scratch/itch before opener

[Lee Borgersen]

 Need to scratch that fishing itch before May 14? :fishing2:
                         

By Brad Laabs .


 :fishing2: .......
Now that you have your new license, you can continue to fish for perch, sunfish, crappies, and tullibees for the rest of the ice season in our area, and you are ready for the game fish opener for walleyes and northern May 14.

If you want to still chase game fish before the season re-opens in May, you have options. Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake, and the Rainy River season will remain open until April 14. Many from our area travel northward to continue to catch walleyes and sauger on the ice, and many more get excited now to chase after some of the biggest northern pike that swim in the state on the late ice of LOW.

Even more popular, especially over the last 10-15 years, is the trophy walleye fishing season open on the Rainy River until April 14, and the sturgeon season that follows. It gets extremely busy on the river there when it opens, and can sometimes be up to a two hour wait now to get launched Fridays through Mondays.

Another option for gamefish on your new license before the inland season opens back up, is the mighty Mississippi River. Pools 3 (Hastings), 4 (Red Wing), and 5 (Alma) hold excellent populations of walleye, including trophy fish. The sauger population rivals LOW, with a bigger average size. Sauger 15-20 inches are common from pools 2 through 10 on the Mississippi.

Pool 4 is always the most busy from now until May 14, particularly by the lock and dam. The metro area anglers have caught on to this early season bite and some weekends can easily have a couple hundred boats on the water. If you stretch out on the river, or go in the mid-week you can have a lot of river to yourself.

An early season opens up on the South Dakota/Minnesota border waters of Big Sone and Lake Traverse. You can get a jump on the early season there starting April 23. Closer to home, often overlooked is the North Dakota/Minnesota border water of the Red River, were the season never closes.

If you are willing to purchase out of state licenses, seasons stay open all year in North Dakota and South Dakota. The Missouri River in the Bismarck area is a great early season option for walleyes in North Dakota. In South Dakota the river sections of Pierre and Chamberlain have been well kept secrets for years and don’t get the fishing pressure early like some of the other options.

The Fox River in Wisconsin is an early season trophy and numbers destination right at the city of Green Bay.

We will still have a couple of weeks or more of our ice season here (it will depend on our spring temperatures). Anglers are still getting out and having good success with the crappie and sunfish bite. Small perch have been biting for the last week or two, but look for some of the bigger perch to start showing up over the next week or two also.

Some tullibee chasers have started to ice some fish. That bite will continue to improve until it is no longer safe to venture onto the ice. Ice has been expanding and contracting with the warming and cooling we have had.

Some access points onto some lakes can be tricky to navigate with the heaving going on some the shoreline areas. Make good decisions the rest of this ice season, and always error on the side of caution.

Laabs runs Brad Laabs’ Guide Service in Detroit Lakes. (thanks Brad!)