By Steve Weisman

Wow! Talk about great weather for the Walleye Opener: nice temperatures and very little wind. Although I know, with the clear water conditions, many anglers fishing Big Spirit wanted a little more breeze to help with the fishing. That was especially true on Sunday, when it was flat calm, and the walleye fishing was tough!

If you wanted to switch over to bluegills and crappies, however, and fish the wood docks, there were really nice fish to be caught.

A different kind of opener

It was a really strange opener for me. For over 25 years, six of us have stayed at my friend’s cabin on Big Spirit, spending Friday through Monday together. Each of us takes responsibility for a meal, and, yes, we get our stomachs stuffed each and every meal. However, sadly, my friend’s wife is in hospice and with the COVID-19, we just felt it wouldn’t be wise to get together.

Plus, at my age with some health issues, I really didn’t want to take any chances. The trouble is you can’t see the virus, and you don’t know you have it until it’s too late. So, I let my son use my pontoon, and he and three friends took it on Big Spirit.

During the day, they caught eight slots and two keeper walleyes. Then Saturday evening, they anchored off a rock pile on the east side and by 10 p.m., they had caught another 10 walleyes between 14-16 ½” walleyes and ended the day with their limit. Their go-to presentation during the day was using a bottom bouncer with a spottail shiner tipped to a long snell/plain hook. At night, it was a lighted slip bobber, a plain hook and a spottail shiner. I believe the breeze on Saturday helped the day bite.

I did fish by myself on a friend’s dock on the east shore of Big Spirit Saturday evening from about 7:30-10. Using slip bobbers, I fished with a spottail shiner on one and a leech on the other and caught three 12” walleyes, a 17” smallmouth bass and missed another three bites. The neighbor to the north also caught four small walleyes on a slip bobber and a leech.

A friend of mine, Dick Lineweaver and his son trolled crankbaits both Friday night (midnight to 3 a.m.) and Saturday night (dusk to 10 p.m.) in Smith’s Bay on West Okoboji and each night they caught three slot walleyes.

Report from Akin

Shane Akin has fished opener nights on West Okoboji for years. Owner of Great Lakes Guide Service, Akin, as he has for the past few years, guided clients for the night bite. This year they pulled crankbaits on West Okoboji both on opening night and Saturday night. For those anglers thinking of trying this type of fishing, Akin finds the first two weeks to be prime time to find big nighttime walleyes on West Okoboji.

This year’s opener found them catching walleyes as usual. However, the highlight came in the early morning when client Mark McKeever from Council Bluffs set the hook on what at first appeared to be a trophy walleye. However, when it went air born, they both knew it was one huge smallmouth bass. Sure enough, McKeever boated a 22.5”/7-pound 4-ounce smallmouth bass, which was only 8 ounces off the state record. Best of all, after a few photos, she was carefully released and is once again swimming in West Okoboji.

According to Akin, midnight to 3 a. m., the bite was pretty consistent then went dead until the big smallmouth hit. They ended up with six keeper walleyes up to 16 inches, 12 walleyes in the slot and 5 over with one measuring 25”.

Saturday night was a little different story with the dead calm waters. They still caught fish, but not with the consistency of the first night and kept no fish.

The key both nights was working 7-11’ of water in the shallows and on shallow bars. Speed was relatively slow at 1.5 –2 mph.

This is not something you can just throw out a crankbait and take off. The old adage “practice makes perfect” certainly fits in here. Akin sees this type of nighttime action going for another couple of weeks.

On Sunday, Akin switched it up to daylight hours and went after slab crappies along the wood docks and hoists with excellent success.

Report from Burns

This time of year, Doug Burns, owner of the Iowa Guide Service, takes his clients on Big Spirit working a slip bobber fish with a spottail shiner with one rod and then throwing a 1/4-ounce jig tipped with a Gulp minnow off of rocky points in 12-13’ of water. Saturday morning was no different, and after a morning of fishing, three walleyes and a dozen smallmouth bass were caught. By midmorning, it became all smallmouth bass.

Sunday’s bite turned tough with two walleyes boated even though calm water usually is better for this type of fishing.

It’s only just begun

That pretty much sums up what I think will happen in fishing over the next six months. Plus, it’s not going to be just on Big Spirit, East and West Okoboji, and it’s not going to be for just walleyes.

There are great fisheries all across northwest Iowa. Certainly, each lake is a little different and you’ll need to do your homework. Yes, ach day will be different, but that’s the fun of it.

What do you want to target? Walleyes, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, northern pike, muskie (season closed for a couple more weeks) catfish, bluegills, crappies, perch, yellow bass, bullhead…what’s more you can fish more than one species in the same day on the same lake. Just keep up your social distancing and go out and catch some fish!

(photo by Shane Akin) Mark McKeever holds his 7-pound 4-ounce smallmouth bass taken early Saturday morning.

(photo by Dick Lineweaver) Eric Lineweaver holds a nice slot fish taken Saturday night in Smith’s Bay.