Consulting engagements and walleyes...what do they have in common?
Kevin Kelly 07/07/2015
2 Minutes

One thing I have learned in the IT consulting world is that not every customer is the same. Adapting to their needs becomes a requirement for a successful engagement.  

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take a successful engagement and just place it in the next engagement and it just works flawlessly?  As we know it just doesn't work that way.  The same holds true to my favorite past time; chasing Minnesota’s most sought-after fish, the Walleye.  Every time you leave the boat ramp, you need to adapt to the many variables on that particular day on that particular lake.   What was successful yesterday may not be successful today.  There are just so many variables to consider: Weather, wind, water temperature, type of lake, structure, lure color, live bait, artificial bait, boat speed, boat control and there are many others.   But just like each engagement, adapting is the key to success.

One of my favorite walleye techniques is snap jigging spottail shiner minnows on light short shank jigs in the spring.  This technique is deadly when presented correctly during the spottail shiner run.  Trolling .8 to 1.2 miles per hour in 4 – 10 feet of water away from the boat traffic will produce fish when other techniques just don’t work.  The snapping and flash of the shiner causes a reaction bite that walleyes can’t refuse. 

On one particular outing this spring, after trolling many of our favorite shallow water spots using this technique, the fish just didn’t seem to be there.  Coming up with a different plan was important - what worked yesterday, just wasn’t working today.   Naturally, let’s go deeper was our first thought.  Deeper water techniques using heavier jigs or heavier weighted lindy rigs on the break lines from 15 to 30 feet would work.   There was no way we could use very light jigs with our snap jigging techniques in this deep of water as the bait just wouldn’t get down to those depths.  Wrong!  The walleyes wanted this type of natural technique and they didn’t want the heavier presentation. We slowed the boat way down, but didn’t change our technique and it paid off.  80 walleyes later - most 19 to 28 inches - and running out of spottail shiner minnows, we called it a day.  

Understanding that not every fishing excursion or every engagement will be the same and what was successful before may not be successful again keeps things challenging in the walleye world and the consulting world.  Every time out on the water is like every engagement... you learn something new. Adapting to the ever changing variables can contribute to success.

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