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wheeler all the way, plenty of ice out there, decent amount of water (waders)!

I'm thinking of going out today again around lunch. I'll have the wheeler so if ya want to join me we can tote your stuff out there in the shacks easy. we used the two man shack yesterday just as a windbreak to warm the hands and work the grill. Let me know i wouldn't mind some company.

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  • 1 month later...

Buckmaster's Bridge was full of people, Tetonka Lagoons were full of people, and Geldner Sawmill was full of people. I finally saw 60 degree water temps a little over halfway through April. Must be some fish biting now!

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Hit Mazaska for about 2 hours this morning. Temps 57.8 to 58. Marked fish in 1 spot with not bite. Went all over that lake and didnt see a fish other then the 1 place. Talked to a guy who went out and left when we did, same result.

After 4 days on the rainy, I couldn't do any more time on the water. lol, the body needed a break from the boat.

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Went to West Jefferson yesterday afternoon. Tried shallow and deeper, suspending and closer to bottom, both bobbers and retrieving jigs or spins. always tiped with crappie minnows.

Never really found the crappies. 2 bass, 2 drum, 3 sunnys, 1 bullhead, 1 small crappie. Water temps were 63-66.

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Fished Mazaska, took a while to find fish but when we did they bit well. Still deep, 24' to 26' of water.

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Sorry for the delay, we caught some nice gills, a few crappie, and a nice white bass last weekend. Went out yesterday and didn't have much luck out there for the hour I put in. Didn't mark many fish deep so they may be on the move finally. Surface temps deep were only at 57 degrees. The wind probably did a good job of mixing the water up. We were using a small jig and panfish leeches.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Since I am not doing much open water fishing currently, I have to enjoy the success stories from here, so let me imagine how good the opener was.

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Very slow for me. I started out in a little spot that has been hot for crappie and there were another 20 or so plus there. NOTHING for me or anyone else.

I did catch 3 smaller eyes around 17 inches and quit at 2 am.

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boated about 2 dozen eyes saturday 1 friday night kept 1 out of all of em lots of 10-12 inchers few nice crappies and gills mixed in

located them at the bottom side located near the deepest basin

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Well it wasn't the greatest opener ever, but after hitting 4 differnt bodies of water I managed to put some nice fish in the boat today. Alot from 12-14" that went back as well as some eaters and a nice fat 24" that gave me quiet the show hitting a #9 Floater at boatside.

Back at it tomorrow!

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Thanks for the update gentlemen, I was playing in the mud with the wheeler, started up the ice auger and spent some time shopping with my wife. Good fishing tomorrow and stay safe.

Mark

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went out about 5 pm one thing that surprised me was the boat landings they were dead no waiting with the weather like it was the only thing that would explain the fish just weren't biting and both lakes always treated me good on opener other years!!!!!!!!!!!!

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went out about 5 pm one thing that surprised me was the boat landings they were dead no waiting with the weather like it was the only thing that would explain the fish just weren't biting and both lakes always treated me good on opener other years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe the bite was soooo good everyone had limits and left early.

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when i was out yesterday, dad and i were the second, maybe 3rd on the whole lake and we got there right at sun up. At first i was like well this is gonna blow, but we're here so why not. Get out and first cast hooked into one.

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Well it wasn't the greatest opener ever, but after hitting 4 differnt bodies of water I managed to put some nice fish in the boat today. Alot from 12-14" that went back as well as some eaters and a nice fat 24" that gave me quiet the show hitting a #9 Floater at boatside.

Back at it tomorrow!

I'm getting used to this whole "passenger thing". And, yes, Nick is right, we're on fish but unfortunately, we haven't pinned multiple patterns to just one lake. However, the casting bite is definitely the most fun, so I think we'll stick with that. The morning and evening "power hours" are real strong. In fact, we had another great morning. Just home now to hang with family and then go after it again tonight and tomorrow night.

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I was out on/in the Madness yesterday. Like TO said, morning power hour much better then the day bite. We boated a few. Heading out again today to on a Faribault lake in stead of Madison to see how my local bite is.

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I was out on/in the Madness yesterday. Like TO said, morning power hour much better then the day bite. We boated a few. Heading out again today to on a Faribault lake in stead of Madison to see how my local bite is.

Actually, yesterday afternoon, we stumbled onto a great crank trolling bite. When the sun was fairly bright, we'd troll in 10 - 12' and then when clouds would roll through, we'd slide into 6 - 8'. #4 Hornets and #5 Shad Raps 2.2 - 2.4 mph worked wonders. But, again, the shallow casting bite is much better, especially in terms of quality. Frankly, best part about both bites is the lack of pressure. I could count on one hand how many boats I've seen this weekend fishing the lakes we have been.

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Went out early evening & fished my usual spots, but was surprised that there was no activity along weedline & didn't mark fish until I was in 20' + & not very responsive. Was getting past dusk & just sitting & enjoying the peace & tanquility with the night lights on, & suddenly a boat coming in (didn't see me sitting there) came head on turning at the last moment hit the front of my boat tearing the bowmount right off of the boat. All I heard & felt was a loud bang.(I was facing the other way, so I didn't see him coming.) He stopped back made sure I was alright, apologized repeatedly & gave me his insurance info. No one was hurt & everything will be made right, that's all that matters. Trolling motor was only 2 weeks old. Heck of a start for the opener.

L2f shocked

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my opener was pretty slow, a few pike and a bass was all for me. fished shallow cranks from about 6-noon with nothing else turning any fish. was a great day to be on the water though and did see a few others land some decent eyes.

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Frances. Yeah, it really shook me right afterward when I thought about how easily that could have way worse. Probably better that we never saw it coming, if we had we would have probably jumped. I had taken the next two days off to fish, which I will, but only trolling with the big motor which sort of sucks cause I use my Bowmount 80 percent of the time. Opportunity to learn to fish differently, who knows might learn to love it. ??

L2f

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More of the same last night, pitching shallow cranks to the windblown shorelines. Look for the shorelines with the steepest breaklines and focus on those areas. Keeper sized fish were oddly absent last night with alot of little guys put in the boat and a handful of fish in the 22-24" range.

Team Otter with a fat 24"er that smacked a Floating Rapala

clearlakeopener20102-1.jpg

Me with a 25" from the morning that fell to a Shallow Shad Rap

clearlakeopener2010-1-1.jpg

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