The morning dawned on the west side of the big lake to calm seas and bright blue skies. The temperature was already in the 50’s and forecast for the low 70’s for highs with a light breeze out of the west/northwest. Well, that didn’t exactly happen because by mid morning the wind picked up out of the unforecasted southeast at about 10 mph and continued throughout most of the day.
But that didn’t bother the fish any, they bit when it was calm in the morning, and they bit with the wind switch too. By later afternoon it calmed down and got even nicer (if that was possible) but that was just a precursor for another wind switch to the southwest. It came up in a hurry too. The wind went from being cold - blowing across the mid 50 degree water, to an inviting warm offshore wind.
All in all, it was by far one of the most pleasant openers, weather wise, in many years. And with all the hype about the predicted hot bite, the lake did not disappoint many anglers. There were fish shallow, in the mid depths and in the deep. It was all a matter of where you wanted to catch them.
Speaking of catching, let’s catch up with some of the guides that made predictions from last week and see how they did.
Brad Hawthorne of Hawthorne’s Guide Service said: “We caught 57 walleyes on opener. The bite was really hot and consisted all in 13-14 feet pitching (casting) in the sand. We caught fish ranging from 13 inches all the way up to 26 inches and it was an absolute fun day. The only reason we came in, is we ran out of minnows. We started with eight dozen lol. The traffic was pretty low on the lake compared to other openers, but that just meant more fish for the rest of us. At the access I wasn’t the only one that put the smack down on them. Many many boats did just as good as we did! Brad can be found at: www.millelacslakeguide.com or 652-271-8600.
Dustin Monson of Hawg Hunterz Guide Service was guiding in the Brainerd Lakes area over opener but received a report from a friend and said: “My buddy Quinn reported they had the most numbers and quality fish pitching slip bobbers and leeches or night crawlers in 16-20 feet of water on rock/sand transition areas.” Dustin can be found at www.hawghunterzguideservice.com or 320-293-2442.
As far as a smallmouth bass report for opener, Matt Treno from Matt’s Fishing got after them and said “Weekend report - smallmouth were plentiful on our boats. Fishing was best in 3-6 feet of water with hair jigs and small paddle tail swimbaits working the best. Our big fish were caught on chatterbaits and hair jigs with the small swimbaits winning with the most numbers.“ Matt can be found at www.mattsfishing.com or 612-619-5690
Sounds like it was a little bit of everything for putting Mille Lacs gold in the boat. The usual jig and minnow or plastic fished in fairly shallow to mid-depth water was a good choice. The jig has always been a mainstay in the early season since it was invented, and it doesn’t look like that is going to change anytime soon. Lindy rigs and bobber set-ups were another great option, as well as slow trolling crankbaits in the low light hours.
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. An 1/8 ounce jig and a shiner was the ticket in the shallower sand (12-14 feet) for a lot of anglers.
Bobber fishing or lindy rigging live bait in the mid depths of 18-22 feet of water was also a good choice. During the late afternoon our boat caught a number of fish bobber fishing with leeches moving frequently in those depths. Everyone - young and old always love to see the bobber go down.
Bobber fishing can be 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 move on and try another spot. Casting a jigging rap or other vertical baits from those anchored positions can also put a few nice walleyes in the boat if you get bored staring at a bobber.
With very little wind to speak of, the electric trolling motors got a workout on Saturday morning. 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. But later that day, after the wind picked up, there was a nice driftable wind on the lake.
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. Getting your presentation away from the boat will also help to fool the boat shy fish.
Although this year the shallow bite continued well into the midday hours. If fishing has slowed down in the area you are fishing, mid-day 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.
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. We went back out after dinner and started trolling around 9:30. In the next hour and a half we caught around 20 walleyes including a number of doubles, and some bonus smallmouth and rock bass. We concentrated our efforts in the 8-12 foot range with Shad Raps and stickbaits. With the doubles we were catching, it was obvious that the fish were grouped up and once we found one, there were plenty more down there.
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 back through the waypoint marking the fish you just saw.
The opening weekend was available to fish all night, and many diehards took advantage of it. But the fishing was plenty good prior to 10:00 p.m. Now, the 10 p.m. - 6:00 a.m. night ban went into effect on Monday, May 13. This will continue throughout the summer until Sept. 2 when the quit time will increase to 12 a.m. midnight - 6:00 a.m. so anglers will get a couple extra hours to night fish for walleyes later this fall.
Sunday brought the chilly north wind back that had been blowing previously to the opener. Although the day was warmer that Saturday, the natural air conditioning of the wind blowing over the chilly water was refreshing. Sounds like the fishing was as good Sunday as it was Saturday, but there were far less boats on the lake.
So there’s another opener in the books – one of the nicest weather wise in many years. The fishing basically lived up to the hype, although there have been years previously that we have caught more fish with less hype - so go figure. They say Memorial weekend is the official kick off of summer, but with an opening weekend like the one we just had, you could have fooled me.
This year’s regulations are back to catch and release (and not to the grease) for the first time since 2020. There is a harvest set to open Friday, Aug. 16, with a one fish limit, 21-23 inches long, or one over 28 inches will be allowed. That will continue until Nov. 30.
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