Opening Weekend Stories - Fun

[Dave B]

Fished Pool 2 for 3 1/2 hours midday on Sun (leaving for 4 days at Vermilion on Thurs-so no big opener outing).

8 eyes from 17-19 1/2", couple other species mixed in any my neighbor lost 2 BIG fish before we could see them. 1 he thought was a snag, then it started to swim to shore!

[Death from Above]

Took my buddy out last night and he caught a 13# 6oz walleye!!! He caught it on a crayfish. The fish measured at 33 1/4"s. I thought I was gonna win the biggest fish bet with my 26"er, but NOOOOO!
He didn't catch many...But he caught the one that counted!

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If you see me....It's to late!

[luv2senko]

You'd think with that fish, he would have a smile on his face!

[bart simpson]

Hmm, lets see. We went to Leech lake, woke up to temps of about 28 degrees with a pleasant breeze out of the south and took a leisurely 5 mile ride across 3 ft seas to our first stop. We all had rigs on that I had tied the week before using vanish line for the leader. Every one of them broke at first contact with a weed. Next time I'll use 14 guage electrical wire. I was cursing Labs4me because the depthfinder he sold me with the boat wasn't reading the bottom. After about an hour of playing with it during which I put my hand in the 45 degree water no less than 4 times to see what the %&^* was wrong with the transducer, my brother says, "Did you check the cables to make sure they were plugged in properly?" "Do you take me for an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly?" I replied, "Of course I cheked the cable!" At which point I reached around back and attached the OTHER cable securely to the depthfinder.

Depthfinder worked great after that, showing us thousands of fish that we couldn't get to bite. We felt MUCH better at that point.

The fish fry that night consisted of chicken strips rolled in shore lunch - which wasn't to bad by the way - with a couple 13, 14 beers.

Guess I'll tuck my tail between my legs and retreat to the safe confines of my smaller southern Minnesota lakes.

Note the ironic use of my signature below...

Nick

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"Back home we got a taxidermy man. He's gonna have a heart attack when he sees what I brung him!"
-Captain Quint (Jaws)

[bart simpson]

Special to Labs4me...

I drove the boat onto the trailer on my first try this time...at a 45 degree angle to the direction the trailer was pointed! Im getting better!

Nick

[Blaze]

Woke up to the same balmy mid-20's temps Sat AM as bart did to scrape frost off my boat windshield and all the lifejackets. Managed a couple eyes, a few nice slab crappies, and a handful of ferocious bass too! The highlight of the weekend was a 3 man pike tourney that was interrupted by a 24" eelpout and 22" whitefish within about 50 yards of each other on the same drift...what a hoot! Man do they fight!

Here's my opening morning 'eye:

[This message has been edited by Blaze (edited 05-17-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Blaze (edited 05-17-2004).]

[panolo]

I woke up to the same cold temperatures. A strong wind that blew us off the lake. We had to take my boat becasue the local dealer did not get my friends done in time. The bilge got a great workout. We did not manage any 'eyes but we did find some crappies, a few slimers, and a big muskie that pulled me around the lake for 20 minutes. What a thrill! I maybe saw 4 fish caught Saturday. The general consensus was that the action was slow. The 'eyes got me this time but I will get my revenge. Once that water warms up some they won't be able to hide from me for long!

[Matt Breuer]

Blaze, what a beautiful picture!!! That one better hit a frame!

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Matthew J. Breuer
Northcountry Guide Service
[email protected]
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Custom Jigs and Spins
Phelps Tackle
Today's Tackle
Stone Legacy
Ice Leaders

[ATM]

Fished Tetonka and sakahta on opener, caught lots of small eyes, the big one went 10". Did get into a nice school of white bass which was fun also caught a 20 inch largemouth and a couple of small pike. I am heading to lake okachobee(sp?) in FL. to do some bass fishing on the 20th its hard to work thinking of all the fishing I have to do this summer. Adam

[SledNeck_X]

Did great on opener 21 we kept, left when they were still biting. 3 adults and one small kid. Off shore too.

[yourresort]

Most fishermen staying at Three Seasons Lodge on Otter Tail Lake agreed that the bite was slow. They had mixed results, however.

Many of the guys who frequent the lake did well. Some had limits and I did see a number of larger eyes (20"+). There are plenty of nice sized bags in our fishgut freezer.

If there was a common reason (Excuse) for not getting more fish, It was the wind making it hard to hold a spot. The need to present slow with the water temps was, difficult to accomplish.

Thanks to all the guys who stayed over the opener. We had a great crew!!!

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Paul Ness
Three Seasons Lodge on Otter Tail Lake

[Farley]

Out of a group of 5, 3 of us managed to fall in the water, broke 1 rod trying to net a fish, 1 broken chair in the cabin (wrestiling tourney), broken fuel guage the first day so we couldnt tell how much gas we had left, wrong registration for the boat, and couldn't keep 1 fish (slot limit), but it was one of the best openers we ever had.

Quote of the weekend: "I'll walk on water to kick your @ss".

[bigbucks]

We fished Ottertail Saturday afternoon & evening in the "lovely" wind. I would agree the action was slow. We did manage to boat 10 walleyes in the 12-19" range for 3 of us. I was surprised how deep they were. I was expecting 15' or less, but we got them anywhere between 14' & 30'. Small jigs with leeches....... Or maybe some other presentation, but the depths were legit.

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[311Hemi]

Was up on Vermillion........the fishing was slow for us over the weekend, although it sounds like others cought a few. It was a fun and eventful trip, just not to many fish in the boat. A couple here...a couple there.

A recap of the trips events:

-Thursday.....Thought everything was good to go and we would be out of town earlier than expected.....well...the trailer light wire harness was not working on the truck.....spent 2 hours on the before we even left town.....

-Thursday.....lost 2 wheel bearing hub covers on the way up for some reason..had another extra that made it all the way..had to repack the bearings on Friday morning while waiting for the rest of the group.

-Thursday....finally arived at Vermillion.....found the camp site at 11:00pm. Buddie started splitting wood and the axe handle breaks.

-Friday at 11:30 pm....getting ready to head out on to the lake to find one of the boats 1/2 under water. Engine completely under water.... Can just say we didn't make it out fishing Friday night. Woke up Saturday morning...pulled the plugs...messed with the engine a bit drying it out. Got it running. Saturday morning now gone.

-Saturday night.....my engine isn't running that great all of a sudden. Had it running the previous week with no issues...now it just wants to die on me. Over dinner I changed spark plugs.....tore the carberator apart and cleaned it..... Now working good enough to get out on the lake....

-Sunday.....engine in reverse and hit a rock. Now shifting from reverse to drive is messed up....used drive the rest of the weekend with no reverse.

Would have been better had there been more fish in the boats and less water....and less equipment issues. It was a fun time though!!!!

[This message has been edited by 311Hemi (edited 05-18-2004).]