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Paul, or anyone else interested, I would like your viewpoint. I have fished Little and Big Pine for about 10 years, but have never seen fishing a May this tough. I will admit I have only spent 3 days on these two lakes since the opener, but I have had little to no success. This is unusual because I can usually find them fairly quickly this time of year. I moved over to Lida and have had a lot of luck.

However, I am just wondering if it is me or if others are having difficulty on these lakes. I plan to go out again this weekend and try Big Pine again. Just curious. Thanks.

Korey Kirschenmann
[email protected]

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Hi kirsch,
I just came off of big pine tonite around 8 oclock. I spent the afternoon fishing northerns and looking at my waypoints with my aquaview. Lots of walleyes to be seen. I did have a jigging rod and a dozen crawlers along and scatched up three walleyes near sunset beach, would have given my left hand for a dozen shiners and a lindy rig. Walleyes werent the goal of the day but They were there and I just had to try. lolol I will be back there this week again, armed to the hilt too..Its funny what you can see with the camera that the locator will not show you. Try looking from 16 to 26 ft depthwise... Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Paul,

Thanks for the info. I will admit I have spent more time on Little than Big Pine, so I will give Big Pine my due diligence this weekend.

The funny thing is that I have been doing much better on crawlers this year than shiners or anything else. I may be in the minority on this since I know you have been saying how well shiners have been working for you.

I think most people think I am crazy but I have been runnning spinners and crawlers for the last few weeks and doing well everywhere except Little Pine. Most of the fish have been coming from 22-30 feet.

I have had many people running Shiners and Lindys or jigging around me and not doing very well. It has seemed on most lakes the fish haven't been stacked up but more spread out, so running spinners allowed me to cover more ground. Anyway, your the guide and I am the weekend hacker, so I will trust you when you say shiners are the ticket.

Thanks for the information as always. It is nice to know I can put a message out here and get an honest and reliable response. Thanks again. Say high if you see me on Big Pine. I am in a 16.5 foot Black and Silver Alumcraft Magnum with a Black and Silver Suzuki motor on the back.

By the way, I had asked a question on the Barrel O' Fun tournament a month or so ago, and you said I should put some info out here. I have finally heard back and I am the 69th out of 70 teams, so it appears to be full. Entry was $80 and tournament is on June 9th. I will be scouting the lake this weekend. Thanks again.

Kirsch
[email protected]

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Thats reasonable entry fee wise. You might want to try running some spinner/crawler comobs out there, i did not have my walleye stuff with so i really couldnt do any tweeking on my presentation. With the water temps right now you better have all three (shiner/redtail, crawlers and leeches) and some crankbaits too. I'll probably run into you early saturday morning (sunup) out on rollercoaster! Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Was out on big pine this afternoon again, did alright, most eyes were in 18 to 30 ft of water on the edges of humps. I used a slip sinker rig with a 4 to 5 foot snell and a chartruse float and shiner minnows. Biggest walleye was 19 inches, a few in the 14 to 15 inch range and a bunch of small guys. Two decent pike and some perch also. Other than the incessant rain and driving wind it was a good time! Kirsch, you drive a maroon s 10? not too many black alumacrafts with suzuki outboards around. heheh Later and good luck!! Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Paul,

No, I drive a Silver Ford F150 Supercrew. I fished Lida on Saturday morning and caught 12 walleyes in about 1-2 hours. Many fish in the 17-18" range all off bottom bouncers, spinners and crawlers. Blue and glow colored spinners worked best with cloudy conditions.

Tried Big Pine on Saturday evening and Sunday for most of the day and really, really struggled. I marked a lot of fish in the 25-35 foot range off most of my favorite humps and bars but couldn't get them to go.

I tried slip sinking and spinning but only with crawlers and leeches. I am not a big shiner fan, so I only use them when I have to. It appears I may have to start using them because I just can't get much going on crawlers and leeches. However, I marked so many fish just not sure if they were walleyes.

I didn't catch a walleye over 15". I would have loved to use an Aqua Vu to see if all those marks were really walleyes. I had an Aqua Vu last year and sold because I struggled using it. However, I would have loved to had it this weekend.

In your opinion are most of the walleyes off the shoreline and on a traditional summer pattern yet? Surface water temps seemed to be around 60 so hopefully with a little better weather things will pick up.

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My folks hit me up for a waypoint out there and they went on sunday, they did good.
The fish arent doing the summer thing yet but its getting close. Mom did pick up one walleye rigging a crawler. she also caught one carp. Kinda odd but they gotta eat too I guess! lolol Otherwise all their eyes came on spottail shiners on rigs described above. Best of luck in your tourney, I'll be out there too but not fishing for walldads... I'll wave if I see ya! Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Paul,

Thanks again. I might get a chance to pre-fish Big Pine one more time on Friday afternoon. I have my slip sinker rig ready to go now I just need some shiners.

By the way, I have heard of emerald shiners, silver shiners, and golden shiners, but hadn't heard of spottail shiners. Is this something that I can pickup up at Gene's in Perham? Sorry for my ignorance.

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Paul,

One more question, I saw an older man and woman in a maroon/red Lund at about 9:00 AM on Sunday on Big Pine towards the East side of the lake. Just curious if this was probably your folks. They were fishing the same hump as I was, so it could have been them.

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Genes might have them, I know John at county 6 bait in detroit lakes has them , thats the ones I've been using, think he calls them lake shiners.. nope my folks would have been in an aging 16 foot alumacraft with a pair of johnsons on the back not a fancy rig but oh my the fish that have came over the side of that boat! lolol Hes the proverbial old fart in the old boat thats always smokin them heheheh. Have a good one, if you go to county 6 bait tell them I sent ya , they take great care of their customers.... Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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WAY TO GO!!!! We knew you could do it! Third place in your first tourney is nothing to sneeze at, especially on that lake.
It sounds like the walleye fishing was alot better than the bassin, that was a tough bite on saturday out there. now Im kinda wishin I would have fished that tourney. Are you going to fill us in on your technique and choice of baits? heheh Good luck and good fishin!! Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Paul,

Big Pine produced for me. I pre-fished for the tourney on Friday after the rain and struggled but did mark fish on my summer spots.

Saturday, hot, sunny, and no wind just want you want for a walleye tourney, right (ha,ha).

Stuck to my spots and caught at least 25 fish throughout the day. First keeper boated was 26.5" almost 6 lbs. so I thought we were on the right track. We could only weigh in 6 fish and they had to be 15" or better. Almost all the other fish were 14-15". We did weigh in another 17+" fish and the rest were 15-16".

Anyway, we missed 2nd place out of 70 teams by 3 ounces and took 3rd. Thanks for keeping my spirits up with the good reports. This was my first tourney and I was impressed at their release techniques. We weighed the big fish in immediately and had it returned to the water so it wouldn't die. I saw a lot of that which makes me feel better about this tourney.

Good fishing and I am sure I will be asking questions in the future.

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Hi Kirsch,
30 to 50 feet, wow! I really try to not fish that deep, like you most of my fish are shallow, glad to see your crawler/spinner combos worked for you, it is the time of year where most anything goes. We will have to compare notes someday when our paths cross.. You might know what my boat looks like, blue/ white smokercraft with a 50 merc tiller, once again congrats and thank you. I wish I had the perfect awnser for every question but I dont know everything. If I did I would have to go back to square one because once you think you know it all you have stopped learning. Wheres your next tourney?
Paul

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Paul Rohweller
Pine to Prairie Guide Service
218-962-3387
http://fishingminnesota.com/pinetoprairie

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Paul,

I did keep the specifics out of the first post. However, you have always been very truthful and open with your information, so I will be as well.

I ran bottom bouncers and spinners with crawlers and leeches for almost the entire tournament. My partner and I did try lindying and jigging for awhile but it didn't produce for us. Crawlers outperformed leeches about 2-1. Just about everyone else I talked to caught fish from 35-50 feet.

We caught fish on two spots. One was an 18-20 foot depth area on a bar and the other was off the edge of a hump in about 30-32 feet of water. Most people were suprised we caught fish as shallow as we did. I am proud to say all of our fish weren't injured and were released in good health. We weighed in 3 times to ensure a minimal amount of time in the livewell.

Colors seemed to be very important with silver and gold blades and beads working when it was sunny and blue and pink working when the clouds moved in later in the afternoon.

I would be happy to talk locations and waypoints more offline. Thanks and again keep up the good work on this site.

Korey Kirschenmann
[email protected]

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Since this was my first, I don't know where or if I will fish a tournament again. I know there is another tourney on Big Pine on June 30th. Higher entry at $150 and bigger prizes. I believe 50 teams.

Not sure if tournaments are for me yet or not. I truely just love to fish. It was fun, but seemed kind of stressful with a lot of pressure to perform. I guess if nothing else I wanted to make sure I could fish and hold my own against good competition. I have proven it to myself and that is the most important thing for me. Good fishing.

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