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It was a good opener for me 12 eyes or so. All 13" or less. 5 pike, all around 23". 2 White Bass 13-14". 1 Perch, 11" and 1 LM Bass. After a while so many boats moved in I couldn't make a trolling run.

Now what lake this afternoon?

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We were on hanska this morning did excellent real good bite 15-19 inches, talked to a guy that really hammered them after midnight in some creek the runs into or out of hanska Going to try tommorow again

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I didn't choose as well. Avoiding the crowds, we went to Clear in Waseca, crappies were active, but that was not the objective; alas, no walleyes. Went to Sunfish lake to try to rustle up some pike action, nada. Went to Frances & got only pike & bass, nothing of any size though. Left when the rains came hard, maybe I'll try tonight or tomorrow a.m.

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i hit clear also 12:01-3:00 then took the wife home went back out at 5ish next time im bringing the white paint for the sunnies tails will look good at least heading to tetonka tonight

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3-person limit of 18 - 19" 'eyes and 7 'eyes over 24". The bite was good but peristence was required.

Not a local lake though. grin.gif I'll have pictures up in the Mille Lacs forum some time tomorrow evening once I get back home if you'd be interested in taking a look.

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1st lake at night - nothing but bullies and a couple bass - eyes were apparently in hiding

2nd lake morning/afternoon - nothing but tiny sunnies - no eyes to be found

Not one of my better openers

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Went out again with my wife. I kept her so busy with the net, she didn't have time to fish. Well, OK, she had time to fish. But not much grin.gif. We kept 4 to give to the folks. My mom said she was hungry for fish and I do know what day tomorrow is.

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4 walleyes for my dad and I ranging from 15" - 17.5". We had just found the 'eyes tight to the weedline when we saw lightening. So we headed back to the launch, beached the boat and waited it out. At 3:00pm or so we were back on the water in the same spot, fished it for 1.5hrs with not a walleye to show for it. Figured the weather did a little number on them, so we slid out fishing 14' - 20' and connected on 2 more 'eyes in 17' - 18'. Ended our day at 5:30pm.

All our 'eyes came using a leech on a 3' - 6lb Vanish snell connected to a green/chart. or orange/chart. float with a chart. or orange #8 Gamakatsu hook. Jigs/minnow and crawlers did not produce for us today.

Won't be out again until late this week or next weekend. Did see others connect with some walleyes too, and saw one guy pull in a monster-sized pair of underware! blush.gifshocked.gifgrin.gif

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I pulled in a 24.5 'eye(Mad Lake) at 1:00 a.m. opening morning. Thought here we go!! Well all that was caught after that was little crappies, lm bass and sheephead confused.gif Oh well had fun.

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I of course fished for catfish. The only problem and it was a big one, was those dang walleyes would not leave our bullheads along. Man, try and go after some real trophys and get bothered with walleyes. mad.gif

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1 15" walleye a couple northern in the 6lb lb range and a 7.03 largemouth weighed on my equalizer scale oh! and a couple of doggies too grin.gif one that was close to the ten mark my nephew took a couple pics of the largie i will post them when i recieve it how ever it was the first two pics on his camera and considering he only caught one fish all day it might be a while!!! grin.gif

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Me and a buddy had probably our best opener ever. We boated 13 eyes, two 12"ers, a 20.5" and a 23" were released and we kept 9 from 14"-17.5". Awesome day. Wish it wasnt a hurricane today so I could go out!

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Caught 6 'eyes Saturday, fished morning and evening, average size of 18." Released some smaller ones. A leech on a #8 red hook lindy style or on a 1/32 white jig under a slip bobber worked the best. The highlight of the day was watching my grandaughter pull in a 32" northern and grandson land a 24" walleye. It doesn't get much better than that.(They were in their dad's boat next to me.) grin.gif

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Caught 5 Largemouths, 8 northerns, and 1 15" walleye. The bass and northerns were all small to mid size. Didn't get to fish as much since my two little kids were along and the longest stretch we were on the water at one time was about 1 hour! Everything went back into the lake.

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Midnight was a bust for my boat. But we went out again mid morning and my grandfather jumped in the boat with my friend and I. On our 2nd spot we started gettting them. We caught about 25 while my grandfather was with me. When the weather moved in we took him back too the landing and he took his 6 keepers home while we waited out the storm on shore. Then my friend and I went back out and checked some other areas similiar too where we were catching them before hoping too find some big fish. After about 2 hours of that we headed back too the spot from the morning and caught about 25 more. Leeches were the bait of choice on this day. That stayed true all day. In the morning we caught a fair amount of fish working jigs/plastics. 19" was the biggest fish of the day. It seemed for the most part from what i saw that the bite was tough overall for most boats. Alot of boats came and gone from where we were fishing with most people drifting by and not catching a thing. But it was another great opener for this boat in southern MN. I know alot of people head north for opener out of tradition but it amazes me how these lakes put out fish like they do with the pressure they take. It was also a day with alot learned as my normal honey hole of a lake didnt produce like normal. We caught our fish on a lake that i wouldnt say was new too me but i didnt know it like the back of my hand either.

On a final note, i had a friend and his son anchored about 30 yards from me last evening when a boat pulled up and anchored about 30 minutes before i left. After i left these 3 guys started harassing my friend beyond belief. And the reason i bring this up is because these jack$$$$$ accused me after i left of double dipping. They insisted too my friend that this happened. Of course my friend knew of how my day went, as i have posted here, and told them they were jack$$$$ basically. So im hoping one of the guys in the green crestliner fishhawk with the yamaha 115 sees this, because i was in the black crestliner fishhawk that you insisted double dipped. I'm kind of wondering why you waited until after i left and didnt say something too me. And why you felt high and mighty enough too attack my friend as his son is sitting in the boat with him. Some real classless people out there my friends, beware of them.

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I don't have a Crestliner. grin.gif But I do support you in hoping that whoever it was reads this.

Good reports gang! I'll be after 'em around here starting Friday - Sunday.

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Thanks T.O. i hope they do read it. And maybe since they didnt have enough guts too accuse me on the lake they can now do it on the internet. But i doubt they'd come on here and say "yeah it was me in the green crestliner."

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Fished French all day today

drifed the entire lake. Not a dang eye.

I think the front scared em. We had 4 lines in the water, used shiners, leeches, lindys, casting, everything you can throw at em..nuttin ;( Going to Tetonka tomorrow, hopefully better luck.

On a side note....a guy was bucktailing, and trolling with a net the size of a house out there...came right past. So I mentioned to him that Ski season aint open...he didnt even acknoledge. I didnt see him land anything..but c'mon.

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Bunt - Good article in O.N. this past week on this very topic of 'ski fishing before the season opens. I can't remember who wrote it but it was interesting(and sad).

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Well I can say that I caught about every species of fish the lake had except for an eye or pike, amazing, oh well that's the way some days go, I didnt get out till around 2 and had the static from the rod giving me shocks from the storm overhead, little scary. I did boat the biggest sheephead i have ever seen, a nice beauty at 24". I threw every piece of arsenal i had at them and all depths, shallow,shallower and then deep,jigs,corks,snells and cranks, still nothing, but the roughies were active, so there was action

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I could have sworn that I got a little shock packing the rods away when the storm was upon us. Funny deal how that works.

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That was the static the 'eyes were creating in your livewell. grin.gif

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      He wanted his fish Back!  
    • Hookmaster
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    • Rick
      A weekly list of news briefs about fish, wildlife, and habitat management.Discuss below - to view set the hook here.
    • Rick
      The statutory end of the snowmobile riding season on grant-in-aid trails is midnight, March 31, when permits with private landowners expire.Discuss below - to view set the hook here.
    • Rick
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    • Hookmaster
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    • leech~~
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