Gutsy move with the spot on spot explanation today and I like it. 
Thanks for showing line set ups today, especially with the low sinker location. I am one of those fisherman that would have thought it to have been sinful when fishing eyes.
I like the spot on the spot. Although it may put to much pressure on the spots. But then the fish will just move to the next spot.
I was surprised by the low sinker location and how much weight they were using also. I am definitely going to give it a try.
It was cool to see all the walleye with the different year classes being caught on Mille Lacs. A lot different story than the media tells. It should be really good in the next couple of years.
Best show out there.
Where / what channel are you guys seeing this on ?
Sorry James…… I watched it on Christmas Day. But in my defense, the kids were already taking a candy coma nap after opening their haul from Santa. Great show, loved the spot on the spot, and the rigging. I also will be sliding the split shot down. Good show! Love it.
Very informative, I really like the new format. As far as X marks the spot,they could have been on any of the flats on the north end.
Great show.
Thank you Deertracker.
James, thank you so much for saying Merry Christmas and not Happy Holidays!
Also you should send Mille Lacs Tourism a bill for the promo, job well done!
Hey all…Spot on the spot is designed to give you a real look at how and why we fish certain pieces of structure. Large bodies of water like Mille Lacs can handle the pressure. The way this was presented was to show how you can approach any flat on the lake. Don’t follow the anglers, follow your map. If there are fishermen all over those flats, go drill out a new piece of water. Alot of times the “first in wins” mentality is true. If I have the option to fish a flat with 20 other people, or fish a undisturbed flat by myself…Id take what I learned and drill out the new stuff!
If I have the option to fish a flat with 20 other people, or fish a undisturbed flat by myself…Id take what I learned and drill out the new stuff!
x1000. When I was on Mille Lacs on Friday, we were planning on fishing the first break in Garrison Bay. However when we got there, there were about 100 people scattered across it, so we kept driving. Ended up finding another piece of north end structure with 2 other people on it, and did very well. Walleye roam, so even if you are on the best single spot on the spot on the lake, but have people surrounding you, they will cut off any fish from refilling your spot on the spot. That is my .02 anyway.
http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/a-festivus-crushfest/
Great show. I did watch it on Christmas too. Of course when I put it on wife says “really” but kids are done with gifts and playing. Then James said what he did at end and wife looked at me and said “told ya”! It was a half hour of a busy day, I needed it, lol.
I thought this may have been the most complete IDO show yet. You guys were on the fish, explained how and why you were on the fish, and showed off the type of fishing you can still expect at Mille Lacs. Great job.
James the disclaimer to not watch on Christmas came a bit too late in the show to be effective for me. Already watched it! 
Love the show, keep up the great work.
Off to LOTW for the new year.
I thought this may have been the most complete IDO show yet. You guys were on the fish, explained how and why you were on the fish, and showed off the type of fishing you can still expect at Mille Lacs. Great job.
Loved how James showed the map of the North end and talked through where on the flat looked fishiest! That was very well done and extremely informational…RR
Loved how James showed the map of the North end and talked through where on the flat looked fishiest! That was very well done and extremely informational…RR
Thanks RR. We’re enjoying the new segments. I will say we’re still in the evolution stages of how to best put them to use in the show. Another thing I should mention is we don’t share or reference the exact spot where we found fish. Instead we’re hoping to communicate the type of structure we looked for to find our best bite of the day. We’d much rather teach someone to fish than give them a fish… 
The show was awesome, and I am really enjoying the explanations being given. It is nice to be entertained and educated in one shot.
Nice job again.
Do you guys run into a lot of pike biting those ifish pros off with the bigger sucker minnows on them? Heading up this weekend and wondered if leaders on my tip ups would be necessary (would prefer not to use them obviously).
We don’t typically get many pike on the Ifishpro unless we’re fishing weedlines. If we’re fishing weedlines we’ll opt for quick strike rigs tied with heavy fluorocarbon leader material. Out on the mud I can’t say I’ve personally ever caught a pike fishing the larger sucker minnows. I know some do get caught out on the mud, and they’re typically large pike when it happens, but it is a rather rare occurrence. For that reason we fish 12 – 15 lb fluoro leaders which is more than strong enough to handle any walleye we might run into, the walleye definitely don’t don’t shy away, and I’m confident that if a pike was to grab one of our suckers there’s still a pretty good chance we’d land that fish given we set the hook pretty quickly after getting the rod out of the ifishpro to avoid deep hooking any fish we catch, walleye or pike.
Finally got a chance to watch the show…the new segments like spot on the spot are awesome! Hope we will get to see those in open water in the spring as well. Also good to see some great fishing out of Mille Lacs.
I watched my DVR’s episode last night and loved it. The amount of explanations and tutorials is great. I’m still in the beginning stages of building up my ice-fishing knowledge and shows like this one really clicked for a guy like me. The IDO personalities on TV really seem like they want all their viewers to get better at fishing.
James:
Rewatching the show from Christmas weekend on ML. Able to stop the DVR’ed version and wanted to re-emphasize the importance of the sinker info. I’ve found over the many years that too many people are trying to be too stealthy using their split shot too high on the line or too far away from the bait.
In my observations with other anglers fishing with us that pinning the minnow closer to the bottom ALWAYS meant the difference in more fish hitting the minnow.
The spot on the spot segment was very cool. Having fished ML, I find it very entertaining that some of those mud flats are as big as some of our largest lakes in our area, many even bigger!!! The biggest lake in our area is 3500 acres and I guarantee there are more than a few that are larger than our biggest lake!!! You also CONFIRMED my suspicions on that weird stuff in the contour lines make a difference sometimes.
The next thing I want to commend either you or Will on was the placement of the tipups (so to speak) up on the top of the structure!!! Its critical to place those set rigs on the top of the structure and to jig the various other depths!!! A very subtle point, but one that shouldn’t be missed!!!
Thanks for not talking about the politics of the lake, letting the fish speak and showing us that it is still a VERY GOOD walleye lake. And finally thanks for putting the Garrison Hill in the close, its the prominent landscape on the lake in my opinion!!! Great show, thanks!!!
Mark
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