Family relationships are sometimes very difficult and challenging. I grew up on a small farm with 5 sisters and I was the only boy. Needless to say my childhood was very interesting to say the least. 
There are stories of when I was held down by my sisters while they put their make-up on me 
and other BETTER STORIES of me putting racer lizards under their bedroom doors. 
I’m second to the youngest and getting into our one and only bathroom to go potty in the morning was very trying. I finally just gave up and went outside! 
When I was ten, my parents decided to get a divorce after 18 years of marriage. It was very hard on all us kids and we leaned on one another to get through this difficult time. I didn’t get to see my dad much after the divorce and I spent a lot of my time with my sisters and my brother-in-laws. I thank them for being there for me.
About 14 months ago, I had a falling out with one of my sisters. We both felt that the other person had done wrong and we ended up not speaking to one another for over a year. I guess we both were too stubborn to pick up the phone and thought that the other should make the call first and apologize. My father tried to rationalize the situation and mediate our differences, but that didn’t work either. We kept our grudges and continued our inflexible ways.
Recently, that all changed with a single phone call from my sister’s husband (my brother-in-law) – Bruce. He told me my sister had breast cancer and was in for a life long battle. Then he proceed to tell me about what was in store for her including grueling chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I felt just awful about the devastating news and more so because of what had happened between my sister and me. It was finally time to put aside our differences and I sent her flowers and a card telling her that I loved her.
We are on better terms now, but we still have a long ways to go. I’m trying to understand what it’s like to have cancer and the daily battles associated with the treatments. She talks about loss of hair, rashes, fatigue, the sores in her mouth and the inability to taste anything. I’ve also learned about the mental challenges related to cancer. Not only about the possibility of dieing, but also the tremendous amount of guilt a person feels because of they are too weak to get out of bed and attend their child’s basketball game or not having the ability to make it to the family supper table because you physically are unable to get out of bed.
Bruce is a wonderful husband to my sister and has really supported her in every way possible. He constantly makes sure that my sister is taken care of. To show my appreciation, I extended him an invitation to join Tina and me for an afternoon on Mille Lacs. He was very excited about our offer. However, he wanted to make sure my sister had someone with her in his absence. My oldest sister volunteered which enabled Bruce to come along for the afternoon. Bruce also asked me if a family friend could join us as well (Lowy). I said absolutely and we made our plans to be at the landing around 2pm.
It was a beautiful day on the water with very light winds. We quickly made our way out to a spot where I had some recent success about a week ago. It felt good to be on the water again after 7 days of absence. As soon as we finished putting out our last line, BANG we hooked our first fish on a leadcore/deep tail dancer – purple clown flash set up. 
Bruce and Tina both graciously said Lowy can go first since he had never caught a walleye before on Mille Lacs. I grabbed the rod quickly, reset the drag and handed it to Lowy. Shortly after, this fish hit the surface about a hundred feet back and I was thinking it was most likely a little one. However, I was dead wrong! 
When it got by the boat she finally put the brakes on and dove straight down. After a few seconds she resurfaced again and we were able to get her in the net just in time because the deep tail dancer came unhooked in the process. 
She was a solid fish that measured out at 27 inches! 
Way to go Lowy! What a great start for our trip and congrats on your very first Mille Lacs walleye! 
Anticipation was now high and we quickly got our leadcore line back out. We fished this area for another couple of hours and to our surprise, we did not have another hook up. 
I was marking a lot of baitfish, but very few arcs. As we trolled a little farther south from this spot, I noticed a big flock of birds on the water and I wasn’t sure what they were at first. As we got closer, it turned out to be a huge flock cormorants! There had to be over 200 of them. I’ve seen a few cormorants flying around before on Mille Lacs, but never a flock this large out in the middle of the lake. 
Has anyone else seen this many before out in the open basin? They eventually flew off to the east about 3 miles and landed again.
We eventually pulled up our lines and it was time to head for another spot about 2.5 miles away. This was a good move because as soon as we stopped we were marking more arcs on my X-15 along with balls of baitfish. About 15 minutes went by and I told everyone that this was the exact same spot where we landed a 28.5 incher about 2 weeks ago. Only one minute later – BANG – the outside planer board starts thrashing on top of the water! Tina quickly grabbed the rod, unsnapped the clicker, reset the drag and handed it to Bruce. ( I think she can now do this in her sleep!) Soon after, the planer board was off and unlike the first fish, this one stayed down the entire time. Bruce did a great job keeping her in check and she too finally ended up in the net along with a deep tail dancer in purpledescent color. She was another solid fish (SEE PICTURE ABOVE) with a big belly and taped out at 25 inches. Way to go Bruce! 
Now it was Tina’s turn and it didn’t take long at all. We only fished another 15 more minutes when the same outside planer board went off again!. 
She quickly grabbed the rod and repeated the process above. Sometimes I take it for granted on how knowledgeable she is on catching these suspended fish. She never ever makes a mistake. This fish seemed solid as well and stayed down until the very end when the seasoned pro made one nice big sweep and put her in the net. Another solid fish that measured out at 25.5 inches. Nice job girl! 
Lowy was up again and was ready. About a half hour went by and Lowy was getting anxious. He eventually started praying to the fish gods and started saying “pretty please” into the water. 
The fish gods soon answered and once again the exact same rod with the outside planer board started thrashing in the water. 
This fish just slammed the board and the clicker was squealing with all its might. The board was racing back towards the center of the boat. I quickly grabbed the inside planer board rod and got that in without getting snagged. Soon after, I got the outside planer board off and Lowy was now going to toe to toe with his second big fish of the day. This big girl was putting on a great show and thrusting her head back and forth trying to throw the deep tail dancer. After a long fight, she finally gave up and was in the net. Another thick 27 incher! Two fish for Lowy – both 27 inchers! After a quick photo – she swam away unharmed to the depths below. As I was putting the line back out, I was thinking about a recent post on IDA about “skinny walleyes” swimming around in Mille Lacs this year. Well hopefully some of these pictures will help prove that theory to be false.
The short day quickly ended because Bruce and Lowy had to be back at the landing around 6:45. As we were pulling in our last line, I unclipped the board and felt the line with my hand. It’s a habit of mine to check and see if that crank is swimming properly. It seemed fine and I let go. Tina was reeling in the line almost to the end when I looked at her and she had a surprise on her face! We soon found out why – a little walleye hit the deep tail dancer on the way in! It was right by the boat and quickly ended up in the net. Bruce who loves to eat fresh walleye was hoping the little guy was a slot fish. Well, this was one lucky little fish because it measured just over the slot limit by one quarter of an inch! 
Back in the water it went.
The plan now was to head back to the landing, drop off Bruce and Lowy and pick up with my long time friend – Joe and another IDA’er named Joe. The second Joe sent me a private message wanting to learn more about what I was doing out in the middle of the basin. He’s a musky fisherman and wanted to start targeting more walleyes. He called me on the water and I told him he could join us for the evening. He called me back and we made plans to meet in the same spot.
The drop off and pick up went pretty smooth and we were back on the water again about 45 minutes later. Our plan was to fish until dark and maybe even into the night. I wanted to find out if these fish follow the tullibees up higher in the water column after dark. I also felt pretty confident that I could locate this active school again. However, I was unsuccessful and we did not get a hit over the next hour and a half. The sun was now starting to set and I decided to make another move. We motored about 2 miles and stopped once again. As we were putting out our lines, Joe (from IDA) was thumbing the hot line back when he shouted –“Hey! I have a fish on!” Very cool! The board came right back into the boat and Joe was fighting his first suspended Mille Lacs walleye! Soon after, that fish hit the net as well and out came the camera once again. She taped out at 24 inches and was healthy looking like the others.
We started trolling again and slowly started to convert our planer boards with glow sticks attached. After another half hour or so, it was now dark and then the bugs and flies moved in. They were flying and crawling all around us. It was like they came from no where and hundreds of them were now in the boat. Yuck! I was also not marking much on the sonar. We eventually decided enough was enough and called it a night. 
Six fish in about six hours of trolling – pretty typical for my boat right now. However, I was pleased with the quality of these fish with four falling between 25-27 inches. I wish we would have done a little better before dark, but overall I felt good about the day. I was happy to take out Bruce and it made me feel good when he was saying “WOW – That fish is another dandy!” He told me that this was his first time out this year and in fact he had to stop and buy a fishing license on the way up. I was happy that I was able to put a smile on his face – even though it was only for a day.
As I mentioned in the beginning, family relationships are sometimes difficult. I’m sure there are many of you out there that can relate to that. I learned a hard lesson and lost an entire year with my sister who now has cancer. I also lost precious time with my brother-in-law and all of our children involved. What a waste. So please don’t make the same mistake like me. Pick up the phone and make that call. Write that letter and mail it. Type that email and send it. Set aside your pride and just do it. Life if just too short not to.
Shouldn’t you be scouting for Deer and shooting your bow.