Walleye opener on Balsam, Beautiful weather

Well it sure was a beautiful day to be on the water, calm , sunny and hot. Water surface temperature got up to 64. Fished from about 9 to 12 and again from 6 till 8. Very little weed growth yet,but starting and tons of bass swimming everywhere. Fished where ever i could locate weeds in depths of about 6-9 ft. Got 4 pike largest was 31” 6lbs and 2 walleye 16 and 19” both in the no keep slot. Lost about a 4 pound smallie. All fish were caught on hair jig.
Fished Friday for a few hours with several jerk baits and only had one hit. Sunday i also fished for a few hours in the am, saw a few pike and several walleye in a school but no one was interested. Cant figure out why there was suck a difference from Saturday to Sunday must have had something to do with the storms to the north i am thinking or the upcoming weather that was approaching. Was a great start to the season. I will try and post some pictures

The first 3 pike

4th pike

Biggest pike of the day 31”6lbs

19” walleye

16” walleye

Excuse the not so nice shirtless pictures but it was hot out there

Hi Flexkk,

Excellent first open water report this year!

The weather was great , fishing was good, season is opened - what more can we wish for?

Nice pikes including the 31 incher and couple of nice walleye there (too bad that you were not able to keep them because of the slot).

Did you notice many bass boats zooming around Saturday? There was a pike tourney on Balsam on Saturday held by NGTA Bass Anglers. The big fish measured at 35.5"
The results overall were pretty impressive - with few teams at the top with over 150" for 5 pikes (that is an average of 30" fish!).

Lots of big pike lurking in Balsam waters.

https://www.facebook.com/ngtaba/

The weather was very unusually hot this mid May for almost a week . Don't remember the water being that warm this time of year.

Thanks JB it was great to finally be out. I was aware of the tournament but to be honest i barely noticed many boats. I spoke to to guys in the tournament and there biggest at the time was just shy of 30”. It was crazy warm and so calm we were spoiled. I saw lots of fish , but Saturday the fish were biting. I expected more boats but i think they were scattered. I didnt need to got to far from where i keep the boat so they may have been in the bays fishing. Glad you got out

Looks like a great day out there congrats

Thanks Bassmasterrr. It was a great day and a lucky one. Weather was perfect

The fish probably saw you on Sunday and warned there friends that you were there again.LOL...I am going out to fish kawartha walleye tonight. I hope that you left me some fish. Good job on your opener.

Thanks CM, i saw lots so it think you are good. Good luck and be safe. I think you are correct the other fish were warned.

CM I fished fairly shallow and could clearly see many different species but have still yet to see a Balsam crappie that you speak of

The crappie are smart on balsam but you will get one. They mostly come out at night and monsters they are. I don't catch many small crappie on balsam. Sometimes small but in general big crappie. Good luck.