Otter Tail Country Fishing

Hey everybody. Spring has sprung. It's a crazy early summer thing
and we have to be careful to not get too carried away with prematurely
preparing for walleye fishing, which is still over three weeks away.
I've been bumping into friends and folks in the Ottertail area lately
and they, like myself, have noticed the shiner minnows are in full
spawn. I've already seen several locations where I figure the shiners
to be past mid-spawn. The female shiners eggs are clearly showing on
their dorsal side—a sack-type feature folks in the industry refer to
as a saddle-back. What I've also been learning is folks are trapping
and keeping shiners—ALREADY!
Sure they are spawning right now in mass (a very good run infact), and
while they are easy to catch, I feel it's way too early to hold on to
them—especially since the water is warming so quickly. Wholesale bait
operations who have the equipment and facilities to keep shiners alive
pre-season don't even keep minnows until two weeks before the season.
It's tough to let nice, big healthy shiners swim by and not take a dip
at them, but we have to. It's just too early. The minnows in your
trap will die and you'll have to catch new ones anyway. Not too
mention it's a spawning opportunity missed for a bunch of dead
shiners. Also, keep in mind that because the shiners began running
almost 5 weeks before the walleye opener, there's a really good chance
you won't need shiners for bait at all this season—especially on small
and mid-sized lakes. For now, enjoy the nice weather--Ross
Hagemeister/ meisterguideservice.com