Brad Dokken: Fishing opener is a time to look back on good memories

May 10—Saturday, May 11, is the 2024 Minnesota Fishing Opener, one of the biggest events of the year on the state's outdoors calendar. As of Thursday morning, at least, the forecast couldn't look much better.

They call it the "Fishing Opener" but everyone knows it's about the walleye, Minnesota's state fish and the species most anglers who venture out will target Saturday morning.

Count me in that group.

For every year dating back to at least 2013 — if not before — I've been part of a group on Lake of the Woods.

A friend has supplied the boat all of those years, but with a daughter graduating from college this weekend — a valid excuse, I'll admit — he can't attend this year's opener. Instead, four of us are spending two days onboard a Ballard's Resort charter boat.

Ice fishing this past winter on Lake of the Woods was better than it's been in a few years, based on most of the anecdotal reports I heard, and I'm optimistic about fishing prospects for the opener.

Especially with a weather forecast that calls for partly cloudy skies, a high near 75 and southwest winds of 10 to 15 mph on Saturday in Baudette, Minnesota. I'll take that kind of border country forecast any day.

Looking back on the past several openers, every one has had its own unique flavor. In 2013 and 2014, for example, spring came late and the area near the mouth of the Rainy River was loaded with "slot fish" — walleyes in the 19 1/2 - to 28-inch protected size range that had to be released.

We only came in with two or three "keeper" walleyes on opening day in 2013 because every other fish was too big to keep. We landed several walleyes in the 25- to 27-inch range, and the biggest fish of the weekend was just shy of 30 inches.

Catching fish that are too big to keep is a good "problem" to have, in my book.

My favorite opening day memory, though — hands down — is from the 2017 walleye opener, which found us anchored in a favorite, time-proven spot on the Rainy River a few miles upstream from the mouth.

I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder in early January of 2017, a procedure that kept my right arm in a sling for six weeks and greatly limited my ability to participate in the wintertime activities I typically enjoy. It's hard to drive a snowmobile or hold an ice fishing rod and reel with one hand. Especially when you reel with your right hand like I do.

Despite recovering from shoulder surgery — a slow process, as anyone who's ever gone through it will attest — I did make it out ice fishing one time that winter, a March trip to Devils Lake during which we fished pike with tip-ups. When a flag popped, I'd grab the line with my left hand and pull up the fish by walking away from the hole while a friend steered the line and the fish onto the ice.

I completed my last session of physical therapy the day before the 2017 walleye opener.

To mark my return to the fishing fold, we had a bottle of champagne on ice that opening day morning. The plan was to pop the cork as soon as I landed my first keeper walleye.

Anchored in about 16 feet of water with jigs and frozen emerald shiners — a go-to bait on Lake of the Woods and Rainy River much of the year — we hadn't been fishing more than about five minutes when I felt a "presence" at the end of my line.

It wasn't a tap, and it wasn't a thunk, but I knew it was a fish.

I waited several seconds before setting the hook, and the presence turned into a solid bend in the rod. Moments later, my first walleye of the season — a 17-inch beauty — was in the livewell.

We celebrated my "comeback" with a glass of champagne that had never tasted better.

Fishing was fantastic that weekend and so was the weather, but catching that first walleye after being laid up most of the winter — and going through weeks of sometimes-painful physical therapy — was a good reminder of how much those of us who are fortunate enough to spend time in a boat with friends sometimes take for granted.

For everyone fortunate enough to be in a boat with friends or family this weekend — and beyond — be safe, have fun and good fishing.