05-06-08

The big weekend is now only a few days away and we are very excited.  Finally the ice has left our home waters.  What will the walleye opener bring?  It is hard to say.  We have never seen the ice go out this late in the spring.  My gut feeling is that it will not be that much different than a normal year.  I will be spending all of my time in the baitshop for the weekend helping everyone get rigged up and on the water.  The bait tanks will be full of minnows and the coolers are full of leeches and nightcrawlers.  The Governor is in town fishing up at Breezy Point.  We'll see how they fare this year.  I wish them the best.  If I had to pick a lake to start out on it would be Gull Lake or the north end sand on Mille Lacs.  On Gull I would stick to the northwest quarter of the lake.  I like a couple of techniques for the daytime bite.  A small 1/8 oz Northland Fireball jig tipped with a small shiner is a good presentation.  I like to pitch it up in the shallows and hop it back to the boat or fish it slowly along the bottom.  My other favorite technique is our old stand by, the live bait rig with a plain snelled hook tipped with a shiner.  Once it starts getting dark I like to switch to trolling with a Rapala.  A floating #11 or #13 really does the trick for walleyes along shallow flats come sundown.  I think that the best fishing over the weekend could be for crappies.  With water temps in many lakes approaching 50 degrees the crappies are really starting to turn on.  So grab a scoop of minnows and some small jigs and bobbers and head for the bays.  Stop by anytime through the weekend for the latest reports.  Like always we will be running extended hours and there will be free cookies while supplies last.

For the latest reports call Sportland Bait and Tackle  218-963-2401

Click here Pictures from the 2007 Season