Mille Lacs Open Water Trolling this weekend

Numerous IDO members have reached out to me over the last month asking me questions about open water trolling. I thought maybe the best way to teach them is to show anglers how it’s done so I’ve decided to open up my boat this weekend to fellow IDO members and other anglers who want to experience the open water trolling bite on Mille Lacs.

The focus will be on learning the open water trolling system utilizing deep diving crankbaits, planer boards, line counter reels, leadcore etc… and hopefully we’ll catch a few walleyes as well. I’m trying to get 4 guys each day so we can use 4 lines and that way I can demonstrate different techniques. I have a couple of spots open up due to rescheduling. The plan would be to fish a full day – 8-10 hours and I’m also asking everyone to chip in for expenses.

Please send me an email or a PM if you’re interested.

More information is in my fishing reports:

Late July Open Water Trolling on Mille Lacs

Hot July Open Water Trolling on Mille Lacs

Mid July Open Water Trolling on Mille Lacs

Can I bring a bunch of monster crank baits

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Can I bring a bunch of monster crank baits

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Ah…. I think we need to plan that for another day!

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Can I bring a bunch of monster crank baits

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Ah…. I think we need to plan that for another day!

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I want in on that trip I may run one for a bit next weekend just for giggles… With the tanker pike out there you never know

OK – my boat is completely full for Fri, Sat and Sun and I’m taking out 9 different guys.

Thanks to all that emailed me and sent PMs and I’m sorry I had to turn some of you away. I may do this again in August so if you’re just reading this message now, please feel free to send me an email and I’ll try and get you scheduled.

Brad,
You make this forum even a better place!

I have never tried this technique. I am going to give it a shot on leech in August. I will have 3 adolescents in the boat so I know I don’t have much time to put them on the fish. So I will do alot of scouting then bring them out. As far as your leadcore, you put out a 50ft leader, 3 colors of 180lb then how much line of the braid. As far as the other lines on the boards, I think I read somewhere you put out about 100 ft to get to @23ft. Thanks for your help your posts are great.

I’m going to be up at Leech Lake in August as well from 8/6 to 8/13.

There are two types of leadcore setups that I specifically use on Mille Lacs due to the majority of the lake being around 32-35 feet deep.

Long-lining leadcore – 50 foot mono leader and 18 lb leadcore to the spool (mono backing)

Segmented leadcore – – 50 foot mono leader, usually 3 colors of leadcore (but it depends on the depth curve of your crankbait), braid to the spool. I only use this when I want to attach a planer board and I clip the braided line to the planer board 1 foot away from the leadcore line. So it would go crankbait – 50 foot of mono – 90 feet of leadcore – 40-80 feet of braid between your planer board and your rod tip – braid to the spool – mono backing. Some guys don’t use segmented leadcore and clip the leadcore line right to the planer board using a Church Tackle Adjustable Super Clip. This works well but you are somewhat limited how far you can put out that planer board in rougher conditions. Reason being is the leadcore line will whip around a bit on top of the waves – hence thrashing your planer board which in turn can disturb the swimming action of your crankbait below.

In regard to crankbait depths per feet of line – each crankbait is different and I highly suggest you invest in “The Trollers Bible” which shows you depth curves of how much line you need to have out to reach your desired depth.

Thanks for your help. I do have a trollers bible I cant remember what it is called. I gotta hope the crank is not on one of the pages that stuck together when it got wet. If you see a Yarcraft tiller with a 175 Suzi on back say . I will be on Leech that same weekend

Precision Trolling.