Opener Reports

I decided instead of throwing out right at midnight I would look South down the Jetty and see if anyone brought one in on their first cast. One guy was hooked up in a matter of seconds. I took that for a good sign. I got my first eye about 15 minutes later when I switched to a suspending jerkbait. I fished until 3:30AM and landed 7 fish. Three were in the 16-18″ range and four were 24-25″‘s. They wanted it slow. I had my X-Rap Shallow Shad get stuck in the rocks and a 24″ walleye freed it for me. I was quite grateful to that fish.

Trolled on the north end from midnight to 6 am. Landed 34. Nothing over 24” though.

Sat Night to Sun Morning the fish wanted a paddletail swimbait for most of the night and were more aggressive tonight. After the moon disappeared they were still going on an X-Rap Shad Shallow. I had the run of the North Jetty for most of the night. I ended up catching 19 and losing another 5 or 6 and I managed to get a keeper this trip; I caught 3 that qualified to be kept.

Plan on being back at it tonight.

We caught 19 fish on Saturday. A few scattered throughout the day and most came in the evening. Today we have 7 fish at this point, kinda slow with the full sunshine and lack of wind. It got hot out there! Heading back out tonight and optimistic for the evening bite.

We got 15 Saturday and 12 today (left the lake at 12:00) on slip bobbers. Biggest was just under 25”.

Heading up on Thursday. Excited to see what the reports are from opener weekend. Seems like there was a lot of diversity on presentation but the general consensus from what I am hearing/reading is that the are shallow.

Sunday night into Monday morning the fish weren’t quite as aggressive but were still taking swimbaits. A lot of short strikes which wasn’t an issue last night. I downsized to a 3.5″ swimbait and they took that better. I got 9 this time and lost 3 or 4 that I had hooked up. I called it night at 3AM when I very suddenly hit empty on the energy meter.

My folks caught 24 of them between 17-26 inches on Saturday from 8am – 3pm on the north end sand using lindy rigs. They said there were 4 foot rollers up there after about 10am.

We fished the west side Saturday morning from 8:30 till about 2. Had 33 in the boat. Fished the evening starting around 6:30. Bobbered up around 8. Put another 46 in the boat. Went back out Sunday morning about 8:30 again till 12:30. Put 21 in the boat. We had a ton of fun.

The sizes were unbelievably similar. We caught no slot fish, maybe seven or eight overs. We caught three 14″ers. Otherwise, they were all 19’s with a few 20’s. The joke all day was, “Oh this one feels bigger..must be about 19 1/4″er.” Or, “Oh this one is just a shaker/dink. Must be about 18 3/4″.”

We fished from 5:30-4pm on Saturday in the sand out by Eddy’s 17-20FOW and some rocks in Isle bay less then 5ft and picked up 15 with three being 25″-26″ the rest were in the 19.5″-20.75″ range. Sunday from 7am-noon another 9 out by Eddy’s with the biggest being 28″ with one in the slot. All on large leeches and pink/white jigs. Sounds like best fishing was up at the north end of the lake. Hit or miss reports from the South and West sides.

We fished the Wealthwood area Saturday from 7AM-4PM and caught 20 fish on jig and minnow. We were lucky enough to find a 26, [email protected], 24 for big fish. The rest were between 16-22.

The fish really slowed when the wind died off.

I was surprised how far off the wind predictions were. Very manageable lake conditions Saturday.

Bass Pundit, What is the Jetty?

Francis K wrote:

I was surprised how far off the wind predictions were. Very manageable lake conditions Saturday.

Yeah, that wind forecast kept me away, so another win for the weather terrorists!

Our opener for the Malmo mafia over the years has become more about spending time with HS friends and many new friends as well so we don’t fish as hard as we used to… But when we were on the water we had some of the best fishing I can remember.

Our boat had over 150 walleyes in a day and a half of fishing. The jig bite on Saturday evening in the north with the wind blowing into the rocks was as good as I’ve ever seen and the trolling bite Sunday was even better. A few big fish and two over 28” as well.

Daytime bite was very good on Saturday when the wind blew but slowed significantly on Sunday when it was calm.

Will

If I wasn’t there myself Will, I’d recommend you get your counter calibrated. I can attest we were on the exact same program. The bite was insane between 4-6 am on Saturday morning before I went home.

It was like a Canadian fly-in only an hour from home.

Anyone know a shop with spot tails? Called a few and have been striking out. Thanks for the help guys.

I have around 8 dozen in North branch I can sell you.

Ended up fishing from midnight to 10pm Saturday with 2 seperate one hour breaks. We caught 30 trolling the north shore. My first fish was a 26″ at 12:45am, then 121 fish later I finished with a 26.5″ slip bobbering the sand. We caught all sizes from 13″ to 28″. We tried casting for pike for a couple hours in there also but they must have moved out already. My best opener experience ever!

bowtecmike wrote:

I have around 8 dozen in North branch I can sell you.

Appreciate the offer. I’m out in Excelsior so it would be quite a bit out of the way.

Tutts HAD shiners … not sure if they still do.

Jake Jacobs wrote:

Tutts HAD shiners … not sure if they still do.

Yeah I bought a pound of Lake run leeches and 5 dozen shiners it was only 120$ on Saturday lol

Yep – Shiners were $15 per dozen. Ouch!

Two of us fished from 6:30 to 3:00 Sunday. Got into a bunch of eyes right away casting 10’ and under. Moved around and caught fish at all but one area. Killed an hour looking around for shallow bass. Tried a different area in the afternoon stayed shallow and caught a bunch of eyes including a couple of 22” fish to bring home. Most fish were 20 5/8” to 20 7/8”. Ended up with 8 smallmouth also.
Fun day with great weather. Ended up casting artificials all day.

Sorry, little late here. Was up for the weekend and Mon/Tues. Getting caught up today!

The bite on the south end was pretty tuff for us on Sat. Fish an hour kind of bite. Did get fish trolling cranks, rigging and corking. Spent the day down around Big Point, Doe, Shaws and Cedar creek on Sat. Sun/Mon/Tues had us running up to the north end rigging the sand. That bite was pretty consistent for us and most of the boats around us. Typical opener traffic up there, but not too crazy.

Tues afternoon the smallies showed up in numbers at our docks. They are building/guarding nesting areas now. Water still pretty clear so pretty much like watching fish in a tank at Cabela’s. The neighborhood kids will be getting a workout over the next couple weeks fishing those smallies.

-J.

Fished today 7a-2p with 2 of us in the boat. Spent the whole time up north between red door and barnacles. Pitched jigs (whistler jigs) w/ plastics for the first 3.5 hours and put 12 in the boat. Spent the rest of the time pulling lindy’s (1 w/ a leech and 1 w/ a spot tail) and put another 15 in the boat. Everything was 19-20.5″. The joke was that it was the same fish following us around.

All in all a fun day fishing. Was really hoping to bring 1 or 2 home but it wasn’t in the cards today.
Tight lines and stay safe!

My folks were on the north end sand again today for about 6 hours. They boated 24 fish between 20-25 inches, all on lindy rigs and live bait. For those attempting to fish soon, the sand is where the fish are.

bigcrappie wrote:

Bass Pundit, What is the Jetty?

Eddy’s Jetty on the West side.

It’s the rock harbor wall.