to claw my way back to restore my reputation as a respectable fisherman. What's worse is that I had to relinquish my crown to the Queen Angler of camp who gets bragging rights for the next year, an accolade I'm sure she won't let me soon forget.

     At the end of the day, in all seriousness, revealing my discovery of the short measuring tape and giving credit where credit was due was the right course of action to take and will allow me to sleep better at night.  But don't get too comfortable in your victory, Queen, I'm coming for the title next year!!! Until next time, tight lines and bent rods my friends.