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Fishing Opener!!


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I know we still have a few days until opener, but I thought I'd start a topic where people can go and report on how their day(s) on the water went for opener. The new season is about to take off and I'm excited to start thumping some walleyes and pike!

Enjoy the upcoming weekend and be safe!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Matt I hope you are pounding the fish on Saturday! smirk.gif

I hope everyone has a great time and keep it safe.

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Matt, where are you going for opener? I'm heading out to 'Tonka... hope this two day cold front doesn't mess things up too much!

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Buzzsaw,

I'll be sharing a boat with BDR chasing eyes out on Rush. We might pitch for a few pike too. Tonka should be good to go, and I think we'll hear of some excellent reports out there as we do every year. You should be fine, you know enough and I bet you'll have a successful day.

webwarrior,

Pike and walleye open up, bass are still closed.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Cool.. Since my motor got RIPPED OFF crazy.gif, I'll just throw on my trolling motor and hit one of the local electric only lakes for pikes..

Quote:

webwarrior,

Pike and walleye open up, bass are still closed.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson


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I am new to Minnesota and this will be the first "opener" I have had the chance to take part in. I am looking foward to fishing it in Tonka.

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Well hello everybody, I love this time of year. I plan on hitting "Tonka" Friday nite, of course after I put my time in at the office. Was going to go north & fish Mille Lacs this year for the opener but this double cold front will probably shut them down. So a friend & I should have the boat in the water by 8:00 PM (at Grays)& start fishing for crappies till Midnite then switch over to the bigger baits. I hope to have a good opener this year & see & hear from those guys that got into the phenominal fall bite last year. I will be in a white Lund Explorer w/125 merc on the back. I don't care if it is "Tonka", if we pass each our I will wave to a fellow fisherman. Good luck this year.
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Good luck up on Rush Lake Matt! I'm pretty excited about Tonka this year... I'm going to try alot new area's with some different presentations and see how it goes.

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Sounds good. Let me know how it goes, and I want to see pictures of the 10 pounder you're gonna catch grin.gif

Are you going to fish the Metro LETS this year? Brian and I joined Statewide this year instead. Time to hit some new water...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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A ten pounder would be a fun catch, photo and release!! As far as the Metro LETS league it didn't seem like there were enough teams to make it go this season so at this time I'm not in.

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It's too bad they don't open it up for teams to join just individual events, I think they'd have more numbers. I know Brian and I would enter a few, but we just can't commit to all of them because they conflict with some of our others tournies. With only 5 teams, you think they would want to do what they can to keep the series alive. Last year there were, I believe, 12 or so teams in the Metro LETS and we had a blast! The Tonka event in September was one Brian and I wanted to enter smile.gif

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Only about 13 hours away smile.gif...

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Well, well... I'll be the first...

I was out at the starting gun. Slow to say the least. After throwing basically my whole tackle box at them, I managed two nice keepers. Both right around 17". They were so close in size, they could have been bookends...

Can you guess what's on the lunch menu? grin.gif

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Started at 5:00 a.m. in chisago area. Morning was GREAT Pike were goin wild. Managed to get about 20 pike, biggest about 6#, 4 bucketmouths, and 3 eyes (15,16,21 inches) all were released.

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Talk about an awesome day!!!

I hit the water with BDR today and he put on a show! This was definitely the opener of big fish!

We started the day at about 6am with walleye on the brain, and we found ourselves about to embark on an adrenaline filled, exciting morning...

Fishing was tough, I'm not going to lie, but when Brian landed a 29 inch walleye for the first fish of the day how bad can it be?...

BrianJRs29.JPG

This pig hit a JR's Tackle spinner rig in green/gold tipped with a leech. It put up a courageous fight and did not want to come to the boat. At first we thought it was going to be a pike, but once we saw that gold-bodied, white-tailed hog we know she was an eye-- and a big one at that! A few pictures and she went back in the water. A beautiful fish!!!

We spent the next hour or so chasing eyes but had a tough time topping what Brian already caught, so we decided to move on and pitch some spoons for pike...

It didn't take long and Brian landed about a 4 pound pike...

BrianPike.JPG

This fish came on one of the new JR's Tackle firetiger spoons. A decent fish to start things off. The walleyes weren't too aggressive but it seemed as if the pike were willing play. A couple more smaller pike came to the boat, and then something that wrote the day off in the record books happened...

While pitching the firetiger spoon off a weedline, Brian felt a thump, but no fish. "Just missed one," Brian told me. Then a few seconds later that same fish took a second attempt at the spoon, and this time Brian hooked up! Right away we knew it was a nice fish, partly because his drag squealed like a stuck pig and also because his medium-heavy open-face rod was bent to the max. After a couple short bursts we saw that it was a muskie, and a big one at that. At this point I'm standing at the bow of the boat holding the walleye net hoping that I can get the fish's head in the net just enough for us to grab hold of the tail and get her in the boat. When the fish made another pass at the boat we knew she wasn't ready. After several minutes of battling this brute, it was time to get her unhooked, so I made an attempt at netting her and by a miracle she went in without complication and seconds later Brian was holding probably the thickest 48 inch muskie I've ever seen!!!...

BrianMuskie48.JPG

This fish was also caught on the firetiger JR's Tackle spoon. An incredible fish that will be imprinted on my mind (and I'm sure Brian's as well) for as long as I live.

Today was Brian's day, no doubt about that. I felt priviliged to act as the "net boy" and this is an opener that I'll never forget. Our epic adventure was a good one and it was an amazing start to the season!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Wow!! Most people don't get those two fish in a lifetime much less one day. Good job BDR and Matt. Matt maybe a new nickname. NETBOY.LOL

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grin.gif... Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do... grin.gif

I would have to agree, definitely fish of a lifetime!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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Only one problem Matt, you guys forgot to strategically place the spinner rig perfectly in the corner of the mouth of the walleye for the pic like you did for the nort and the musky. JR's not gonna be happy... smile.gif

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"JR's not gonna be happy"

Probably the first time these spoons have hit the water. Trust me they are happy. grin.gif

"Stategically Placed"? No, but I will say I did make sure which side was facing the camera.

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Yeah, I'd say those new spoons certainly passed the trial run. We were worried that the muskie was going to shake the spoon being that the spoon was small and not hooked very well, but it stayed put and we were able to land the fish. We trolled and cast the spoons and had success doing both. Casting was how the muskie was caught, but a few pike were caught trolling. Some excellent action spoons!

And as far as not having the spinner rig in the walleye's mouth, I guess sometimes we unhook the fish before we take the picture and sometimes we don't. If I remember right, the walleye got caught in the net when we landed it and it was just easier to unhook it right away and worry about the tangled line later. While the muskie barely fit in the net and we tried to use the net as a cradle more than a "net" until we could get our hands on the fish. It's nice to have the lure showing so people can see what worked to catch the fish, but sometimes it doesn't happen and we don't even think about it when taking the picture (I'm sure adrenaline and excitement has a little to do with that smile.gif). Oh well, having a picture of a 29 inch walleye without a spinner rig in its mouth is better than not having a picture at all grin.gif

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

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I'm just teasing you guys, if my sponsors were advertisers on FM I'd be doing the same thing, it's the right thing to do. smile.gif

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I looked at JR's Tackle site.. but couldn't find some of those lures you show up above. Spoons etc. Did I just miss them? I'd be interested in picking up some items.

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So how was everyone else's opener?? We were on Big Snady, the guy I was with caught 3 perch and 1 small eye and myself caught 3 small Northers and a 2' bungee cord, that was the catch of the day,

Hey (Contact US Regarding This Word),

We were talking a while back about Green Lake in Cambridge how you use to have a cabin next to my great Grandma's place. Do you still fish that lake often?? If you can email me back at [email protected].. I will get you caught up on the family too.

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Went to little lake at Coon Rapids Dam and fished for trout. Not as Many as was hoping for but did OK for few hours out. Caught a few rainbow trout and three nice Brown Trout. smallest brown 17 inchs biggest 20 ins. Fun Fun Fun grin.gif

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