Rugged Record: 2023 Minnesota Trout Opener
Hey, welcome back to Rugged Records from Rugged Writer. This week we’re taking a different approach and recapping a recent day I spent out on the ice with my dad for Minnesota Ice Opener. But don’t worry, I’ll still include information about how we did things and general information to get you started if it’s intriguing.
So, let’s dive into it.
In Minnesota, one of the days I look forward to all year is Trout opener. We go out to inland lakes in the area and go after Lake Trout, Splake, Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, or whatever else is swimming beneath the ice.
The opener is always on a Saturday in mid-January, this year falling on the 14th.
The morning of opener, my Dad pulled up to my house and we loaded all my gear and the tent we would be using for the day into his truck. I use an Eskimo Quickflip 2 and I love it (I couldn’t find it for sale anywhere, but check out all the shelters from Eskimo here: https://geteskimo.com/). From there, it was time to head north to the lake.
My Dad usually does the scouting and deciding on where to go. This year he picked a tiny lake with stocked Brook Trout. We got to the lake and found where a trail should be, but it wasn’t packed at all. So, we unloaded the gear and broke a trail with snowshoes and boots in knee-deep snow (super fun, highly recommend).
But, after all the work it was worth it since we were the only ones on the lake. It was a windy, overcast day but not too cold so we skipped the tent (for now). I got myself set up in about 5 feet of water, and my dad went to about 13 ft.
I should have joined him, because he caught a nice 1-pound Brook Trout pretty quickly after setting up. But I didn’t move for two reasons:
I’m stubborn and lazy
My underwater camera was showing me dozens of fish at my spot
I kept seeing fish, but could not for the life of me get them to bite. They looked decent, and I kept trying different lures and bait combinations. Finally, after hours of trying I finally got one to bite.
Here’s the embarrassing part of this story:
The fish that I was seeing on my camera that I thought were decent-sized trout of some sort turned out to be 5-inch chub minnows.
So, that was a bummer and a learning lesson about what the camera does to fish sizes underwater. Ugh.
With the Brook Trout being the only thing caught, we decided to pack up and try a nearby lake that we had success on in the past for Splake.
At the new lake, we had a much easier time setting up. We only had to walk about 50 yards from where we parked to get into the right depth of water. We also used the tent this time because I was sick of freezing my hands off while changing lures to get the finicky fish to bite.
We found about 11ft of water, which on that lake is the sweet spot. The Splake (Hybrid breed of Brook Trout and Lake Trout) like to cruise the shallower water rather than being out deep. At first, we were having about the same luck as at the other lake, except we didn’t have the chub minnows on the camera to watch for entertainment. But, things changed about a half hour before sunset.
After spending about an hour jigging and seeing no fish on the camera, I was getting a bit bored. But then out of nowhere, a Splake came to check out my setup. Usually, my favorite lure for these guys is a Red Gold Leech Spoon from Clam (Check it out here: https://shop.clamoutdoors.com/leech-flutter-spoon.html#)
But, this time since I was impatiently trying everything in my tackle box I had a Size 3 Green Inferno Minnow from Venom with a wax worm (Check it out here: https://www.venom-outdoors.com/product-page/inferno-minnow-vertical)
The first fish that came in checked out the lure, but didn’t hit. But then, like trout sometimes do, they just kept coming. There was steady action of fish checking out our lures, bumping them, stealing bait, and swimming for the camera for about a half hour. During this, I managed to catch one on the Inferno Minnow I mentioned earlier right under the ice. It was a nice 14” fish that I’ll post a picture of on social media. My dad was also able to get an 8 incher to bite on a treble hook and a dead minnow.
And then, as suddenly as it started, it was over once sunset hit. So, we packed up our stuff and headed home.
While it wasn’t our most productive opener, we were able to get some fish and have a great day enjoying the outdoors.
If you want to try trout fishing in Northern MN someday, here are some tips to get you started:
Do your research, see what lakes are around you and what kind of fish there are in them. You can find reports online with what the DNR stocks them with as well.
Be patient. Sometimes trout will come and smack your lure without you doing anything special. Other times, they won’t take it easily at all. If they’re being slow, experiment with your jigging. Sometimes they like a tiny bit of movement, sometimes they like sudden rapid movement, and sometimes no matter what you do they won’t bite.
Know what you’re fishing for. If you’re going to a lake with Brook Trout, they’ll typically be closer to the shore in shallower water. If you’re going after Lake Trout, you’ll be more likely to find them in deeper water. Knowing what you are going after will help you avoid wasting a ton of time in the wrong spots.
Use the right gear. Once you decide what you’re fishing for, use the appropriate tackle and gear for them. For example, on this trip we knew we were going to be catching Brooke Trout and Splake around 1-3 pounds. Going after these fish with lighter rods, line in the 8-12 pound test range, and smaller lures (spoons, jigs, etc…) was the way to go.
And there you have it! Thanks for checking out this story, and hopefully you can get out and catch some trout for yourself soon (if you do let me know on social media, I always love talking fishing)
P.S.
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