Best Trip in Years

[Captain Ahab]

My dad and I have been fishing LBDN each spring for approximately 12 years now and it's been years since we've seen the fishing as good as it was this year. I fished 5/15 through 5/17 but had to go back downstate for work (Dad/Uncle can't seem to understand not everyone is retired). Here's a summary of the action.
Opening Day: Left the dock at 5:30 AM and headed north. The plan was to set up near the Days River can and troll north along the east side of Center Reef. That idea was scrapped quickly as we landed 5 fish, 3 keepers, within 15 minutes in 25 feet of water. Staying in water deeper than 25 feet on the east side of the reefs we landed over 40 walleyes, taking a three man limit by 2:00 PM.
Keys for us: Troll as slow as possible and stay deeper than 25 feet of water. As the day rolled on the fish moved lower and lower in the water column. By 10 AM we made sure all of our baits were within 5 feet of the bottom. Early on, glow blades/beads were hot, later it was gold and orange harnesses.
Sunday, 5/16: in our attempt to replicate the opener, we started in the same place and picked our way to 6 keepers, landing 20+ fish. Details were similar, however, we were not granted the slight late morning ripple on the water that we had the previous day.
Monday, 5/17: Action was slower in the morning. We landed 15-20 walleyes with 4 keepers, all early in the morning, breaking off on a couple of nicer fish. We left the water by 10:30 AM due to the slowing action. That evening we returned to the same areas previously mentioned and caught 2 keepers right away. As the sun lowered in the sky we moved onto Center Reef. All heck broke loose at 16 feet of water! With 6 rods out we had fish on 4 rods and missed hits on the other two with only 3 men on the boat... Reminded me of the frog-bopper game at the arcade. We ended the night at 10:30 PM taking 6 keepers to the dock. Again we caught 15+ undersized fish and lost many, many others due to short hits/bad hooksets. Also, gold, orange and purple seemed to get them early, glows worked in low light.
Summary: Three days, three guys, 31 keepers and a couple of hearty fish frys! I drove home fat, sassy and thankful that I could enjoy one of the world's best walleye fisheries. The top notch people in the Bays area are certainly the icing on the cake. Good luck to all!

[Bigonfish]

Awesome report. Thanks,

[WalligatorGetter]

Wow, now that’s a report! I can’t think of a single detail that you left out. I’m glad to hear that you did very well, and I’m also glad to hear someone acknowledge that the fishing here is truly world class. I think it is too! Big fish, numbers, you name it. Thanks for the great report.