DEER RIVER, Minn. _ Clearly, this was the place to be. Fourteen fishing boats trolled in close quarters on Bowstring Lake north of Deer River. Ours was one of them on this idyllic morning in early June.
A guy in the next boat wore a chartreuse T-shirt that read: "IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU'RE FISHING TOO CLOSE."
He had chosen the wrong day to wear it. At any given time, unapologetic anglers in two or three other boats probably could have read it.
All of us were trolling or jigging for a bunch of young walleyes that had been hanging out among the rocks and sand that stretched for about 300 yards in this part of the lake.
"They're all cut out of the same mold," said Grand Rapids fishing guide Reed Ylitalo. "All mostly between 13 and 15 inches."
We could have gone elsewhere to catch and release larger walleyes, but we were thinking that a fish fry that night would be good. Ylitalo knew we could probably accomplish that with these young and innocent Bowstring walleyes.
They were fairly eager biters, especially if you were enticing them with [th-ounce jigs and spottail shiner minnows. That's what Ylitalo, sole proprietor of Wings and Walleyes Guide Service, had recommended based on his success the previous day.
