(As told by Mike Otteson of New Prague)
On opening day our group headed to Leech Lake with high hopes of catching limits of walleyes. With the cool and late spring, we worried about the bite. Worse, we couldn't find spot-tailed shiners for bait, which we thought would make our task more difficult. On the opener, the wind was calm and the fish seemed lethargic. We ended the day with seven walleyes, none in the harvest slot. The next day, we stopped at a local bait shop and to our surprise found some spot-tailed shiners. It wasn't long after we started fishing that one of our bunch, Nathan Schwalbe of Chaska, felt a tug on his line, and before we knew it, the fight was on. A minute or two passed and a healthy 27-inch lunker was in the landing net. The day turned out to be very productive, with dozens of fish caught and released.
