Camille and Matthew Baptiste of West Sunbury show off a 28-inch walleye caught during their first Lake Erie fishing trip.

For many years, I have enjoyed fishing on the Great Lakes for world class walleye, smallmouth bass, perch, salmon and trout.

During these adventures, I would be part of a group of guys and we would charter a Great Lakes Captain that knew his way around the waters of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan.

Throughout the years, guys lost the passion, became involved in other things, had poor health or some other excuse for not signing on for our annual fishing excursions. I still found the opportunity to cruise the lakes to be a favorite pastime that I didn't want to miss.

Like any adventure, it's always good to share the experiences with others and in doing so you can make many good memories.

This past week I had two calls that were on two different directions of what I wanted to hear: One was that my nephew was cancelling out of our annual trip due to a new job, the other was from my number one Charter Captain Walt Ermansons telling me that walleye were booming in the waters of Lake Erie.

According to Captain Walt, the walleye population was in a boom period and fishing was prime. This was bitter sweet for me to hear due to my regular crew of anglers calling off their fishing plans.

I am not a quitter and I was going to take care of my fishing charter with a new plan that I referred to as the youth movement. With a few minutes of discussion, I had cleared with their parents' permission for three different youths to try out their first Lake Erie fishing experience. They ranged from age 12 to 17, two boys and one girl.

I took the time to explain the ins and outs of the walleye fishing experience and what they could expect. They had plenty of questions and the youngest boy Mathew, who was 12, was worried about a big fish pulling him into the lake.

With a laugh, I assured him that I would be there with him the whole time and that I would hang on to him!

Camille, his older sister, was excited as well and wanted to do well as this was her first trip out on Lake Erie as well. I have known these two from their first birthdays and we were pleased to share our fishing adventure with them.

Without too much problem, we pulled into the River Marina in Ashtabula at our appointed time of 4:30 a.m. and met our boat, The Trophy.

The kids were really excited and liked the whole set up of the drawbridge opening up, the US Coast Guard Station, the Lighthouse and then open waters in front of us. In the pre-dawn, we all helped Captain Walt set up his gear for the day's fishing.

We were in about 55 to 60 feet of water depth and would be trolling spoons out to a northern course toward Canada. We were only a half hour out of the harbor when the first fish of the day hit. Mathew took charge of the rod and in his excitement and inexperience lost our first fish as it approached the landing net.

In a few minutes, he had a second and then third chance to land a fish … no luck! About this time, I told him we better let you calm down and give your sister a chance at landing a fish.

It wasn't long before Camille had a hit on a rod and she fought the fish into the waiting net … and we landed the first fish of the day a 20-inch walleye.

Mathew was really competitive about his sister catching the first fish and became very determined to land a bigger fish. It wasn't long after he announced his plan when the rod bent over and the thump of a heavy fish was taking out line.

He started reeling in the fish and everyone was giving him advice about how he was going about landing the fish. He looked over at me and I could tell that he was starting to tire and his hand was cramping with the strain of the heavy fish.

I helped him steady the rod and supported his hands, just keep reeling it in with a steady spin of the reel. After what seemed to be forever, the fish was coming into the net and it looked to be a whopper. The fish was in range of the net and I walked him backwards so that the fish would stay in the water until the last moment.

Captain Walt reached out and made a swoop with the net and landed the walleye safely. The fish was on the deck and Mathew was a proud angler, holding a 28-inch 9-pound walleye.

Of course, he looked over at his sister with a smile said that he couldn't wait until next year!

These kids definitely experienced Lake Erie at its very best!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle