2025 Opener Part 1: Mille Lacs

 

8" Rippin Rap (Chrome Blue)

12:00-4:00am Eddy's Jetty Mille Lacs

44-49℉, Partly Cloudy, 7-12mph N

I elected to take the North Jetty Harbor Mouth due to the stiff wind blowing in. There was one guy who showed up at about twenty to midnight, and two boats headed out and came back a couple of times before heading out for about 3 hours. I got a cigar 40 minutes in, then lost a 20+" inch fish at the rocks about 5 minutes later. Both bites on the blue/chrome Rippin Rap. I lost the Rippin Rap.  

I thought it was going to be AWWWN. I didn't get another bite for almost two hours, a 21.5" fish. I got that one at the North Corner. About 20 minutes later, I lost what felt like a keeper at the Harbor Mouth when dialed into the retrieve. At 4 am, I decided to bag it and head to the GOMH. 

An OK Opener, but with conditions, I should have had more opportunities.

3 Eye 

Complete 2025 Opener Report is at the Log Blog

5/11/24, MN Opener GOMH & Short Trophy Trip

 

 

4:35-5:40AM GOMH NE

43-52℉, MS, 0-2mph

Warer Level High and Rising, Temp: 58℉

I should have left 10 minutes earlier. The truck driving North in front of me was headed to the GOMH as well but, thankfully, didn't pull a U-turn at the bridge. I saw they were coming back, so I quickly grabbed two rods and the tackle bag and headed down to the untaken SE side. Wheel House Guy was already there on the SW. I got a bite on my second cast, but it got off quickly. That is what I get for leading with the swimbait instead of a jerkbait. I did switch to the UJShad and had a fish on briefly, but it felt very gator-like on the hit. I had a couple of bumps, and as it was getting light out, I had a jumper get off. I finally got two small jumpers on the Jerk Shad and headed for the Trophy as the first boat from Platte approached.

2 Jump

6:40-7:45AM Sullivan River Mouth, River & SW SPRO

54-59℉, M Sunny, 0-4mph W

With the pre-sets from last night so I was able to make a quick transition to the boat. I left the rods that were in the boat house in the boat house. 3 or 4 boats were fishing Platte. Only a couple on the North End of Sully. I started at the River Mouth. Nothing on the KO Shower Blows, so I went to an EVO Chatter. Lost a good feeling fish, then a good'n at the boat. I then caught a small pike. I got bit off. In the river, I had some good bites on the SBKO but only caught the small ones. I believe I was the first person to fish the river mouth. For the final 20 minutes, I ran the SWSPRO, getting the biggest fish of the morning, and missed a couple more good ones on the SBKO. It was a short trip because I needed to have the car back home.

7Bass 

3Pike 

 

5/11/24, MN Fishing Opener at Eddy's Jetty Mille Lacs

 

Setting the scene

 

Northern Lights Looking towards Indian Point

Northern Lights Looking South from our place when I got home

1st Fish of the 24 Season

5th Eye of the night

12:00-2:45AM Eddy's Jetty Mille Lacs Lake

43℉, Clear Sky w/ Northern Lights, 1-3mph W light ripple

I arrived at the Jetty around 11:30PM. The Northern Lights had a lot of watchers on the frontage road, but nobody came to fish the Jetty. There was a light ripple on the water. I started with a Minnesota Rig for my first 5 casts. Not a solid plan. After a fishless first 10 minutes, I switched to a Grass Pig and had a fish pull it halfway off the jig on the first cast. I may have missed another bite about 10 minutes later. I spent 45 minutes in the North Corner before giving the Harbor Mouth a try. 

At about 1 am, the Northern Lights got much brighter over the lake, and a baitfish got blasted just to the S of the Center Standing Rock. I quickly made my way to that spot. I turned on my headlamp and saw the fish, so I turned the headlamp off. I then cast about 20' past, where I saw the fish with the Jerk Shad, and it hit on the very first cast, bazinga! It was about 18." I caught 3 more at the Center Standing Rock in the next 20 minutes. I got my final bite of the night at the Old North Corner Standing Spot on the Jerk Shad. I foolishly decided 5 fish was enough and started trying other things. A couple other guys showed up with a boat at 2 am. The guy that went to Center Jetty got a fish quickly. His buddy showed up about 15 minutes later and caught a walleye as I was packing up. He was fishing off the N Harbor Mouth. The NL were really bright from W to E in the southern sky as I made my way home. I took a picture when I got home. Successful opening trip.

5Eyes 

2024 Tackle Warehouse Opener

 

It got over 50℉ today, so Opened up my Tackle Warehouse today and took a brief look around. I need to do a thorough refresher sometime this spring. I kind of know what is there, but kind of not.

2022 MN Fishing Opener With Todd In the Evening

 

 Skunked (Some natives were fishing at the North Jetty when I arrived at 11:30PM and not getting anything. One small eye was swimming around and a boat was out bobber fishing and I think getting fish. I quickly bailed on the North Jetty for the South as some guys with a boat set up on Center Jetty. A little bit of activity on South, but nothing close in so I could track with the fish. I texted Brett and he told me they hammered 'em at the GOMH. I bailed at 2:15 am. I stopped at Kathio Bridge and listened to loons calling.) 

GOMH:

Skunked (Nobody was there when I arrived just after 4AM. Put on the rubbers and headed down on the NE side. WHG showed up as I was getting settled. There was a lot of baitfish activity, but I couldn't buy a bite. Made the executive decision to head to the Trophy at 4:30 AM)

First Legal Bass of 2022 Mini-Max (Fire Craw)

Big Bass of the Day at the GOMH

(Skies looked dark but I sent it anyway. Hit something as I was steaming toward the small Island. The motor sputtered but didn't lose much speed. Got to the River Mouth; first and only boat. Got a 10" on the Mini-Max. Started getting some fish on the SBKO. As the front approached I missed 7 or 8 bites. The front passed only raining for a couple of minutes. Got fish on jerks, chatters, craw tubes, paddletails. Seems like I would get a couple of fish then need to switch up. Wasn't real efficient with my business. The sun came out and wind came up out of the South. I made my way across the SPRO, but it was really blowing so I called it a morning.)

20Bass 3Pike 

 (Stopped at the GOMH on my way home. Nobody was there so I headed down with 3 rods. Craw tube got bit off before I could catch anything on it. Had multiple hits on the the craw, Grass Pig, and a couple of Chatters. Fish just not getting it good today. Had a lot of misses in the boat. Got my biggest of the morning in the Pirahana 2, but left the scale at the lake. Mother nature called so I bounced.)

3 Jump

(4 Rods with me, 5 casts per rod on the SW side with a few bonus casts resulted in 7 jumpers before I headed to the lake place as Todd was finishing up with the dock decking.)

7Jump 

Todd's first bass of 2022, 1st fish was a pike

 (Todd started off on fire at the River Mouth. I talked to Chuck Steinbauer who is coming down to fish P/S tomorrow. We worked our way East into Platte. Nothing was going on in CIB other than at the dock just beyond the Abrahamson's where Todd got a 3lber. So I jumped us back to the river mouth after nothing at the juice. We got a few more bass. Good trip. Todd was headed home before I was done loading the boat.)

Todd: 15Bass 1Pike, Me:12 Bass

Todd: 15Bass 1Pike

Me: 42 Bass 3 Pike

Total Fish: 57 Bass 4 Pike

BP Story Time: MN Fishing Opener

Picture Fish, Not The One In Story

 My memory is foggy about when this story happened. It was when I was in high school, but it may have been when I was in college. It may have happened the weekend between Fishing Opener and Bass Opener. 

I was fishing in the channel between West Sylvia and Sylvia for pike with spinnerbaits. I was catching pike and bass, minding my own business, when some guy came out on his dock and chewed me out for fishing for bass out of season. I told him I was fishing for pike, but he wasn't having any of it. I was like, what an A-hole. Later that night, I caught a pike that maybe went 7 or 8 lbs and was the biggest of my life at that point on a different spot. A few years later, I caught a 10lb pike almost right where he chewed me out on Opener, setting a new personal best, and I got a 12lber there sometime in the Fall during the mid-1990s.

2022 MN Fishing Opener Outlook (2 Weeks Out)

 

Photo was taken May 14, 2017, on the 2017 Opener.

If this forecast is accurate, we could be in for a banga this year. Water temps on P/S in the low 50's, probably mid forty's on the Pond. Yes, please! 

2021 Opener Recap: Tough/Disappointing

 

No Company at Midnight

I was pleasantly surprised nobody else was at the Jetty at Midnight, and there were plenty of eyeballs in the Harbor Mouth area, so that is where I started. It was basically calm. I ditched the plan to go with a Rippin Rap first to see if I could sight fish 'em first. Fish weren't interested. So I started blind casting and had a couple of bumps not hook up. I switched to a swimbait and had one on briefly. Then a couple guys showed up around 12:15 and started fishing off the Center Jetty. He was hooked up on his second cast. I decided to throw a Rippin Rap. The guy hooked up again, and I got a 20-inch eye on my first cast with the Rippin Rap. It was 20.5", so not quite a keeper. I forgot to bring a bucket and to take a picture. No big deal, the fish were going, and I would catch another, right? Wrong. I had a few more bites and lost two that were hooked up. One that I sight fished with a hair jig at the North Corner and one in the final 10-minutes that took the Frenzy Minnow that I fought all the way to the rocks. Probably a 23/24-inch fish. I did get my perch X-Rap back that I lost when I backlashed at about 12:30AM. It had drifted down to the North Corner when I caught the line and brought it in. When I left at 3:30, The other guys had caught 13 between them. I got a little spun out trying to catch the X-Rap rather than fish, and by the time I got back to fishing, they had shut off for the most part. So I left somewhat disappointed, but I got my X-Rap back, so I was a little lucky. 

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15.5" R2S Bubble Walker (Pearl)

2.75lbs/17" SK 3/16 Spin 

2.91lbs/17.5" Bully Wa 2

The first trip out in the Trophy was a mixed bag. I got started about 15-20 minutes later than I should have. Missed a hit on the Frenzy Popper on the second cast at the River Mouth, and the line and hook got fouled up on the hook set.  I did get my first bass on topwater on the Bubble Walker just as another guy entered the River Mouth. That was the only bite I got in the area. I started working my way down the western shoreline. Got a few bass and pike on a spinnerbait and chatterjig. Caught my first 17-incher and realized I hadn't prepared the scale like I had planned. So I stuck the fish in the livewell and got that situation straightened out. There were anglers out in front of me, so I started working toward the northern shoreline of the SPRO.  I had a big pike take that little spinnerbait. I had her all played out and in the net lifted halfway into the boat. The fish flopped out of the net into the lake and got off in an instant. That trainwreck turned what would have been a successful Opener into a disappointment. The pike had to be at least 37-inches long and the biggest I have ever had on at Platte Lake. I really wanted a picture with it. I could have had her in the boat but might have broken a rod had I let her flop out in the boat rather than over the water like I chose. Well, no crying over it. went back to fishing. Caught a few pike and bass on the flat. Came up to the curly left pondweed at the Intersection.  Got three 17-inchers there, including my first two frog bites. Lost the first one, got the second. Also lost a good fish on the LiveTarget Baitball Popper. Conditions were good, but I had to get home to take care of Kaylee, so I headed in at noon.

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16" Jackhammer

The DNR heading off in the distance

Todd and Steve had the dock in the water but didn't have most of the decking done. I got the boat ready and Todd and I headed out around 7PM. South Inlet Bay was a bust as was Access Across. We each got a bass in the SPRO. Todd's on the Jackhammer and mine on the LiveTarget Baitball Popper. Disappointing trip. Thought the fish would be suicidal. CO Vang came and checked us toward the end of the evening. He said it was really slow for most anglers. I think the falling clear water has them skittish and reluctant to get on the shallow flats. I missed far too many bites today. I didn't suggest Mille Lacs to Todd as I was tired and not happy with the evening's results. Steve had the dock finished when we returned.

 

2021 Opener Plan

My Plan:

I have decided to leave for Eddy's at 11PM. That should assure I can get the North Corner on the Jetty. With a SE wind, that is the spot to be, and being there a half hour early should mean I get it. Todd isn't coming up until sometime tomorrow, and fishing at midnight for walleyes isn't appealing to Steve, so it will just be me. Unless the bite is ridiculously on fire, I'll be out of there by 3:30AM. That will give me enough time to get home to get a bite to eat and get reloaded to launch the Trophy by 5AM. I am doing that rain or shine, minus thunderstorms, of course. I want to be first at the river mouth. The first lure for Larry Bass is going to be a Frenzy Popper. But I think the star of the show could turn out to be hollow-body frogs in the dead rice, which is everywhere. If fish are going in the Sulivan Platte River Outlet, that is where I will spend the morning, fingers crossed. If not, I'll go to Platte and fish my way north. How long I stay out is totally dependent on the bite. I'll need to be back to take Kaylee out by noon, so I can't stay out forever. I will be out in the evening with Todd in the Trophy. I don't anticipate Todd wanting to give eyes a shot after dark at the Jetty, but I'll ask if he wants to give it a shot. Unless he wants to go, I think I will get some shut-eye and go at sunrise again in the Trophy with Todd on Sunday morning.  

2021 Opener Outlook

It looks like we are getting stable weather with a slight warming trend for the 2021 Opener. This should make for phenomenal fishing.

My Plan:

Sleep in on Friday, so I am raring to go come midnight. I should arrive at Eddy's at 20 to midnight if not sooner. I'm going to invite both of my brothers don't know if they are up for it or not.  I'll bring the spotlight and see what I can. I'm guessing water levels are up slightly from last Fall. If the North Corner is open that is where I will start. My guess is that there will be other people there fishing, but you never know. I expect to catch a few walleyes, but I don't think it will be a smash fest. If fishing is really good I'll stay until 3:30AM. 

Developing...More Later.

2021 MN Fishing Opener May 15th, Well That's Garbage!

I was just going to put the MN Fishing Opener and MN Bass Opener on the Google calendar when I noticed Memorial Day is on May 31st this year. MN ties its Fishing Openers to Memorial Day weekend by law. So instead of Opener being on the second Saturday of May where it usually is, we will instead have to wait a whole extra week until the 15th.  Bah Humbug!

2020 Opener Recap

25.5" X-Rap Shad Shallow (Pink)

I don't think I have ever done a postmortem on a Fishing Opener.  I don't think I've ever used the word postmortem in a sentence before either.  Well, by golly I'm killing two birds with one stone today.

 My 2020 Fishing Opener was discombobulated right from the start.  I was getting my lines set up at 5-minutes to midnight on Eddy's Jetty when I got a surprise visit from Casino Security informing me that Eddy's was closed.  I kind of figured that out when there wasn't a car in the parking lot.  Thankfully, he didn't kick me out right away.  I got to fish unit 2:00AM when he came by again and told the 5 of us that were fishing there that we had to leave.  I managed to get 4 eyes landed while losing two lures.  The first was an Ultimate Jerk Shad that broke off at the spool when I backlashed precipitated by my line guides freezing up.  The second was an X-Rap Shad Shallow because I didn't check my line for frays after the backlash.  So I lost my first bite of the night.

I made the best of getting booted from Eddy's and tried a spot I was aware of but never fished, the rock point at Mac's Twin Bay.  It wasn't what I expected, but there was a spot for me to cast from and I caught the pig there, so two thumbs up.  I also had a big walleye break me off and saw a mid-30-inch toothy critter swim by.

The GOMH gave up a couple toothy critters to me and a couple of jumpers to Delroy's Crew.  I caught a small bass at Bulldog.

I got a surprise phone call in the morning letting me know the Trophy was ready for me to pick up.   I waited until 4PM to pick it up, which was a mistake because it was sleeting out pretty good at that point. I wasn't gung ho about getting soaked so we didn't put her in the water.

I didn't get back to fishing until 1:30AM Sunday Morning.  I went to Eddy's and they didn't have any no trespassing signs up so I fished at the Jetty.  The wind really kicked in shortly after I arrived.  I fished for an hour and a half getting two bites catching one.  I was going to hit the GOMH but went home ate some pizza and went to bed instead.

The rest of my time spent fishing resulted in no fish being landed and me not being able to fish at the Jetty because they had closed it off with police tape.  I did have a small walleye follow at Mac's and lost a toothy at the GOMH at sunrise.

Not the greatest Opener in the world, but I have had worse.  I should have gone to pick up the Trophy right away because Saturday, was the day to get it done.  The fish were on the chew.  The snow and cold and wind killed the bite for me on Sunday.

Opener 2019

25" X-Rap (Big Fish of the night)

24.5" X-Rap Shallow Shad (Lure saver fish)

24.75" Jerk Shad (1st Fish of 2019)

20.5" Grass Pig

16" Jerk Shad

12:00-3:40AM Eddy's Jetty
40℉, Clear moon till about 2:40 or so, 2-6mph SW, High Water

When I arrived at the Jetty, the North Harbor Mouth was taken and the NW corner was open so I went there.  I could see multiple eye' swimming around. Instead of casting right away I decided to watch the first casts of the 5 guys to the South of me.  A couple seconds in and a guy on the Center Jetty was hooked up, a good sign.  I quickly switched from the Rippin Rap to the Swimbait, to the Jerk Shad.  I saw a few more fish get caught prompting quick changes.  Got a 24.75 on the first cast with the Crackle Jerk Shad.  About 15 minutes later I got a 16-incher.  I switched lures a few times.  I got two (24,25) nice ones on a pearl X-Rap.  They wanted it extremely slow.  I switched to X-Rap  Shad Shallow and got 17" and 24.5" that freed the bait when I was trying to free it from the rocks.   Snagged snagged snagged then the rod was almost ripped out of my hands when the 24.5" grabbed it.  I was very thankful that fish saved my lure.  As the moon was going down I got on last smaller fish on the Jerk Shad. I also had one last bite that didn't hook up on the Jerk Shad.  It seemed like I would get a bite every 15 to 20 minutes. for the first hour and a half.  The other guys picked up a fish occasionally.  As not much was going on I made the call the head to the GOMH at 3:40AM.

4:15-7:15AM GOMH NE
40-52℉, Partly Cloudy, 4-6mph SSE, High rising water

Wheelhouse Guy arrived just a few minutes before me and was down on the SW side.  He was all by himself at that point.  We talked for a couple of minutes then I went down on the NE side.  I got 20.5" golden on my third cast into the tube on the Grass Pig.  I thought this might be good, but that was the only golden bite I got. I gave the fish to WHG.  I was just about to head to the Trophy when I started getting jumpers on the Crackle Jerk Shad.  I also got some jumpers on the Brovarney Jig with Grass Pig Jr. trailer.  After the second boat came through the action stopped. It was awfully sunny out.  Other than a few of WHG family, nobody showed up until I was packing up to leave.  WHG lost a good pike and brought me a banana.

Not a great start, but it was solid.