During my manual labor years in high school, walking soybean fields and pulling weeds for five bucks an hour wasn't something I woke up in the mornings looking forward to with anticipation. But it was pretty good money back in its day, and was easier work than tossing hay bales or shingling roofs for $4.25 an hour.

I remember looking forward to the allotted morning and afternoon fifteen-minute breaks. And the noon break was the highlight of the workday--with the exception of one bean field job. Daily, the blessed farmer's wife made our soybean-field-walking crew a free hot meal. Like it was yesterday, I remember the first meal she served: two hamburgers, one baked potato, and pork and beans. Yum.

I also recall the second meal on her menu--and every meal after that for about four weeks: two burgers, a baked potato, and some pork and beans. It didn't take long, either, before we squeezed the last drop out of her only bottle of ketchup--never to be replaced. I suppose we ate dry naked burgers for a week or more before my buddy Otis started smuggling single packs of ketchup from the local fast-food joint into the farm house. Fearing he would insult the farmer's wife if she caught him squeezing a single pack on his burger, watching him try to sneak some ketchup on his burger was hilarious. Day after day, week after week, eating plain dry burgers, potatoes, and pork and beans took the fun right out of the noon break.

Too much of one thing may cause you to burn out, and if you don't add a little extra flavor, things sometimes get a bit dry. The same thing can happen to even the most obsessed walleye angler if you don't mix it up a little, try new things, or even take a break once in a while.

Pros fishing the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) must be pretty good anglers to win so much money tournament fishing against a bunch of other great walleye anglers. And the only way to get really good is to spend time on the water mastering presentations and learning to recognize certain conditions so you can chose which presentation works the best. Even so, Ron Seelhoff, the PWT all-time money-winning pro (close to a half-million dollars) knows how to monitor the time he spends walleye fishing in order to maintain his burning passion and desire to catch walleyes.

Seelhoff's a great walleye angler, and he loves spending time on the water chasing walleyes--but not all of his time. Once he even admitted--and said he wouldn't admit it again due to his big-shot walleye angler status--that he likes to sneak down to his local river to catch giant flathead catfish in fall.

"One main reason I don't guide people walleye fishing is so I can keep that inner-drive burning during tournaments. I've seen guides who also fish as pros, and some of them seem to lack that extra edge it takes to be consistently good. Those boys who guide and fish tournaments spend an incredible amount of mandatory time on the water, and I think there's a tendency to lose the drive to be out there fishing as hard as you need to fish competitively. Oh, a few guys can do it, but I know I couldn't.

"I love to fish walleyes, and I spend a lot of time recreational fishing for them, but I'm aware that too much of any one thing can get monotonous, and everyone is subject to losing his edge, even with things you're passionate about doing. And I don't ever want to lose my edge as a walleye angler--it's just not something that fits into the pro fishing business formula. So I monitor the amount of time I spend chasing those walleyes I love, which helps me keep my edge."

To ensure a lifetime of loving to fish, possibly living to fish, fish how and when you want to all the time. You may find yourself having a hoot of a time all the time catching those walleyes we all love so much. But if you need the occasional break--pass the ketchup. There are always other species to provide a pleasant break, and you'll savor walleyes even more when you get back to the business of catching them.

Fishing fun for everyone.