Hot July Open Water Trolling on Mille Lacs!

As the temps heat up, so does the Mille Lacs open water walleye trolling bite. Joining my wife – Tina and I for a day on the water was two of our lifelong friends; my friend – Joe and Tina’s friend – Robin. Tina and Robin have been friends for years and even before I met Tina. They truly are best friends and have been there for each other through some of the most trying times. Robin is an experienced walleye angler from ND who fishes Devil’s Lake and it didn’t take her long to catch on to the open water trolling bite. Joe has been a friend of mine for over 28 years and he’s been a mainstay in my boat and in my fishing reports.

We hit the water at 11am and went to an area where I had success the last time out. The sign certainly had dissipated since I was there but we decided to give it a try anyways. Our first troll run was productive as we caught 3 walleyes and had another hit. However, our second and third troll run was pretty quiet (1 walleye) and the sign on my sonar wasn’t looking good. It was time to make a move, do some scouting and find another area with suspended fish.

I motored over to another area where I graphed some suspended walleyes a couple of weeks ago stopping every half mile. When we finally arrived, the sonar really lit up and we had located an area with many suspended walleyes. After having our lines in the water for about 5 minutes, we boated a 26 inch walleye and we were on our way! Long story short, we ended up catching 17 walleyes and the majority of those came in the last couple of hours. The move had certainly paid off for us and we worked this area until it was time to go home (6pm). Big fish of the day ended up being Robin’s personal best walleye – a 28 incher. This walleye had some serious girth to it and I’m guessing it was well over 8 lbs. Congratulations Robin! It was great to see that the majority of the walleyes in the lake right now are in great condition. We also caught our first DNR tagged fish of the year. I guess we’ll have to wait for the government shut down before we can send in the info.

I recently received a couple of emails from anglers wanting to know what to look for while scouting the open basin. This is an excellent question and it does take some time and experience to recognize “the right sign”.

First all, let me point out that when I refer to open water trolling, I’m not fishing any flats or structure and more times than not, I’m at least a half mile away from any flat. I actually avoid the flats because of the fear that my crankbaits may bottom out. I’m certainly not saying that you can’t catch fish on crankbaits while fishing the flats – you can but to me this is not open water trolling.

Before you hit the water, get a lake map out and get a game plan on the areas you would like to scout. Notice I wrote scout and not fish. Map out some long scouting runs and think of it as eliminating water. These scouting runs should go in the same direction of the predicted wind. Reason being is that is the direction you are going to troll with the waves. When you’re on the water, simply motor a half mile at a time and stop to look for sign. Motor another half mile and repeat. The more you scout, the better your chances are that you will not fish unproductive water. If you don’t mark em’ you won’t catch them. Once you find the right sign, waypoint that position and then motor upwind a half mile. That will be the beginning of your troll run. Place your crankbaits 2-4 feet above where you graphed most of your arcs and troll with the waves. This will help keep your crankbaits consistent and swimming true especially if you’re using planer boards.

Locating the “right sign” is important. I look for baitfish and arcs that are suspended in the water column. 90% of Mille Lacs is 32-35 feet deep. I’m looking for arcs anywhere from 4 to 15 feet off the bottom (17-31 feet down). Odds are these walleyes are actively hunting and feeding on tullibees. If I graph arcs on the bottom, I continue to scout.

Sometimes you will run across an area that is loaded with baitfish and depending on the time of the year, balls of bugs. This looks great on your graph but sometimes if there’s too much bait down there, your crankbaits can’t compete with that and you end up getting no takers. I’ve learned my lesson over the years to look for the right sign and relocate to another area. I posted a couple of pictures below for reference points.

Another question I received asked me “what time of day is best for open water trolling?” Over the last 12 years of open water trolling, I can honestly say I’ve never been able to put together a pattern in regard to what time is best. That’s the beauty of open water trolling; you can catch walleyes any time of the day. So… fish when you can and don’t worry about a “prime time bite”.

What a great day on the water – listening to music and sipping on cold drinks while catching fish. Even though at times it was really hot and humid out there with no wind, the number of laughs made it so enjoyable. The girls at one point decided to cool off and jumped in for a swim. Of course, Joe and I continued to troll (I was not happy about taking out the other two lines ) and we were rewarded with a 24 inch walleye. It was quite comical picking up the girls at boat side as we released the fish. But what really made the day the best is we got to share it with our friends. Throughout the years, both Joe and Robin have been there for us many, many times through thick and thin and it was our way of saying thank you. We can’t wait to do it again!

Now’s the time to get out there and try open water trolling! It’s a great way to fish with kids or inexperienced anglers. Simply locate the fish, put out your crankbaits, place your rods in the holders and troll! The bite will continue through Labor Day weekend so make your plans now. As always, feel free to send me a PM or email if you have any questions about the open water trolling system. I’ll do my best to help you out.

Until the next time…. keep on trollin’!