How was opener

[River Dan]

Well another opener, just wondering how fishing was for others out and about and what techiques put gold in the box, For my boat lindy riggen crawlers were the hot ticket yesterday, 8-20 fow put walleyes in the box. today more of the same put quality fish in the box, did pulled some handline for awhile nothing but shorts, so went back riggen. Got to love the gold color of walleyes to croix has to offer! Yesterdays trip photo

[Dale Rueber]

Hey Dan, glad to see you got on some Walleyes (would anybody expect different?). I was out with Andy and we found a mixed bag of Walleye, Sauger, Sheepies, Pike, White Bass, Small Mouth, and even got a small Muskie. All fish were caught trolling with the handlines and most were found around 26 FOW. The Small Mouth was caught in 30 FOW. I don't recall ever catching a Smallie that deep. We fished from 11AM till about 4:30 between Prescott and the Kini. Prescott produced mostly shorts but farther up we picked up some nicer fish.

[me_fathead]

What do you guys mean by handlines? Like the line-around-a-board thing they do in Mexico?

[Dale Rueber]

Hand lining is basically like running a 3-way except you don't use a rod. Typically you have a special auto-winding reel that attaches directly to the boat. The reel is spooled with plastic coated cable. Attached to the end of the cable is a 6' shank with multiple connection points and at the end of the shank is the weight (1-2 lbs). Leaders, 5' to 20', are attached to the connection points on the shank and at the end of each leader is the bait (shallow diving Rapalas usually). The cable is held in your hand and the weight drags at about a 45 degree angle. The lures follow behind the weight and when setup correctly will run a couple inches to 2' off the bottom.

[me_fathead]

Huh...didn't know that was legal, although it's just a rod away from being a downrigger I guess.

[Ebiz]

Fished north from 5:00 - 1:30, picked up 1 legal and 3 or 4 shorts along with a couple crappies, smallmouths, and a northern. Bite was very light but managed to dodge any rain and overall wasn't bad out there despite the forecast.

[50inchpig]

yeah weather was a pleasant surprise on saturday. only managed one dink eye in the afternoon but hooked into my PB 62" sturgeon later that evening so that made my trip. seen more sturgeon caught than walleye over the course of the afternoon.

i must have been way off otherwise because i didn't even get any action from other species other than the sturgeon.

[St_Croix_Banks]

Fished Saturday 6am-2pm both north and south of Afton. 3 of us managed 5 keepers and about 4 shorts. Didn't get out on Sunday. rigging crawlers

[tunrevir]

I went down and managed to get a limit of eyes for myself. The fishing partner chickened out due to the threat of rain/snow and high winds. I found fish all over the board from shallow early to deep. I fished shallow early and worked cranks along the shore and picked off a nice 17" early a.m. and then blanked for the rest of my drift. I trolled upriver with a combo of baits a clown husky jerk on one line and a firetiger crank on another and did nothing. I swithced it up to a purpledescent wallydiver #5 and trolled that and got bit on that bait most of the time versus the others. Firetiger is a go to but I didn't boat a fish on that. I switched to a purpledescent shadrap #5 on the inside line and the purple wally diver out deeper and that bait kept getting hit. I managed a limit of 2 sauger and four eyes for the morning. I had bait in the boat but couldn't bring myself to break it out due to the cooler weather and worked cranks for the entire time I wa out. Caught a few smallies and a channel cat as well as the eyes but not a white bass all day. My most productive depths were in the 8-15' range on Saturday. Took my son out on sunday evening and worked the same areas and picked up a 19" eye casting a half dozen shorts and one decent sauger for 3 hours on the water. A variety of colors from bleeding hot olive to purpledescent worked as well as the firetiger. Dark baits prevailed for me on the weekend and my go to baits were a bit stymied. That is why I love fishing, never know what another day will bring!

Tunrevir~

[fishdaddy]

Went Sunday afternoon and between the 2 of us we managed 3 keepers(2eyes 1 sauger) 5 shorts. Some smallies, a pike and rock bass also. 8-15fow. I used a fluke the entire time while my buddy tried cranks, swimbaits and grub tails. I caught more fish than him including all three keepers. Only fished one spot where we caught more than one eye but smallies and eyes seemed to be hanging near each other. Twice I caught an eye and buddy caught a smallie at about the same time. Was alot of fun and a good start to season! Can't wait to get out again.

Good luck and good fishing!

[me_fathead]

Is anyone fishing above Stillwater? Looks like most of these reports are from the "Lake" portion.

I've fished both, but it's been years (like 25) and that was primarily from shore and canoe. Aside from the obvious structural differences, is there any difference in what you're going to catch in either direction? I would think there would be more crappies and white bass south of the Stillwater bridge, and probably more smallies north??

I had tons of opportunities to learn it as a kid (I grew up just up the hill) but always let my Dad talk me out of trying. He was never a river rat in any way and if he didn't want to do it, he'd dissuade everything else from doing it.

I'm currently planning a day down there in a couple of weeks and will probably return throughout the summer, plus throw in a sturgeon trip in the fall.

Look for me -- find the ugliest and beat up 14 Crestliner with a worn out Yamaha 30 you can find (with Minnesota tags on it ;D) and say hi.

[depopn44]

I had a great opener. we were fishing with waders up in the Taylors Falls area. Went out at midnight and tried different things for about an hour until I located some fish. Ended up catching my six after I found them in about 30 minutes. Working rocky areas transition to mud/sand with husky jerks pulled up river slowly is what worked for us. Went out Saturday evening doing the same thing. In all we caught 36 walleye in about 3 hours of fishing. Some of the fastest walleye fishing I have had. Also went out tonight using the same tactic. The action wasn't as fast but we still managed 18 walleyes, all released.

[50inchpig]

Is anyone fishing above Stillwater? Looks like most of these reports are from the "Lake" portion.

there were a few boats up north of stillwater and i'd really like to figure out that stretch just south of the high bridge but aside from one dink eye up there i didn't see anyone catching anything. sounds like from other reports when you're in the right spot you're going to get multiple species and i didn't get any of that on saturday.