This past weekend was the opener for the 2013 Walleye and Pike Opener in my district, and I was out on the water first day. It was great to get out, but it was a tough day on the water. Many of you will acknowledge that weather patterns have a dramatic effect on the fishing and last weekend saw a severe cold front roll in the evening before the fishing started. My brother and I were expecting weather in the high teens, but we ended up with a high of 9 degrees and with the wind-chill…6! We had fog to start with, and towards the end of the day, the sun peaked out once or twice as a teaser.
As for the fishing, we started out with some trolling just to get an idea of water temp, depth, and see where we were marking fish. We were marking a tonne…but none biting. We headed over to a sand bar and started vertical jigging. Chris got us started with a catfish, and while not the target species, it was nice to get us started. Shortly after that I pulled up a nice 16 inch Walleye! Over the course of the day I landed a bunch more catfish, a pike, and a crappie. Chris landed a nice Walleye at the end of the day using his new Scatter Rap Minnow. I was happy with the day, but not happy with the amount of tackle I lost due to poor casting, and terrible know tying in the cold weather. Enjoy this video where Chris and I discuss how easy it is to cast $10 away!