I wouldn’t have expected anything less from you “little red lund” since one of my fall trolling posts you jumped all over me for giving up to much information. Take your negativity and head from LOW or URL where you’re bound to catch more fish. Mille Lacs is a tough nut to crack and it doesn’t always go my way either. It’s close to my home in Elk River and my folks have a place on the lake, so I’m bound to fish this body of water more than any other in the state.

No offense taken. I had 3″ of good ice everywhere I drilled. Due to variability of early ice, I didn’t wander around much. I had a life jacket on and spikes around my neck. That was probably the least amount of ice I’ve been on, but new clear ice is pretty strong, so I felt comfortable each time I drilled on my way out.

Seifjr

Thanks mom…I mean Chappy

Sorry for the delay in posting results. We started the day by trolling the west side of Banana Reef and worked our way up to the gravel just west of Hennipen Island. Marked fish near the edges, but no strikes. Headed for 7 mile and started trolling 1.5 miles south of the break with no luck. Once we hit 7 mile, the fished were stacked up on the 23-25 foot break. We picked up a 24 inch on a Firetiger pattern, but unfortunately the fish didn’t break the line from the release, so she may have been dragging for a while. However, she was in very good shape when I released her. We picked up one more fish and then switched over to rigging. Not many boats on 7 mile Sunday, but they were sure stacked up on 9 mile. The results weren’t what I had hoped for, but I think with some fine tuning we will have some success. We we’re using our Salmon Rods with 14lb test, so that may have been part of the issue. Off to Lake Michigan in about a week.

Absolutely.

Tight lines to all!!!

Lip Ripper,

I’ve read some of your postings where you talk about trolling areas that are not directly related to any structure, but I didn’t realize the fish we’re suspended so far up the water column. If your fishing the main lake basin, your talking about 33-35 FOW, and the fish are suspending 10-20 feet off the bottom, I can see why downriggers wouldn’t be necessary. I’ll be out on Sunday in a black 2150 Baron, so if you see us, stop by. If the trolling doesn’t produce, we may move quickly to rigging.

Thanks for your input guys.

Good point, but that should just be a metter of running your line further back from the ball. I would think a 75-100 feet would eliminate the spoooking issue, but it may be something a guy needs to experiment with. If you ar targeting deep water walleyes, what is your preferred trolling method/technique?

According the DNR the maximum depth is 15 feet, but they don’t map the lake.

I just sent you an email, but you can also respond to this message. I’m interested in a camera and want to know how to proceed with a transaction.