Opening day walleye

[Scum Frog]

With opening day for walleye fast approaching ( May 7 BOQ and May 14 other inland lakes) what will be your first bait and first technique used?

If that doesn't produce, what is your next trick?

[FLOATFISHIN]

I hear this bait works well.....




F.F

[Scum Frog]

I hear they work well in the rivers around Belleville & Napenee this time of year

[RJ]

I'll be at Westmeath for opener.....but I'll be targetting pike mostly.....though.....last year while targetting pike I hit a walleye glory hole....

a word of advice.......go shallow.....it's been a slow spring.....fish will most likely still be fairly shallow post spawn....

RJ

[SteelHeaderOntario]

I'm Surprised you even have that

[JP]

I always start off with a huskie jerk to se if they are hitting or not, then if it's slow I use a jig and grub tipped with a night crawler.
I'll be hitting the Ottawa River on the friday of openner since it opens one day early and Mississippi the rest of the weekend.
Cheers
JP

[eye-tracker]

Inline planer boards and cranks if the water temp is in the mid 40's and up. Otherwise...spinner rigs on inlines tip'd with big night crawlers.

-et

[Relic]

RJ is right, go shallow. The can still be caught in shallow weeds till the temps hit the sixties.

Minnow baits, or jigs and minnows. If the fish seem to be spread out troll.

[Scum Frog]

I agree, unless the temps sky rocket for the next couple weeks, the water will still be cool and walleye's may still be in shallow. With that said I will probably start off trolling shallow running baits like jointed rapala's or husky jerks to see what that produces and take it from there.

[Moosebunk]

Early spring up here. Break up is about 3 weeks ahead of usual. I imagine by opener for me it'll be like fishing for eyes in the 2nd week of June. That's OK by me, in the past years it's been alot of milty little males hitting cranks, spinners or jigs, while the big girls are still in rest mode. I picked up some fat 6 inch saltwater type soft plastic weighted minnows, I'm thinking go big or go home this year. I'll let my buddy in the boat catch dinner eyes. Looking forward to the annual trip of the North French River. With water levels low already this year, my buds outboard jet drive should get us to the quieter locales.

[ganman]

I'll likely be fishing Pike Lake near Westport. Pike can be a tough mother. It is moderately tannin stained. There is a type of water on Pike that over the years has paid off. The best I can describe it as moderately sloping points, saddles between islands and shorelines with "prominant" features. There are some nice mid lake humps on Pike. You can get the odd fish off them in May but normally they come into there own in a couple months.

A good spot is a transition zone between deeper water and shallow. I look for a rubble bottom, some wood debris and weedgrowth helps. I look for depths of 10-20 ft. I sit in the tiller seat keeping an eye on the graph and use the big motor and electric to keep precise position. I use one of my own bucktail jigs...black with yellow, chart. or orange mixed in tipped with a fathead minnow. I fish the jig slow and almost vertical. If the wind picks up and/or its overcast and the action gets faster I'll switch to a gold or pech sinking rap or suspending minnowbait, perch or yiyi big o.

It ain't the fastest fishing but I've fished the lake for years and usually I can eke out a limit even with the slot limit. Usually do alot better than the trolly guys.

[saskie]

Shallow jigging, then trolling. I'll be away for the opener, but when I come back it will be:
Constance Bay
Mississippi L
Muskrat L

[Bender]

Will be down in the BOQ on the 7th for a day and a half (mothers day don't ya know....my wife will kill me if I'm home any later than two on Sunday).

Will be looking for 15ft of water. Then chartreuse jig with nightcrawler for starters. Plan to be out in the wee hours of the morning on Sat.

WK

[BrianM]

We've got as bunch of the boys heading up to Duncan lake, near Gowganda. Never been there so it will be a bit of searching and fishing to find the spots. Any insight on location on Duncan lake that would save me a few hours would be greatly appreciated.