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A few more fish

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A few more

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A few more pics, sorry for any doubles, still learning the new format

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It is a great tourny. I’ve fished it every year since inception back in 2007. You can check it all out on their webpage http://www.bigstonewalleyeclub.com Right now only 65 teams are signed up but I think this is from teams having reservations that the ice wont be off by then. I would guess it will get close to full if not full once the ice is further along…

Mille Lacs and River event for now. Looking forward to it

There are loads of 17-21″ fish in the river right now… Should be some good years to come!

A few more pics…

As of Monday night the 494 ramp was wide open and there was no ice on the river that we encountered. 34 degree temps. Sounds like warmer temps this weekend. Should stay open for a while yet.

Seems like just yesterday we were all looking at those same pics hoping it would clear off by opener. Oh how things change.

Nice photos Will

Nice recap Will. It seems the bite is a crapshoot right now with some nights better than others. We got all our fish by 930 on Saturday evening without a bite from 930 to 1am. Our partner boat fishing the same area caught fish all night long… thanks for comparing notes. Hopefully we can all make it out one more time and find a few more fall fish before hard water sets in.

I run Lowrance HDS units so I am not familiar with the I-Link between MinnKota and Hummingbird units.

I steer with the remote control and will run the record trails feature at times or just manually steer making adjustments as needed.

I run it at 3 or 4 speed most of the time, depending on win speed and wave size. It really keeps the bow pinned down and keeps the boat tracking straight. The kicker is locked down and I only steer with it in extreme conditions.

I run a 9.9 Yamaha kicker in conjunction with my I Pilot Terrova. 9.9 provides thrust and Terrova steers the boat. 9.9 will troll down 1.3ish. This set up works great as it is really hands free and allows me to tend lines net fish take pics, etc all while keeping boat in strike zone.

Definitely not Husky Jerks. While HJ-12s are one of my favorite baits to troll in the fall on ML, the water temps are just not there yet to make these lures super effective. There wobble is more effective in colder water. I did run some HJs for a while and never got a sniff on them this past weekend.

Rapala makes #5, #7, #9, and #11 Tail Dancers. They also make the #9 and #11 in deep versions that dive to 20-30+ feet by themselves. The standard #5 maxes out about 6-7 feet and the #9 will get down to 12-15 feet. You can long line the #9s with 60-100 feet out and manage your line to allow dive depths of 6-8 feet. That’s what pulled two 27″ fish on Sat evening, a #9 with about 80 feet out in 6-7 feet of water.

So short answer is yes you will need to add some to the tackle box.

Thanks to Mike and all the sponsors who donated. This was our first time participating in this event and we’ll be back. Good times. Here are our top 5 for about 90″ and 8th place.

I’ll pick up the couple bags of charcoal for the grills and lighter fluid.

I’ll also bring some chips and homemade salsa along with some venison sticks (appetizers).

looking forward to it.

The fish look to be fattening up. Several over 3lbs. They are eating well.

No fee that I know of. Launched here many times… good landing. Dock was not in at 494 last week. Not sure if dock is in at Lions yet or not.

Here’s a few more from Thursday and Friday’s action. Most, if not all we caught were males. Water temps varied from 39 on the east side to low 50’s on NW corner. Lot’s of slot fish coming in right at 19.5″. Very few under 17″. Other than looking tired from the spawning regiment, the fish look healthy.

I run the Titan Hydro Assist steering on my Yami. Love it. would totally recommend it.

Bite was slow Sunday night. Managed half dozen before dark with 23″ biggest. Vertical Jigging was best. Clarity is about 8 inches. 37 degrees, fish are still pre-spawn…

PM me your cell #….I will send u the dive curve

On the way to Pool 4, 494 Landing still had an ice sheet out in front of it extending down the rip rap 100+ yards, although the ice looked like it was rather weak. Hopefully soon…did not look at Lilydale.

Love ’em. Got 2 of ’em

check you PMs

We are going to try it Saturday. If someone else busts her open thanks. If not, and it is needed, we’ll give it a shot. Way the weather looks, it maybe wouldnt be much at all if any… we’ll see.

We endured the wind also boating approximately 15 fish from 6:30 to 10pm. Most were 16-20inch with few over 20. Big was a fat 25″ All our fish but one were draggin jigs/plastics. I did get one on a stickbait and bouncer. Water temp was 40 degress. It would been nice if not for the wind. This draggin bite was good Sunday night for my parnter as well. We missed as many fish as we caught, but the ones that hit really thumped it. One pick is of a 17 inch with the jig inhaled. Hopefully this is not the end… soft water all winter!. We’ll be back

Replace the hooks, especially the back hook. Hooks will
become dull and wear out just by catching fish. You can also roll the hook point over, leading to lost fish. it can be a pain in the butt trying to replace them on the water, in the dark, with cold hands, but a good snap ring plyer will do wonders. Also, if your are hand holding the rod or in a rod holder and you feel a hit/see a hit and the fish does not hook up, immediately allow the reel to free spool dropping that lure back in the fish’s face. sometimes, this will lead to a follow up strike. If you are getting them hooked up and they are pulling off on the way in, slow the boat down or take it out of gear to release some of the pressure. I prefer to keep the boat moving forward, but sometimes it is necessary to slow down. also, once you start running under that 1.4mph mark, a lot of times the fish will follow the plug and nip at the back hook. The slow speed of the boat does not get a good hook set on them, meaning you have to sometimes set the hook manually vs. having the boat do it for you. Keep cathin!

Will be up tonight and Saturday staying at Red Door… Will be covering water tonight for sure trying to dial in a bite…