First Opener On URL

So I’ve been almost strictly a bass guy for 20 years. Started getting the walleye itch a couple years ago, sold the bass boat last summer and bought a 18′ tiller last fall. So I need to start expanding the walleye arsenal.

To get specific, my first real trip this year will be opener on Upper Red Lake. What should I be stocking up with?

I’m good to go on rods. I’ve got a decent supply of lindy rig stuff, some basic Northland Fireball jigs, and a couple Rapala Original Floaters.

When I go to look at walleye tackle options, they’re so numerous my head starts to spin, and I don’t know where to start. So what should I count on using on URL at opener time? That’ll be a good start for me.

Thanks.

Handful of jigs and shiner or fathead minnows. Jigs 1/16 to 1/2 oz deppending on the weather . Color of jigs bright and also gold or silver. I also like small rattling crank baits either silver, gold, fire tiger or red in color.

There’s the thing – there’s so many different jig options. That’s why I don’t know what to get. What are the hot jigs to get?

Get a handful of plain cheap lead heads 1/8 and 1/4 ounce(and plan on using the 1/8 only). Bring a bucket of minnows and a good bump board for measuring fish. No need to overthink it at all, as URL is not deep, or structure laden. The water is murky, the fish are plentiful, and they should be plentiful along the SE, E, and NE shorelines in 4-6 fow. If the wind is so bad that you can’t keep contact in those depths, you probably wont be out on the lake anyway….. Bring a good anchor and use it when you find a bunch.

Don’t over think it. It is simple.

Imo Vmc makes the best short shank walleye jigs and there Mooneye long shank jigs are pretty darn good as well. There’s also the H2O precision jigs which are great as well and available in tons of sizes.

Both have much better hooks than the Northland jigs. I’d stock up on mostly 1/8 and 1/4 oz, for colors I like to start with a two tone jig usually with some green or blue in it.

If they bite like they did on last years opening weekend anything you throw out will catch walleyes.

Can’t go wrong with a hand full of flicker shad size 5 and 7s.

jigfish.com

Buy some Knuckleball stand up jigs. Tip them with a twister tail and minnow (pre-spawn) half a crawler (post-spawn) or a leech (summer) and you’ll be set to win some tourneys. 1/4-3/8 oz seems to do the trick most of the time if there’s current otherwise the 1/16-1/8 oz work great for dragging.

Kenkatch long shank jigs in 1/16th and 1/8th should be all you will need for opener on Red.

The really fun thing about Red in May and first couple weeks of June is that you can really experiment with different walleye tactics and have success. its as easy as an anchor and a jig and minnow. bobber – works, cranks – works, spinners and crawlers/leeches – works, casting cranks – works, casting plastics – works, castign rip shads – works.

My boat looks like this: move with electric, catch fish, spot lock, 5 yr old throws bobber rig, 8 yr old throws bobber or jig’n’minnow, wife vertical jigs minnows, I throw whatever in the same spot.= FUN!

#5 shad raps. Take many colors. One will be hot. Trolling could be the best option if its rough. Plus you can locate them faster. I have been fishing Red opener almost every year (missed one because of ice) since it reopened and we slay them every time without exception. We always have to find them first then its 1.5 days of catching. Last year I think we fished about 3 hours with hardly anything and were getting worried then we found them.

What should we be using for meat? Shiners? Fatheads? Rainbows?

And where to get them? We’re staying at Royal Shooks South of Kelliher and going out of Rogers.

fishinfreaks wrote:

What should we be using for meat? Shiners? Fatheads? Rainbows?

And where to get them? We’re staying at Royal Shooks South of Kelliher and going out of Rogers.

Basically you get minnows that are available. Everybody wants spot tails but they are usually in very short supply if any at all. The bait store next to your motel is your best bet. That’s where we got all our bait last year but we also have another place on the way that we check. Way too far away for you. Dont forget plastics. We catch a lot of fish on plastics when jigging.

2.5 more days and counting….

No kidding!!!!!!!!

Can’t wait

jealous of you boys. I have to wait 16 more days before my week at Red starts. Enjoy the weekend.

No report = no fish?

Worst opener i have had there. Weather was awful. In a day and a half 3 of us caught about 30 fish. Years past we would get close to 100 on a day.

Water is extremely low.

Matt

Well, the weather made it a tough weekend. The water temp was down close to 10 degrees, the wind from the north really stirred up the water, and it was cold and wet. Our four boats caught about 70 on the weekend for 8 guys. Most we talked to had similar results. Some friends of our were staying for the week, and it only turned on for a brief time Tuesday evening when the sun came out and the winds died down.

There were two boats that were fishing in and around the floatilla we were in that somehow had the fish dialed in. For every fish we caught, I swear they caught five. I was chatting things up with them and getting tips. Ultimately the guy finally said, “it must be the fishermen and not the baits that catch the fish.” I swear he was right, because we were throwing exactly the same jigs and shiners in exactly the same spots as them. They’d even come right in behind us and catch ’em. Dangit.

Same thing as usual for me: “Shoulda’ been here last year.”

Slowest we have seen since we started going there in 2006. We got our limits Sat but not a lot past that. Sun our boat opted for another lake in the region and got a nice mixed bad of walleye (5), northern(3) and perch(2) even thought the weather was bad. Threw back a fair number of slot fish and big smallies too. Funny thing, with all those shiners available we found rainbows to often work better. The rainbows up there looked like exotic fish with lots of vivid color including yellow.

you guys have any info on Morts access on the south side. Were bigger boats getting out from there?

Is there a preferred time for Red on the soft water? I’ve always gone in the winter and obviously early ice is much preferred then.

BigWerm – Right now thru mid June is great! But Red can be very funny with the weather conditions. Big winds from the west or north west for a couple of days really messes with these fish (mix in cold front and even slower aka this opener). They will be on the first breaklines until water reaches the 70 degrees mark or so. A shallow bowl with sand and muck bottom stirs up and throws the fish off some. Still decent fishing but not by Red standards. When you get calm conditions or low south winds and sunshine this time of year you have incredible fishing. First month of Ice fishing is also best IMO.

The only thing that keeps your boat (assuming a couple guys) from catching a hundred walleyes in a day this time of year is MA NATURE. of course that is a BIG thing.

Gotcha, might have to make a run up there this spring yet, I just can’t pass up a good jig bite!!!

Joe, I launched a 620T out of Morts on opener. Extremely shallow but it’s possible. Todd has some wooden poles stuck in the sand you can use to turn the boat around. That was the biggest problem, turning the boat around in there.

The best fishing for us was trolling shallow crank baits in 4-5 feet of water. Shallow Shad Rap in perch color produced the most fish. Still, a slow year compared to last.

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