Opener Reports!

[mrwalleyee]

Let's get things going here. Post up how you did. You don't have to tell anyone where you were if you don't want to, maybe just how deep, what baits, time of day etc. etc. My dad and I were on the water about 5am. Started put fishing 12-24'. Found most of our eyes came on top of a little 3 foot drop from 18-21'. NO SIZE TO THE EYES! We struggled to get the few that we did. Missed our fair share of good bites though. Things all but shut down for us around 7am when it started raining. Made a move to try and find some more wind. After the rain let up a little, the wind kicked right in. I was probably fishing around 40 or so boats, and within 15 min. there was only about a doz of them left. After another 15 min., there was only 5 left. Dad and I bounced around in his 16' lund for about 1 hour, and only scratched one 15" eye. Dad and I had enough, tried a couple of other spots with not much success, 1 12" crappie. In the early morning I was having success with a 1/4 oz. White glow jig with a red hook. My dad was rigging with a plain hook. Fat heads produced the best with leeches second. Good Luck guys, Paul

[pikerliker]

Sounds like you had a little luck MrWalleye. The 12 inch Crappie was a nice bonus! I have to work today so I have to put my first effort off at least until later tonight or tommarrow. The weather isn't the best anyway so if I have to work I'm glad the weather is what it is. Good luck to everybody else out there though!

later ~piker

[riverrat56]

Fished German and then the MN river, my fellow Fm'er and fishing partner, Catmaster, put on a clinic on the crappies today, he boated 8 to my 0, no walleyes for either of us though. Drifting jigs on long lines, suspended in the water colum produced all his fish. We headed out at midnight, I haven't slept for 36 hours now so I'm getting tired you could say.

[BountyHunter]

We fished Cannon Lake from 0600 to about 1300 hours with poor results. fished the entire water colume from 2'to the max depth of the lake at 14'. We boated zero Walleyes and one 33-inch Northern Pike(Photo & Released). At least with the wind and rain it wasn't crowed.

[tweedlap]

Had six guys staying at my cabin on Leech who fished Winnie today. Very sucessful. Caught all of them on lime jigs and shiners. The two largest releases were 25 1/2" and a 26". 6'-9' out from Sugar Lake opening.

Leaving at 3:30am so need rest.

Good Luck to All and Post your reports!

[james_walleye]

Madison Lake from 12:01-2:30. We left early because i got a serious migraine. But anyway we ended up with 8 we kept from 14-15" and threw back 15 that were in that 12-13" range. Also 4 bonus 12" crappies. That lake is again loaded with 12" walleyes, good sign for the next couple years. Im curious too hear how other guys did on Madison. The narrows was pretty full at midnight but by about 1:30 it was about empty and people were moving around everywhere. I dont think most people were fairing very well judging by that.

[jacobj12k]

Was on Madison 10pm-1:30am on opener. Fished the narrows with little luck. Caught and released two eyes just before midnight. No crappies.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Was on Madison Saturday from 6am to 3pm and I only caught one little eye and one sheephead. My 2 fishing partners kept a few eyes and a couple crappies. Went out this morning and got enough for supper. The highlight of today was when I got my 1st eye to the boat from 23 ft depth, a BIG northern shot up from the deep and nailed the 13" walleye and came out of the water with it in his mouth! There were two other boats watching when it happened. It doubled my pole for about 3 seconds, let go and disapeared! All in all, a pretty slow opener, mostly due to the weather.

[tcroz]

Fished Lura today 6 AM to 11:00 with my two sons 12,10.

Caught a 16,19 & 23 inch eyes Plus a 5 lb. northern. Saw a 29 incher caught and released nice fish. Had the best luck with chart. 1/4 lipstick jig and minnow. Saw a few fish caught nothing to hot and heavy though.

[Team Otter]

Mr Walleye, always a good post to get rolling.

My dad and I fished Winnie on Saturday and the Ol' Miss today. Experienced tough bites on both bodies of water but we still managed to get our fish.

On Winnie, we got our fish off Raven Point in 8 - 9' of water on white 1/8 oz fireball jigs and shiners. We kept going over the same school of fish all day. It was tedious fishing but worth the effort. Our fish were between 15 - 16" and solid. No big girls though. I know a lot of people went home with a "0" on Winnie. It was tough fishing if you weren't patient.

On the Mississippi, we experienced an aggressive bite almost immediately after arriving but then quickly slowed. We again got our fish on jigs and shiners in 15 - 17' of water. The fish were a touch smaller today but we didn't have to work quite as hard.

All in all, a decent opener all things considered. Saw snowflakes both days!

I will be on the water around here starting Thursday of this week and then consistently throughout the summer. Keep those reports coming!

Good luck!

[eyepatrol]

Just to share some reports with ya fellas, I heard from the local bait shop this morning that Washington was a good producer on Saturday. Didn't hear of size, location, presentation and the other info, just that there was a good walleye bite on that lake.

Take it for what it's worth, I just wanted to share that with you all. I think once we get another 6 - 8 degrees of warmth into these lakes, we'll start hearing about the good reports.

Good luck to all and keep those tips up!

[rappin jack]

Was on tetonka and im not going back for at least five more years... only about a dozen boats out there on sat.

[mrwalleyee]

I just wish that it WOULD get rolling. With over 500 views, and only what, 12 replies, that is a little sad. Glad to hear that you did good up on winnie T O. I managed to get my honey do list down early today, and snuck out to the lake by 5pm. I took my dad and my 3 year old son Nicholas. The bite was definetly slow. We wished until 8 because my son was getting tired. We boated 4 eyes (all but one went back) and I got my first sheephead of the walleye season. I had made a comment to my dad that I hadn't even seen one caught yet, and 5 min. later I got that dreeded bite. OH WELL. I wish that I would have handed the pole to my son to let him battle it. We haven't been able to find any decent sized fish. I think that I released close to a doz. eyes that were 12" or less. Where are all the biggin's hanging out at? Fat heads worked best for us the two times that we went out. I was using a white glow jig for all my eyes. Later, Paul

[Willy]

Went to Cannon Sat. morn for about 3 hours to battle the wind and rain and caught two, an 18 incher and a 27 incher that we let go. Yesterday eve. went to German and caught one decent one and a few dinks. Almost everyone that I talked to said it was slow and I didn't see near the number of boats you usually do. I think we get about 2-3 days of warm weather, she's gonna heat up and all will be well.

[KatoMike]

Hit Washington with a buddy from about 6:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday. No 'eyes just two bass (one was real nice - about 4+ lbs) took a pic with the camera phone and let her go. I was using fatheads under a wavebuster bobber. Buddy did not catch anything. Talked to a Conservation Agent at the north landing and it didn't sound like too many people did any better than us.

[honker23]

Fished washington, madison, and frances. I couldn't get a bite throwing or trolling raps. We caught a decent number of small fish on madison and frances, but we found you had to be dead still and fish vertical, and eventually they would bite. In the wind on sat we couldn't slow down enough and struggled to get a bite. Jigs and minnows were best near 20-25'.

[Guest]

Fished MOnday and had a great day.The only eyes i could find were in 25-44fow.Drifted using the good old trusty spinner with a nice juicy crawler and caught 5 eyes from 17-21 and lost a nice eye at the boat with the net,that eye was around 7-8 pounds.They hit the crawler fairly hard with not to many short bites. Also caught 3 sheephead and 15 nice sunnies.The depth of 25-35fow was loaded with panfish and there were quite a few eyes on the bottom 2 feet.Good enough to go tommorrow a.m. even it the wind is bad.

[mdzika]

Fished Sakata on Sunday from 8am-12am, trolling crankbaits and jigging fatheads. Never got a bite. Moved over to Tatonka and we kept 6 walleyes that were all 14". Caught them Lindy rigging leeches on a plain hook.

[Bald Eagle]

I just got back from Winnie and thought the fishing was pretty decent considering the weather we had. Saturday was just plain nasty and we got our fish deeper than normal, 16 to 17ft just off from Highbanks Resort. Most everyone was fishing the North shore to get out of the wind so we didn't have to fight the crowd. Fighting the wind was enough of a challenge! 1/4 ounce green with a shiner worked well. On Saturday it was tough to slow down enough. Thankfully I just purchased a 60inch drift sock to replace the smaller one I had and boy did it make a difference. Sunday was calmer and the fish were going pretty good until the sun came out and the wind died completely in the afternoon. We had our fish by then and just enjoyed some nice weather.

Otter, we never made it to Ravens but did take a spin over to Mallard yesterday. By then it was dead calm and there wasn't much happening anywhere.

Overall, it was an average Opener for our group. Hopefully the weather will be a little nicer for Memorial Weekend.

[pikerliker]

Fished from shore on the East side of Madison this morning from the culvert and the bridge. I was pitching cranks and plastics. Not even one little nibble. I'll probably break out the boat later in the week.

PS: I also cleaned up enough garbage by the culvert (about a 30ft stretch)to overflow my 5 gallon pail that I brought with me!! It was empty pop cans and bottles, beer cans and bottles, pieces of plastic, fishing line, etc. I didn't bother to touch the cigarette butts on the ground. Clean up after yourselves! You're mother doesn't fish here!

~piker

[Fatty07]

Fished washington 5-10 on saturday and got 10 eyes 16 inches or better, (plus a few dandy sheephead). Shallow in the weeds. Went to madison sunday and got 4 from 6-9am in 17ft plus 4 nice crappies. Saw one boat pull in a 15+ northern.

[tomahawk]

Fished on madison on saturday from 11am til 5pm,caught over 30 walleyes and kept 4 limits.It was tough fishin in that wind but once we found fish i just slowly worked the area over backtrolling and drifting. The hardest thing was to feel the pickups ooooo my hands were cold.

[rakes2002]

Hey Tim, Keen here! We might try German this weekend.

[Willy]

How big were they?

[fish-bone]

Bravo to you Piker! I agree with you 100%. Everyone needs to pick up after themselves. Nothing worse than people dumping their garbage along the lakeside. Our waters are in enough trouble the way it is. Thanks for your garbage detail!

[Chad Holst]

fatty, bobbering in the weeds? jiggin in the weeds? pullin in the weeds? etc? I have also caught all my fish in the weeds on washington/slip bobber.4-5 ft depth off 2nd point... however alot slower than you had said.. Thanks for the tips...see yah out there. chad

[tomahawk]

Didnt keep any under 14". Biggest was 18".

[arotch427]

I went to Washington and we went for northerns but ended up catching 7 bass about a pound, one 3 pounder between mud bay and grassy island. How deep are the northerns now anyway?

[pikerliker]

Thanks fish-bone. I just have a hard time seeing the garbage laying there and not cleaning at least some of it. I love the outdoors too much to turn it into a garbage dump.

~piker

[BIG DS]

The Northerns have been coming into Mud Bay in the evenings. Been catching 'em from the docks with crankbaits. Some nice crappies on minnows also.