We’ve all heard the line, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Easier said than done! The world is always telling you what you should be doing. It’s hard to have the clarity of vision to have your dream and the wherewithal to continue to chase it when things get tough. Harder still to make that choice later in life.
Grant McAllister had a dream. Six years ago he left the insurance brokerage he owned to become a fishing guide and chase the dream of big walleye. He may have just realized his dream.
“In 2008 I owned an insurance brokerage firm in Toronto, Ontario, went through a transition in life, and decided I was going to pursue my dream,” says McAllister. “I was sick and tired of regrets. I hatched the idea of starting a guide company on the Bay of Quinte and we were on the water 200 to 250 days a year between open and hard water. That taught me a lot. Since, I’ve made it my life mission to find and catch big walleyes.”
On Thursday, January 9th, 2014, McAllister was on the ice at 6:30 a.m. with good friends Keith Mallette, Rob Rizzuto, and Cezar Spirala, owner of Springwood Cottages & Resort, “in hopes of keeping up with what seemed to be a good bite over the last couple of days.”
“We were on the eastern end of the Bay of Quinte fishing one of my big-fish spots, set up over 29 feet. Within five minutes of set up, the first of many loud yells filled the air, ‘Fish on!’ My Marcum LX9 lit up like a Christmas tree and the fish were on fire. By 11:30 a.m. we had landed 19 and missed a bunch more. My PK Spoon looked liked it had been through a war,” says McAllister.
He says the bite then slowed but he knew that fish would start moving through again around 1 pm.
Photos: Outdoor Life
