WALKER, Minn — Kyle Minke knew his opportunities would be slim, but capitalizing on what he had to work with yielded a 22-pound Day 1 limit that leads the Leech Lake Bassmaster Open.
On a tight leaderboard that finds only 1 1/2 pounds separating first place from 10th, Minke holds a 1-ounce advantage over second-place Tommy Parker.
“I got lucky today; I only got six bites and they were definitely the right ones,” Minke said.
Minke, who makes his home in Lindsrom, Minn., focused his efforts on smallmouth, but he admitted that was not his preference.
“I wanted to fish for largemouth so bad, but I know you can’t win with them, so I stuck with the smallmouth game all day,” Minke said.
Fortunately, a productive morning gave him the confidence to continue pressing for improvement.
“I had a limit by noon, so it kinda made me comfortable to just keep working at it and I ended up getting one more big bite,” Minke said. “You just have to find the ones that want to bite.”
Sticking with the standard Leech Lake game plan of targeting boulders, Minke worked in depths ranging from 6 to 15 feet.
“I varied my depth with the wind,” Minke said. “I think the wind will push (the smallmouth) a little shallower on the windy side of stuff, so I was basing my approach on that.
“I was just running the boulders I had marked in practice. Maybe it was just good timing.”
Minke said he spent two hours on his starting spot. That location produced two of his keepers, as did his second and third spots.
“I had three main areas, all of them were miles apart,” Minke said. “I spent my day in the north and mid-lake regions. I don’t think these regions get as pressured as the (popular) south end, but it still gets pressure; there were tons of bots all over it today.”
Minke said he identified his targets during practice by side scanning likely areas in an effort to locate isolated boulders that other anglers might overlook. Even with such promising sites identified, Minke said he still had to play a flexible game.
“Usually the single boulders are better, but they really get smart when they get pressured like a week straight like they have,” Minke said. “There was actually a tournament here last weekend, too, so when they get pressured hard, they start to use other areas near the isolated boulders.
“You don’t see them sitting on boulders because they’re hiding so good. You have to cast to them so they’ll show themselves.”
Minke said he rotated through a 3-bait arsenal that included a jighead minnow, a drop shot and a Ned rig. All of those options produced bites and with each, accurate proved essential.
“You really only get one chance at these fish,” Minke said. “Every once in a while you’ll get a second chance, but that first cast has to be on target.”
The tournament’s scheduled start was postponed from Thursday to Friday due to a hazardous wind forecast. The event was shortened to two days, with the full field fishing both days.
Looking ahead to Championship Saturday, Minke said this: “I know that (my Day 1 spots) aren’t going to produce again, so I’ll probably run a bunch of new stuff.”
Hailing from Delano, Minn., Parker is in second place with 21-15. He attributes his opening-round success to versatility and adjustment.
“I tried throwing the classic jighead minnow application, a drop shot and things like that and I could see them come out for it, but they just weren’t committing,” Parker said. “After a couple hours of that, I started throwing some weird, unique things that they would eat.
“I’m fishing in the same areas as everyone else, but I’m showing them fish something different.”
Parker kept his bait details under wraps, but he noted that he’s shaking something different than most of his competitors.
“I burned probably 3/4 of a tank (of gas) today,” Parker said of his mobile game plan. “I ran all over the place.
“I actually got sick during practice and I was only able to practice a day and a half. I didn’t find a whole lot but it looks like I found the right ones.”
Jamie Bruce of Kenora, Ontario is in third place with 21-13. Anchoring his bag with a 5-14, Bruce said he spent a lot of time running his big engine.
“I fished the entire lake twice,” he said. “I have a 49-gallon tank in my Lund and I have no gas left. I had to econo cruise in, because I thought I was going to run out.
“I’ve never fished so hard in my life, just because of how many targets you have to hit to find (an active) zone. It took most of the day to find it, but we found her.”
While most competitors have been targeting smallmouth around particular rock structure, Bruce took a different approach. He looked for schools of small yellow perch and shiners and fished fast with a 3/8-ounce Smeltinator jighead with a 3.75-inch Rapala Crush City Jerk.
Bruce is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 5-14.
Pake South of Winnsboro, Texas leads the Division 2 points standings with 741 points. Fisher Anaya of Eva, Ala., is in second with 739, followed by Tanner Hadden of Appling, Ga., with 725, Nic Rand of Paw Paw, Mich., with 722, and Austin Cranford of Moore, Okla., with 693.
