Opener Excitement

OK I’m back from vacation and opener is this Saturday. Let the smack talk begin! I see there was plenty of rain and the river is up. Yahoo! I hope to see this forum get plenty busy as the week progresses.

Susuki, How many fish did you get while on vacation?

I think someone should call Washington County to ensure the gates will open on time this year . If you recall last year they opened an hour late…I think, because of the time change the clocks for the auto gate didn’t get changed

Lot’s ‘o people waiting and not happy!

GREAT, its all ready starting. Here I was trying to calm myself down for this weekend and there’s all ready a post for opener. O well, I can’t contain myself now
P.S. Brain you might have a couple new neighbors if Jeremys bid goes through today.

That’s right I forgot about the gate fiasco last year. I load elsewhere on opener to get an earlier start.
Fishing in Florida was good. I caught 3 bone fish and 1 barracuda flats fishing. Had plenty of chances on permit but they would not cooperate. Saw a few tarpon but didn’t get any takers on them either. My wife and I caught 3 mutton snappers fishing ship wrecks another day. 2 of the snappers went 20 lbs and they were fantastic eating. Seas were very rough and I am embarrased to say I got a little green. First time I ever got remotely sea sick. Didn’t hurl though!

Eric, if the bid does go through…like Kevin says…we could just close the road off with “gone fish’en” signs!

Susuki….Flats fishing is great isn’t it?! So, where’s the pictures?

We can close off the road with a gone fishin or a gone sign. We would have 3 houses and 4 fishing boats. Nothin wrong with that picture. Now we just need to put a pool table in the workshop above that 3-car garage.

Don’t forget the frig and cable! If those trees wouldn’t be in the way…we could watch Susuki with binoculars fishing on the Croix…when they start hitting…put down the beer and crowd him out with the 4 boats…catch a limit, pick up the beers and fry ’em up! I ‘spose we could invite him over too…I don’t think he would eat too much fish…but we would have to watch him with the beer

I forgot my camera on the flats day!!! Bone fish are neat. Man do they scream the drag. So did the cuda. My guide was so protective of the bones he cut the leader on one next to the boat rather than unhook when a shark followed it in.
I’ll post the photo of the snappers once I load them on the PC from the camera. Now back to the Croix. How is the water looking? Anyone been down there? Is it in the trees?
Gawd I hope soooooooo!!!!!!!!! Just ordered a flat of crawlers. They should be here by Wed. Leaders tied. Can’t wait.

You are correct sir. You better keep an eye on me around the beers. Just ask Sandbar.
Looking forward to meeting everyone on the water. That way I’ll know who I can drift into rather than steer around. Tie on the bumpers…..

The water is up a little bit, not much though. The rain forcasted for Wednesday should help us out a bit. The water is still pretty cold, so don’t forget to bring the minnows this year, as apposed to years past.

I plan on hitting the Hudson area until 6:30am then head north, were i plan to catch all my fish. Don’t be suprised if this year is slow than the past.

I can live with it being slow this weekend. It’s only the beginning. The next couple of months will be great. Get out after work a couple days a week, fish weekends, etc. I’ll be working closely with the guys on this board to try and avoid the “grass is greener” syndrome for all of us. So much water, so little time.

Mike,
Are you planning to headout anytime soon before opener. It would nice to know if what the water temp is and if there is any fish in the hudson area YET. Let me know, might be worth heading out for a hour or so this week.

I’ll let you know. I’m in the process of catching up at work and home chores. I’ll likely head out crappie fishing one night this week but probably won’t use the boat so I may not get temperature but if the crappies are snapping shallow it’s a good bet the walleye will be hitting this weekend. Look for a PM from me.

Oh yea. Here it comes. Looking forward to some long linging on the upper streches of the river. Started looking around for some new stick baits today. Will need to get the gear ready in anouther day or two. Will most likely hit the river once this week to check temps again and look for some white bass.
Looks like I have a open seat for opener. Let me know if interisted.
Brian you up for a trip sometime this week? Sometime meaning wensday. Morning.

Temps in Afton this morning were 52 to 54.

I can’t make it Wed. Mike. My local city council member and a out of towner are hinting that the pile of dirt in my front yard has been there too long. I thought you had to let it cure for a year?

Has, I’m not going to say your wrong…BUT, I think it’s going to be a great opener this year.

Please referance my MUG shot….

B

Susuki…almost forgot…where are you fishing opening? Prescot?

Also, I forgot what kind of motor your running…in case I run into you…

Made it out tonight in the Hudson area. Caught some whites and saw a few crappie caught off of docks. The waters up and a little muddy, but still not in the trees. Water temp was 48 so bring those minnows!

Lindy

Lindy………… was that you in that Alumacraft working the rip rap along the dike? Mo-Fishin-N-Huntin and I were the guys on the dock chasing the crappies.

We had to wait for a decent bite window to open up but when it did, the action got fairly regular……….. for about 20 minutes! None the less, it was a good 20 minutes! “Mo” had a nice one spit the hook at the surface but the bulk of our catch was right at 9″ and all males. I took 5 home for dad and I to share as table fare.

If the water would come up another 5-10 degrees the crappie bite will become much more aggressive. I’m a little curious about the females too………..catching all males last night……….just wondering what it means? Maybe nothing………….. maybe something…………

Any ideas? Far too early and cold to think spawn…………

Ken, a little windy yesterday?

Typically the males come into the shallow first to make a nest, then the females come in to lay the eggs.

Monday morning the water in Afton was 52 to 54. I would have thought it to be warmer in the marina area?

Brian-I’ll be by the Kinnie on Sat with Sanbar. He has a Crestliner with a 140 and 9 Suzuki. I will be out in my boat Sun which is a green Lund Prosport with 115 and 9 Suzuki. Both of my motors are gray. Only setup like it. Not sure where I’ll be Sun. I’m going to see how it goes down south on Sat. If slow I may head north on Sun. Weatherman shows Sunday getting colder so we’ll have that to work against.

Sanbar???? How about Sandbar? Must be a little early for spelling Suzuki??? Brian, you’ll be able to recognize Suzuki netting all my fish and fetching the cold ones!!

Hey Suzuki, don’t forget to bring some cold ones!!

I’ll need some for my boat, so when you see a big warrior cutting ya off(jk) through a COUPLE cold ones this way.

Has, I’ll find a couple extra Busch lites for ya!

FYI – if you have a marine radio…we all monitor HAS’s secret channel…69….opps! Sorry HAS, for letting the cat out of the bag….

Working off of one channel is great…we all call Has when we are out of beer and he brings it to us…for a nominal charge….

Sandbar,
In case you haven’t heard i’m a college SENIOR and Busch Lite is one of my top choices for beer . When i’m running low on cash, which seems to be more often than not .

Has,

I figured ripping on Busch Lite would offend someone!

Sorry…..Just not my favorite brand. Suzuki likes to bring some “Labats blues” with him, maybe he’ll part with a couple. The way the weather report is changing, hot chocolate and shnaaps may be the ticket. O.K….maybe just the shnaaps…

Sandbar

Brink-here’s that Florida fish shot you requested. Mutton Snapper. The biggest was 20 lbs.

Those are some really nice size muttons! How far out were you when you got into those? I get down into the keys about once a year, and we anchor over a reef about 6 miles out, and don’t get anything near that size.

Our captain said it was rare to see one that size let alone 2. We were fishing wrecks. Not sure how far out. Several miles. Could still see bridges in distance. Gulf side of Marathon Key.