Where did everyone go for opener?

I stayed on Pool 4, of course, and split time between the river near Red Wing and Lake Pepin out on Maiden Rock. Big fish for the weekend was a 28″ walleye on Saturday.

I think it would be interesting to hear where everyone else fished over the weekend….

I was on the river (upper pool 4) as well this Sunday but never made it to the lake. Biggest walleye went 25″ and had another 27″-28″ eye in the net to only have it bounce back out ……..but that’s a fish story for another time.

I spent Sunday dragging jigs again and had a fair day. My customers and I surpassed a 2 man lmit but not gang busters by any means. Lot’s and lot’s of short bites . Crawlers were good for my boat along with orange or blue jig heads.

Fished Leech on Saturday…terrible…the worst opener in 12 years on the lake for me…never saw an eye caught on Saturday…went to Winnie on Sunday…largest walleye I caught was 24 1/2…many smaller…used shiners to catch the majority of the fish….ran low on the shiners and used a rainbow to catch the largest walleye….you just never know!

Fished Mille Lacs. Slow bite, but fish where caught. Water temp and air temp was a bit on the chilly side. Fishing should heat up in a week or two if we get that sun out with warmer temps.

Mississippi river in Aitkin county for me. It was nice to be able to pull up late to the landing on opening day and still only have 3 rigs parked there. And to think Millelacs is only 15 minutes away.
The eyes where a little slow for us but still managed a dozen. The smallies where the most active fish.

Went to Gull Lake,
End up catching about 20 northerns and 2 walleye. northerns where all between 25-36 inches, nothing too major.
Walleyes where 25 and 29.5. I will get the picture of it on here soon.

great opener for me , can’t wait for the bass opener though.

I went over to Big Stone. Didn’t catch a walleye.

Gator hunter

upper pool 4 not a bad day drifting crawlers on jigs.

I did something different this year. Instead of fishing the Mississipi River or a big lake I fished Lake Zumbro. Even though it is crowded on weekends it is not as packed and crazy as bigger bodies of water around the opener. Much more relaxing. Alot of times I think we overlook the lakes and rivers close to home for that big lake farther away. This year I think I’m going to focus on and appreciate the bodies of water that are handy to fish multispecies on and get back to some good o’l basic fishing. And theres always the chance of tying into a nice northern or musky. Thanks, Bill

Went to the west side of Mille Lacs and didn’t have too much luck dragging rigs. We did manage enough fish to fry a few up though. Good times with good friends Hopefully the bite will get better with some warmer weather.

Went to Maple Lake, south of Alexandria. Pretty slow for us compared to most openers. Water temp 55 degrees on Friday, 52 on Sunday after the big blow and rain on Saturday. The walleyes had clearly shifted out of the shallows. Found most of our fish along the 1st drop off on jigs and minnows. A couple of late night flurrys accounted for many of the fish that we brought to the net, including the big fish of the weekend (20″). We had really nice action on shallow sunnies and aggressive pike, however, which made up for the marginal walleye success.

I usually take a day or more off and drive back and forth between Mille Lacs and Woman Lake. Last year I began sticking strictly with Woman Lake for opener and I stayed put there this year as well. I had a wonderful walleye opener last year but had a much tougher go at it this year. Water temps were about 5 degrees warmer last year and I think those five degrees are crucial to my pattern. I have a baby due on the 24th but I’m rubbing my temples trying to find a way to get up there for memorial day. Despite the off bite on walleyes (although we did catch a few keepers and even two that were bigger than my ‘keeper range’), we lucked out and managed to hit the slab crappies. We limited out on them two days in a row.

WENT TO NORTH LONG LAKE NEAR BRAINERD ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY. CAUGHT A FEW EATERS ON SUNDAY IN 14 TO 19.5 RANGE. MONDAY CAUGHT BETWEEN 25 AND 30 WALLEYES FROM 12 TO 15 INCHES JUST MYSELF. THEY REALLY TURNED ON AND MANAGED A LIMIT OF 14 INCHERS FOR THE TABLE FOR MY PARTNER AND MYSELF.

i did not fish at all on opener. I stayed and worked about 28 hours in them 2 days. that is ok, heading out next weekend for a fun morning in the sun, hopefully!!!! wish i could have been either pool 4 or coon lake.

shane

I fished West Battle Lake and some samller lakes in the area. Managed 8 walleye between the two of us, 14-18 inches. Pitchin’ jigs with fathead minnows worked best. Fish were pretty shallow with the clouds being thick, sometimes only 4 feet. Going back on Thursday night!