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Starting to plan for opener of soft water. Our crew has decided on the Ottertail Co region. I've done some research through DNR, but am a little overwhelmed with the shear number of lakes and options. Any help in narrowing our search would be greatly appreciated. Lake with lodging and history of being a good early season lake would be great. I'll take it from there.

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I have only fished Ottertail lake around the opener so i cant speak from experiance but i have heard Walker lake can be very good early season. Im sure the locals can help you out more. Good luck.

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I have fished walker on the opener. Had pretty good results. The only bad thing is the Access is pretty small and with all the rigs that show up you have to get there really early or be prepared to park on the road and walk a bit. One year we got back to the pickup and everyone parked along the road had a warning ticket from the sherrif for parking there. Kind of crazy. However we still go there but now we try to get there around 5:00 am to get a spot. Last year the rigs were parked 1/4 mile on both directions. Other good nearby lakes include Rush, West battle Lake and the Pine Lakes near perham.....

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I would just go out on ottertail you will see alot of boats out there and the walleyes are usually really biting around that time. Alot of different ways to fish them and there is alot of structure so you can always move to another spot deep and shallow out there.

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For me, it is never too early to think open water. I have fished Walker on opening Sat. am, usually done ok, lots of boats. Last year we fished Ottertail on Sat. late afternoon and I was very happy with the results, lots of fish, some small but some nice eaters as well. For me, I think I am heading to Ottertail again.

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I used to go to Walker when I was really young. It was nice 4 to six boats maybe. Then it was written in the paper as one of the top ten lakes in MN. The next year you could walk from boat to boat. The average fish was 3 lbs, the last time up there four years ago , cigars were the norm. Do not fish it anymore , have seen enough from party fishing to whatever else you can think of. The last time caught an eye and while I was taking off the fish I got plunked in the head by a bobber . Needless to say I have a new bobber. Its up to you, it will be crazy anywhere you decide to go on the opener.

Goodluck,

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