Think I need to go back to fishing school?

Was up in the Nisswa area for the holiday. Got to wet a line for the first time this season. Been way too long since I had a walleye in the pan so that was the exclusive target.

Some friends in the area asked me to join them Sunday morning 7am on Pelican. We had two boats and four anglers. Water temps 54-55 degrees. Light to moderate south wind and sunny. Stayed out until about noon.

Very slow, we had one pike between both boats. Almost no bites either. We marked some fish in 15fow and some in 22fow but couldn’t get them to trigger. Jig or Lindy with a minnow were the presentations.

One caveat is that this was the first time any of us had ever fished this lake.

Sunday afternoon dad and I went out on Upper Gull. Water temps 65 degrees. Light to moderate south wind. Mostly cloudy for the 2.5 hours we were out.

We fished the shoreline break. Since we never marked anything on or down the break we tried to stay in 8-9 fow over emerging weeds. Lindy and a jig with minnows again. Two small pike and one bit off is all we had to show for our efforts.

Monday dad and I went back to upper gull from 11am-1pm. Trolled a couple cranks over the emerging weeds. It was hot, sunny, and calm. Meaning no fish but some good scenery from the holiday boaters

Company was good, weather was great, but the results speak for themselves. Despite reports that no one was catching walleye, maybe I need go back to walleye school

Did see a ton of people crappie fishing. Probably would have been the wiser choice but never saw any of them have success. Except the guy who was handlining and retrieved his rod from the drink.

I had a tough go at it as well for the eyes, just east of Pine river. The winter took its toll on the weeds and killed many of them, probably the same in your area. Key was to find the greenest weeds possible, preferably cabbage and hit the deep weed lines with jigs or cranks. Our lake just boomed with the snake northerns, really the worst I’ve seen anywhere, to a point the kids got sick of catching them, as well as dad. With so much competition from those pesky fish sun up/down and night was key. Stick with it man the pan will get filled eventually. Don’t be afraid to move from the warmer water if there is too much competition, the eyes will pack up and setup shop elsewhere even against textbook. My LOD this weekend.