How was your Opener?

[solbes]

So how did everyone do? We had a short trip up north; only about 24 hours. Got to fish for maybe 4 hours. One pike on a jig and minnow and that was it. Seems most of the fish I marked were still staging deep. Water was 51 degrees and really high on our lake.

Hoping most of you did better than I!

[hunterjoe]

I had one 20" eye caught right when I started to troll a crank. Then only bass after that. Threw some spinnerbaits in the shallows and caught one small pike.

Definately nice to be out on the water even though it wasn't too productive. The walleye did happen to be my first eye from MN. Can't wait to catch more.

[firefish_12]

we did well 3 of us caught 13 walleyes and quite a few bass. but we fished from 6am till 1pm and then from 4-8 pm

[BuckKiller]

Just got home from the cabin the group had 29 walleyes all between 17 and 27.5 inches (most were 20-23)The average size was down from other years. Brough home the 13 over 20 (13 guys) and I think 6 or 7 under 20. From our group: our boat got 15 of them, the second boat got 9 and the third boat got 4.

also had several northerns

[alwaysonthemove]

my opinion is that every walleye that comes in over 18 goes back in the water. I actually prefer the 12-14 inch walleyes.

[whitetail_freak]

my opener was very good despite the typical weather my group limited out in about an hour. most of the eyes were 15-17 inches, and a couple around 24-26. crappy weather, but good opener. caught the eyes in about 5 ft on rocks.

[eyehead]

Had to work on Saturday, but managed to get out today for a couple hours...Fishing was pretty slow, but we managed to get a couple. A 24",22",18" and a bonus 33" Pike. All were released.

Here's the 24" I caught on a Firetiger DT4

[HugoBox]

I hosted a couple guys in my boat on White Bear for the Governor's opener. Turns out the make fishin and huntin movies in SoDak for a living so we filmed a fishing show in the boat. No eyes but plenty of bass and pike so it was fun.

[BoxMN]

Up at the cabin with the young kids we caught tons of nice crapps, and the bass were also biting our crappie offerings, and we trolled and caught a mess of small pike. Not one walleye was seen... but we ate well Satuday evening with plenty fresh fish.

Of course, the best spot to fish was right off the end of the dock.

[LakeDocktor]

my opinion is that every walleye that comes in over 18 goes back in the water. I actually prefer the 12-14 inch walleyes.

I couldn't agree more! Let those 20 inch fish go. Anyway, I just fished Saturday. We went out at midnight and boated 5 fish (16,19,19,21,21). Kept the 16 and let the rest go. Those fish came from 3-6 feet of water on a jig and shiner or rainbow. Went back out at about 11 and fished until 2 and then again from 7-9. Caught 30 more in the throughout the day. Most fish were 14-16'' with some smaller and a few over 20''. My brother and I kept our 4 each and called it a weekend. The majority of the fish bit very light. They would pick up the jig and drop it almost right away. I would honestly say that we missed 100 fish this weekend. The best bite was on 1/8 oz gold jig with a spot tail shiner and popping it every 30 seconds.

[metrofisher7]

I couldn't buy a bite. I caught three pike one on the lindy, one on a jig and minnow and one on a rap. I just couldn't find the eye's. It was fun to get back out on the lake though.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I second Metrofisher, me and buddy couldn't produce a bite at all, one small crappie. 5:30am to 6pm on Martin Lake, most we talked to on the lake were having little luck, watched one guy whose dock was right on a nice drop off pull in a couple using lindy rigs.

[FORD FOREVER]

I think we were fishing in the same spot. My group did exactly the same thing. (Buckkiller)

[BullFighter]

In my opinion anyone who keeps a 12 or 13 inch Walleye should buy himself an Aquarium. (what a waste of fish)

There should be a 15 inch Statewide Minimum.

BF

[Musky Buck]

Fishing was very good, we ended up with 10 walleyes a friend and I. I fished from midnight to 5am using husky jerk rapalas. We released all of our 20" plus fish and managed 3 pike and a 22" bass, lots of my friends don't believe we catch quite a few pike after dark but we do for some reason, man you think you have an aggressive walleye but the fight is different, walleyes stay down and the pike fight on top. That bass must have been pushing the 6 pound range.

[Musky Buck]

Forgot to add that we fished about as shallow as possible, my trolling motor bottomed out a few times and fished about as slow as possible, fished so slow it was a bit tough to hook them, we imparted the action into our baits and then let them glide a bit, then rattle em again and so on and the best part was we had the entire lake to ourselves and not every lake lends itself to this kind of fishing, it took many years and many hours on many waters to figure out which lake this theory would work best on. It was quite a fish fry for Mother's Day.

[mrfish1991]

drifted lindys most of the time, our boat only got two eyes 24 and a 27. casting cranks produced two bass and no eyes. plenty of panfish to be had but most were just potato chips.

I believe the water was still too cold (48 degrees) and they were hunkered tight to the bottom with lock-jaw. should be better in a couple of weeks

[Matt Breuer]

Water is never too cold in my opnion. We saw temps anywhere from 44 to 51 on the 4 lakes we hit this weekend, and they bit on every one. We maneged limits for 4 guys, only one 20" plus... Jigs and shiners in anywhere from 5-19' of water.

[NELS-BELLS]

I fished a small shallow lake in Central MN yesterday afternoon and caught a limit of nice 15" - 18" walleyes. I did release some 13 and 14" fish. I was using a jig and fatheads in about 5' of water. The surface water temp was 55 - 57.

I agree that fish under 14" should be thrown back and as far as releasing the larger fish...it all depends on if they are caught in a lake that has natural reproduction. A lot of lakes in MN are completely stocked and have no natural reproduction, so releasing the larger fish does nothing for the future of the population in those lakes.

I release the larger fish (23" or larger) on all lakes simply because I don't think they taste as good as the smaller fish.

Nels

[LakeDocktor]

You are telling me that a 22'' fish tastes better than a 14'' fish? Don't get me wrong, I put back almost all the fish I catch, but in my opinion that 20-23'' fish is going to have far more effect on the reproduction of that lake than a 13-14'' fish. I don't want to take away from the topic of this thread and legally you are entitled to take your one fish over 20'' so go for it, but as far as I'm concerned you are taking away from a near future trophy fish and numerous others through reproduction.

[B K'S DAD]

Then you don't need to even fish on Waconia where the min size is 16".

[Islandlaker]

Everyone it my family seems to follow a 13 inch rule for walleye. We let everything over 18 inches go as well. Our lake is pure natural production so it would be silly to keep the bigger fish. At 13 inches you start to get a real nice fillet.

[LakeDocktor]

Then you don't need to even fish on Waconia where the mid size is 16".

Huh????

[Team Otter]

Originally Posted By: B K'S DAD

Then you don't need to even fish on Waconia where the mid size is 16".

Huh????

Minimum size for walleye on Waconia is 16".

[hound32]

fishing seemed slower than normal up in the ely area. water was very high. managed between 45 and 50 walleyes on saturday.