Where Are You Headed for Opener?

Where are you headed for the Fishing Opener? And is it a tradition or something new?

Lake Bemidji and it is a newer tradition. Keep adding guys every year.

Lake Vermilion, Life of Riley Resort. I think this is 22 years for opener, and 38 years in a row for me at the resort. Love the place and the family. Next generation is now taking over the operations. Some of the people in our group have changed, but we have a solid core. More about tradition than what we catch. We all have a personal tie to the resort, if we have good fishing, well that’s a bonus.

Dance rehearsal. Going on 5 yrs now

Mother’s Day, anniversary, wife’s birthday all within a week…..I never go opening weekend. But I’ll be at Namakan Monday the 14th thru the 21st. Always fun, sometimes a challenge weather-wise.

Leaving the following weekend for me. Going out west central this year to learn something new. I have been spoiled on UPRL the last few years and need to humble myself. I have narrowed it to a couple lakes and it will be an awesome adventure……….can’t wait!

One of two local lakes near me for bass or up to one of the Chisago area lakes.

On my Harley…..
DT

I will be up at leech about 10 days after opener. Wisconsin Opener I had a out of town wedding and MN opener I have a funeral, dance recital, and mothers day.

Was planning on Big Sandy. Anybody know if the ice is out yet? Looked on line everywhere and can’t find an ice out date. Nothing on DNR website.

Yes, Ice is out on BS. My buddy just put his docks and boats in this weekend. Will be up there on the 17th.

Ron, I’m with you. Mother’s Day, Anniversary, May 16, wife’s birthday, May 20. I will try and get out Monday or Tuesday.

Thunder for me.

Going on my 40th. year this opener.
After 29 years at one resort the owners decided they could make more money by reducing the number cabins and catering to travel trailers. So we moved to a different lake and resort.
At one point we had as many as 15 guys, now we are down to 8 and are going to keep it going as long as we can.
Gotta love the Opener tradition.

Mille Lacs! If we can’t fish the big lake, we will find somewhere in the area to get out.

-J.

Leech…but I’ll be a few days behind so save some fish for me! This will be our 10th year up there. Previous was Pelican for many years and Reno before that.

Crappy Fisherman wrote:

Was planning on Big Sandy. Anybody know if the ice is out yet? Looked on line everywhere and can’t find an ice out date. Nothing on DNR website.

Thank you for the info. Greg.

Mother’s day, mom’s birthday, a dad with a fresh knee replacement, and currently no tow vehicle all adds up to a bunch of question marks for me! If I get it out on opener it will be with a friend and probably for a late night.

Anybody give the DNR an earful yet about changing the opener dates so that it doesn’t conflict with mothers day? I imagine the DNR has a good reason to pick the date that they do but man would save a lot of guys a lot of headaches if they weren’t on the same weekend. I will probably stay close to home again this year and fish Tonka and be home in time to make mama breakfast in bed

I found an article that explained that it was a decision made in 1989 to grant more fishing time in May for resorts. So its a money based decision nothing to do with spawning. I don’t want to hi-jack this thread though as opener tradition is a great topic sorry if I derailed it.

Chisago. If that doesn’t produce (which it always does) then big green

URL

I am in the mother’s day / grandma’s birthday group.

Sorry but I do have to say I’m slightly disappointed in the amount of anniversaries we are reading about on the week of a State Holiday. Lol

Red Eye wrote:

Sorry but I do have to say I’m slightly disappointed in the amount of anniversaries we are reading about on the week of a State Holiday. Lol

That’s as bad as getting married on or near hunting season. Had a buddy Mary during rifle season. Not many attended and now she has to go with every year because the anniversary

Strategically planned my wedding date to be in June, no spring turkey, maple syruping or fishing opener going on, no fall hunting, no scouting, no ice fishing or trapping, or summer fishing trips. After taking all that into consideration that left June.

When the bride to be finally got fed up with me having an excuse why every weekend wouldn’t work she very sternly asked, “Well when can we get married then?” Mid January seemed perfect to me. Early ice over plus nice and cool out to be stuck in a tux all day.

Mille lacs for me as always. I am hopeful its a go.

My sister is having her kid this weekend and my dad is a champ and said the husband can handle that, I’ll be fishing haha!! I love it! Mom surprisingly was fine with it.

I didn’t have kids at certain times of the year for a reason, and I got married in Jan for the same reason.

Nothing gets in the way of me going fishing.

Red Eye wrote:

Mid January seemed perfect to me.

Exactly!! Nice time to head south for our Anniversary too!

My wife and I married in mid Jan. and had our kids in April, August and December. None of that was by accident.

Aaron Kalberer wrote:

Strategically planned my wedding date to be in June

That’s almost as bad as an October wedding… I think we should enact a no weddings in June or October law!

I’ll be fishing in Alexandria as I have for the past 20yrs. Our group started with just a few family members and has grown to a group of around 25-30. Needless to say it’s the most fun fishing trip of the year for us! We head out at around 7:00 and we are back at the house for our fish fry by noon!

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Too funny. I got married in late August, during the Dog Days, which is probably one of my least favorite times of the year from a hunting / fishing perspective. LOL. I have to agree that June and October are probably my two favorite months of the year. But I also get what AK is saying about some of his favorite activities and what’s important to him.

Anyway, about the Mother’s Day comment. I do agree that it seems like an entirely avoidable conflict. It is frustrating to deal with every year. My opinion? Move Mother’s Day to the first weekend in May. I’m sure some people will criticize me for that opinion, but I’d gladly move Father’s Day if needed too. Even with kids now I’m not really a fan of either day and life’s too short to be bound by some of these shackles.