Friday, October 6, 2006

Mark Abel hooks a record walleye

Ketchum angler hits a 17-pound, 6-ounce jackpot at Salmon Dam


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Mark Abel shows off his record 17-pound, 6-ounce walleye Tuesday morning in Ketchum. Photo by David N. Seelig

Grace and Mark Abel have a perfect marriage, which includes Mark buying his wife an overpriced house in Hailey a few years ago so Grace could regularly visit yard sales.

It works like this:

Longtime local nurse Grace leaves notes on the icebox saying: "Called to the hospital—don't know when I'll be back."

Devoted night fisherman Mark leaves notes on the icebox, like: "Called to the lake—don't know when I'll be back."

"She married a surfer and a fisherman, two of the worst things that can happen to a woman," said Mark, who grew up in Manhattan Beach, Calif., but who has spent, as he said, 46 years in downtown Ketchum.

Mark came back with a big one Tuesday morning and it was certainly one of the best things that has happened in the long life of the semi-retired dry waller, who is rounding into Medicare age of 65 next July.

Abel and walleyes are both nocturnal creatures—Abel spending long nights from July to late November fishing for the white-eyed species that is the state fish of Minnesota.

"They're like bleeping crocodiles," said Abel about walleye, a fish that flourishes in cool, fresh water and has white eyes that reflect light, not unlike cats. So they see well in deep water and low light.

Sunday night at Salmon Dam on the way to Jackpot, Abel caught a state record 17-pound, six-ounce walleye that was 35 inches long with a 21-5 girth. He hasn't shut up since.

"I've been waiting for this for 25 years," said Abel about the record catch, which was about one pound and four ounces bigger than the 10-year-old record of 16-2 set by the notorious Catfish Bill from Kuna.

Catfish Bill is notorious in the lore of the Walleye Club LLD of southern Idaho, so Abel is glad to have beaten him.

"The club is a bunch of rednecks from southern Idaho," said Abel. "I'm called the Granola Kid because I'm from Ketchum, but there are five of us from here who fish there regularly so we're in their face. They know we're alive."

Apparently, Catfish Bill didn't properly mount his record catch at the Walleye Hall of Fame, commonly called the Hall of Shame, which is located at Helen's Rogerson store on the way to Salmon Creek Reservoir south of Twin Falls.

Helen is 87 and knows everything and then some, so Mark won't make that same mistake. Today, Friday, he is planning to have a friend take the record fish to a taxidermist in Utah.

"In two or three months Helen will have it on her wall," said Abel, who ascertained beforehand that the store operator will split the mounting cost.

This is a good time of year to be fishing at Salmon Dam.

Abel said: "I'm generally the only one down there now. Everybody's hunting so you don't have competition. There are only three trees at Salmon Dam, all Russian Olive, and at nighttime it's psychedelic. But I understand they heard about the walleye up in Challis, so it will be more crowded now."

Sunday night, Abel put in at Salmon Dam in his 11-foot, four-inch Boston Whaler boat. It's a small boat but it works just fine for Abel. "You get wetter than hell in the boat but it won't sink," he said.

"I fished for two hours and I was bored. That's the thing about walleye fishing. It's eight hours of boredom and five minutes of sheer terror. That's when it happened in about six feet of water. I didn't expect it."

Fishing for walleye is about scent, sound and sight, he said. He splashed an anisette liqueur scent on the lure—an obsolete, antique, larger lure that contains BB pellets that create a pleasing-to-the-walleye vibration sound.

The record fish was one of seven walleye over five pounds caught by Abel Sunday. He hit the jackpot about 10 p.m. Abel dragged the big fish for seven miles behind the idling boat to keep it alive so it wouldn't lose any weight. He tied up at the dock about 4:30 a.m. and went to sleep in his truck for about three hours.

By the time Helen opened the Rogerson store, which doubles as the post office, Abel was there for the official weigh-in.

And of course, he made a point to mention that he and his fishing buddies always put back the walleye they catch, since the good-tasting fish is generally not so tasty when they're over five pounds.

Twenty years ago, in October, Abel set an Anderson Dam record for landing a landlocked Chinook and he's not reluctant to talk about setting new records.

He was back out fishing at Salmon Dam Tuesday night and still talking about the walleye.

"I've fished hard for 25 years for this," he said.




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