I am surprised it is so slow yesterday and today. I figured there would be more posts.
So how did everyone do? No need to be specific about where you went, but South, Central and North might make your reply more interesting. I am guessing if the fish were pre-spawn, spawning or post spawn had a lot to do with success this weekend depending on the part of the state you fished.
I finished the bathroom floor yesterday. That was the closest to water I was all weekend.
On another note, Red Lund sent a photo of a Leather Carp he caught. Some very good under utilized fish experts have never seen one in MN before. Waiting for a reply from the DNR Montrose office.
Small 400 acre lake near Longville, Mn. yesterday…Went up to work on the boat and fished for 2 hours. A couple nice keeper walleye. 41 degree water. The bait stores in Remer didn’t have shiners yet (couldn’t get any from suppliers yet and they trap Leech) so I got a scoop of fats. When I got back to cabin I noticed that the majority of the fatheads were actually 2″-3″ suckers! Tried em’ on a jig and the walleyes nailed them!
Got 5. 21,20,18.5,18.25,16. Slow all over the place and had to work for these.
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Got 5. 21,20,18.5,18.25,16. Slow all over the place and had to work for these.
That’s how it was for us. Go to a spot, catch one pretty quick, then after an hour move to another spot and repeat.
Minnetonka from midnight to about 7am was dead sea for me. Tried outside weed line, inside, over the top, rigging, casting raps, sticks, twitch, fatheads, suckers, only fish was a nice bass came at sunrise. Marked some really big fish on sharper breaks from 20-30′ but couldn’t get em to go on anything, not sure what they were but thought I’d give em a try either way. Moon was beautiful though and loved being out there.
I snagged a carp 
Partner in the boat got a northern and a bowfin.
I put over 20hrs in this weekend without a single bite. 
Humbling 
Red lake was on fire once we found them sat.We limited sun in 30 min then c&c rest of the day. At times it was ridiculous. We used all kinds of tactics to make it interesting. Everything worked but minnows were best.
Weather was great.
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Got 5. 21,20,18.5,18.25,16. Slow all over the place and had to work for these.
That’s how it was for us. Go to a spot, catch one pretty quick, then after an hour move to another spot and repeat.
Ha, exactly like that. Took us just under 12 hours to do that and the wind to die off again before we threw in the towel.
Did very well shore fishing the midnight bite on opener, got about 20 eyes between 16-20. Lakes after the sun rose were quite a bit slower with water temps ranging from 38-42.5 across the warmest lake in the area, the eyes were mostly found in depths over 20 feet. Sunday the fishing picked up locally with plenty of nice eaters caught with some big post and pre-spawn females mixed in. A buddy grabbed a 26″ and 29″ back to back early Sunday morning. The fishing will just get better from here on out!
We didn’t spend much time chasing Walleyes. We didn’t mark much in the usual spots so we switched to Crappies which was also very slow till we found a spot about 50 yards long that was full of them and it was game on! We had a blast and caught many over 12″ that we put back. We kept five apiece (20) and probably caught close to 100 plus some bass and a few pike.
Had an absolute blast! Was great to see the kids and Ann laughing and just having a great time on the water.
These truly are the best times for us, something about being on the water!
Spent two days on Leech. Caught our limit of keepers on Saturday with about as many that were too big. Also my buddy caught a 41″ Muskie that was a blast to land on 6# mono. That was by far the biggest fish ever in my boat. Also was able to get my a Nephew out for his first walleye trip and he caught two fish on Sunday. His first was 14.5″ and his second was 22.5″. One for the frypan and one went back. 
Also was the first time for many many years we got a good sunburn on the opener. Forgot the suntan loation 
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I didn’t do it this year, but on opener, and whenever I fish for walleye, I like using small suckers, although I like them bigger than fathead sized. I think they are underrated as far as walleye bait goes.
Sucker minnows for walleyes 
I won’t say we smoked them by any means, but we did pretty well fishing Mille Lacs. Fishing husky jerks and bent lip Rapala SSRs (shallow shad rap) we picked up 16 ‘eyes from midnight until sunrise and then another 6 on Saturday evening before rain and approaching lightening chased us off the lake at 10:30. With the cold water the key was to slow way down and then slow down some more. I was only trolling at 0.8-1.0 mph using the electric and my friends in a boat next to us who couldn’t get their boat down below 1.4-1.5 mph stuggled. Running the exact same lure, distance behind the boat, and with me telling them every time we found a rock pile that was holding active fish they only managed one bite all night.
Upper Red Lake at the Big Bog Campground.
I have never seen anything like it, not even on Canadian fly in trips. No fishing in the river but just as it exits into the lake there is a deeper channel going out 100 yards or so before it gets shallow. Boats lined on both side of that channel pitching into the current. Fish after fish after fish, too many to keep track of. And they all were 15-21″. No problem getting a limit all 16-17″. Cannot keep above 17″ this time of year. Did not matter what you used. crawlers, minnows. plastic, it all worked. Out in the lake the bite was just a bit slower but could not get the under 17″ size. I suspect I caught a dozen on one spot and only one was a keeper. Best walleye fishing I have ever seen.
had a solid weekend at Leech lake. You did need to work for them and figure out what they liked for jig technique and weight of jig. got them on rainbows and shiners seemed better on rainbows. 25 eyes hit the boat Sat and 45 on Sun. biggest were two 27″ smallest a couple 14″ heres our 3 man limit on Sunday.
Had fantastic fishing on Saturday. Four guys and went through five scoops of fathead minnows in six hours. Fish ranged from 30 inches to 15 inches all walleyes, and one 18 pound pike
BSL well over 100 Walleyes caught. Nothing big but tons in the keeper slot.
Fish were a bonus but the friends, family, fish fry and tradition are what its all about.
Sunrise wasn’t too bad opener morning. I couldn’t have picked a better spot to be for the sunrise.
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Upper Red Lake at the Big Bog Campground.
I have never seen anything like it, not even on Canadian fly in trips. No fishing in the river but just as it exits into the lake there is a deeper channel going out 100 yards or so before it gets shallow. Boats lined on both side of that channel pitching into the current. Fish after fish after fish, too many to keep track of. And they all were 15-21″. No problem getting a limit all 16-17″. Cannot keep above 17″ this time of year. Did not matter what you used. crawlers, minnows. plastic, it all worked. Out in the lake the bite was just a bit slower but could not get the under 17″ size. I suspect I caught a dozen on one spot and only one was a keeper. Best walleye fishing I have ever seen.
I remember doing that trip once to a dirt cheap cabin on the Tamarac River a number of years ago. It was mind boggling. Here I never fished walleyes because dad never got more than a dozen a year from the lake we lived on. Then we go out to Upper Red and I am not catching them easier than bass and sunfish…but essentially the same way as bass and sunfish. Minnows, crawlers, cranks, Rat-L-Trap’s, Jigs with curlytail grubs. I even got some on a big spinnerbait I threw for Pike, and those legendary Red Lake Crappies were taking our fatheads under a bobber too! But boats farther than the eye can see and you basically are guaranteed a Walleye, Crappie, Pike or one of the millions of Sheephead there as well. I lost count at over 100 Walleyes in a 3 day weekend of fishing dawn to darn near midnight every day. I want to go do that again, good to hear that bite is still a possibility!
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