WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
March 16, 2006

March madness has started and I want to say GREAT JOB to the Grand Rapids hockey team. Throughout the last couple of weeks most of us, including my family, have been on the road chasing the GR hockey team. So with that season over, I'm back to the fishing and getting more excited by the day.

As March madness gets started again this year, to many its madness is related to the numbers of sporting activies and championships that take place, but for the anglers, it is the start of the open water fishing. A number of open water opportunities will be presenting themselves to us by months end and I just want to go over a few of them.

The Rainy River for many of us here in the Northland is the typical early Spring destination. The Rainy River is one of the best opportunities of the year to catch and release that 10 lb. trophy Walleye. When fishing the Rainy River, a number of presentations seem to work, but a light 1/4 to 1/8 oz. jig tipped with a fathead or emerald shiner will normally out-produce most other combinations. Finding a hole near the river edge and fishing those jigs vertically seems to put more fish in the boat.

One important piece to the Rainy River success is finding out what the water conditions are prior to making the three hour trip North. If the water is muddy, stay home. If the current is moving very quickly, the bite can be difficult, but still worth going.

Other opportunities are to the South and that would be our own Mississippi River at Red Wing. Here anglers again chase numbers of fish and many of them are over 10 lbs.

When heading to the rivers for those fishing opportunities, please use caution, as each system presents a number of water hazards that many of us lake anglers fail to realize. The Rainy River presents many logs or old train tressels that sit only inches under the water, whereas the Red Wing area presents a number of huge rockpiles called wingdams. Both hazards can truely damage that new boat or motor.

So as we close the window to the exciting opening day of May 13, 2006, get out and try some of these great Walleye factories, but use extreme caution.

The count down has started.

Sean Colter
www.seancolter.com
member of the NMLOG's