Minnesocold Fishing Opener 2008

No wind No Good

I arrived at the Eddy's Jetty at 5 to midnight and much to my dismay I found a flat lake. There were quite a few people fishing off the Jetty. I got my stuff together and headed to the South Jetty which was open. At midnight I threw my first cast and promptly donated the Rapala Husky Jerk Purple Perch that I had so much success on last year to Mille Lacs Lake. I did not have the reel adjusted properly and when it backlashed the line cut at the spool and sent the Husky Jerk hurling into the darkness. I don't care much for the precedent this set with that Crystal Fireline I put on last fall. At about 2 minutes after midnight while I was trying to pick out the backlash someone sent up two volley's of fireworks that ended with loud booms. My guess is that in the calm conditions it probably could be heard over the whole southern end of the lake.

I got the backlash picked out tied on a Glass Perch Husky Jerk 12 adjusted the reel and threw out my 2nd cast, no lost lure this time. After several casts I got a feel for the area and I was hitting rocks almost right away. That is not a good sign if you want to keep your Rapala's. I probably would have headed to the North Jetty but a couple of guys were fishing that corner, so I elected to go to plan B.

I went back to the truck and retieved my bobber set up and minnows. I got the first cast out just fine but on the next 3 or 4 casts I ripped the minnow off the hook. I did finally get my casting down. Even though there was no wind to speak of and the lake was glass, the bobber always slowly made it's way toward the Jetty. I really didn't need to have my bobber lighted as the light from Eddy's Marina was plenty good to illuminate my big bobber. At one point a guy fishing the Center Jetty saw 3 walleyes swimming along. More excitement was a 3.5 foot muskie cruising along in the shallows next to the Jetty. I did not catch a fish, nor did I see a single fish caught. No wind No Good. I quit around 2AM.

Maybe the daylight will bring better fortunes.

After Skunk: After dealing with the Patti meets skunk fiasco at 3AM, I was still up at 6am, so I decided to hit the GOMH. The intended target was toothy bullheads and Dogfish on a double colorado chart/white/brown spinnerbait. From shore you take what the lake will give you and all I could catch was jumpin bullheads, practically one on every cast. The biggest was 18.75" followed by a 18.5" with numerous 14"-16" and a couple of 17"'s. All told I landed 33 in the two hours I fished on the spinnerbait, a glow Cubby and minnow, and a #8 White X-Rap. There were two other guys fishing and they probably landed a dozen jumpers in the time I was there. I can only hope bass opener is so kind. I also caught 3 silver bullheads on the glow Cubby.

Night Shift: The rain moved in during the day and it wasn't much warmer than 50 but I decided to head out about quarter to 7pm. I started with the spinnerbait and caught a few jumpin bullheads, I switched up to a #10 Chart/Orange X-Rap and promptly caught my first toothy bullhead of the open season. I threw this 22inch hammer handle back. Eventually I tried a glow Cubby and minnow and caught a couple of jumpers along with 2 silvers. All told I got 8jumpers, 1 Toothy, and 2 silver bullheads. Willard was spectating from the warmth of his car. As it got dark the silvers just were not happening so I made the decision to try Mille Lacs.

Eddy's Shift 2: It was cold wet and windy when I arrived at about 9:30PM. One of the Launches had just come in, no fish that I saw. I headed to the South Jetty because I thought the wind was out of the NE and that makes the South Jetti the best place to cast from. I wasn't able to angle into the lake like I wanted but I could throw a good cast angled towards shore. I gave a Firetiger Husky Jerk about a dozen casts then decided my luck might be better off the North Jetty corner because the wind seemed like I might be able to cast. When I got to the North Jetty I found out I was wrong. If I didn't backlash, the wind blew my Husky Jerk back without any kind of distance on the cast. After a few attempts I had seen enough and called it a night. 3 more launches came in and I saw a grand total of 1 fish and I also talked to a couple of guys who came in on a boat and they didn't get anything.

So I didn't catch any walleyes this opener, but at least I had some action.