By Louis Hoglund
Publisher-Editor
Anglers may have cursed the weather on opening day of fishing season, but they praised the action on area lakes.
Heavy winds kept many soft core anglers on shore in the Otter Tail lake country Saturday, but the hard core fisherpeople are claiming one of the better openers in years.
With the warm April, I think the water temperature was a little higher than usual--even though the weather was cool, said Nick Adamczyk, Genes Sports Shop, Perham. The warm water got the fish going a little earlier.
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Adamczyk said it was the best opener he has ever fished. At age 27, in a family that gets an early start in the great outdoors, that means it was probably Adamcyzks best opener success in darn near a quarter-century.
Otter Tail Lake
anglers did well
Otter Tail Lake was really hot, said Gary Henstorf, Bubbas Bobber, Bait, Parts and Toys, which expanded with a full service bait and tackle operation in Ottertail this spring. Rush started to open up Saturday afternoon, and were getting some good reports from the smaller lakes, like Walker.
Adamczyk also heard good reports from Otter Tail. Both Little and Big Pine were also hot spots, he noted.
Star Lake was a big surprise, said Henstorf, because anglers were hooking walleye unusually deep for this time of year--35 to 40 feet.
It really was a very good opener, overall, said Henstorf.
Shiners appeared to be the bait of choice; with Lindy rigs or jigs.
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Anglers did well,
but fewer fished opener
compared to old days
At Limmers Resort on Rush Lake, owner Kathy Manteuffel said anglers did real well, in spite of the weather.
In terms of visitors from outside the area, fishing opener hasnt been a big weekend for resort lodging for a number of years, said Manteuffel. Limmers Resort operates ten cabins, and only three were occupied--but the people who do come for the opener are definitely the serious fisherman, she said. Limmers was booked full nearly every opener, until a few years ago, she added.
Evidence that fishing opener may have lost some of its mystique was also evident at the twin bridges on County 78, on the west side of Rush Lake. Historically, the walleyes are thick in the shallow water the first two weeks of the season.
This year, there were a dozen boats gathering at the site Saturday evening, along with a dozen shore fishermen.
But its not like the old days, we counted 37 boats docked side by side one year, said Manteuffel.
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NY Mills bait shop good walleye action at area lakes
The fishing was excellent, said Scott Perala, of Scotts Bait & Tackle in New York Mills. Best opener in a long time.
Perala said even though the weather wasnt great the fishing reports from area lakes Rush, Big Pine, Little Pine and Otter Tail were great - particularly shallow fish.
The walleyes were real cooperative this weekend.
Perala reported local fisherman caught some nice 24, 25, 26-inch walleye and people were catching a few crappie on Rush and Buchanen.
Perala runs his bait shop on Main in Mills and saw his overall numbers were down a little this opener. Friday and Saturday were busy but Sunday was pretty slow. Although the numbers were down, the fishing was great.
The Mills Fishing League opened the season Monday on East Leaf Lake with Lon Hanson and Ted Rud both catching nice 22.5-inch walleyes.
