How did you do on the opener? Was your secret spot there for the taking?
We were fishing on 5a, didn’t hear as much shooting, or see as many ducks flying, as expected. The pelicans and cormorant numbers were unreal!
My Dad & Uncle were out both days and had moderate luck. Mostly from jumping potholes. No Teal, A few Woodies and Greenheads. Very slow for the most part.
My Dad & Uncle were out both days and had moderate luck. Mostly from jumping potholes. No Teal, A few Woodies and Greenheads. Very slow for the most part.
We did ok up around the Lake Pelican/Christina(sp?) area. Saturday was somewhat disappointing although the 13 year old kid in our group was able to shoot his first duck and the first duck of the trip. He was faster than the rest of us. Sunday we got into a lot of wood ducks. Got 2 myself.
There seemed to be a lot of people in our area compared to years in the past. Never before have we been shut out of a pond we chose to hunt. 
I do know it is first come first serv. The guys who beat us were there before 6:30 a.m. on Saturday when we arrived and on Sunday were there at 3:30 a.m. when we got there at 4:30 a.m. . 
I guess the early bird get the worm.
We did ok up around the Lake Pelican/Christina(sp?) area. Saturday was somewhat disappointing although the 13 year old kid in our group was able to shoot his first duck and the first duck of the trip. He was faster than the rest of us. Sunday we got into a lot of wood ducks. Got 2 myself.
There seemed to be a lot of people in our area compared to years in the past. Never before have we been shut out of a pond we chose to hunt. I do know it is first come first serv. The guys who beat us were there before 6:30 a.m. on Saturday when we arrived and on Sunday were there at 3:30 a.m. when we got there at 4:30 a.m. .
I guess the early bird get the worm.
I thought I read “somewhere” only two wood ducks were allowed but who reads the regs. anyway?
I thought I read “somewhere” only two wood ducks were allowed but who reads the regs. anyway?
You can only shoot 2 woodies and you might want to rewrite you post or edit it. You can only shoot your own limit of ducks (party hunting isn’t allow). We got stopped last year and were hunting with 9 guys and had ducks in 3 different boats. Well, the warden wanted to know who shot which bird and how many. Thing is, it is hard to tell when 3-4 come in and 9 guys shoot and they all fall. Guess, someone has to clam it a.s.a.p. Just a little piece of advice you might want to know. 
You can only shoot 2 woodies and you might want to rewrite you post or edit it. You can only shoot your own limit of ducks (party hunting isn’t allow). We got stopped last year and were hunting with 9 guys and had ducks in 3 different boats. Well, the warden wanted to know who shot which bird and how many. Thing is, it is hard to tell when 3-4 come in and 9 guys shoot and they all fall. Guess, someone has to clam it a.s.a.p. Just a little piece of advice you might want to know.
Buckmaster and mat03z,
You are each 100% correct. Thanks for noting my mistaken typo that I have corrected.
Buckmaster and mat03z,
You are each 100% correct. Thanks for noting my mistaken typo that I have corrected.
Yep……The secret spot was there for the taking. We were at the landing by 5:45 saturday morning and there were really only a few rigs in the lot. Actually, I thought the number of hunters this year was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY down from the last few years. Although that may be because the number of ducks was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down as well 
.
Three of us got our woodies both saturday and sunday, although it took much longer than usual. We started out trying only to shoot drakes, but that proved to be more difficult than we thought (Positively identifing in time for a good shot), so we ended up a few hens.
We also got a HUGE bonus on saturday!!! Not one, but TWO flocks of 3 geese came and set right into our spread. This hasn’t ever happened in the 25+ years these guys have hunted down there. And to have it happen twice in one day was freakin unbelievable 
. We never called at em or nothin…..they just circled once and came right in to the pocket (which consisted of 6 mallards, 4 woodies, and 4 teal dekes 
). With a little luck we would have had all six……but with the untimely gun jams and potty breaks , we ultimately only ended up with 3. Not to mention we were shootin 2 3/4″ 2’s at em. It was still awesome 
.
But anywho……as I said early, the numbers of ducks just weren’t around this year. Like Blue said…… the teal were NON- EXSISTANT!!!! All the time I spent scouting up here on 5A and 6 we didn’t find teal either. I’m really not sure what the deal is there 
? If they’ve already bugged out of here or there just never were any to begin with. But that was definatly the consensious amongst almost all of the river hunters this weekend……NO TEAL 
A couple other not so good things from this weekend……The fog!!! On sunday it was absolutly ridicouls. There were guys floatin all over the place. Made for an interesting trip out there (took over an hour) .
…..and the prop I just had rebuilt last a whole 10 mins before we hit a log and busted half a blade off again . (shoulda just got a stainless steel one I guess 
)
All in All, it was another highly memoriable MN duck opener……now on to the rest of the season 
Yep……The secret spot was there for the taking. We were at the landing by 5:45 saturday morning and there were really only a few rigs in the lot. Actually, I thought the number of hunters this year was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY down from the last few years. Although that may be because the number of ducks was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down as well .
Three of us got our woodies both saturday and sunday, although it took much longer than usual. We started out trying only to shoot drakes, but that proved to be more difficult than we thought (Positively identifing in time for a good shot), so we ended up a few hens.
We also got a HUGE bonus on saturday!!! Not one, but TWO flocks of 3 geese came and set right into our spread. This hasn’t ever happened in the 25+ years these guys have hunted down there. And to have it happen twice in one day was freakin unbelievable . We never called at em or nothin…..they just circled once and came right in to the pocket (which consisted of 6 mallards, 4 woodies, and 4 teal dekes ). With a little luck we would have had all six……but with the untimely gun jams and potty breaks , we ultimately only ended up with 3. Not to mention we were shootin 2 3/4″ 2’s at em. It was still awesome .
But anywho……as I said early, the numbers of ducks just weren’t around this year. Like Blue said…… the teal were NON- EXSISTANT!!!! All the time I spent scouting up here on 5A and 6 we didn’t find teal either. I’m really not sure what the deal is there ? If they’ve already bugged out of here or there just never were any to begin with. But that was definatly the consensious amongst almost all of the river hunters this weekend……NO TEAL
A couple other not so good things from this weekend……The fog!!! On sunday it was absolutly ridicouls. There were guys floatin all over the place. Made for an interesting trip out there (took over an hour) .
…..and the prop I just had rebuilt last a whole 10 mins before we hit a log and busted half a blade off again . (shoulda just got a stainless steel one I guess )
All in All, it was another highly memoriable MN duck opener……now on to the rest of the season
Jake, were you down in the big swamp? Or did you stick closer to Winona?
Jake, were you down in the big swamp? Or did you stick closer to Winona?
Yep….”The big swamp” 
winona’s only a weekday thing…..too crazy on the weekends
Yep….”The big swamp”
winona’s only a weekday thing…..too crazy on the weekends
Quote:
Yep….”The big swamp”
Did you see any of those 4-legged hamburger factories wandering around?
What’s the water like? High, low, average, wet, cold, deep, shallow, muddy, clear………you get the picture.
Quote:
Yep….”The big swamp”
Did you see any of those 4-legged hamburger factories wandering around?
What’s the water like? High, low, average, wet, cold, deep, shallow, muddy, clear………you get the picture.
Sorry Tom……No 4 legged hamburger factories were spotted. Although I didn’t do a whole lot of walkin around. Mostly just from the channel to the pot-hole and back.
Water levels are about 2′ above normal, which is good for the fact it keeps ya out of the mud, but bad for the fact that all those logs that used to just stick out of the water are now just under the water. and there are some dandies in there this year 
Sorry Tom……No 4 legged hamburger factories were spotted. Although I didn’t do a whole lot of walkin around. Mostly just from the channel to the pot-hole and back.
Water levels are about 2′ above normal, which is good for the fact it keeps ya out of the mud, but bad for the fact that all those logs that used to just stick out of the water are now just under the water. and there are some dandies in there this year
Here’s an example of what the fog was like on Sunday morning
Here’s an example of what the fog was like on Sunday morning
That fog sure makes for some excitement!!! Hope it stays away this weekend for the opener here, but the way it has been the last 4 days I think we are going to have fog as well. Good post peeps!!
That fog sure makes for some excitement!!! Hope it stays away this weekend for the opener here, but the way it has been the last 4 days I think we are going to have fog as well. Good post peeps!!
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