I’d add that Waterfowler was very instrumental in pushing the year’s Mille Lacs eelpout total (2) above and beyond the perch total (1).
Waterfowler’s walleye bonanza in the afternoon makes the word “comeback” an understatement. In hindsight, I’m REALLY glad I didn’t start with the comments and ripping when he still had a skunk in his part of the boat.
I too, was surprised to see the number of fish (and the number of boats finding the fish) well off the flat and breakline.
It was nice to finally see a 28 incher. We had somehow managed to avoid anything bigger than 26.75 inches in previous trips.
We started the day with faster (three way) presentations with spinners or #7 raps. Although we picked up a few fish that way, the slower methods were certainly better (that day, anyway). On the other hand, when rigging – the fish were either slamming the bait or would take only a second or two before the required hookset. We probably pulled the bait away from a few interested fish for fear of gut hooking them but it paid off. We only had to cut line on gut hooked fish a couple times over the entire day.
No slot fish and only a couple (two or three) below the slot. I’ve managed to do a better job than most avoiding the slot fish this year. I did have one trip result in 6 but for the most part, it has been only an eater or two per outing.