# Opener



## Brad Anderson (Apr 1, 2002)

Lets hear some stories!


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## MSG Rude (Oct 6, 2003)

My son and I had a great opener! We lasted on the lake until 2:00pm but still had a blast. Thank you to all who helped make this a good day for my son and I!

We used crawlers, shinners, and leech's going real slow but we had to go out to around 20' of water to get them. Then Sunday my wife and I went out and spent five hours on a glass lake for 5 17" and under which were C&R.


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

Took awhile to find them on opening morning and then pulled a nice 21-22 incher. I was all excited as I got the buoy out and had another hit, but then the winds came up and were brutal. I went in at noon and took the girlfriend out for supper. Fished towards dark with a couple of small walleyes and was still getting blown all over. Sunday was a different story as the lake was calm and easier to work. The smallest fish we caught was 21 inches or larger with one pushing 25. The fish were 19-23 feet and the weather had them spread out so you had to cover a lot of water. Since the walleyes were bigger they were all released, but we got some great pictures and the girlfriend caught her first Minnesota walleye. Oh used glow lindy rigs with shiners all weekend. We missed you at the opener this year Chris although it was strange not to have someone telling me I'm going to slow/fast/sideways/.........


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

It was a tough weekend because of the weather. We found all the fish in 25-18 feet of water. We were using shinners, and found early morning was the best bite.

On a side note, I tore into an old ice scoop that must have been sunk into the sand. My weights went over the handle (felt like a nice like bump) followed by a steady pull. I set the hook and thought I had the biggest eye of my life on. I couldnt get that damn thing off the bottom. Finally after 5 minutes of working on it, I pulled up a 1970's edition ice scoop.


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## Eric Hustad (Feb 25, 2002)

Dave that was you fishing by us on Sun. afternoon??? Leah thought it was cool when you honked at the walleye she caught as she was pretty excited. Were you catching those eyes out deeper?? like 23-27ft??? We were working around 20ft. but they just weren't grouped up. Let me know when your coming back and we'll team up on chasing the eyes!!!


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## chief (Mar 19, 2004)

I am trying to convince my wife who is from Chicago to give the lakes area around DL a chance. Her Family has a place in Wisconsin...and I am sick of Driving for 4 hours to get there on a Friday Afternoon. Looking for some ideas to get her up to DL ....any advice
thanks


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## MSG Rude (Oct 6, 2003)

Eric,

Ya, I figured that the noise level was of no importance after her jubilie of excitement!  It was cool hearing someone as excited as she was about their first 'Eye.

And yup, we went deeper and did ok for smaller eyes. We marked A LOT with size but nothing would get the strike. I'll drop you a line next time we go that way!

Dave


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## MSG Rude (Oct 6, 2003)

Forgot to mention that we were useing bottom-bouncers and pulling either crawlers or leechs. Shinners died on me. Something about air/water/fresh.?. Don't really know what happened.  No really.. :eyeroll:


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

We used the same tackle and bait that Eric did,but fished a different lake.I noticed that there are fewer fish this year than other openers,but much better in size(every thing over 18" goes back).We caught several fish that were 20" plus,and released 2 27" walleyes.


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

Rude -

Shiners are the weakest fish in the baitbucket. Especially spottail shiners. They'll die if you touch them sometimes. And putting them on the hook guarantees a lifeless minnow in about 30 seconds! But when they are the bait du jour and are what the fish are keying in on, you'd better have a few dozen ready to go!


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## Brad Anderson (Apr 1, 2002)

Rumor has it, walleye fishing has really been pickin up steam. I've heard of a couple good stories lately.

ON the same note, bass fishing has been phenomenal as well. Coincidence, not sure?


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## snowflake (Apr 2, 2004)

Walleye fishing around here is picking up steam,most all the weekenders are slacking off a little,hence not as much traffic in the shallows.Big Winnie is consistant,w/quite alot of eyes in the slot being caught but you have to know where to look for them.Bowstring Lake is booting out some real nice fish and alot of good eaters.Released quite a few 22-27" fish out of 6' of water on fatheads&jigs.Went to my favorite lake with my partner,had to work our buts off to get boat in as there is no real landing,found fish in5-7' of water,we kept seven and released several heavy fish in the 6-9# range.This lake was once a D.N.R. rearing pond,they abandonded it when they found they couldn't retreive sufficient walleyes to transplant.That is the only species of fish in there,so when you get a fish you know what you have!!Leach River/Miss.River junction putting out good numbers also.Had a good opener,took several first timefisher kids out,got quite a few small fish,just right to eat tho.Anybody thinking of heading this way in the future,give me a yell and I'll give you the heads up on what&where the eyes are biting or whatever species you are after if I know.Eyes for sure tho,thats my go-for fish!!!


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## Brad Anderson (Apr 1, 2002)

Found em' deep today. Got on the water at 3:00 pm. Yep as normal, lotsa wind.

Fishing was pretty consistent all day.We ended up using a 1/4 lb of leeches and almost a scoop of minnows. They seemed to be really stacked up. Most were in the 16-18" range. Decided I didn't want to clean fish tonite, so all were released.


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