Mille Lacs craw

Now all I need are some Senko’s this color LOL

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I drifted some rock piles with my camera down on Saturday and literally every boulder had one of those guys sitting on top of it, from 8 feet all the way down to 20 feet. They were even out on the sand/mud 30 yards away from any rocks.

I just love those bright red crawfish Mille Lacs has.

Those smallies must be having a feast on those.

Brian G wrote:

I drifted some rock piles with my camera down on Saturday and literally every boulder had one of those guys sitting on top of it, from 8 feet all the way down to 20 feet. They were even out on the sand/mud 30 yards away from any rocks.

I thought there was no food left out there

What you need is a pot of boiling water, old bay, some corn on the cob and some potatoes.

biggill wrote:

What you need is a pot of boiling water, old bay, some corn on the cob and some potatoes.

And mass quantities of cold yellow beer.

And newspaper to cover the table.

At least that’s how we do it on chesapeake bay with blue crab!

Alot of the old IDO mille lacs reports have the discontinued craw rapala as hot bait for big eyes.

Buddy caught one on 4 mile gravel this winter. I thought that was strange. Then we seen weird lines in the silt on our cameras and couldn’t figure out what they were until we seen one scoot across the screen. Apparently they are somewhat active in winter also.

The Green Pumpkin Orange TRD should work well for that.

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Is that their natural color? I thought they turned orange/red when they are molting, otherwise they are a olive drab type of color.

If the walleyes won’t eat em, I will!

Here’s some from Leech over the 4th, before and after.

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No wonder this bait has been working so well this year

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BigWerm wrote:

If the walleyes won’t eat em, I will!

Here’s some from Leech over the 4th, before and after.

Looks fantastic. What do you do to prep the crawfish after catching them?

Mike W wrote:

What do you do to prep the crawfish after catching them?

We just kept them in the cooler with some ice water since it was a hot weekend. Keep them overnight to flush out, and rinse a couple times during that period.

Crazy Legs in Breen is a good color on Mille Lacs too —

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Berkley_Powerbait_Crazy_Legs_Chigger_Craw_8pk/descpage-BPCLC.html

BigWerm wrote:

If the walleyes won’t eat em, I will!

Here’s some from Leech over the 4th, before and after.

That’s good stuff right there. Did our own on a guys wknd last August and it was great. I can vouch for the Andouille at Hackenmuller’s, too

see any dead walleye laying on the bottom of the lake? a few are floating in along shore….saw three in the last week!!!

I was up yesterday fishing smallmouth and I saw one dead walleye floating that had to be upper 20s. The red craw plastics are working on both smallies and walleye. Had a 27 inch walleye slam a football jig with a red rage craw trailer. My personal best. Let her go right away but sure would have liked to get a pic holding her. I heard a lot of guys got ticketed for taking pics during the close. Shame, but not worth the ticket. Got my wife on her first smallie and it was a nice fat 17 incher. Beautiful dark brown. Great day up there.

mahtofire14 wrote:

I heard a lot of guys got ticketed for taking pics during the close. Shame, but not worth the ticket.

Where did you hear that? I thought the DNR was trying to promote people to go bass fishing…

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
I heard a lot of guys got ticketed for taking pics during the close. Shame, but not worth the ticket.

Where did you hear that? I thought the DNR was trying to promote people to go bass fishing…

I think he was saying taking pics of walleye.

I was there on Saturday and did well on senkos. Watermelon red flake was the best color but others caught them, too. Biggest smallie was 20.5″. I tried the ned rig per some advice I read here and got one fish on it. I couldn’t decide if it was a fun way to fish or not with all the slow dragging. It was good to try something new though, so thanks! I just love fishing out there right now — there were lots of boats in sight but nobody ever fishing on top of us.

I did see a thick, mid-upper 20″ eye floating that looked like it had been dead a while (guts hanging down into the water like a turtle had been on it).

Where did you hear that? I thought the DNR was trying to promote people to go bass fishing…

I think he was saying taking pics of walleye.
[/quote]

Correct. I saw it in an article in one of the local outdoor magazines.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Let her go right away but sure would have liked to get a pic holding her. I heard a lot of guys got ticketed for taking pics during the close. Shame, but not worth the ticket.

I am not sure I can believe this? Even though walleye is closed but you catch one targeting bass and catch a walleye incidental, how can they ticket for taking a picture and immediately releasing?

From the MN DNR Reg booklet;

Immediately released or returned to the water – Fish must not be retained longer than
is needed at the site of capture to unhook, identify, measure, and photograph. Placing
the fish in any type of container or on a stringer is not immediately released. Any fish
not immediately released is considered to be “reduced to possession.”

mahtofire14 wrote:

Where did you hear that? I thought the DNR was trying to promote people to go bass fishing…

I think he was saying taking pics of walleye.

Correct. I saw it in an article in one of the local outdoor magazines.
[/quote]

If you could find a link, it’d be greatly appreciated. I’m not doubting what you heard/read, just curious where it is coming from. As Andy points out, I don’t even think it is illegal by the regs, on top of failing the common sense test.

I think you could (and should) get a ticket in a scenario like this:

Fishing alone. Catch fish, want photo. Camera stowed away. Toss fish on hot floor. Dig for camera. Set up tripod. Grab fish. Drop fish again by accident. Set camera timer. Grab fish again. Camera goes off – not ready. Reset timer. Pose for shot #1, shot #2, shot #3, shot #4. Drop fish again. 5 minutes later, finally release fish…… Release mortality probable.

Season open or not. See this happen with slot fish on occasion all summer long.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

I think you could (and should) get a ticket in a scenario like this:

Fishing alone. Catch fish, want photo. Camera stowed away. Toss fish on hot floor. Dig for camera. Set up tripod. Grab fish. Drop fish again by accident. Set camera timer. Grab fish again. Camera goes off – not ready. Reset timer. Pose for shot #1, shot #2, shot #3, shot #4. Drop fish again. 5 minutes later, finally release fish…… Release mortality probable.

Season open or not. See this happen with slot fish on occasion all summer long.

-J.

Agreed. But I wonder if there are actually tickets being issued for quick pics with good handling?

Separately, are people not educated on leaving the net in the water with the fish while looking for a camera, etc? I’ve always liked the “don’t hold the fish out of the water longer than you can hold your breath” rule.

Correct. I saw it in an article in one of the local outdoor magazines.
[/quote]

If you could find a link, it’d be greatly appreciated. I’m not doubting what you heard/read, just curious where it is coming from. As Andy points out, I don’t even think it is illegal by the regs, on top of failing the common sense test.
[/quote]

Unfortunately I can’t find the link and I don’t remember the exact title of the publication. It’s a weekly printed publication for MN sportsmen. I just can’t remember the name. I saw it a couple weeks ago at my dentist. I will try and dig it up.

Separately, are people not educated on leaving the net in the water with the fish while looking for a camera, etc?

Heck, they aren’t edumacated enough to cut the line/hook if the they swallowed the hook. They gotta save that $.24 hook!!!! I see more and more abuse of fish that then get released it’s no wonder the mortality calculations on Mille lacs keep going up!!

munchy wrote:

Separately, are people not educated on leaving the net in the water with the fish while looking for a camera, etc?

Heck, they aren’t edumacated enough to cut the line/hook if the they swallowed the hook. They gotta save that $.24 hook!!!! I see more and more abuse of fish that then get released it’s no wonder the mortality calculations on Mille lacs keep going up!!

For what it’s worth, I’ve had a lot of luck using a long baker hookout and going in through the gill plate to remove deep hooks, even hooks that are mostly swallowed. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to leave a hook in a fish. It works really, really well if you’re careful.