Having grown up in the small town of Malmo, Minn, fishing Minnesota’s famed Lake Mille Lacs, Will comes from a small group of anglers in-the-know on north-central Minnesota lakes. He developed his skills fishing the big lake and its surrounding waters through all seasons, chasing everything from walleyes and crappies to creek chubs and carp, bobber-fishing to trolling.

Walleyes are his favorite species. His favorite open-water technique is trolling Rapala crankbaits in shallow water in the early spring and late fall. His favorite early-ice tactic is fishing over the same weedlines and rock piles he trolled in the fall.  “I live for the years where weather conditions allow for several inches of clear ice to form on the bays of Mille Lacs before a snowfall, which gives a feeling being able to fish out of a glass-bottom boat,” he says.