Similar to how the DNR conducts winter creel surveys on Upper Red Lake, the addition of a clerk who will work from a mobile “creel shack” at major access points will provide a better picture of what anglers are actually harvesting.
Fishing outlook favorable across northwest Minnesota going into May 15 walleye opener
Minnesota statute sets the fishing opener as two Saturdays before the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which this year is Saturday, May 29. This year s fishing opener is the latest it can be, and the opening weekend doesn t coincide with Mother’s Day, as it does most years. 7:45 am, May 11, 2021 ×
Lake of the Woods again will be a popular destination for this year s Minnesota Fishing Opener, but the Rainy River may still come into play, as well, depending on how many of walleyes that spawn in the river have trickled back to the lake. Saturday, May 15, is opening day. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)
Despite the high fishing pressure, catch rates were down for both walleyes and saugers, Talmage said.
The winter survey wrapped up earlier than planned when warm temperatures brought a premature end to ice fishing on the big lake. Typically, winter creel surveys on Lake of the Woods continue through March, Talmage said.
Phil Talmage, area DNR fisheries manager, Baudette, Minn.
“Our season got cut off kind of abruptly,” he said. “That’s probably enough to account for why it was down just a titch from last year.”
Still, pressure remains “very high,” and the vast network of plowed ice roads, many of which extend 20 miles or more onto the lake, means the DNR will have to adjust the way it conducts winter creel surveys on Lake of the Woods, Talmage said.
Fishing outlook favorable across northwest Minnesota going into May 15 walleye opener
Minnesota statute sets the fishing opener as two Saturdays before the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, which this year is Saturday, May 29. This year s fishing opener is the latest it can be, and the opening weekend doesn t coincide with Mother’s Day, as it does most years. 7:30 am, May 8, 2021 ×
Lake of the Woods again will be a popular destination for this year s Minnesota Fishing Opener, but the Rainy River may still come into play, as well, depending on how many of walleyes that spawn in the river have trickled back to the lake. Saturday, May 15, is opening day. (Photo/ Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald)