Shinner Run ??????

[Gary B.]

Just wondering if anyone knows the status of the shinner spawning run?

Is it long over or still going?

Gary B.

[fballwilly]

Good question! I'm curious to read the responses. Some of the posts under a different topic would lead me to believe that the run is done. Knowing this will go a long way towards tactic identification in the early going. Good luck for opener!

[foo]

It comes and goes----when the sun is out they are on the shore now---I would expect the walleyes to be shallow for opener given the forecast.

No major move to speak of that I saw---I believe because of the unstable weather patterns.

Seining on the shoreline on sunny days is picking up a few dozen.

[Musky Buck]

foo you're giving away my rapala trolling trick lol, guess where many walleyes go searching for minnows after dark, up shallow on that sand, it's hard not to spook fish but we have put hundreds in the boat since the early 80's with that trick and some of the largest eyes in the lake which we release and the colder the better, if we aint wearing sorels we're disappointed, it won't be as good on the lake(s) we try so a cold nasty spring is ideal, but we do ok as it warms up it just turns into more males less females which is good for eating size. People sure wonder we're leaving the lake and you're just putting in ? Added plus haven't bought a shinner minnow in 20 years, no need and at like 7 bucks a floating dead dozen by the time you hit them with fresh lake water, huge savings and they think it's a shine.

[foo]

I mean fish the first break off the flats.

[Musky Buck]

LOL, nicely done ! In all truthfulness I learned the rapala run 25 years ago or more because my best friend/family etc. own a resort and they couldn't fish during daylight hours, well after just slaughtering walleyes year after year after year it just simply became my preferred way to get them and have the lake to myself, hope the camera flash of the 25"-31" walleyes hasn't caught any lake home attention, another plus is wind calms down usually, no sunburn, mosquito's usually quit completely as the air cools, and all the anchors are pulled on my rappy route as everyone is gone at prime time and to top it off my wife and kids are in bed for the night so I'm good as gold. Hint hint, why don't they let Mille Lacs fisherman night fish early in the year ? Because they'd get slaughtered and the pound limit maximum would be reached by the end of May, jk on that but the fishing is crazy at dark early year on Mille Lacs, you can't keep a leech on your jig and if you could rappy that shallow water you'd just kill em.

[nocsious]

This works very well again in August on shallow flats especially under a full moon. I don't buy bait either.

[Musky Buck]

No doubt, the last 500 walleyes or so we've caught 0 on live bait. Now if I didn't switch to musky in June I would live bait the summer months like I did growing up, except rapala's work on my buddies rocky lake year round, once the weeds are up to a certain depth it shuts us down. I think there's a couple key things to remember about the eye, 1 they are a predator, 2 full moon must light fairly clearwater lakes like it's nearly daytime add in those marble eyes and they can really see well finding that rapala from a distance, many a night when our trolling pass is over reeling in slowly flip on your headlamp and you bet there's an eye on it, see that too with musky fishing at times having a walleye following you in.