Twin Bear Lake, Wisconsin

1962

In the summer of 1962, after graduating High School, Joe Wakeman went on a fishing expedition to Twin Bear Lake, Wisconsin with Joe Hodge and his family. Joe Hodge was a dedicated Walleye-Man. Joe Wakeman and Kenny Hodge took the honors for the largest walleyes of the trip, 6.5 and 7 pounders. Joe Wakeman caught his monster walleye while casting a crankbait in the submerged weedbeds in the middle of the night. Nothing compares to the sight of a walleye darting away from the beam of your flashlight in the northern Wisconsin dark.

    Kenny, about 5 years old, caught his while bluegill fishing at the boatdock in the middle of the day. All of the walleye hunters speculated that he must have been cranking in a bluegill and the walleye decided to hit it. Whether true or not, it made them feel better to think of it that way. The trip was filled with 2 to 4 pound walleyes, slab crappies, and a 38 inch Northern Pike.

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