KAMO Adventures looks out for wounded vets

Submitted photo/ Alan Hill with a white bass he hooked on the annual KAMO Adventures fishing trip to Stockton Lake. His dog wasn't interested in the catch.

Nevada Daily Mail

"That was the best fishing trip I have ever had, everything went nearly perfect including the weather," said Alan Hill, a veteran from the Iraq war, who was wounded in 2007 after his truck convey was hit.

KAMO Adventures, who supports wounded veterans by taking them on hunting and fishing trips here to the Ozarks, organized their second fishing adventure for several veterans on Stockton Lake. Assisted by local guides, Les Jarman and Bob Bennett, the wounded warriors hit the lake and caught lots of fish.

Submitted photo/ Les Jarman with a walleye he caught while trolling a crank bait lure.

KAMO Adventures also schedules several deer and turkey hunting trips to the Ozarks. The deer hunt this fall is scheduled for Nov. 20-23, the weekend before Thanksgiving. It will be held near Jericho Springs.

Bill Eckert, who started KAMO Adventures, said, "We enjoy getting these veterans out. These events gives us a chance to really know these wounded warriors. They open up and tell their story. They need to be in a safe, comfortable environment. When disabled veterans get with each other, they open up and its good for all of them. This year's fishing trip worked out great. We all went home happy."

Hill said," The action was fast, we caught lots of white bass walleye and a four pound largemouth bass. There wasn't much time between strikes all morning. When we got back to the dock, it took awhile just to gather all the fish from the live well. We had plenty of fish for a fish fry."

For more information on the KAMO program, visit www.kamoadventures.com

Les Jarman, a guide at Stockton ever since the lake started forming back in 1969., said, " It was good to see Alan catch fish and really enjoy his time on the water." Jarman has taken many walleye including some in the 10 pound range. He said, "When summer turns into fall, the walleyes are suspended just below the surface near deep water. The reason the fish stay close to structure is that when the mood strikes them, they can hightail it straight across the water column to hunt down food. There's a lot of different tactics used to catch walleyes this time of the year, but trolling a crank bait is usually effective for me."

While fishing with with Alan Hill on the KAMO Adventures fishing trip, Jarman, who was guiding Hill looking for walleye, said, "Alan caught a bucket full of white bass, walleye and a big largemouth bass while trolling a crank bait." No wonder he said it was his best fishing trip ever.

There were other anglers in the same area. Most of them were using nightcrawlers for bait. They caught fish, but very few keepers. Jarman knew the other fishermen and told them, "If you want to put fish in your livewell, you better start trolling."

Jarman made a believer out of me from the very first time I fished with him. We started catching walleye in an area that most anglers would pass up. Last week we hit the water again in search of walleye and it didn't take long before we had caught and released 10 fish and kept one 19 inch fish for the table. Along the way, we also netted some healthy white bass.

Not only do you catch walleye while trolling,you might also catch other fish. On a recent trip to Bull Shoals, Dan King, Kansas City, caught six other species of fish while trolling for walleye. He said, " I caught both large and smallmouth bass, white bass, several big crappie , a bluegill and a drum. You never know what might hit when trolling."

One of the keys to catch walleye as summer turns into fall,is finding the fish in 18 to 20 feet of water. close to the river channel. When fishing for walleye in Minnesota with Al Linder, we found the walleye in water 18 feet deep. By trolling, it took less than two hours to catch our limits which included an 11 pound lunker. Linder said, "Walleye, unlike bass, don't travel far for bait, so by trolling, you take the bait to them."

Dan King admitted that he never thought much about trolling. He said, "I always thought it was more like taking a boat ride. I always cast when fishing. One day, while fishing Bull Shoals, my fishing friend, Jack Moore, said since we weren't catching fish, lets troll a crank bait. We did and started catching fish. Since then, especially at this time of the year, I troll a lot and catch fish."

If you are looking forward to catching more walleyes this fall, try trolling crank baits. You might be surprised at the results.