What is the temp today? - Mille Lacs Lake - Mille Lacs Lake

O.K…..I’ll pipe in!!

Here is a weekend report from Lundeen’s Tackle Castle which I have copy/pasted from another site. I don’t think Bill will mind me sharing this with all of you. It is full of very good information which everyone can utilize. Hope it helps evryone figure out a “Plan B” for this weekend. Bobbers and leeches were always my plan, and maybe now it will be your plans also.

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Well, this is the weekend that so many Mille Lacs anglers have been waiting for – the September full moon! We’ve seen some decent catches so far this week, with most of the successful trips centering around the shallow (12 foot or less) rock reefs. Some of the better reefs so far have been Indian Point, Flamingo, Mazominee Point and the Tundra. The top presentation is still a leech/slip bobber. Mobility has been important – don’t weld yourself to one spot on one reef… if your bite slows down, MOVE. You’ll see lots of folks pulling crankbaits at night through this full moon phase – some will hit fish, others won’t… it’s still fishing. As of this point, the crankbait bite hasn’t fully kicked in yet – we noticed the same trend last year too. With surface temps still in the high 60’s, the best fall fishing is yet to come. Smallmouth remain active – large tubes and rattle baits are working best. The muskie are still moody – when they’re on, they are really on – when they’re off, you can throw every one of those Bull Dawgs at ‘em and they still won’t go.

We promised a little more on fall trolling in this week’s Weekend Outlook:
Each year, several articles are written about “fall trolling” (usually night trolling) and the countless success stories that follow this seemingly bullet-proof pattern. While it’s hard to argue the results that many anglers enjoy each fall, not every Bob, Tom and Rick leave the lake experiencing the “bite-of-a-lifetime.” In fact, many folks (even some here on Mille Lacs) struggle to snag “a few for the pan” – not because of the slot limits, rather from assuming some simple misconceptions about the approach… it’s not “every night, every lake, every bait, every time!”

A great start for your fall trip is to take a scouting run – in the time it takes to watch a typical NFL game on TV, you can map out several reefs in good detail. On Mille Lacs, the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Department has helped with much of your mission – they have placed around 200 hazard/reef markers on the southern 2/3rds of the lake. The intention of this is to alert boaters to the potential hazards below, BUT the savvy angler knows that many of these rocky areas are hot for fall trolling. They will begin removing these markers around the 1st of October each year. Pick a calm day and get these spots into your GPS – not just “east spots” or “west spots”, but an assortment in case the wind makes your “A” spots unfishable. Several of the newer GPS units accept MMC cards showing contour detail as accurate as 1 foot! Mille Lacs is one of the lakes that is privileged to this technology. Make a few notes about tips, turns, depths and transitions on each of your new spots, and you’ll have the first step taken care of. AND…since you’re already out on a calm day, be sure to run EACH of the baits you may be using for your night trolling. Many hard baits come out of the package needing some tuning – sometimes a subtle tweak, sometimes an overhaul, even on a brand new bait! If you’ve ever tried to tune a bait in the dark (assuming you could see well enough to notice it needed tuning), you can appreciate the convenience this will add. Some people run “snaps” (crankbait snaps – snap only… NO swivel) to connect their line to the bait; others tie a “Rapala” knot. Most shallow baits run best using one of these approaches. Using a “snap-swivel” will almost always have a negative effect on the action of your bait (try it so you can see, then put them away).

A little “boat prep” can be the difference between fun and frustration for the nighttime angler. Simple things like making sure your mooring lines and anchor lines are stored, trying your bow and stern lights AND your trailer lights before your trip. Do you have a spotlight that works? Maybe one of these headlamp or Cats Eye lights for your hat. A red lens over your flashlight will help inside the boat for re-tying baits. Consider a rubber net… the hooks seem to come out of a rubber net WAAAAAY better than a stranded net. Do you use a handheld GPS? Running the backlight feature at night will chew-up your batteries, so make sure you have a spare set or two. Line counters (portable or mounted) are handy to know how far back you’re running your bait. Some folks will take a clear pop bottle and put a light stick in it to use as a beacon – 15 feet of cord and a 3 ounce weight will hold it in place. Consider rigging multiple rods – if your rod fouls, it’s much easier to grab another one that’s already tied up than to try to re-rig in the dark. Be sure to store the “extra” rod(s) in your rod locker where they won’t get stepped on or tangled. Some people run planer boards – it gets your line away from the boat (less chance of “spooking” the fish). If you haven’t run boards before, DO NOT attempt to do it for the first time at night!

Wear your life jacket.

There are countless “best baits” that we can use for trolling – I’d hate to have to pick only one. Some nights a tighter “wobble” is the trigger, sometimes its a “rattle” – maybe a black/chrome one or even chartreuse. Choose the style bait (don’t be afraid to “up-size” it this time of year) that suits the depth of water you’re fishing – floating or suspending “sticks” are usually best for 6 feet or less, “shad – style” baits work better from 8-12 feet. Then there’s the tight wiggle, the wobble and the shimmer – go figure! Oh yes… don’t forget the rattle! All hype aside, different actions will trigger fish in different moods. Don’t be afraid to change baits and trolling speeds until you find one that suits THOSE fish THAT night. Then there’s color… I haven’t necessarily found a BAD color on Mille Lacs, but some of the top trips have always included baits in black, blue, and perch. BEWARE OF THE INTERNET (how ironic!)… There are manufacturer’s rep’s that will flood a chat room or a fishing forum about how “my neighbor just killed ‘em last night on a _________”, or “We boated 45 fish before midnight on a ______”. Take it for what it’s worth – if it sounds to good to be true…

One of the biggest events in fall trolling revolves around the full moons of September and October. We have folks who only night fish once each year – on the September full moon. Countless scientists and biologists have done studies on the affect of the moon phase and fish/animals/humans… we’re not going there, except to say that most agree that the moon (in it’s various phases) has an affect on the behavior of most, if not all living things (including our frog). Surely, you will see many hundred and perhaps over a thousand boats on Mille Lacs during the September and October full moon phases, ALL looking to cash in on the hot crankbait bite… and SOME certainly will. In 2004 for example, the surface temp during the September full moon (9-28) was 61 degrees. This year, the full moon is 9-18 (10 days earlier) and the surface temp will be around 66 degrees. In 04, the leech/slip bobber bite was actually better through this period than the crankbait bite. The October full moon was 10-28-04 and the surface temp had dropped down to 46 degrees! So what? Both periods were during a full moon, but there was a full 20 degree difference in the surface temp. The night bite had started to tail off somewhat by the October phase. Some folks won’t fish at night unless the moon is full. Period. So how about the time in between? Those who fished the period that the water temps were starting to slide enjoyed more than just the one or two goods nights – in fact, as the temps dropped into the 50’s we saw some of the best night fishing of the year. If the moon showed us anything, it made some folks realize that the moon phase can certainly be used as a valuable tool – just not the ONLY tool when night fishing. Look for the bite to improve as the lake temperature drops over the next several weeks.

Each year around this time we get lots of calls and email asking if the lake has “turned over” yet. Many of the “experts” (biologists, anglers, old-timers and Joe) agree that Mille Lacs doesn’t have a pronounced thermocline and is not subject to the annual fall “turn-over”. This lends itself to more consistent fishing during the cool-down. You may notice when the water temp reaches the mid 40’s, the tullibee (what’s left of them) will head for our favorite shallow reefs to spawn. This is not usually conducive to good reef fishing… it often lasts until the temps drop below 40 degrees.

The best way to become proficient at fall trolling (or any fishing technique) is to get out on the water and fish, fish, fish. Through trial and error (and of course through your successes) you’ll learn the “what’s”, “where’s” and “when’s”. Keep some notes, be patient, be persistent and most of all HAVE FUN WITH IT!

Beginning Monday, September 13th, all smallmouth STATEWIDE must be released immediately.

The surface temperature is 67 degrees.

Yes, we still have big leeches!

The weather for the weekend (from the National Weather Service) looks like this:
Friday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming south between 11 and 14 mph.

Friday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low near 53. South wind between 5 and 8 mph.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly cloudy, with a high around 76. South wind between 5 and 13 mph.

Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55.

Sunday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high around 70.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49.

The full moon is Sunday, September 18, 2005.

Don’t forget to check out our weekly “Shop Special” at http://www.lundeens.com/shop.html before your visit!

Finally, you might need to put a little thought into this one…
Three guys are traveling together and stop at a hotel where they will stay for the night. At the front desk the clerk tells them that the room rate is $30 per night. So, each guy puts a $10 bill on the counter. They then gather up their bags and go to the room. After a few minutes go by the desk clerk realizes the room rate for that night is $25 not $30. So, the clerk gives five $1 bills to the bellboy and tells him to take the refund to the guys that just checked in. On the way to the room the bellboy is wondering how he’s supposed to divide the five $1 bills among the three guys. To make it easier, he peels off two $1 bills and puts them in his pocket. When the bellboy gets to the room he gives each of the three guys one $1 bill. Now… each of the three guys originally put in $10 for the room and each has received a $1 refund. Therefore each has now paid a total of $9 for his share of the room fee. We all know that $9 times 3 is $27!! The only other money left is the two $2 the bellboy put in his pocket while on his way to the room. $27 plus $2 equals $29.

What happened to the other dollar??

Have a great weekend,
Bill Lundeen
Lundeen’s Tackle Castle
38752 Twilight Road
Onamia, MN 56359
320-532-3416
[email protected]
http://www.lundeens.com

My report is very simular to the others posted so far about this weekend. We got up on Friday night and motored out to an east side rock pile. Wow, were there a lot of boats out there. The water temps were 67-68. On the way up I figured we wouldn’t be out too late, so I only bought one box of leeches. That was a mistake, we ran out around 10:30. (The ‘we’ I’m referring to is my better half.) The eyes tended to be on the small size, 12- 14, but were still fun to catch. I kept two, a 15 and a 17 for breakfast.

Saturday night the repeat of running out of leeches wasn’t going to happen and it didn’t. We started out cranking for the first hour of the night to only end up with a aggressive perch. So we went back to the bobber presentation, fishing the waypoints from the night before, moving through out the night. The fish tended to be deeper. There were plenty boats out there cranking to the death which I think pushed the fish deeper. Ended up catching a dozen or so, one just under 22, which we released, keeping only a couple for dinner.

Talking with others in the cleaning shack, they too had caught fish in the 22″ range and the remaining fish landed in the 12″-16″ range. Nothing mentioned about 16″ to 18″. Does this seem to be the trend for everyone else?