As Opening day is fastly approaching I can’t help but to get the Walleye Itch (Catchy) to drop the hammer on some the most beautiful walleyes in the state!! 
When fishing Rainy Lake over the opener timeframe here are a couple pointers for visitors to the area. Walleyes will likely be mostly spawned out, and with our rapidly depleting Ice sheet looks like we are going to be in great shape. Remember to concentrate efforts shallow to deep. Many Eyes like Pike will be up shallow feeding, and will migrate in numbers to first breaks from shoreline structures. This is a great time to focus energies on current breaks, shoreline points, and bays. For me it will be pitching precision jigs and minnows or plastics as light as the weather will allow. I also plan on pitching some of the new Perchie hair jigs which are ridiculously awesome looking!! I’ve literally took a couple swipes at them myself when removing them from the wrapper!! 
Remember as the water gradually warms up you can get more aggressive with your presentations, but when the water is cool keep it simple and slow. Yesterday the water temps ranged from 36 degrees in current areas to 48 degreees in some mud bottomed bays. Our water levels seem to be in great shape!! Should be a nice bonus this year for the opening day fisherman as the Big Pike will likely be prime for the pickings along with nice eater walleyes. I would suspect the eating size walleyes will make up the vast majority of the walleye catch with a few bruisers mixed in. Walleyes are spawning in areas as we speak. Remember though that complex fisheries like Rainy Lake has fish spawning at different timeframes, and DO NOT spawn all at once. This makes it worthwhile to focus energies on areas that have fish the most advanced in the spawn cycle for increased action. Crappies will be picked up on accident as the stage in many areas that you will be targeting walleyes. If you come across a pod of suspended hooks, and experience lots of light bites remember Crappies!!
As for the Pike remember to carefully handle the big girls. Decent chance you can land a 10lb plus fish over that time period. We have great numbers of BIG PIKE and BIG WALLEYES!! We certainly never take that for granted. The future of our fisheries continue to be in the anglers hands!! Great infomative sites like ours lead the way in stressing the importance of letting monsters get to be FREAKS!! CPR is our friend!! Nothing makes me smile more than watching another boat do it right!! At the Daze Camp we look forward to FREAK HUNTING with you again this year!! 
Last years biggest walleye taped at 32 inches, Biggest Pike 20lbs on the Beans!! We’ve already landed a 16.5 this season for crappies through the ice!! Rainy is PRIME boys….PRIME!! 
