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Opener Results


Rick

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

How was the fishing for you on opening weekend?

Any sucessfull tactics you care to share?

Looking forward to your report.

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In a word wet. And like Dennis Anderson's column stated the kid took me to school. He managed to boat 6 fish while I was blanked. We spent most of our time up on the sand at carlsona with some time spent out in front of wilderness up to fishers. Saw quite a few fish boated in both areas though. My son was using a lindy with a jumbo leech with a green hook orange bead with a 8 foot snell I tried the same with no luck so than I went with a red hook green bead, no luck so than I went with a small hammerd copper spinner no luck, than I went with chartreuse thumper jig and a shiner no luck Then with my hands being so numb I could of stitched up a deep laseration we jetted with a vow to get even next weekend.
Good luck to all.
Mike

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went out at midnight for 2 cold hours, caught several fish and i slot- bobber and leech in 12 feet, tried cranking, no luck water 44 degrees. Next morning,too cold for wife, went out early before rain started ,boated 5 no slots , lindy long snells 16- 20 feet. After rain kept coming, wife made me take her home, going back up tomorrow morning

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I have never been so tired in my life. I just woke up from 17 hrs of sleep. We were out on the lake friday at 11pm. We decided to get the planer boards out and troll in the south side shallows. Ended up with two fish in a half hour. We ended up with 3 fish out of the shallows. So then headed to a couple other spots in the south with nothin special. Fish hear and there. We then decided to head up to the northeast. We caught most of our fish drifting and jigging on the east side. We found that the size of jig made a big difference. 17 hours of straight fishing was enough. In the end we had around 20 fish, and many more that we missed. Two slot fish, the rest were around 18-25. Its true that you catch one slot for every ten fish.

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We went ouy at 1:00am friday night tell 8 blush.gifoam got a chill so we went in and called it opener weekend.Just to cold and rainey.we did catch 20 in that time but only one keeper the rest were 20" to 25"inchers.We were fishing in front of barnevalds seen alot of fish get thrown back with alot of swear words to add.hopefully everbody else did good.We're going to give her a shot next weekend.
bigshooter

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We fished on the north side and caught 18 walleyes. 3 were in the slot and 11 were from 23-28 inches. We had a real good time, and enjoyed catching the big ones. In our boat, leeches caught the numbers, but the big ones preferred nightcrawlers with a powerbait scent, both with a 4-7 foot snell. We fished anywhere from 8-22 feet of water. Im ready to get done with finals this week and reward myself with another trip to mille lacs on friday. Definitely looking forward to a great season!

------------------
EVERYBODY LIKES WALLEYES

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We fished the south side and caught 23 fish. Only one made the slot and the rest were too big. Largest fish was 3 1/2 lbs. Most of the fish we caught were around 20 inches. Not a bad day despite the fact that we froze our behinds off.

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Cant keep my eyes open, we caught 15 fish Friday night from 12:30 to 4:30 on #11 Perch originals and the new Millenium ghost minnows in 5-7 feet of water. We saw a water temp of 42. It was a beautiful night for trolling. I pretty much slept all day Saturday with the bad weather.We caught 12 fish last night on bobbers in 6 feet of water on my favorite rock pile. We fished from 9pm to 11pm, the wind brought us in early. Today's weather started out crappy again, we fished in the afternoon and caught 11 fish on spinners and rainbow minnows. Not very many people out, the way opener started out, its going to be another great summer.

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MILLE LACS AREA GUIDE SERVICE
651-271-5459 http://fishingminnesota.com/millelacsguide/
click here

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Great to hear so many did well! was only able to fish 5-11 pm on Sat. Managed only 2 eyes on the south end. Sunday was better, went out of Malmo and landed 13 in 9-18 ft with very short snell lindy and leech or minnow! Best part was I got my 4 in the slot(will probably be the only time this year!)Worst part I threw back a 13 3/4" and a 16 1/4 both deep gut hooked and bleeding badly! I cut the line but I don't think that saved them. Fresh Walleye and shore lunch last night! can't beat it!

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Fishing was great...weather was not!
3 of us went out friday night and trolled garison bay in about 10 ft of water with taildancers, got 3 slots friday night. Saturday started out nice, then quickly we became 3 of the coldest idiots soaking wet and holding on to the boat for out lives as we headed back to the truck with 6 slots in the live well. Now that I am sitting in the heat I can say it was worth it, but when I was sitting in the boat with hands so numb I couldn't tie a snell...it didn't seem like much fun.
It was pretty sad though, the eyes really seemed to be skinny and slugish.

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Fished Saturday, 5:30am - 2pm. Fished 1/4 mile off the south side of Indian Point, 6 foot Snell, yellow hook and a leech started out hot. Caught 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 21 inch walleyes in 15 foot of water. Leech bite stopped about 10am. Went to a orange hook Snell w/fathead - same spot, more walleyes, and an 18inch bonus smallmouth. Catch and release guaranty us good fishing throughout the season.

Would love to here from the 2 guys in the Tuffy's boat and the Pinpoint trolling motor. We did very well, but they definitely were the cream of the crop. Looked as though they were using a plain Snell with a fathead, but they were boating fish left and right. Was it luck, or did they have a secret method?

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Fished both Saturday and Sunday just out from Twin Pines. Most people seemed to be working long snells with leeches. Our best presentation was jigs tipped with fatheads. Caught 12 prior to the rain starting about 10AM. Caught only 2 more by 2PM. Was wet and cold by then. Sunday produced 10 more fish on the same presentation until we got off the lake at 10AM (Had to do the Mothers Day thing)

Largest fish for the weekend was 26". Was able to put 3 fish in the well. First fish of the weekend was an 18" tagged fish. Gave info to creel person at Garrison access. Be back on Memorial weekend. Heading up for the Canadian Opener this weekend.

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Opener was great. Saturday caught lots of fish. Two of in the boat and we kept 6 slot fish fishing the sand by barnacel bills. Used a 8 foot snell, red hook, red bead. The biggest fish was a 24incher. Sunday was just as good. We caught lots of 20-26 inchers, one slot fish that we let go. The biggest fish was 2- 26 inchers. The weather was cold and wet sat. sunday was perfect. All fish were caught on leeches.

Willie ><((((>

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We (six of us between two boats) spent Saturday fishing the rocks on the south end in 6-12 feet of water. Caught 33 with only two in the slot...the rest were over and generally fell in the 17-20 inch range (had several 21-23 inchers). Every fish that came to the boat was "milking"...didn't find an SGF (single gold female). Most of the fish came on a bobber and leech (50/50 for plain hook vs. small jig). However, we did take a few trolling shad raps. Also managed to catch five jumbos...did anybody else get into the perch? A good way to start the season (well, maybe a slight deduction for the cold rain).

Limp Fish

><(((>

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Hello all,

My buddy and I went out on opening day and had a good start for the year. We started at 5:30am and had 2 doubles in the first ten minutes of the day.

We were on the north end sand and started trolling cranks in 7-8 ft of water. fishing was fast and furious in the first half an hour, but tailed off in the shallows around 6am. we moved to the breakline and boated 2 more in 16' trolling deeper cranks (one was a 27.5").

We then switched to livebait and rainbows and leeches. Caught a few on rainbows, but leeches were what they wanted. We finished the day boating 41 (9 that were in the slot). What made this a good day instead of great, was the fact that we probably missed 40 fish as well. We had several breakoffs and quite a few that got off ( it is almost embarrassing to admit this) . The action was very intense at times. The key to our success was getting away from the crowds as much as possible. We had most of our action in 11 to 18', with 16' the preferred depth.

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41 fish on opener huh? Sure.

Me and my buddy caught 62, including 14 slot size fish and one over 30". Why not?

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Hi GEO,

I guess it is your perogative to believe me or not. I find no personal satisfaction in stretching the truth.
Do you believe it is impossible to catch 41 in a day?

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If you fished until dark on opener, you could have put in about 13 hours of fishing. With the caught and missed, that would be a little over 6 fish an hour. One every 20 minutes for each of you.

You had a great day. One that should be remembered for a long time.

I remember a day on Mille Lacs when I watched my buddy catch 13 fish in 60 minutes from one spot. I fished right next to him with the identical presentation and caught only two in that same hour.

A 41 fish day is exceptional, but very possible.

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Four of us fished Sat. and Sun. morning and got 26 with 4 in the slot. About 50/50 jigs w/minnows or leeches and bobbers. 5-10' of water was where we caught them on the east side rocks.

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Huskminn,

Thanks, we did put in a little over 13 hours on the water. It sure was fun. I can't wait to hit it on Friday.

Did you make it out this past weekend?

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Flick, were you up at the same place as last year?I don't want to have you reply with the location unless you are ok with that.I am going up to Agete Bay Resort again this Memorieal weekend, staying in the hotel room #4 (I think it is ).I will have my lund and a green/tan y2k F150SC,if your close stop by we can chat for a while.
Last year we did fairly well on the reef but did better up in the sand straight north and west of there .I don't care for their marina as it is first come first serveed to get a slip, almost got into a fight with some a@@ ho%^ tring to beat me to a slip when I was just manuvering to laod the boat on the trailer.Wish they had a playground also, the 6 year old gets bored easy.But the resort is great and the service is top notch.
Email address is listed below if you wish to send a note.
Benny

[email protected]

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WE caught 39 walleyes in 12 hours, that was from 6-6 on sat. Its very possible to catch this many fish when there are willing to bite. And Geo I dont think you know what your thinking unless you dont know how to fish.

Willie ><((((>

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Hi Willie,

Thats great to hear! What areas did you fish? Were you by chance in the SE or Eastside of the lake? If so, I wouldn't mind some pointers on approx locations, if you are willing. We will be up there on Friday, concentrating our efforts in this area and wouldn't mind some feedback for areas to start out in.

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Hey Fathead,
We were fishing out of Barnacle Bills on the north end. We went straight out from the resort on the fist break from 12-23 ft. Most fish came from 20ft on 8-10 snells red hook, red bead W/leeches. We also caught lots of our fish on Carlsona sand bar, just drifted up one side and off the other.

Willie ><((((>

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Hi Willie,

We were a little west of you. The closest we were to your area was in front of Red Door. We caught most of our fish in front of Bucks resort in 11-18'. We were using 8-9' snells with colored hooks and minnows or leeches. Leeches seemed to be a better choice though.

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Fathead,

Nope, didn't make it out last weekend. Worked in the basement all weekend, which is why we're having a garage sale this Saturday.

Sadly, it may be June before I get to Mille Lacs.

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Hi Huskminn,

Well look at it this way... June is the month that the bite really gets going anyway. By the way we started last weekend, this is going to be one TREMENDOUS June.

Good luck unloading your stuff at the garage sale (at least thats the way I look at it when we have one!)

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