Vermilion just doesnt seem that great anymore. The size is up, but the numbers have been way down (at least for us). 5-6 of us are willing to go anywhere in the state, any size water, but want a good early season walleye lake for the week after the opener.
We are leaning, a little, toward Leech.
Any suggestions?
Leech would be as good as any if you want to fish big water.
With this crap winter though, who knows about ice out and what water temps will be at the time, etc.
Big Stone had a hot eye bite last year early in the year.
There are so many good lakes in the state. Look for shallowish prairie types with good numbers of eyes that warm up fast. They generally open better than most.
Leech/Winni area is a no brainer. Both are great early lakes along with if the wind blows there are plenty of 400-2500 acre lakes within a half hour of there that hold eyes’…RR
our crew did our first Opener in South Dakota, seems kind of sacrilegious after doing the MN Opener forever. We even purchased land off of Mille Lacs about a mile so we had the perfect Opening Weekend get away. If I were a betting man, I’d say we do the SD trip again, but SD never closes. We were in the same bay where James and Will did an ice fishing show on Francis Case. I do like Winni over Opener, unless your fishing in a snow squall.
Otter Tail can be lights out if we have a somewhat ‘average’ Spring. Even with the late Spring last year, the weekend after opener was pretty darn good!
Hands down lotw/rainy river late ice means river and 4mile like last year, early spring move out into the lake more.
Trev, my college roommate was from Perham and we fished Otter Tail a lot years ago, but it was always June-Aug on the 18-30′ reefs and humps.
What is the spring pattern out there? Creek mouths and shallow structure?
Shallow water on any sand/gravel flat will hold fish, some more than others. The small creek inlets are good bets as are the inlet and outlet of the OT river, but they get hit pretty hard. Jigs or lindy’s and spot tail shiners.
I’ve never experienced an opener like Red Lake as far as numbers of decent fish. And that’s many years in a row, regardless of weather. We always get our fish. I wouldn’t walleye fish Winnie if you paid me.
We were thinking about URL too. I know the fish are there, but when driving by, it looks like a giant pond in a field. Are there decent accomdations? Do you feel like you are in the woods?
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We were thinking about URL too. I know the fish are there, but when driving by, it looks like a giant pond in a field. Are there decent accomdations? Do you feel like you are in the woods?
If Mille Lacs is a bowl, then Red is a saucer. The thing is only 12 feet deep in most area’s. You have the feeling of being alone in the woods because you are!! Nothing except resorts around there.
They say the Walleye fishing is good, but there are HUGE Pike in there if that turns you on.
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We were thinking about URL too. I know the fish are there, but when driving by, it looks like a giant pond in a field. Are there decent accomdations? Do you feel like you are in the woods?
You do feel like you are out there. The vastness and wild shoreline are as cool as any big wild lake in the state. The area is Solid forest and swamp. No rocky shoreline with cliffs but its out there. I cant help you with accommodations. We stay at a friends cabin an hour away.
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