This first shot is of the very first fish of our trip, taken on thursday. Neither of us need a shower at this point 
and the winds were calm.
Blue looks like he just danced with the prom queen. What a grin! Caught on a large Pop-R right up next to some massive boulders coming off a spine from an island.
Just like that I’m down by two!
Off with the jacket and on with the glasses… Blue gets down to business and sticks our second fish before I can get the camera back in the case. Another Pop-R fish for Blue and I tell Blue he can net his own darn fish from here on out ‘cuz I don’t like falling behind the fish count to a bass guy who’s far from home… lol 
This particular bass was still mid-summersault n’ half gainer when I turned around after Blue’s hookset. There just might not be anything finer for an angler regardless of age or experience than a smallie caught on topwater.
After a couple more fish from our first stop we moved north to fish a couple rock humps along the west side that lie just off-shore and I got us going on a #4 rattlin’ fat rap in the OC pattern. These are some of the bass catchinest cranks ever made… and then Rapala had to go and stop making them. 
On a side note… Blue and I ran into a pile of these in the local shops up there around mille lacs and made off like bandits. One store had 55 #5 rattlin fats that they were moving at a “buy one get one” deal! No need to ask where we found them… they’re GONE! 
Here’s blue with our first tube fish, caught on one of Jc’s formerly “secret” Team Supreme tube patterns… pumpkin with white tipped tentacles.
For the first 2 days this plastic was a top producer. We started out texas rigging them and soon switched to Doo heads to put an end to the CONSTANT snagging and re-tying. Those Doo heads worked in and out of the rocks wonderfully and I actually fished 1 head for an entire day when a texas rigged tube or lizard had the life expectancy of a gnat. 
Here’s a nice release photo from Thursday. Not being used to the capabilities of a narrow bass boat I moved a bit too quickly to the same side of the boat as Blue and nearly dumped him in the water along with his smallie.
Beautiful fish guys!! 
I wish I could have made it.
This dandy is one of the last photos we took on thursday evening. Notice in the background the nice frontal line that was moving in to spoil or fun in the days to come. 
Blue’s fish here was caught on a 4″ Team Supreme tube fished well off the edge of a steeply dropping reef. Later in the day we found a good group of fish off the edge of the reef in 9′ – 11′ and ended our day there.
Early Friday AM… before the winds came.
Everything in this photo is all wrong…
Walleye guy.
Flippin’ stick.
Baitcaster with the reel handle on the wrong side.
I faked my way through it pretty good! 
EARLY Saturday AM hiding out from the wind in the SE corner of the lake. The wind blew from the NE for a portion of the day as the cold front went through. I caught this dandy on a chugger fished through a narrow opening between two patches of reeds. This is the same spot where Blue’s hit n’ run muskie smashed a saltwater sized chugger, broke 50 Lb power pro and made a boil the size of a honda before dissapearing.
WOW is all I have to say about that whole deal!
This was one of our last top water fish for the trip. We had a couple more small ones later that night on Saturday but for all intents and purposes we lost that bite once the cold front settled in on Saturday.
Here’s one of 5 or 6 fish we were able to pull from Upper Twin during an all too short break in the wind on Saturday. Pumpkin colored tubes, no white tips this time, took over as our #1 bait.
Sunday was S-L-O-W for us with the bass and far too windy at times. We did have a small break in the wind about 11 AM that saw the lake lay nearly flat… only to roll back up into 2 – 3 footers 45 minutes later!
During the break we thought for sure we’d be able to slow down our presentation and boat some dandy bass. Nope. But the walleyes were willing. This one came from the Twin Is. area… on a white tube n’ doo head no less.
Honestly guys, I tried to get him to lip this little guy but he just wouldn’t do it! 
10 inch long walleyes on 4 inch tubes? Sure. Why not?!
Quote:
Everything in this photo is all wrong…
Walleye guy.
Flippin’ stick.
Baitcaster with the reel handle on the wrong side.
I faked my way through it pretty good!
James, it’s easy to fake fishing for anything when you’re wearing the hat you have on…(are you reading this FH?) 
Not sure what Flecks “M” is for….
All Very nice fish and nice pics too.
Just one question…what are you going to do with all that catfish bait? 
We mailed a couple of the smaller ones to you “media rate” to your office just before you left for Winnie. You should be able to smell them before you see them! 
Nice trip guys, thanks for the chronolog story with pics included. sure think I saw a ChugBug in there. thanks Jack.. 
Nice fish boys! Even with the winds and cold front conditions, looks like you guys put together somewhat of a pattern to boat some “typical” Mille LAcs quality fish!
Sorry we could not hook up and fish the river while you guys were in town. Next time!
Monday works for me!
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