Long Weekend Fishing May 18th-20th, Walleye opener + whitefish

My cousin and I got out this weekend for walleye opener, couldn’t have asked for better weather being out on the boat (almost too good). Started around 1pm on Saturday trying an end of the lake that had the makings of a suitable spawning area for walleye. Worked a location nearby a creek inflow casting anywhere from 7’-25’ fow towards any visible structure and slowly working back a soft plastic 1/4oz ned rig. First walleye of the season, caught in 12’ off a shoal not far from the creek mouth:

Our second location was towards the main basin, a mid-lake shoal close to some of the deepest water in the lake. With clear water and the sun out, we figured we would try to work the shaded sections of structure, deeper around 12’-20’. I switched to a chartreuse coloured soft plastic and caught this 22.5” walleye:

Caught a third walleye near the same area on Sunday afternoon, 21.5” released. On Monday we decided to change things up and try for whitefish in a bay we had found them in two weeks ago. They hadn’t moved far from our pinned location. Landed two whitefish on a 7g vibrato about 3/4 down over 50’.

The larger of the two whitefish measured 24.5”, both were released. Tons of fun fighting these thick whitefish. A great weekend of fishing, slowly learning more about our lake.

Good job! Nice quality fish. Strong East wind for three days leading up to opener put fish on different spots than the more common westerly’s. Walleye like to be pushed around by the wind. As for the whitefish, you now have a spot you should be able to find them most of the year, and good ones too! A resource to be cherished.

That's a nice catch!

Thanks Nick! Seemed like some of the walleye have already started to push out from their spawning grounds. Water temperature was 16.5C. We had consistent S or S/E winds for the weekend. I’m going to continue tracking the whitefish throughout the season to get an idea of their patterns on the lake.

Some very nice fish, and the weather looked nice. Beautiful walleye.

Nice catches, well done!

Does your lake also have cisco's in it?

If so you may have found the forage for the walleye in your lake....just a suggestion of course.

I hope the rest of your season goes well.

Thanks Attila, cisco are listed as a species found in the lake according the MNRF records and I’ve spoken to people who once caught them in great numbers many years ago. I will see if I can find them myself, reports now suggest they are no longer present.

Great post, Nice catch!.