Prespawn 2012 best ever?

[fiskyknut]

Wow what a season eh. May go down as the best I remember. I've seen it open up sooner at Birchdale but I don't remember it ever opening up all the way to the lake as early as she did this year.

The fishing was plain awesome thru till the end. Outside of a couple of weather hiccups and a day or two of mild murk/debris on the midstream reaches which slowed things a tad the bite up and down the river was just crazy good.

With the entire river opened to the lake the fishers were spread and that made for short waits if any. Dropped in twice at Birchdale with no waiting at all in or out!!

Lower reaches with the deeper water the jig/minnow ruled and the fish were more location/depth oriented, mid streches around Frontier and Birchdale where she runs shallower it did'nt matter as they seemed to be everywhere and were biting on anything. Meat, plastics, blades, cranks, they were snappin everything!! Probabaly coulda threaded some brightly colored shoelaces on a jig and hammered the fish!

Last year we only got a short squirt of primetime between the last few days of March and into the first week of April, then the rain and runoff came and the tribs busted loose shutting the bite down. 2010 was darn good from early April on, and the last 3-4 days of the season it was BIG fish in a barrel silly easy at Birchdale and the Upper Sault honey hole. This year Birchdale and Frontier areas were BIG fish in a barrel easy for the entire last 2 weeks of the season for sure.

For folks who've not been up here for the spring run you should. When mother nature cooperatates there is probably no easier fishing anywhere for BIG Walleyes. It's not rocket science, you don't need a big fancy boat, don't need a guide, don't need to pay for info, it's plain straightforeward simple fishing/catching. It's also kind of the off season for the LOTW resorts and they offer unbeatable specials. You can get your rooms/cabins for 25 or 30 bucks a head. Their staff will usually provide you with solid info on the bite and they'll cook up your fillets at the end of the day with all the trimmings for a mere 8 or 10 beans.

Every couple 3-4 years the stars seem to align and the river provides us this epic bite. Prespawn 2012 surely goes down as one of the best ever for sure.

fiskyknut

[thatoneguy]

I had the misfortune to make my first ever trip up on one of the murky water days, but it was still a blast, with plenty of action. I'm definitely going to make this an annual trip.

[maxpower117]

It would be even better if we gut all the sturgeon. They are eating all the eggs causing the walleye population to crash.

In case you couldn't tell, I was being sarcastic.

[wetaline1]

Tough to beat 2010. This year was good, numbers were good. But doesnt quite compare to 2010. Fishing styles, plastics and shallow water, was awesome.

[fishuhalik]

ya, i called that in february. figures, first time in the 4 years since i started going up there that i couldn't make it.

[ANYFISH2]

I agree with wetaline, 2010 still holds the best ever for us. This year was deffinately a good year for size and numbers on the good days. There were a number of dirty water and "slow" bite days for us this year however. We didn't run into that in 2010. But of course I am only able to try and pick 3-5 day a year, so those whom can spend more time up there certainly hit the best days which could have been better than 2010. See you all next year, lets hope for more of the same.

[jwmiller33]

I'd have to agree with fisky on this one. Although 2010 was an amazing year (so many 28s), this year by far takes the cake, both in terms of size, numbers, and numbers of big ones. Last Saturday, specifically, was a day I will never ever forget

[DTro]

Fisky, it's a well known fact that you need a huge glass boat preferably with a Ranger or Skeeter decal on the side. Pair that with at least 200 ponies and a minimum of 10" LCD structure scan and side imaging on the console.

Add in a top of the line rod and reel, and once you have that taken care of you MUST have each color of the greatest new and improved plastic. From what I read the new stuff outfishes everything else. What's weird though is that one guys says Brand A outfished everything, but other guys say Brand B or Brand C.

Is it possible that the bite was so good that an uncolored lead head tipped with a generic grub would have worked? I find that hard to believe because it never works on the rivers 'round here.

[harvey lee]

I have always come up and fishd the Rainy for sturg but this year, plan was too fish both sturh and eyes.

The eyes bite was so good for size and numbers, we said the heck with the sturg.

Yes, it was an amazing 4 days of eye fishing for us.

[maxpower117]

Like I said earlier, the only color that out fished the other was in the water.

[TrophyBob]

Yes, i agree. The best time of the year too catch them. Stain water too Walleyes is like clear water to them. in shallow water they can see your bait very good. Excellant fishing on the shoreline to at that time.

[fiskyknut]

TrophyBob, I concur springtime easiest time to get the BIG ones. Myself I like the fall best, fewer fishers and a bit more of a challenge to locate the BIG fish. Spring run almost fish in a barrel at times !!