Good morning,
A bright warm start to the opener will have fish moving!! There is still pretty low water temps as ice just went out last week. Shallow bays on the north end of the lakes will be holding fish first as they are the first to warm up. Towards the end of the day move to shallow sandy/rocky shorelines that have been absorbing the high sun and heating up the rocks. Even slight temperature changes can hold fish.
Musky–Musky fishing does not open for about another month, however Northwoods Musky love Crappie and its not uncommon to have one chase or even eat a slab Crappie as you are bringing it to the boat. Makes for some excitement to hook up on light tackle!!
Walleye–Walleye will be up in the warm shallows this time of year, especially during first and last light. Look for rocky points/humps/bars that top out around 5-10 feet. Using jigs and minnows under bobbers works well, as does pitching jigs/minnows and hopping along bottom back to the boat. Jigs with plastics and even a good old fashioned hair jig also work nicely.
Northern Pike–Northern Pike will be roaming all of the water pretty much all year long now. They will eat panfish in the shallows and hide in weeds and off of deep points waiting to ambush prey. Spinnerbaits work extremely well as you can reel them fast and keep them high in the water column or slow them down and let them sink a little bit.
Largemouth Bass–Largemouth will start to slide up into warmer bays that grow weeds first. Not quite a top water bite yet for largemouth, but texas rigged worms, ned rigs, jigs with crawfish imitating plastics will all work. Spinnerbaits in emerging weed cover is also a great choice. Work both the shallow and deeper edges of the weed lines anywhere from 5-15 feet of water.
Smallmouth Bass–Smallies will be mixing it up with the Walleye this time of year. Working rocky humps/bars/points that lead to deeper basins should produce fish. Pitching jigs/plastics, jigs/fatheads, and swimbaits on hooks is a good bet.
Crappie–I am already hearing reports of good Crappie fishing and it will get even better the next week or so as water temps get them ready for spawning. Finding shallow emerging weeds and keeping it simple with a hook and minnow under a bobber is a sure way to catch limits of Crappie. Small jigs under a bobber tipped with plastics such as Gulp! minnows or Tattle Tails also work great. Drifting through the weed beds in 5-10 feet of water is the spot!
Bluegill–Bluegill will be staging in the shallow sandy water as they are also getting ready to spawn. You can easily see spawning beds on sandy shorelines this time of year. Nightcrawlers under a bobber in and around those beds is hard to beat.
Perch–Catching Perch while Crappie fishing go hand in hand. They will be hiding in the weeds from predators and love stealing minnows from the hooks of Crappie fisherman. No need to get fancy with Perch, bare hooks and minnows under bobbers will catch fish.
Greg