Open Water Bite – 7/2/05

I got the kitchen pass on Saturday so me and a couple neighbors decided to head to Mille Lacs for the day. I told the guys we might not catch a lot of fish, but the ones we did get would be quality fish. Neither of my neighbors had ever run boards so this was going to be a good experience for them. It also gave me a chance to teach, my favorite thing to do when fishing.

We got the landing about 1:00 PM. Luckily most were coming off the lake about this time so parking wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated. 15 minutes later and we were out on the lake. My intent was to troll the open basins between the mud flats, targeting depths of the suspended fish. We ran deep Reefrunners in red hot tiger, green perch and natural black/white. I also ran the cabelas knock offs, they seemed to pull well so I may have to invest in a few more of them.

As we were setting our first run, we had the first fish of the day, a nice 24.5″ walleye. This was on Pat’s board on the red hot tiger. We got the fish in, unhooked and took a couple quick shots. Here is Pat’s fish:

Pat:

Our next 24″ fish came on Matt’s side of the boat on the green perch. Here it is:

Last but not least, yours truly was also able to get one to reel in. I was running two boards and a long line this day. I switched colors on the long line many times throughout the day. The only fish we got on this line was this massive 24″ eye. I called it much bigger and to my surprise, it only went 24″. This wouldn’t be my first mis-call of the day.

In all this open water, there was one boat that had a marker bouy out on this rather rough day. I somehow manage to snag it with an outside board. Needless to say when we returned the bouy to the owner/spot I apologized for not paying attention. I did notice on the graph that the depth came way up to 24′. I marked a waypoint because I couldn’t see anything on the map(I have the navionics chip for Mille Lacs). I then proceeded to brag over the radio to Buckshot about finding a spot that wasn’t marked by Navionics. This would later earn me the Christopher Columbus award for the day.

When it came time to setup to slip bobber, we decided to go back to the “unmarked” flat and see what it looked like. When I got near my waypoint, I decided to zoom in more on the GPS, needless to say, I’m not Christopher Columbus. I just hadn’t zoomed in enough to see the structure before. I admitted my stupidity and took the licking from Buckshot.

We ended up setting up bobber fishing at another “known” flat and didn’t have a single bite. As the wind started to pick back up, we headed for the dock. The closer we got to the landing, the rougher it got, so I’m glad we left when we did.

We ended our day with 5 fish, smallest was 22, biggest was 25″. Man are these fish healthy!! I can’t wait until this fall when we can catch them up shallow!!!

Thanks for sharing the report and pics. Sounds like you guys had a blast! Nice fish!
Thanks, Bill

Great Report Kooty! Sounds like you boys had some fun catchin and Buckshot had some fun ribbin’ ya. ! I had similar luck on Monday pulling boards. I was graphing a ton of high fish (8′-13′ and 20′-22′). I only had 2 guys total and tried to get these fish with one line up there, but could not get one of these fish to go. I was getting them to go deep on cranks occasionally, so it was hard to keep the other line high. I tried spinners and cranks for ashort time only on these fish. I wish I would have had a 3rd or 4th stick to run something high the whole day. Cause I’m positive I could have figured something out on these high fish

My luck was with the deep diving reef runners 115′-130′ back on the boards with my lure at 28-31 feet down. Colors were either Cheap Sunglasses or Perch.

I run Power Pro on my line counters, so I was running the lures 110 feet which should come in at 24-26 feet. We were fishing in 35-38′ FOW. I also marked alot of fish up high. I never did make an attempt to catch these fish. I wondered if some of theme weren’t muskie?? Needless to say, I can’t wait to get back up there. The fish seem to really be schooling up. I hope buckshot got a picture of their 28″ fish.

We did get a couple shots of the 28 incher we got.
We only ended up with 3 fish on the day a 24.5, a 25 and the 28. I was the lucky one and got the 28″ at 120′ behind the board. It was a beautiful site to see the board start dropping back then pull the old “Bobber Down” trick…twice…I knew it was a good one at that point. She was really strong took a couple really hard runs and for a few minutes I was thinking I might have hooked a pike or musky. It might be a few days for the pictures….we got a couple on a disposable and a couple on a camera phone I am hoping Heidi’s brother will email them from his phone so I can get them up.
It was a fun day….would have been nice to have about half the chop we did…the big lake was a little angry on Sat. Other than Kooty I only saw 3-4 other boats out around the flats and for Saturday of 4th of July weekend…that should give an idication of just how rough it was. More people started coming out for the bobber bite at dark, we anchored up for a while but like Kooty said with the wind picking back up we decided to head in as well.

Oh yes…I almost forgot to mention…..
The “new” flat Kooty found is now going to be called Columbus flat……I am on the phone with Hot Spots right now seeing if we can officially change the name of 9 Mile Flat to Columbus Flat since Kooty discovered it.
If anyone needs the gps coordinates for Columbus Flat contact Kooty.
It might cost you since this is the hottest new discovery on Mille Lacs.
Great job Kooty!!!!

Columbus flat.

Kooty! You found that flat too! I thought I was the only one that knew about that flat

Yes, I hear you about the rough water! I don’t think Monday was much better. Not many boats out there by that new secret Columbus Flat Monday! As the day wore on a few more showed up out there and the other new flat I found ,called the “Magellan Flat” !

Oh yeah, what speeds have you guys been running and sticking fish @? I was around 1.9 to 2.2 yesterday.

Depending on the wind, we were running 1.8 – 3.3. I didn’t notice the speed when we caught each fish unfortunately.

I started trolling 1.5-1.9 the first pass further south and east of Columbus. The next pass I bumped the speed up to 1.9-2.5 and moved directly south of Columbus and worked up past it then past Sliver and the Boot. Got one almost right away about a mile south of Columbus the 28 came north of Columbus closer to Sliver and the last one came just west and north of Boot. The vast majority of the fish I marked were 18′ or deeper in the water column.
They all came when the boat was going over 2mph.
JB

I’ll admit I never did get anything dialed in as far as the open water trolling goes….. Kinda hard with one line out fishing solo Sounds like I need to get a few people in the boat and bang up the trolling speed!

Thanks for the info!

Kooty,

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In all this open water, there was one boat that had a marker bouy out on this rather rough day. I somehow manage to snag it with an outside board. Needless to say when we returned the bouy to the owner/spot I apologized for not paying attention.

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Let’s just say you handled that situation a lot better than I do….

-J.

I was looking back alot at the boards and not really paying attention to where I was going because nobody was out there other than this one boat. I didn’t see the flat on the GPS because I was zoomed out too far, so I thought they must be targeting the same fish we were?? Needless to say when I looked back at the board again, it was already way too late. Oh well, stuff happens I guess.

Did I tell you I discoverd an unmarked flat on the pond this weekend??

Nice job Columbus! LMAO!

Kooty – did I see you out there by columbus flat on Monday around noonish? Somebody in a crestliner single console did a lap around my spread as I was hauling in a board.

I actually caught 4 slots out there this weekend between 20 – 28′ down… go figure??!??

ted

Not me. I was holding the couch down!! I wish the lake was about 45 minutes closer, I’d fish a lot more. We have talked about moving to MG, but that’s not for a while.

Ted I was out there Monday, about that time but did not see you?? I did not have my contacts in though, so that could be ! I think I would have remembered if I circled the Yamaha Machine though ! I just posted my report!

nice report but what’s with the rain jackets? the wife and I were out in shorts and t-shirts catching sun from about 11-2. I have had limited luck (this year) with the fish deeper than 28′. I did one of those nice 19″+ slots bury a board on me on Saturday when I was out by myself – it’s amazing how much fight these fish have this year.

You should see my two labs fight over the fish in the live well. My little guy sticks his head under the water and grabs a walleye and drops him on the floor – it’s pretty entertaining!

I was out there Monday at about the same time, and was also circled by that C-Liner a couple of times. Funny how close people need to get when your all alone with no structure within a 1/2 mile!!LOL Some people’s kids!!!

I must of been down by the Magellan Flat while the C-liner was circling you two . If the sun came out, the jackets came off. Once the sun went away it was a tad chilly and they were put back on. It seemed that the wind picked up through the day. Ted I have been the opposite of you. I have had my fish come from the deeper fish 28-35′. I have tried up high here and there with no luck. This weekend I think I will have 4 people in the boat so I will be able to dedicate a stick or 2 up high and see what I can put together. Are you heading out this weekend Ted? I will be out Satruday (the whole day hopefully). Maybe Sunday???

I might make it up on Sunday. I hope the wind isn’t as bad!! I’ll be near Columbus flat to start out.

I’ll probably cross path’s with you guy’s, I got talked into fishing the Red Door tourney this weekend.

Hope to see ya out there

I’ll be the guy with the sunglasses and straw hat on!!! LOL

some people’s kids is exactly right – they came up on me during a double in which one board kept dunking and my labs were going nuts. it’s bad enough that my boat is recognizable but then to have the dogs barking I might as well had a blue light flashing saying ‘sure, drop in and fish here!’.

No Mille Lacs for me for the rest of the month until maybe the afternoon of the 30th… drop the wife off with the in-laws in Spirit Lake, IA this saturday, home to work next week, pick her up the following Saturday and then it’s off to Mobridge SD for 9 Days for my last regular season event of the year. Plan on me playing around alot up there in August.

Good luck this weekend and keep the posts up as it’s great to read about what’s happenin up there!

ted

PS – loading up the boat with 3-5 guys is the way to go – once you have identified a general area where fish are comming from you can either flood a productive zone with slight action/color variations or dedicate a line high, mid or low where you are graphing fish but unable to sacrifice a line with only two in the boat…

Ted, what do you mean I thought you did have a blue light on top??????? You just need to teach those labs to net and reel in fish and you will be set!

Have Fun the next few weeks and Good Luck in Mobridge if we do not hear from you! GO GET ‘EM

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I’ll probably cross path’s with you guy’s, I got talked into fishing the Red Door tourney this weekend.

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I hear you Hooks, I hate when you are forced into fishing a tournmanet

Wait a minute……. I do feel sorrry for you especailly if you are fishing that tournamnet with Bobber! Your day can not get any worse ……………………………………………….. Unless you are fishing it with Tuck

Good luck Hooks and who ever your partner may be!

The only good thing if I did have the blue light is that it would match and Yamaha would probably approve it since it would provide more exposure for them.

Keep close tabs on those fish for me while I am out!