May 11  MN Fishing Opener 2017

May 13-15 2017

Congrats!  We have made it to everyone’s favorite time of year, Soft water season!!!  Corn Belt Outdoors will be out opening weekend in search for the elusive trophy walleye.

We will have one pair of fishermen in the Longville lakes area (fishing multiple lakes) focusing on mainly the elusive walleye.  We will update you afterward for the presentations that worked well and the ones that made us shake our heads in frustration.

We will also have another group on a Emily local lake hoping to find success on large, early season walleye or pike.  This group will also be hitting the crappie spawn about perfectly so some good fishing will almost certainly be happening. 

In Emily, we are going to be trying our hands at many different presentations.  The weather outlook is calling for sunny, clear skies and 70 degrees.  This might make it a struggle on some of the clearest lakes in the region.  We will also have our fishing kayaks ready to go into the shallows to find the crappie spawn.  This year we will be trying our luck with Gulp Crappie Nibbles and BerkleyRipple Shads in multiple colors as well as the tried and true live crappie minnows.

Hope you all have a great opener!  Be safe and patient as opening weekend brings a lot of traffic (many who have not been out in the boats yet this year).  Remember that sometimes the memories of having a good time with friends are more important than the number of fish we can boat. 

Thank you for reading and GOOD LUCK!!

CDN

May 4 Minnesota Turkey Season 4 

South Central Minnesota

Many would describe my spring turkey hunt as frustrating, and yes, there were moments.  The season provided a stretch of beautiful weather and some magnificent sights and sounds.

 Day 1. Before sunrise a huge raccoon froze in his tracks to the sound of my hen yelps.  Four wood ducks were buzzing my blind when one landed on the roof and another attempted to come through the shooting hole.  A jake then appeared out of nowhere without warning.  He made a circle around my blind then disappeared.  He gave me a good shot but I decided not to end my season within the first two hours.  Later morning in a beautiful river bottom I had a couple toms talk back to me, but they couldn’t be coaxed across the river.  

Day 3. I arrived in a new spot at about 5:15 AM where a friend had bagged a jake two days before.  He told me exactly where to set-up.  Upon closing the zipper of my blind, at least two toms gobbled from the trees just 40 yards away.  I was psyched!  However, as they pitched down from the trees, the hens lured the toms into the river bottom below my blind instead of along the ridge in front of my blind. 

Day 5. I returned to this same area and sat motionless in a gillie suit for over two hours before sunset confident those same toms would return to their roosting area.  Not a cluck, gobble or sighting.  I saw one squirrel! 

 
Day 6. Mid-morning while driving from one area to another I spotted one tom in a freshly planted field, heading into a 20 mph wind away from the woods.  I drove back to the ravine below the field and failed at my attempt to call the tom back into the woods.  However, I was entertained by eagles soaring above and around their nest in a huge cottonwood tree. 

Sometimes the delight of the hunt comes through even smaller wonders such as this beautiful snail that I spotted on the ground next to me.  So ended my hunt until later this month during the open season.

-JMK