Behind the Badge - A Good Day of Fishing Gone Sideways
A Good Day of Fishing Gone Sideways
District Game Warden Drew Johnson
A few years back, I was working Devils Lake when I noticed quite a few anglers fishing from one of the many bridges along the lake. Since the walleye bite had been good, I decided to set up a short distance away to observe the fishing activity. It didn’t take long and I began watching anglers catch what appeared to be nice-sized walleyes.
At one point, I watched an angler catch a walleye that seemed to be on the smaller side, but still respectable. The angler spent quite a bit of time attempting to unhook the fish and finally succeeded after a couple of minutes. For the next few minutes, the angler attempted to release it but wasn’t having any luck.
Then a group of pelicans appeared and were in the process of swimming by.
The angler then stood up with the walleye in hand and glanced at the other nearby anglers to see if any of them were looking. When the coast was clear, the angler threw the walleye in the direction of the pelicans. One of the big birds immediately grabbed the walleye and down the hatch it went.
The crazy part was the angler lost footing on the rocks while in the throwing motion and fell in the lake. The angler completely disappeared in the water but came back up shortly after and was able to climb back up onto the rocks.
The angler then collected everything, including a stringer of three walleyes, and began walking in the direction of the parked vehicles.
I left my location to meet the angler to see if they were alright and to check their fishing license. Before I was able to get a word out the soaking-wet angler told me everything that I had witnessed.
The angler was really upset and stated that they wished they would’ve just kept the walleye. I informed the angler that I witnessed the whole event and agreed that the walleye should’ve been kept.
The bad part for the angler is when I asked for a fishing license, I learned that the angler’s phone was ruined as it was in a pocket and went for a plunge as well. I ran the angler in our licensing system and confirmed a valid license.
After clearing the check, I said to myself, “Now that’s not something you see every day!”