Michigan's UP Walleye opener

[yooper]

Our walleye season opened Tuesday, May 15.

Me and a buddy went to Bay De Noc and had absolutely the BEST opener in our lives. We stayed overnight and fished the 16th also, and both days we limited-out (Michigan limit is 5 fish over 15"/angler).

All told we caught 21 'keepers' and threw 2 of those back.... we don't keep anything over 21" and both of these we over 25".

Temps were in the 50's on Tuesday and it was cloudy and windy; on Wednesday it started out cloudy but ended-up being over 70 and sunny.

A super opener and to top it off, I'll be going back in a couple weeks with another friend.

 

[DKO]

cold beer and fresh walleye ,man it dont get much better than that! glad your having a good run this year and best of all getting to enjoy it with your buds!

are you jiggin for them ????? how deep ????

sound like a blast we get a few in tenn. but not like what you get up there! GOOD LUCK on your next outting and keep us posted!!!

 

[yooper]

We use floating jigheads called 'Gumdrop Jigs' made by Northland tackle. We use a 18-30" snell and use a slip-sinker to fish them Lindy-rig style.

We drift in 12 to 24 feet of water over reefs and flats. Bay De Noc is a huge body of water teeming with walleye. I fish there a couple times each summer and once each winter. Biggest one I've ever caught from there was 29" long and a little over 9 lbs.

 

[Nut]

Sounds like fun. Every chance you get go.

We had our walleye run on the Maumee River here. I have decided not to ever fish for walleyes while spawning since the population is going down in numbers. We went from a limit of 10 last year to 4(went to 5 May1) this tear. The only problem is I don't have a boat to go out on Lake Erie. I will have to get a charter I guess

 

[yooper]

Yeah I have been reading alot these past couple years about the population going down dramatically in Erie. Lots of theories, I guess, but noones really too sure why. Could be the zebra mussels taking the zooplankton that the fry feed on; could be Canadian commercial overharvest; could be too much sportfishing pressure.

Whatever the reason, the numbers have really dropped.

I was down in your neck of the woods a couple weeks ago: took the turnpike to Youngstown and then on to Pennsylvania. Nice country.