My walleye opener, Sturgeon lake

So finally Sunday afternoon I was able to hit the road and went for the walleye opener on Sturgeon.

On the water around 3 pm with intention to fish into the night till around 12 am.

First couple of hours - nothing. Then some stronger than expected NW winds started blowing hard and fish became turned on. The main challenge was to find walleyes (Like most times) but they were pretty hungry.

Tried many spots and between 5 pm and sunset I was able to get 8 walleyes in the boat , keeping 4 in the slot.

As expected they were biting pretty shallow - 3-6 FOW although I also caught a couple deeper than that.

Glad I took my winter sweater, beany and bibs with me as it was pretty chilly.

Good luck everyone this season.


First one was caught in 9 FOW...

This was a nice 17 incher...

Another good one in shallow on a 3" jerk.
Had to put my fleece and bibs on.

On Oneten junior +1 in shallow rocks- weed transition area

I was glad I did not need to stay into the night and had back home at sunset as it was pretty chilly

Outstanding Fishing!!! Beautiful sunset!!! I know where you fished, and I know who you are. LOL. Sorry I had no intel on that one spot you asked about. You don't need any help catching walleye. LOL. Great job on the opener. Wish I could have stayed but my fishing time was from midnight Friday until sunrise. Then got some sleep, mowed the lawns for her mom and dad back at the homestead. Then do the sad drive home. LOL. So glad you and a couple other friends had a great walleye day. Nice pictures as well. See you later this season.

Beautiful walleye and the sunset!!!
Congrats on the successful opener. Well done!!!
Thanks for the report.

Very nice!

Thank you, guys.
it was a weird opener for sure, did not expect to do that well, was hoping for a fish or two, especially after a cold front. I guess you never know. That's part of the fun in fishing. Try to go whenever you can regardless of the weather.

Great job JB. I think you have the walleye figured out. Those are some beauties. No luck for me i fished Thursday to Saturday on and off different times in the day. Nothing but bass and big ones. One smallie was 22”. I should have fished Sunday by the sounds of it. I found there was much less weeds than on other openers, making it hard to find the walleye at least for me. Thanks for sharing

Walleye chop, usually turns them on.
Great report and pics JB.

Thanks , Flexkk.

I don’t have much experience with Balsam walleye but from what I know and experienced , balsam is closer to buckhorn and Stoney, than to Sturgeon or Pigeon for example as it’s deeper and it warms up slower .

If I would fish Balsam for walleye now I would be looking for areas around spawning grounds and fish the deeper end of those during the day and high sun conditions and more shallow during low light and at night or at windy conditions .

Since the water is still cold and very clear I would plan my trip to fish mainly during low light conditions - i.e. windy or overcast day , or at night .

The bays with old weeds are void of walleye now for the most part and are pike magnets so you have to fish for those two differently now .

In my 3 pike fishing trips to balsam this spring I did not catch a single walleye and there is a reason for that (but I obviously did not target them )

Good luck this season and hope to see you on the water one day .

It sure does .
Thanks FM.

Well done JB. Nice looking fish.

Well done on walleye opener. You did very well considering the conditions.

Hard work pays off. Beautiful fish!

Patterning your target species is half the fun.

Thanks for the report.