Open Water at Last

March 11th 2016 marked open water on a few select spots up here this year, and that is borderline unheard of. Historically, ice out has been just as early, but as a general rule this is spectacularly early. I took advantage of our warm-up and headed to my spot. There was only the shoreline out to about 100 yards that was open water, while the rest of the lake awaited strong winds to finish the job. My first cast of open water and I hit a good one. I fished relatively hard all winter, focusing more on pike than anything, but I neglected to catch a walleye anywhere near home. I caught a few with Paul and Adam on Poinsett, but they were not slot fish and back into the lake they went.
But this fish....This would prove to be my finest. A slow rolling, cold water walleye, slipped into my hands. At a little over 27 inches, and close or at the 8 pound mark, this is my largest walleye to date.

I fought myself as for what to do with this fish as I was walleye-less in my freezer, but a big fat female, borderline bursting with eggs, sated my moral dilemma. I slipped her back into the lake and watched her swim off to make more walleyes. I fished for 4 more hours that afternoon. I did find one little pike, but that was it.

Winter was hard on this spot and there was a fair amount of exposed timber to be snagged than last year. I was hoping to catch a few smaller walleyes for the stringer, but I rarely catch anything when I want them.

This was but merely the beginning of the open water season, and within a few days, the south winds had melted, or pushed all of the ice to the north end. Hopefully, I can find some walleyes again this year, and fill everyone's freezers.



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