How did you do on Opener!

[Northlander]

Just wondering where everyone went and how you did.

[G_man]

Went to Red Cedar Lake near the City of Rice Lake. Fished with my father all day Sat and Sun morning. We boated 16 walleyes total. All 14"-16", 3 over 15". It was a tough bite, but we had more success than some others we talked too. There were plenty of boats but it wasn't too busy I guess. Jig with a small spinner on it (such as a thunder or whister jig) tipped with a minnow were the ticket. Casted into shore mostly and around islands. Water temps of 48 degrees.

[JMac]

A buddy and I fished Red Cedar and limited out both days although it was a tough bite....we did boat a 29"-er trolling saturday morning around 1 a.m.....she went back into the lake after a couple of photographs......we split our time trolling the shorelines and throwing husky jerks into the shallows.....

[LuckBites]

Went to Big McKenzie and didn't see an eye. Plenty of bass and northerns to keep busy but nothing for the frying pan. DNR CO confirmed a 56" muskie was speared along with the walleyes this Spring. Are you kidding me! Why do they even have a quota to spear skis!?! I should have stuck to Devils. Any reports from there?

[Jaggazz]

We fished Big Round in Polk on the opener. Only got 3 walleyes all under 15. Thank god for the Crappie bite or we wouldn't have had any fish at all. We did real well both saturday and sunday on the crappies.

2 of my buddies tried Devils (in Burnett) on Saturday evening and got skunked.

[Sliderfishn]

Fished around Hayward and did really well. Two 27s" and a 28" all released. All shallow and on plastics. Caught 50 or so (walleyes) and keeped 4 walleyes and 3 crappies for the weekend.

[G_man]

Jmac and walleye74: I'm curious to where you caught your fish.

We really had to work for ours. We began the mornings along the east shore from the resort with the tennis courts and boat landing along the shoreline to the south. Casting into shore. Then went to different islands and the pattern we put together was to find spots where the wind/waves puts the water into a small bay or length of shoreline to most likely catch the plankton, which brought the baitfish and then the 'eyes. Seen LOTS of people fishing the lee sides of the islands but we couldn't get a bite there and didn't spend much time there. Didn't find anything out in the midlake humps, nothing on the super-rocky point and really nice hump and drop along the north point. In the 7' flat out in front of Sucker Creek, we found all the northerns we could hope to catch. Stayed there for a little while and caught snakes the entire time. Didn't find the crappies but I think if we wanted to panfish, I would think the 7' flat with the northerns would have been the best place to start.

The best advice I could offer anyone is fish before 6:30am and after 6:30pm.

[walleye74]

We also fished Red Cedar saterday morning. we fished from 3:30am to 6:30am. Got our limit of 6 walleyes between 17-21". Caught all of them pitching jig and minnow.

[can it be luck?]

Hit Nokomis at 4:30am with Chix-lips and 1 other friend. Fished 4-6 fow around flooded wood untill 7am or so. Bobbers, split shot, and fathead minnow put 5 legal walleye in the boat(16-21"s) and 1 crappie. After that we fished the hwy Y bridge area. We caught around 150-200 walleye with only 1 legal fish. All other fish were 11"-14 1/2"s. A few "snakes" to throw in as well. After running low on minnows we went with a 3/8oz jig and a ring bodied grub(no bait), and killed em! All in all it was fun. No size but lots of action.
At noon we headed up to Big Arbor Vitae. The north wind made fishing tough since I fish the south side of the lake(4 Seasons). We did manage one walleye before heading back to Nokomis to finish out the evening bite. There it was more of the same, lots of little ones and 2 more legal eyes and 1 more crappie.
So, for the day we ended up bringing home 1 walleye short of a 3 man limit(9) and 2 crappie for a fish fry. I personally didn't take any home for myself. But my buddys were able to enjoy a fresh meal of tasty fish! Gotta justify all the gas and minnow money!

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http://groups.msn.com/canitbeluck

[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 05-03-2004).]

[Big Fish Hunter247]

Fished Big Trade Lake in Burnet County and found 3 crappies and the rest were bass with the occasional northern throw in. the crappies were caught on a orange crappie jig under a slip bobber and the bass were all caught on a bright yellow spinner bait being worked right under the surface of the water where ever you could find a weedline thats where you could find the bass

Big Fish Hunter247

[JMac]

G_Man:

we spent most of our time casting and trolling husky jerks along the shoreline from the public boat launch on the west side north to the the campground.....we also hit the east shoreline starting at the stumps and trolled north to the golf course.....we never tried any mid-lake structure.....we never could find any areas that held large concentrations of walleye....

[walleye74]

Golf course down to the new condos.

[catchin'whopper]

Regarding trade lake, how did you get the bass to hit? or were they just roaming? THanks for the tip!

[Big Fish Hunter247]

I think the bass were hideing in the weeds and ambushing what ever came buy if you were too far from th weeds nothing to far into them nothing right on the edge thats where the were

Big Fish Hunter247

[catchin'whopper]

thanks for the reply big fish unter, sounds like some fun times. i will be up again on shell lake on saturday and then Mudhen on sunday. Our 9 man bass club has our first tournies out there. The fishing was tough last weekend prefishing, but with the gradually warming weather i am expecting some dynamite fishing! Does anyone got any hints for either of these lakes? Thanks!

[Swamp Scooter]

Tried the Pike Chain in Bayfield county. very clear water and not much for weed growth. Marked a lot of fish(20ft) over deep water(50ft) but not a single taker! Tried shallow and could not buy a fish or bite. First time fishing the Chain so not a surprise.

ANY ASSISTANCE WOULD BE HELPFUL. Will be back for a true test Mem. weekend!!

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