I made a decision that once and for all was going to finally try out the new deep tail dancers. I purchased several of these deep diving crankbaits this spring, but have failed to tie one on. Rapala claims these lures will run up to 30 feet down on their own! Not many lures can do this and this is the perfect depth on the big pond.
They made some good colors this first release (bleeding tiger, flash perch, red tiger, and clown). I’ve had luck using these type of colors with #9’s with snap weights and figured that the big females may like these bigger lures!
Two of us met another friend of mine at the landing around 2:00 pm Thursday night. We decided to target some suspended fish out and around the mud flats. We tied on a bleeding tiger, a flash perch and a deep thunderstick – firetiger (old reliable). Only after 20 minutes of trolling – BANG – we had our first hit on the bleeding tiger on a long line (no board)! 
The clicker just screamed and we knew this was a big fish. After a nice fight to the boat we finally netted this 28 inch beauty (see attached pic). Nice fish Dave! 
This tied his biggest fish to date!
I said “WOW, that didn’t take long!”. After we snapped a couple of pictures and released this big girl, I started to think about how stupid I was not trying this crankbait earlier in the year! 
I quickly looked in my box to see if I had another bleeding tiger – nope! I bought 2 colors of each but soon remembered that Gander Mtn. only had one bleeding tiger! 
Maybe it was just a fluke…
About a half hour later – bang! Another hit on the same line (bleeding tiger/long line). Again, the clicker just screamed and the rod was a pumpin. But just as fast as it hit – the clicker soon went silent. This fish did not stay hooked.
One hour later – bang – another hit on the bleeding tiger/long line! 
But once again, this fish did not stay hooked! OK – my bad this time.
I quickly decided that this was not going to happen to me again and decided to run another planer board on my starboard side. I sometimes think when long lining with a rod holder and when you have the clicker on, the drag doesn’t seem to be as smooth. Anybody else think this? I try not to use a clicker when long lining, but it’s hard to watch all of the lines all of the time.
Shortly there after, bang – yep – same line but this time on the planer board. After a nice fight, we boated a 24 incher.
This was pretty much the pattern the rest of the day. Bleeding tiger, bleeding tiger, bleeding tiger. We ended the day catching 5 fish (28, 24, 23, 22 and a 16 incher) and lost two others. All but one fish was caught on bleeding tiger.
SO… on Sunday, I decided to hit the pond again and this time I loaded up on you know what…
Even though they were predicting strong winds for the day, I decided that I just had to get those deep tail dancers down there again. We (3 of us) met at the landing and sure enough it was windy. Some big rollers were already visible in the bay and I knew it would be a rough trip. We took our time and eventually made it out to our spot.
Trolling with the waves was the only option. Right away, we were marking some good fish and I knew we had a good chance for a hook up. 15 minutes after we had our lines down – BANG – Bleeding Tiger Again!
This fish just smacked it and I knew that it was a big one. After a nice fight, my buddy who was experiencing his first trip on Mille Lacs, landed his biggest eye to date – 28 inches! Way to go Troy!
Now, I was excited! However, the other person in the boat was not. She was starting to get sea sick. She tried her hardest to hang in there but it was no use. We decided to head back to the landing after only one hour of fishing. One thing that I’ve learned is to not ruin a good thing by making someone stay out when they are not feeling well. She loves to go fishing and I’m not going to ruin it! 
Besides, I’ll be there there soon again now that I’m a firm believer that Tail Dancin’ on Mille Lacs works!!! 
