{"id":3414,"date":"2018-04-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northlandtackl.wpengine.com\/opening-day-walleyes-big-stone-style\/"},"modified":"2022-03-26T05:38:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-26T10:38:01","slug":"opening-day-walleyes-big-stone-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northlandtackle.com\/opening-day-walleyes-big-stone-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Day Walleye Fishing \u2013 Big Stone Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"fr-dii alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.northlandtackle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/0411.frisch.column-622x453.jpg\" alt=\"Fisherman Mike Frisch holding up a walleye.\" width=\"622\" height=\"453\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Big Stone Lake on the Minnesota\/South Dakota border is a very popular spring walleye fishing destination. \u00a0It\u2019s popular because, as a Minnesota-South Dakota border water, it opens to the legal taking of walleyes earlier than the traditional Minnesota inland game season. \u00a0The season opens this year on April 21. \u00a0The lake is also popular because it has a healthy walleye population, many of which are willing biters around the opener!<\/p>\n<p>Opening day Big Stone walleyes are often in their annual spawning routine, so fishing shoreline rocks is a popular method as these fish pull up right tight to the shorelines now. \u00a0 On Big Stone \u201ctight to shore\u201d often means landing a jig right at the spot where water meets rocks. \u00a0Yes, these fish will get that shallow during spring!<\/p>\n<p>Artie Arndt from <a href=\"https:\/\/artiesbait.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Artie\u2019s Bait &amp; Tackle<\/a> in Ortonville grew up fishing Big Stone and is one of the \u201csticks to beat\u201d in any Big Stone walleye fishing competition. \u00a0 In fact, Artie and partners have teamed for two wins and two other top-five finishes in the last four Cabela\u2019s Masters Walleye Circuit (MWC) tournaments held on Big Stone. \u00a0\u201cLanding that jig tight to shore is key during the early season,\u201d Arndt offered, when asked how to catch spring Big Stone walleyes. \u00a0\u201cIf you land the jig a couple of feet out from shore, you\u2019re often too far from the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Small jigs tipped with small fathead minnows is the key bait presentation method at this time of the year according to Arndt. \u00a0\u201cGive me a few 1\/16-ounce parakeet-colored <a href=\"https:\/\/shop.northlandtackle.com\/jigs\/fire-ball-jig\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Fire-Ball\u00ae Jigs<\/a> and a scoop of fatheads and I\u2019m in business,\u201d Arndt offered when asked about his bait preferences on opening day.<\/p>\n<p>Arndt and other Big Stone experts favor fishing mid-lake and north for early season Big Stone success. \u00a0As the water warms, however, the bite gets better to the south along and around the lake\u2019s islands. \u00a0\u201cAs the season progresses, I like to be fishing further south around the islands,\u201d Arndt continued. \u00a0\u201cIn fact, we won the tournament the last two years in the last week of April near the islands,\u201d he went on. \u00a0\u201cThere may not be as many fish down there yet, but some of the big post-spawn females show up there first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arndt also says that the timing of spring\u2019s arrival each year also plays into the migration of the fish and their location during the early season. \u00a0\u201cAn early spring often means the south end gets going sooner,\u201d Arndt offered. \u00a0\u201cThis year, however, I am guessing we are looking at a later ice out meaning that north end bite will probably be best for the opener.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Arndt is an expert at pitching a jig and minnow to shallow early-season walleyes on Big Stone, he often uses another technique in conjunction with his jig\/minnow combination. \u00a0\u201cBecause each angler can use two lines on Big Stone, I often use another line rigged with a plain hook and a leech below a slip-bobber,\u201d Arndt said. \u00a0\u201cParticularly if I am in a known big fish spot, this presentation is a great way to up my odds for success, especially on big fish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walleyes are the main spring draw on Big Stone, but the lake also has a good population of big panfish like crappies, bluegills, and perch. \u00a0And, Big Stone might just be one of the Midwest\u2019s best-kept secrets when it comes to largemouth bass as the lake puts out a number of good fish in the 3-7 pound range every year!<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about all things Big Stone, visit the Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce at <a href=\"https:\/\/bigstonelakechamber.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bigstonelakechamber.com<\/a> or, stop at Artie\u2019s Bait &amp; Tackle in Ortonville for the current fishing report.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mike Frisch is a western Minnesota fishing guide and co-host of the popular \u201cFishing the Midwest\u201d TV series. Visit\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fishingthemidwest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>www.fishingthemidwest.com<\/em><\/a><em>\u00a0or follow Fishing the Midwest on Facebook for more \u201cfishy\u201d stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike FrischBig Stone Lake on the Minnesota\/South Dakota border is a very popular spring walleye fishing destination. &nbsp;It\u2019s popular because, as a Minnesota-South Dakota border water, it opens to the legal taking of walleyes earlier than the traditional Minnesota inland game season. &nbsp;The season opens this year on April 21. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dock-talk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opening Day Walleye Fishing \u2013 Big Stone Lake | Northland Fishing Tackle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are some opening day walleye fishing tips and tactics for fishing on Big Stone Lake in western Minnesota.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.northlandtackle.com\/opening-day-walleyes-big-stone-style\/\" 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