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We struggled to catch fish but did manage a couple walleye mixed in with pike, perch and rockies.  No tagged fish for us..

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Managed 5 eyes 12-23" on opener at the entrance of spirit lake...all came on firetiger flicker shads and storm thunder sticks....my buddies boat landed 6 using Lindy rigs up river from boy scout.....I'm assuming with all the rain ,the river is pretty much done for a good 2 weeks.....extremely stained and very fast water

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Sorry for the late post...Opener from 830am to noon. We hit the arrowhead flat (near the new fishing pier) with bottom bouncers and gold blade worm harnesses. Went 5 for 12 (two new fisherman had trouble with rod holders and missed the first 5 hits).  Caught 5 eyes (16.5, 20,21,21, and 25) and two small perch.  Released the 25", it looked like it swallowed a golf ball and was lodged in it's tail.  Soft growth/tumor?  Wind pushed us off.  

Didn't get back out until last Sunday afternoon, May 17th.  Caught 2 (17.5 and a 21")  Both were tagged near the dorsal. Same area, went 2 for 3.  Fog pushed us off around 6pm.  I hope to get out Wednesday night and try the bay.  Any reports of the fish that far south or did the cold and rain runoff keep them up river?

 

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Pretty tough bite.  TPWA had some anglers struggling to land walleyes...

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If anyone is on the river before the weekend can you please post the water temp.  Thanks

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Fishing was very good this am. Both numbers and size was good. All caught with bottom bouncers, spinners and crawlers on different flats. Temp was about 53 degrees and climbing.

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Will be going out this evening....caught a few nice ones just upstream of the Oliver bridge...water was pretty stained still on Tuesday night...have picked up a few towards walleye alley but I'm thinking a lot of fish have moved towards the lake...I have had luck with lindy rigs and lead core with storm baits.....has anyone tried towards the bay or in the harbor yet?????

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I have caught fish from the top of walleye alley to barkers the past 2 days. One common thing is most are coming in less than 6' of water. Levels are the same as they were this weekend maybe a tad quicker.

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I fished in the bay for just a little while last night with only one bite so I ran up river where we did good the night before....Picked up 4 (16-20") in a couple hours....I had the best luck just dragging jigs...

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We got out Sunday am. Nice day to be out. Fishing was slow . Had a lot of short changers but they keep  us hopeful. Worked the flats from spirit on down. Water temps 59 -60. Today seems to be a little damp.

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Fished Sunday morning from 6-9am at arrowhead flats...worked in the channel with lead core and sticks and pulled harnesses around on the flats...it was very slow out there in the morning....I heard things picked up out there in the evening..trolled the harbor yesterday and found a few off the channel...ran into a school of em and landed 5 for 7 in in about 8fow.....18" tagged eye being the biggest...in the evening we jigged plastics along a rocky shore and picked up some eaters ....the fisheries guy said the fishing has definitely been picking up,but we both agree they are very spread out...I think the big females may still be around the arrowhead area...anyone having any luck in the arrowhead area????

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Went out yesterday afternoon. Trolled along Barker's Island with crawlers and BB and did well but a lot of fish under the 15" mark. This was my first attempt at using my homemade harnesses and they worked just fine 

One fish was tagged. Is that fish legal and what do you do with the tag? I didn't see the tag until I went to fillet it

Edited by tacklejunkie
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Tacklejunkie....yes any tagged fish is legal to keep as long as it's legal size....there are dnr fisheries employees working at all the landings along the river system....they are studying the walleye population....they just wanna know where and when it was caught......

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Was a great evening on the harbor tonight.. .a buddy and I got into a few pockets of walleyes.....ended with 7 fish 16"-22",2 dinks and a crappie all trolling harnesses

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Dinner!

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What size blades do you all use on the river/ bay? I tied a couple spinners with number 7 Colorados and I think that's too large

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a little action last night on the harbor 5 walleyes and a perch but not a single walleye was over 13"  but the perch was 11" .

hopefully some of the bigger fish will move in

all fish were on crawler harnesses   chartreuse or orange  #4 Colorado blades  

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I have had great success our last 4 outings on the harbor....Great numbers and solid size....caught 6 last night from 6pm to 8pm all fish were 16.5"-21"...still waiting for some big females..I personally have found way more fish in different depth contours that are not directly on the side of the channel....don't be afraid to work some areas away from the channel

Edited by riverrat21
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Haha I must be doing something wrong I trolled spinners (new to BB fishing) and drug jigs with only the one hit...

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We braved the cold and wind from 630-8pm tonight...caught and released all 4 eyes we boated,missed two ....biggest was a fat 23.5".....boat control was a struggle but the fish were still there and hungry

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Was out all morning in the wind and fog with only a few eyes to show for it. Trolled spinners in spirit with little to no luck. All of the fish came from drifting the mud flats on white and orange spinners. Missed a couple big girls in the waves rolling in from the lake and harbor 

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What size BB do you guys like to use on the flats...I was just reading back and people were saying about using 3oz...That seems like a lot of weight for that shallow of water...

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I only use bottom bouncers when I'm fishing in either over 10ft of water or heavy current....fishing out on the harbor flats I've been sticking with 2 small split shots...I think size #7....otherwise I have used more than 2oz bouncers

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I use three oz bottom bouncers no matter how deep I'm fishing. No reason just preference

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I use 1.5 for BB's. Not huge, but still plenty of weight to keep it on the bottom

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Friday: we got 4 fish from 3-5pm my buddy got a monster 29" awesome fish..

Saturday: I went 9/11 from 5-8pm biggest was 22"...by far my best day out there...

Today: we got 9 from 7:30am-2pm until the wind pushed us off...

All three days best baits were silver or orange crawler harnesses...It was a fun weekend...

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