I drove past Lundeens Friday afternoon and noticed it didn’t look right. Nothing on the billboard out front and the neon open sign was not lit. Saturday morning we pulled in on the way to the boat ramp and newspaper covered the windows with a hand written note on the door the read “closed”.
Not positive about what is going on but it does not look good for the future.
Does anyone have any insight on what is happening at Lundeens?
That would be very sad to see them closed. Nothing on their website saying anything.
I like walking in at dinner time when the family is sitting around the dinner table in the back and they look at you with the “hey don’t you know it’s dinner time” look.
I heard they have closed…..another good business bites the dust.thx Dayton for great treaty management…
Btw. Fishing has been great this summer
Come up, spend some money up here….
Come up, spend some money up here….
Well evidently not at Lundeen’s Tackle Castle anymore. Very sad for me. 
How many years ago would be my stop coming up 169 and then “Tackle Castle” for all bait and an assortment of new jigs and what not on my way east to Lyback’s Ice fishing.
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I just spent the last 9 days up at Mille Lacs and come home to find not only Lundeen’s closed but got a message from a friend that Toucan’s at the Wharf Resort closed their doors last Tuesday. Even more sad…especially if you’ve ever had the “Experience”. Fun bar/restaurant…cannot believe they too now are done.
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That’s tough to see.
That entire area is slowly bleeding economically without any fix in sight.
Can’t say i’ve ever set foot in either place. But it’s never good to lose tax paying businesses from the tax base. Yet another blow to taxpayers. 
Looks like Toucans bar at The Wharf is closed due to staffing issues and not lack of business. Their Facebook page said it is closed until further notice with plans to announce news on it when they are able.
Lundeen guy was grumpy every time I went in there. So when I go west side I hit up tutts. Toucans definitely needs more people working there, every time I stop in there for breakfast it’s really good but takes an hour to cook it. They must have the smallest flat top grill or are using pans back there lol
Hopefully Toucans closing is not the start of the end for the Wharf! I have had a place there for 27 plus years and I’d really hate to see that go away.
They are both grumpy. On different occasions my bro and I both made the mistake of asking if we could get a half pound of jumbo leeches. Sorry we didn’t see your little cardboard sign behind the counter. I’m sure they are asked that all the time but doesn’t mean you should treat people like crap.
I would still stop in to get leeches because I thought they were good quality. Other than that I took my money elsewhere.
So…any recommendations for now getting nice leeches if heading towards Wahkon?
I was on Mille Lacs a month ago and the fishing was great up on the mudflats. All the public ramps on the west side near garrison were over flowing with trucks/trailers. I cant speak to the east side of the lake but i would think business for most places reliant on anglers has to be picking up again even with out being able to keep any walleyes.
Although I have have only camped at the wharf for 2 years and not 27 I was very surprised this weekend to drive into the parking lot Friday night, right away I knew something was off, then I saw the sign in the window at Toucan’s. I loved having the experience for breakfast always timed my fishing in order to get their before they stopped serving breakfast. I am glad to hear its more of a staffing issue, hope they are back soon.
Can’t say I disagree with those of you who commented about them being Grumpy at Lundeen’s. Had a couple of experiences there myself, Tutt’s is good but way out my way from the east side. The best place I have found for leeches on the east side is the run down gas station on the left just after you turn onto 27 south.
Got a pound of decent leeches there 2 weeks ago, when even Vados and Hwy65 bait did not have large leeches.
Called Johnson’s Portside 2 weeks ago to ask if they would refill my #30 propane tanks (they have a filling station as well as exchanges) they told me to come back tomorrow, plus their price was almost 2x what I got at that gas station on 27.
Edit: Just checked google maps its called Trailside Bait & Tackle
Never stopped there. Reeds though I always stopped at.
Icon?
Not to me
Toucans
Lol
Walked in there on a Friday night July 4 weekend some 10 years ago.
Ate a burger..
Put $30 in the juke and played meatloaf over and over.
Paid tab, walked out.
Meatloaf starts playing, bartender chases me out door and asked me if I played meatloaf…I say “Yeah! Crank it up”.
Bartender goes back into bar and turns it up…
My group comes out to ask me what’s up? I told them… We gotta go! Lol
I’ll do anything for love… Hard to tell when it stops and repeats.. well it repeated until bar close that night haha
Fastfoward to January.
I walk into bar at midnight… Bartender takes one look at me and hollars “MEATLOAF”. I just laughed.
Thus began “meatloafing da bar” 
Toucans
LolWalked in there on a Friday night July 4 weekend some 10 years ago.
Ate a burger..
Put $30 in the juke and played meatloaf over and over.
Paid tab, walked out.
Meatloaf starts playing, bartender chases me out door and asked me if I played meatloaf…I say “Yeah! Crank it up”.
Bartender goes back into bar and turns it up…My group comes out to ask me what’s up? I told them… We gotta go! Lol
I’ll do anything for love… Hard to tell when it stops and repeats.. well it repeated until bar close that night haha
Fastfoward to January.
I walk into bar at midnight… Bartender takes one look at me and hollars “MEATLOAF”. I just laughed.Thus began “meatloafing da bar”
LOL!!! I’ll have to remember that! 
I certainly was no regular but I was in there a month or so ago and I noticed a pot of coffee in a corner. I asked if the coffee was free and he snapped back at me, “hell no what do you think I’m rich” and pointed at the sign that was barely visible that said 50c. I guess he had a reason to be concerned about money in retrospect. I thought it was a bit uncalled for but I shrugged it off. I thought the place was great though! Walking in there my first impression was always “this is what a bait store should look like”. Sorry to see it go
sorry to see any business closed, but about 10 years ago we stopped in for bait on the way to mille lacs and made the mistake of asking where they were biting. He responded with red lake. don’t know if he wanted us to head up there instead or was just angry about customers. while we were there two guys were patiently waiting, never got helped went around a small counter to look at something on the wall they were looking to buy and were promptly scolded for going behind the counter.
Geez…with all the raving reviews, no wonder he’s closing his doors. This is a small sample size and I’m sure many others had just as bad experiences. Sounds like he sunk his own boat as this maybe wasn’t as much the lakes fault as it was his.
And there are 1,000s of happy customers through the years also. Don’t let a small internet sample size form your opinion.
Exactly, Dutch. I have stopped into Lundeen’s every week for the past three summers and always been treated great. Both Bill and his wife were always happy to share a report and ask what was working for me out there.
I’ll have to add that to my repertoire. I normally alternate Mambo #5 and Thong Song.
I would say that its more of a symptom of a bigger problem for the business folks up there…people get treated like garbage and being hassled by the business owners, DNR, Lake Police, Ice Road Detectives, etc they have a tendency to go spend their money somewhere else..economics 101..and businesses die..from a person who “used” to spend a lot of time and money up there fishing until I got tired of the Weed Police hassle, DNR hassle, Bait people hassle..who needs it.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad 
Lundeen guy was grumpy every time I went in there. So when I go west side I hit up tutts. Toucans definitely needs more people working there, every time I stop in there for breakfast it’s really good but takes an hour to cook it. They must have the smallest flat top grill or are using pans back there lol
I always had the same experience. It’s also spending double the normal price of VMC drop shot weights there. I guess you should expect that being a tackle/bait shop at a destination lake but that kind of thing always kept me out of that place. I don’t know the guy it seemed to be a hassle to him when I came in for anything. Gave me the impression that he only “wanted” to cater to the known regulars.
Stopped at lundeens a few winters ago because I had heard a lot about them and they were close to where I was fishing. Me and my buddy were treated like ABSOLUTE sh!t. Was walking on eggshells until I told him(as he’s scooping minnows) “I meant only half a scoop, sorry,” or something along those lines, and he dumped em back in, threw the net down, and hissed “then scoop em your f*****n self,” or something very similar. My jaw about dropped. Needed the minnows so we paid and left. Came back a year or two later and he was helpful as can be and very cool. Jeckyl and Hyde?
Has anyone explored the possibility that the real Lundeen is actually under the Imperius curse by one of wizards in the Mille Lacs band of Ojibway? They are forcing him to treat his customers poorly so his business will fail and they move one step closer to their goal of world domination?
This bait shop has been there forever….my grandpa stopped there in the 70’s
first bait shop on the lake from the south……I only went there occasionally as I could “feel the love” wasn’t there, but they had what you wanted…..still too bad.
I have a place on the SE side and the best place for me is Prince Bait on 169 on the way up…Their jumbo leeches were twice the size of the ones in Isle.
They have what you need and know your name.
Tried to get spottail shiners this spring in Isle and no one had any nor knew what they were…..We could use Robbs bait back in Isle but the Tribe bought and destroyed the building he was in and went out of business….heard he recently might get back in….Hope so as fishing has been great and you guys that went elsewhere are missing out….The people are leaving the area for jobs and have seen several instances of Jamaicans up working in various businesses for the summer because they cant find wait staff, etc….
The structure spots that had many boats typically have little traffic…Good for me , but you can see the activity level is about 15% of what it used to be….Glad I don’t have a loan to pay on a business or a resort and would need to sell for retirement….maybe Lundeens are pulling the plug.
Anyway, support the businesses up there as best we can.And keep in front of your legislators…
Sad indeed. Always recieved great service with top notch bait there. Nice to have bait available at 6:00 AM instead of waiting until 8:00 for other places to open. Will definitely be missed.
Toucan’s
Hope the resort doesn’t go down with the bar/restaurant. My family has had a place at the resort for almost three decades. I basically grew up at the resort.
I only visit a few times per year these days but the place always seemed fairly busy.
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