The silence was shattered and ravaged by the shrill alarm clock that my buddy brought from down south.

Everyone in camp was startled as it awoke everybody in the house.

"Where did you get a harsh-sounding contraption like that," I hollered as I nearly slipped and fell as I quickly got up. One of the other lads chided that it sounded more like a fire alarm than an alarm clock.

Soon the smell of camp-style bacon and eggs, toast and coffee roused everyone into a better frame of mind, though it was only 3.30 a.m. The reason -- opening day of walleye season that has brought this motley crew together once again. Similar scenes play out right across the North, and for good reason.

Walleye is rated as one of North America's most sought-after game fish. It is mild and pristine flavoured, they can grow large and are sometimes abundant in properly managed areas. Walleye fishing makes for great times and great fishing when proper fishing conditions and combination of long-time fishin' buds come together. I hope this is one of those special years for you this year, one of those years where long-lasting memories are made.

This year's opening will be a dark moon phase with the new moon Sunday, while it's also the first major long weekend of the 2012 holiday season. The weather, according to the latest forecast, should also prove to be spectacular, and dry conditions have even lined up to help inhibit the more usual infestation of savage biting insects this year.

All in all, I expect a betterthanusual catch by those of us fortunate enough to manage to wet a line.

With water temperatures in much of our northern waters nicely increasing, walleye will be ravenous and should help provide for a good opening day bite. On mid afternoon Thursday, I went and took some area water temps. A fjord-like bay off the North Channel came in at 16.8 C, the Spanish River was 17.8 C and a small, shallow inland lake was at 18.9 C.

Over the years, I've found the most consistent fishers will be those who can control their boats the best, and part of this aspect is speed. I prefer to go slowly if trolling or bottom bouncing. Savvy walleye fishers will be out on the water both early in the morning and again late during the evening and should take home some prized walleye fillets as a result.


I find that over the long run, both very early -- from almost dark (5 a.m. at this time of year) until about 7 a.m. produces some of the better fishing of the daylight hours. And from about an hour before dark until full darkness (about 9.45 p.m. this time of year) is the other most productive time of the entire day for walleye fishing.

Once the walleye chop from a breeze has started, you should again be able to take decent fish, but they may be slightly deeper than in the shallow water where I prefer to fish during the very early and late hours.

Both trolling speed and/or retrieve speed should be very slow, and optimally be from 0.75 to 1 mph, with the occasional bump up and down every now and again for early season walleye.

I like to use bright-coloured lures on bright days and darker coloured lures on dark days and early and late fishing times. I will nearly always dress my offering with a tag of live bait such as a crawler or even a tag of minnow if I have them. Some crankbaits, if those are your choice of lures, may be thrown out of balance by using a tag of bait, so for a lure like a Rapala minnow, I don't use the tag of bait.

Be sharp! Early season walleye can be frustratingly light biters. When you feel that light tap-tap, be quick to set the hook with a sharp snap of the rod.

Be courteous to everyone out on the water, including other boats and fishers. Because walleye are a relatively timid fish, once a number of other fishers show up in an area, I'll head away from the pack and allow those other fishers to spook the fish to where I'm fishing. I like to use an electric trolling motor to keep noise down and try to keep any rummaging around in the boat to an absolute minimum.

Once it gets quite sunny and bright out, I try to look for places down near the bottom where the fish are that are shaded.
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