Tough Opener on Rice

[Jacques]

Maiden voyage today in me and my buddy's new boat.  Decided to christen her on Rice and it was pretty tough sledding.  

Water temps were 58-60 degrees.  Guys were stacked on the usual weed beds, with slower than usual growth and little to show.  Reports of OOS Smallies and few walleye.  We fished a few holes in 14-17 FOW as well, some shore line, river mouth.  Jigged with minnows, worms, bucktails and lures of most description.  A few taps, one good hit, no takers.

Wondering how everyone else fared or if it was just us.  A late spawn?

[captpierre]

Couldn’t face the cold this morning early. Got out around 10 on Pigeon. Couldn’t find any green weeds. Landed a solid smallie  on a jerk bait. No eyes. Not many boats out.  No panfish at the dock yet. I always struggle in May. 

Edited May 13, 2018 by captpierre

[bigugli]

We got pike and walleye on the Welland R this morning.  And yes it was a tough bite.

Edited May 13, 2018 by bigugli

[Old Ironmaker]

The spawn is late this year. I saw some shiner's trying to escape pre spawn Smallies today. The Bass will chase the minnows right to the beach. It is a few weeks late. Should be late with other gamefish too. Not a terrible winter but bad enough with a late ice out here on Erie. There was still piles of snow under the shadows of the Pine trees just 2 weeks ago. I look for buds to start on the Maple trees, that tells me it is pre sawn for Smallmouth and the big Cats are on the feed in the river.

[dintymoore]

Wife and I got one each, in slot Saturday afternoon, on Rice. 8-10 fow on wally divers

Edited May 13, 2018 by dintymoore

[BassMan11]

Up this way water temps were 53 on a small back lake. 8 Pike 5 OOS smallies and had 2 walleyes on but lost both. No fish was caught deeper than 12' in weedy area's.. Slow moving soft swimbaits were key as the fish were very lethargic. 

[Dutch01]

Water was only 50 degrees on Balsam, couldn't find any weeds anywhere. 1 pike, 3 oos bass is all we could find. I'm off to Stoney Saturday for a kayak club meet up. Hopefully things will heat up by then.

[AKRISONER]

things were very slow last weekend as well, everything is a few weeks behind...we were finding walleye crappie and perch in winter patterns in 25 fow. 

A few pre spawn bass up shallow...depending on how the weather holds, bass opener might be absolutely insane with fish still on the beds.

[Sinker]

Hit rice last night 6:30-830 and went 3 for 4. 

 

S. 

[Headhunter]

Hit Lady Simcoe Saturday morning with Fishnsled, with Perch as our goal. Found them in 12-15 fow, almost 100% males and aggressive!

Ended up with about three pounds of fillets!

HH

Edited May 14, 2018 by Headhunter

[captpierre]

3 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

things were very slow last weekend as well, everything is a few weeks behind...we were finding walleye crappie and perch in winter patterns in 25 fow. 

A few pre spawn bass up shallow...depending on how the weather holds, bass opener might be absolutely insane with fish still on the beds.

I’m thinking the bait is still deep as you say. . Like I said nothing at our dock,  South shore. I tried north shore weed beds. Nada. 

[AKRISONER]

5 minutes ago, captpierre said:

I’m thinking the bait is still deep as you say. . Like I said nothing at our dock,  South shore. I tried north shore weed beds. Nada. 

This was taken 6? days ago...(side note god i love down imaging, counting individual fish in a ball of bait? yes please)

[Sinker]

2 hours ago, captpierre said:

I’m thinking the bait is still deep as you say. . Like I said nothing at our dock,  South shore. I tried north shore weed beds. Nada. 

Try shallower. Inside weed edges. Warmest water. Most guys struggled with them this weekend, but I found them right where I always do on opener. No boats in sight. 

Think outside the box. Bait would be the last thing I look for on pigeon. 

 

S. 

[captpierre]

20 minutes ago, Sinker said:

Try shallower. Inside weed edges. Warmest water. Most guys struggled with them this weekend, but I found them right where I always do on opener. No boats in sight. 

Think outside the box. Bait would be the last thing I look for on pigeon. 

 

S. 

Ok. Thanks.  I’ll give it a try this weekend. 

[jimmer]

The bite was over by 10 am for us.  We ended the day with 11 walleye.  Some under, some over and 5 in the slot. Some oos season muskie and a gazillion large mouth that were everywhere.

[Loonietoon]

Fished Rice all weekend out of Pinecrest Cottages, went 7 Pickeral 3 kept in slot caught  on Bigugli (Bruce) chartruse worm harnesses " thanks Bruce" and white twister tails white jig heads just outside the weeds 3 OOS Bass and some perch. Sorry no pic's forgot camera