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Good lake for Walleye Opener

Seabass77

By Seabass77
in Open Water

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GullGuide Experienced

GullGuide

Posted
Posted

Sooooooo many lakes......soooooo little time smile.gif
Where to begin?
I really do not have a favorite lake for opener, they all can be great in one way or the other. Instead of saying which one is my favorite, here is a list of the lakes I have fished on opener-
Gull
Whitefish
Leech
Hubert
Mississippi River
Bemidji
Pantanganet
Edwards
Bear
Green
Andrew
Nest
Florida
Solomon
Long
Andrusia
Irvine
Norway
Games
Ottertail
Rush
Lillian
Portage
Eagle
Willmar
Cass
Mille Lacs(never again smile.gif )
and the list goes on.....
I guess I like to try different lakes and not try to concentrate on just one, in fact I might hit 2 or 3 during the day.
Good Luck
>"////=<

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GullGuide Experienced

GullGuide

Posted
Posted

DuckJ,
I try to avoid Round if at all possible. The channel getting in from Gull is a pain unless you like chewed up props smile.gif And the accesses are just a tad too shallow for me. I love the lake, especially in the fall, just before and up to ice-up and first ice. But, not worth the headache with the channel when I can catch walleye in the big lake(Gull).
>"////=<

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guideman Proficient

guideman

Posted
Posted

I have fished them all, at one time or another. smile.gif...you have to be really old to be able to say that! smile.gif

Lake Vermilion is by far the best lake I have ever fished on opening day. Big walleyes can be hard to find, but a limit of 14" to 18" fish, is automatic.

Vermilion also has excellent nothern &
bass fishing on opening weekend. We get
the early bass season up here, and it can be, fantastic!

Some of the more popular spots can get a bit crowded, but overall, very few crowds and plenty of water to fish. smile.gif

------------------
Ace guide service.
Beautiful Lake Vermilion.
[email protected]
www.aceguideservice.com
(218) 753-2612

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Hey guideman, I've fished Norwegian Bay up there in the NW corner of "Big Red" and had a lot of success when most of the rest of that end of the lake STINKS, whats your thought?

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guideman Proficient

guideman

Posted
Posted

Hi Bigclean,
The west end can be tough at times, it
has alot of "spots" ...but many of them are very seasonal.

I fish the east end more than the west
but the main reason is that is were I live.
The guides that I know, do very well on the west side, it just takes a while to to get to know it.

Black bay, Norwiegian, Wakeumup narrows
and Wolf bay, all have a good, early season bite. The mouth of the Partridge
river and the north side of Wakeumup bay are also good places to try. smile.gif

------------------
Ace guide service.
Beautiful Lake Vermilion.
[email protected]
www.aceguideservice.com
(218) 753-2612

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Lake??? Rainy RIVER!!!! By the opener everyone has lake fever and you will have the river all alone. Well except for all the 30" plus walleyes that are really snappin' at the time.

------------------
International Angling Adventures
www.rainylakefishing.com
Call (877)246-7762
Guide Service and Adventures
Rainy Lake

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Where is Jesse opening this year?

Incidentally, Clearwater is a horrible lake for opening. Weather is always bad, fish get lockjaw, bait dies, reels backlash, knots break, favorite holes filled in over winter, launch ramps bad, parking impossible, no on-the-water lunch stops, wet-suiters getting early ski start, wind blows too hard from all directions, fingers too cold to tie knots, snaps won't open, et al.

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IceHawk Mentor

IceHawk

Posted
Posted

The Horseshoe chain of lakes near richmond. The walleye bite the last few years has been fantastic. The key presentation has been crankbaits mainly shad raps. Just troll the river sections and hang on.

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Xplorer Proficient

Xplorer

Posted
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I believe that "the jess" is fishing Rainy lake for the governor's opener this year. I will, on the other hand, be on either the St Louis river or may go up and try Kabetogama for the first time,depending on the weather (it was snowing up there last years opener)
Xplorer

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Ely Lake Expert Mentor

Ely Lake Expert

Posted
Posted

Duckbuster, Vermillion is a great lake to be on and great suroundings there. You sound like you know pretty well where to fish to. The thing is have gone there for a few openers and I have caught a seasons worth of 11 and 12 inchers in 2 days. I have lost faith in that lake because there is no size to the walleyes. I usually go to Whiteface or Ely lake, where I live.

Ely lake expert

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Borch Grand Master

Borch

Posted
Posted

I haven't decided yet myself. If I fish the more popular lakes(Mille Lacs, Gull, Koronis...) I generally do it at night when the pressure backs off a bit. I may head back out to Big Stone. Last year there was hardly anyone there after the minnesota opener. Fishing was good with no waiting at the access.

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Ely Lake Expert Mentor

Ely Lake Expert

Posted
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Tj, I guess if you want to go out and catch one after another, you are right that it is a great place for opener. Maybe I am just spoiled with the size of the fish on Ely lake (where I live). The average walleye in here is over 2 pounds and I have never caught one under 15 inches. I just go for size not quanity. good luck fishing.

Ely lake expert

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duckbuster Experienced

duckbuster

Posted
Posted

Borch: I have only fished Big Stone thru the ice, what I remember about the lake is that it seemed shallow ( I think we were in about 14ft of water) and very clear(we could see the fish looking at our jigs right on the bottom). Is it a tough lake to fish in the daylight during the summer? Any recommendations where to fish early season or summer months? Thanks for your knowledge!! GOOD FISHING

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Borch Grand Master

Borch

Posted
Posted

Water clarity can vary alot on Big Stone in the Spring. Heavy rains and snow melt usually lead to muddy conditions. Some years it's very clear. Every once in a while a slimy green algae will develop for a week or two and then it will clear up again. Ealy season often means piching small jig and minnow combos(just swim them back with a twitch or two thrown in. The rocks eat jigs for breakfast) or small crankbaits up along rocky shorelines(key on any points or fallen timber you find). This works best with some wind, cloudy conditions or in the early morning/evening. Early in the season I've had better luck on the northern half of the lake, moving south as the water warms up. Mid-day move out a bit deeper and fish the breaks nearer to the channel, flats(hartford beach area) or the christmas trees(see a lake map).

There are also a lot of white bass in the lake with some real lunkers. There is no limit on them in Big Stone. They eat up pretty good and are a lot of fun to catch if the eyes are a bit off.

Don't be afraid to move around looking for active fish. If a spot you visited looks too good not to hold fish come back later in the evening. I think that many fish never leave the shallow but rather lay in the rocks until they get active.

You never know what will turn them on. Two years ago a couple guys won a tourney there when they spotted fish shallow that spooked when they casted near them. They reved up the big motor and ceated their own wave action for about 10 minutes. Within 15 minutes they were pounding them where they stirred everything up. I never would have thought of doing that!

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tjwierz2 Enthusiast

tjwierz2

Posted
Posted

Taking a little crack at size of the walleyes on vermilion huh! :-) I was up last year for opener and we caught over 50 walleyes for the weekend, about half off the dock. The biggest we got was 16". (it was my best opener ever)

However, to catch the bigger ones it appeared you have to fish some areas that aren't "typical" spring locations. I know some of the guys there last year were catching them deeper...say 30'. We didnt have to work extremely hard to catch the numbers...but you do have to put some time in to catch some of the bigger ones.

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Borch Grand Master

Borch

Posted
Posted

I believe it opens April 27th this year. Two weeks before the general Minnesota opener. If you go out opening weekend you won't be alone but it can be very good! I usually fish it spring and early summer. One of these days I'll make it out for the fall bite. I know several guys who do. Piggy city!!! I haven't made it out there ice fishing. I usually hang around home during that time of year as I am usually really busy working on my honey do list grin.gif

Have a good one!

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