My dad got a little retirement gift fishing Friday night on Mille Lacs with this 28″ goldy. Fishing right before all the winds on Saturday. This fish came on a plain hook with a small shiner and a rattle wheel. He ended up catching about 5 fish. Couple 22’s, 23 and an 18.5 incher. Nothing fast and furious but just thought I would share this picture- not the greatest pic but you can for surely see that this fish by no means skinny and looks healthy!
Good luck everyone.
Jake
A keeper!! Hope you ate it. Sorry that was my stomach talking. Hard to get a keeper to eat anymore.
Nice healthy fish! 
I hear ya Suzuki, however I did notice this fall when trolling in about 4 feet of water when I would turn on my head lamp when we caught a fish, I noticed good numbers of 10-13inch walleyes sitting in 1 foot of water or less. The eyes would just take off- for whatever its worth lets hope some of those guys start showing up!
Hamms- that is exactly what I was thinking, did not see the skinny pale look! 28″ of pure gold!! Now I need to go get a 30″ like that!
thats a great looking fish! just curious, but do people actually eat fish over the slot?
Right now, I would keep one. Tired of catching fish there and not having a meal. I normally dont think that way but when I go out of town fishing for a weekend the one thing that really tickles my wife is having a meal of fresh fish. That’s not much to ask considering all the grief she puts up with from me and I am thrilled everytime I do it for her. And I mean a meal. Nothing frozen or stockpiled.
what a great looking fish
What a dandy ‘Eye! 
very nice looking eye!
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just curious, but do people actually eat fish over the slot?
Yes, indeed. I know several people who keep and eat every single fish 28 inches or larger out of Mille Lacs. We are talking several dozen fish each year.
-J.
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Right now, I would keep one. Tired of catching fish there and not having a meal. I normally dont think that way but when I go out of town fishing for a weekend the one thing that really tickles my wife is having a meal of fresh fish. That’s not much to ask considering all the grief she puts up with from me and I am thrilled everytime I do it for her. And I mean a meal. Nothing frozen or stockpiled.
Sounds like a nice problem to have as far as I am concerned! But if you really want a meal of fish isn’t there many many lakes to fish between Woodbury and Mille Lacs? Or in the Mille Lacs area?
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just curious, but do people actually eat fish over the slot?
Yes, indeed. I know several people who keep and eat every single fish 28 inches or larger out of Mille Lacs. We are talking several dozen fish each year.
-J.
MMMMMM sounds so good 
Very happy for your dad, never caught one that big, hope to do so some day 
Hope he gets to enjoy a long and prosperous retirement with many fishing trips together
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Right now, I would keep one. Tired of catching fish there and not having a meal. I normally dont think that way but when I go out of town fishing for a weekend the one thing that really tickles my wife is having a meal of fresh fish. That’s not much to ask considering all the grief she puts up with from me and I am thrilled everytime I do it for her. And I mean a meal. Nothing frozen or stockpiled.
Sounds like a nice problem to have as far as I am concerned! But if you really want a meal of fish isn’t there many many lakes to fish between Woodbury and Mille Lacs? Or in the Mille Lacs area?
Of course and I have been having a banner year. Just saying if I go up there again (was up weekend before last) I would consider.
Heck yea! As long as you’re within the law – dont let anyone tell you what you can or cant keep for a meal.
Great catch!
dandy fish! looks almost like a mount. not saying it is by any means just looks like it with the fins flared out. good work
Beautiful fish, nice to see some healthy Mille Lacs walleyes.
Congrats!
Awesome fish!! It would probably greatly help the fishery if a few of those fish are kept! It would help the skinny ones survive. Keeping a hundred of those would save thousands of slot fish in my opinion! But I could be way off base with that logic.
The fish was released. My dad is not into eating fish of that size. Hopefully she creates many more babies!!!
Thats an interesting logic. But when i was up there with my buddies, they kept saying that if they caught one over the slot then they would eat it (we only caught 1 nonslot fish while we were there). And i basically told them that there is no way in hell we keep a fish like that because i thought that was the right thing to do. But if others do it and it isnt frowned upon (on mille lacs) then i may have to consider for next year.
Nice eye! Congrats
Better have a lot of batter or beer if your going to eat a walleye over 28″. Tried eating a 24″ metro walleye once. Never again. Maybe because it was a metro fish and tasted like gasoline and Scotts lawn care. 
Personally I would get a way bigger “high” from releasing an over 28 than putting a knife to one and trowing the guts in the trash…. Maybe thats just me.
Yea yea everybody likes to throw the big ones back including me but every once in a while it doesnt hurt to keep one. Like one a year or one every few years. Or even just one. And I guarantee you a Mille Lacs 28, just like an Erie 28, taste just fine.
This is not a catch and release debate since most of us embraced that approach long ago.
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Thats an interesting logic. But when i was up there with my buddies, they kept saying that if they caught one over the slot then they would eat it (we only caught 1 nonslot fish while we were there). And i basically told them that there is no way in hell we keep a fish like that because i thought that was the right thing to do. But if others do it and it isnt frowned upon (on mille lacs) then i may have to consider for next year.
I keep hearing more and more logic just like this where people say “Everyone else is doing it so I guess I should too”… And in the end that kind of logic will leave us with very very few 28″ fish. I’m 100% with your original thinking on keeping big fish. Yes, it is legal to keep a 28” plus fish but the way I see it catching a fish that big is special and it seems a bit silly to keep something special unless you haven’t caught one before and are going to keep it as a trophy to remember the moment
Awesome fish Jake! Tell your dad congrats!
For everybody else keeping or not keeping a 28″ walleye. It really doesn’t matter. You’ll probably be doing the young of the year walleye fry a favor. I’ve asked a fisheries guy about that before and he said once they reach that size they consume more than they produce. The most important spawners in our lakes are the 21-25″ fish.
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