The morning was chillier than predicted — in the mid- to high 30s at sunup — but walleye fishing generally was good on Crane Lake on the season opener Saturday.

Walleyes were caught in 14 to 16 feet of water on shiner, chub and fathead minnows on a morning in which the sun struggled to peak from behind clouds. But winds generally were calm, and many anglers on the water for the season's first day had at least some action.

Our group was smaller this year, due to graduations and weddings interfering with what generally should be regarded in MInnesota as the most important day of the year: the fishing opener.

Still, seven of us were on the water early: John and Jodi Weyrauch of Stillwater; Steve Vilks of Naples, Fla.; Joe Hermes of Minneapolis; and my brother, Dick, of Eveleth, Minn., and his son — my nephew — Brian Anderson of Champlin.

When we came to the dock about 9:30 for a mid-morning break, John, Jodi and I had kept two four-walleye limits, plus a crappie, with the other boats in our party recording similar success.