Hotspotoutdoors

Can someone explain to me why you would have an opener on a Thursday? And why wasn't this corrected prior to the date being set?

I'm inquiring due to me and a whole lot of people now having to take time off from work to hit the opener. You ask why, if you have any experience trout fishing through the ice, you know that the bite will drop dramatically after a couple days, and thus it's an opener that shouldn't be missed...

I've been a participant of this opener for some 20 yrs now and to me, it would be like having walleye opener on a week day....

I feel sorry for the conservation officers patrolling this weekend, their going to get an ear full, if they haven't already... To bad for them, since they had nothing to do with this date....

I'm still going to have a blast on opener... always do... no matter what type of fishing or weather we encounter..

Just so all of you trout anglers know... as mentioned in the response... This will be the date for Winter Trout opener.. Jan 15th... Unless people voice their opinions this will not change... I favor the opener being on a Saturday... like every other opener in Minnesota....

Avid Trout Fisherman...

It's odd, no doubt. I have a few buddies that are pretty upset with it too. Kinda messes up our annual tradition.

From what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that January 15th of every year will now be trout opener. It wont matter what day it of the week it falls on.

I don't know why they did this. Being my days off are usually during the week it doesn't effect me as much as some others. But I certainly understand peoples frustration with it.

It's my personal favorite "opener" of the year.

Thursday trout opener = 4 day fishing party

I took lots of math in college!

You may want to contact your state government reps on this one. They changed it this summer.

One other plus...its easier to say to my wife "but its opener, I need to leave Thursday morning".

It's also easier to remember. Opener is the 15th, not the Saturday closest to the 15th.

Steve,
15th is now locked in, well, ice
When we get closer just let me know where and when to meet ya. Will have the sled and otter ready to roll. Also looks like I wont have to be back to pick up Junior after school so I can stay all day, yeah!!
Chris

Makes no difference to me. The fish still bite after the first two days.

Now the guides have a firm date to work with annually.

To take time off work to fish????? Seems like a fair trade.

The fact that trout opener is on a thursday doesn't bother me one bit...the problem I have is that the closest lake with lake trout is 80 miles away (grindstone lake)! As tempting as that may be to go to, I think I'll stay close to home and fish for streamers out of square lake.

Splakeshaker... Just checking to see who this is... I'm previously from Two Harbors and always looking for the next hot splake lake...

Sorry... I'm just a working stiff that only gets so many days of Vacation a year... And a trout guy who doesn't want to miss an opener... which I typically do a 3 day fishing trip for Inland Stream Trout and sometimes Lake Trout... With it being on the 15th it's going to be hard to make the openers that fall on Tuesdays or Wednesdays since this would call for multiple days off...

This has been a traditional opener for my friends and I for many years...

It is goofy. Think of the uproar if Walleye opener was set for May 15th. People would RIOT!

You could probably get an ear full of Blue Soup on the trout opening date change if you stop in at a particular bait shop in Ely.

May 15th... Good Idea... Then the guides would have a firm date... (Not that the dates aren't published a year in advance..)

Grand Marais, Finland, Isabella. Gotta do the homework, and put some time in. Some nice lakes up the Arrowhead trail if ya got a sled and a couple days. I'm pretty pumped! I'm burnin up a week of vacation for opener. I'll try to post some pics after I get back.

Splakeshaker... Homework I know about... Our crew has hit probably every winter trout lake from Ely to the shore to the Gunflint Trail... You wouldn't happen to fish with the Studier or Kolberg crew?

Never heard of them. I'll be up by Finland/Isabella on the 15th and 16th; Grand Marais/Arrowhead Trail for the weekend.

Good Luck to all!!

i'm with Northdrifter08 on this one!
this is crazy, I vote for saturday opener. I go up to the gunflint every year on trout opener, its alway worse the second day. it will suck to start fishing 3 days in.
Here my rant: I travel to fish, I spend money on lodging, food, gas, bait...We usually bring 10 guys up to cook county on the opener, just for two days. This year, no one is going, thursday a bad day. Fishing opening = money for the local economies. I'd love to contribute my cash, but not on a thursday. Got work to make the money.
....I'll be hitting lake of the woods, no splake but lots of fish.

Um, what's to stop you from coming up opening weekend? How is the fishing any better on Thursday than it will be on Saturday? I've never understood this.

it is a change and nobody likes change. Anytime that you can get out trout fishing, go. Don't sweat the small stuff just catch fish

sometimes that true, but first on the ice makes a big deal. i was in seward ak this summer an miss the silver run by a couple days because i had to work. yes i was fishing but it wasn't the same if I had been there 4 days prior. Fish move, people put pressure on the lakes.
I see it like this, if I'm home on local lakes, i'm fishing (very relaxing)...but if I travel, I want to be catching.
my point being, if the day doesn't matter, then put the opener on a saturday.

It would make sense to have it on a sat but if its the same date every year that makes sense too.
I work shift work so I always wind up taking the 1st 8 days of the general opener off anyways. I have no problem taking time off to fish. What else would I do with my time off?

totally agree. Fishing is fishing. Amount of fish/size are likely not caught in one by all people on the same day. Some here, some there.
First ice, pressure on the fish-- more comes down to presentation and fish attitude. just happens that more people are fishing during "the opener"-- or amauter wk-end in my book.
Kinda of like it that people will be more spread out, supposedly.

Opening day is opening day. There is just something about getting out there to fish your passion. Opening day being on a Thursday it isn't much to wait a couple days until Saturday. But in a couple of years the 15th will fall on a Monday. Just think of the poor guy who has to work and wait all week until he can get out on the next Saturday. He will be sitting there all week and have to endure all those FM posts authored by STF. He may require medical treatment and meds by Saturday.

I have no problem with remembering the walleye opener or any other opener I'm intrested in. Don't forget if you can't wait there is always Canada. My trout opener is Wednesday (1-7).

I agree with your point 100 percent, DD. Fishing openers are as much about the tradition as they are anything else. But my point, which you quoted, was strictly about the quality of fishing.

Who knows what'll hapen with next winter's trout opener. I bet the DNR/Legislature gets more than their share of calls from people torqued off about the new opener structure.