Man what A rough Opener.

[IceWrangler]

Well I worked it at Night I worked it during the day Came up with 1 northern.

Was so frustrated I hooked the boat up and went to Red lake. Sure was fun to finnally catch some walleyes.

[weekendjunkie]

trekked to bowstring. LOTS of gators up shallow kids had a blast. went deep and found good success. had to work for them but they were worth it. boated 10 eyes all from 17 to 22". kept 7 threw 3 that broke 20" back. burned lots of bait and got a fair sunburn. good opener all in all.

[Seabass77]

Pokie gave up two small pike and 3 bass on opener, all CPR'd. No eyes. Hit splithand on Saturday night, a couple of bits but nothing in the boat. Saw a few caught. We'll hit Winnie this Saturday, Pokie again on Sunday.

[ripcord]

We had good success on Hill, Splithand and Big Sand. Generally in 12 feet but a bit deeper on Sand. Best opener for our group in years.

[lakewood]

We saw a great opener on Sand. Lots of good eaters, lots of small eyes, very encouraging. Heard other medium sized lakes in the area did well too. I was nervous with all the sun, warm temps and no rain but it proved to be an exciting opener. Keep them Pike!!!

[ripcord]

Well, I would love to keep the pike-IF there was some size to them. I spend a week on Sand every Sept and each year it is the same old, same old; a dozen hammer handles for each 'eye. Opener was no different . My partner did one-up me with dmall fish-a 3.5 inch walleye on Big Splithand. Glad it wasn't me going back to camp with this story.

[lakewood]

If you ever keep 9 perch or nine sunnies then you should keep 9 pike. No matter the size. If, at minimum you only keep the meat behind the "Y" bones you will have more meat than with perch or sunnies, and in my humble opinion, is the best meat in the lake. You also have the option of keeping the meat behind the "Y" bones as well as splitting the "Y" bones with two long strips of meat. Let us not forget the option of learing to fillet a pike and removing the "Y" bones properly. You can see Boser do this at www. then my resort name then .com. Go to the fishing page and you will find the link. Regardless of the meat, we MUST ALL do our part to help these lakes. The DNR has given us an opportunity to fix this problem. If EVERYONE doesn;t help, then it WILL fail!!! Also, I have a meat grinder for all those pike you catch, pike patties make a great substitute for burgers and you can freeze them for that spur of the moment fish sandwich. KEEP YOUR PIKE from Sand and Bowstring.......PLEASE!!!

[Spinner1]

If you can extract the Y bones properly from a 9" pike without throwing half the fillet away, you probably need to attend MED school IMO.

[Jim Almquist]

Spinner I think Lakewood meant a quantity oh 9 and not 9" but you still gave me a good laugh with that mind picture of trying to fillet a mini pike

[lakewood]

WHile I did mean qty of 9 not 9" I am sure a few pike that size have been caught too. No, I am not suggesting, as you state, that you should get a med degree just to fillet the pike. However, there are plenty of pike worthy of doing surgery on. 18" to 22" has plenty of meat and these can generally be caught all day, all night, all week etc. Just an alternative to the other white meat.

[Spinner1]

"While I did mean qty of 9 not 9" I am sure a few pike that size have been caught too."

Put me down for a couple micropike. The pike/perch family has an incredible capacity to attempt to eat things they can't possibly swallow.

I completely agree with you Lakewood. It kills me to see 5-10LB pike getting skinned, while the ones that should be eaten are released. That really screws up the balance in a lake.

[ripcord]

Lakewood-

Your comparison to perch and sunnies is well taken. And thans for turning me onto Jason's cleaning vids-very helpful. I will do my part when up later in the year.