One thing everyone did agree on this opener was the weather – it was one of the nicest we’ve had in many years. What a difference a year makes. Last year, it was snowing and blowing and blizzard like conditions, but the fish still bit. This year was just the opposite, sunny, warm and light winds.
The common denominator from last year? The fish still bit.
That’s the nice thing about Mille Lacs Lake; it’s generally a great lake to catch walleyes no matter the weather. And this opener did not disappoint too many anglers.
This year’s regulations let anglers harvest one walleye per person in the 21-23 inch slot size or one over 28 inches until May 31. So that should help bring more anglers to this already popular destination. With this regulation in place, it looks like the traditional fish fry gathering is a distinct possibility.
With the water temperatures hovering in the mid 50s, there were still plenty of fish relatively shallow. The sand bite in particular was very good as usual. Paul Hartman from Blaine said, “We caught 138 walleyes on Saturday and went through twenty two dozen shiners. One guy in the boat caught 59.”
A 1/8 ounce jig and a shiner was the ticket in the mid-depth sand for Paul’s boat. This was the best report of the weekend that passed my desk. Yet another person I spoke with said the bite was slow and thought the walleyes were still lethargic and in deep water. So as usual there were varied results on the big lake.
Slow trolling a live bait rig with a minnow or a leech is a great early season presentation in general, and this year was no different. Jigs and minnows and jigs another hot pattern. Whether you cast them or slow troll, they can be very effective on early season walleyes as well, and good reports were heard. Seems the Jig and plastic bite this opener was not as good as previous ones.
With very little wind to speak of, the electric trolling motors got a workout on Saturday. Generally anglers like a little “walleye chop” to not only drift the boat, but also a little wave action will break down the sun’s direct rays from penetrating the water, so it gets a little darker the deeper you go and the fish can be less wary of your presentation.
Fishing a little deeper is usually a good rule as well when it’s calm and sunny, especially on clear water lakes like Mille Lacs and during mid-day hours. Although this year the shallow bite continues well into the midday hours. If fishing has slowed down in the area you are fishing, this can be a good time to cruise around a little and see if you can find schools of fish on your electronics, then stop and fish there.
Saturday evening brought out the bobber squads. Slip bobber fishing on Mille Lacs has to be the most popular way to fish, especially if you have a boatful of people. Lot’s of boats were fishing the mid-depth rocks and sand enjoying the evening and catching fish. Anchoring up and fishing a foot or two off the bottom can be a very relaxing way to fish. Young and old always love to see the bobber go down.
Bobber fishing is more of a “let the fish come to you” type of presentation, and it can be very effective. Seems once the fish figure out you’re just going to continue to put some nice lively bait down there, the more fish come to check it out. If you’re not getting bites, or the bite has stopped, it’s a good idea to try another spot.
As darkness drew closer, the lighted bobbers started to illuminate and the trolling boats started to be more prevalent. Trolling crank baits in rocks and sand is another popular pattern on the big lake. One angler I spoke with said they caught over a dozen each night trolling shad raps in 7 to11 feet in just a couple hours with quite a few doubles. With the weekend available to fish all night, many diehards took advantage of it. The 10 p.m. night ban went into effect on Monday, May 17. This will continue throughout the summer until Sept. 16 when the quit time will increase to 12 a.m. midnight, so anglers will get a couple extra hours to night fish for walleyes this fall.
One of the good things about trolling is you cover a lot of water. So instead of waiting for the fish to come to you, you can go to the fish. If you start catching fish, keep making trolling passes over the area, and usually if there’s one, there’s more. Once the bite slows, move on to another area. Trolling is another good way to put your electronics to work, especially side imaging if you have it. If you find some fish off to the side, cursor over and drop a waypoint. Troll up a little further, turn around and troll through the waypoint marking the fish you just saw.
Sunday brought very similar conditions, but the bite was not the same for some. I caught up with Paul again in the afternoon, and he was fishing mid-depth rocks and sand. He said, “We’ve got 50 so far, but the day isn’t over yet!” His shiner bill for the weekend was north of 400 dollars. Thanks, Paul, for fueling the local economy.
And there’s another busy opener in the books – one of the nicest weather wise in many years. They say Memorial weekend is the official kick off of summer, but with an opening weekend like the one we just had, let’s kick it off now.
May 19, 2021 at 08:57PM
https://ift.tt/33WWJsy
Sunny, warm and busy fishing opener | Mille Lacs Messenger | messagemedia.co - Aitkin Independent Age
https://ift.tt/35JkYuc
Fish
No comments:
Post a Comment