Fishing opener?

[friendlyfisher]

I keep hearing people say opener is this weekend. As far as i know its not till the 29th.

[BigMike]

you are correct, the walleye & northern pike opener is this weekend and bass doesn't open up until the end of the month.

Although you know this happens every year, there will be guys out on tonka, white bear, prior, etc... fishing for "northerns" when you know they are really hunting for spawning bass. Kinda frustrating how MN DNR sets up it's regs regarding season openers because a lot of bass can be picked up fishing for northerns - whether you are being intentional about it or not is another question...

[wormburner]

The opener for bass is on the 29th, unless you fish up north of duluth, north and east of hiway 53 from duluth to international falls. this is one of the good things about living in duluth!

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[HawgTide]

BigMike, the question I have is how do you fish for Pike? The only Pike I've caught since I've lived here were on either Spinnerbaits and Crankbaits. The biggest Pike I've seen caught was on the Mississippi River (12lbs) using a white spinnerbait.

You know I've been an outspoken proponent to smallie conservation, but I don't see how you could fish for Pike without catching Bass. I'm dying to get out and cast a line, but I don't want to be thought of a poacher or cheater. I guess if I do go in the next two weeks, I'll use 3/4 oz spinnerbaits. Maybe this will keep the smallies from biting???

[friendlyfisher]

BigMike,
I dont think you caught my question right. I was saying that the only meaningfull opener is the Bass opener. The walleyes and northerns mean nothing to me. Even though I will be putting my waders on at about 11:45 friday night. friendly

[BigMike]

Friendly,
I catch your drift now... I'm right there with you. The real opener isn't until the 29th . I grew up in CA where there is no such thing a northern or walleyes, so fishing in the midwest has been a challenge keeping those "other" pesky fish off, especially those spinnerbaits & cranks.

Hawgtide,
I agree with you about the spinnerbaits and cranks, I've caught almost as many pike on them while fishing the 'sippi & rum as I have caught bass. Up here, pike really seem to love those spinnerbaits! Which makes me wonder about this whole pike opener being a couple weeks before bass opener. It would seem to me that it would be just too hard to distinguish between the two: fishing for bass or pike with spinnerbaits. Although I don't know if I would want to be throwing spinenrbaits all day in order look like I'm fishing for pike. If I "accidently" caught a bass I would wank to pull out a senko, tube, or jig of some sort and work the area a little more thoroughly.

I guess it's all a mindset - some will actually be fishing for pike and some will be fishing for bass but masked as pike fishermen.

But when in doubt, head to Pool 2 and 4 and get your bass on until opener

[BigMike]

I think I'm just too much of a goody goody when it comes to this whole topic and would rather play it safe than risk getting a big ticket - or even worse lose my gear.

I'm interested if anyone on FM has ever got a ticket from a CO. If so, for what and how much? Especially if it was about this particular topic.