Late July Open Water Trolling on Mille Lacs

The open water trolling bite on Mille Lacs continues to produce not only some quality sized walleyes but in quantity as well. Joining me for a day of open water trolling were some work colleagues of mine – Mike Kaveney and Steve Faith from Microsoft and Jay Drayton from LifeTouch. The plan was to target suspended walleyes out in the open basin with deep diving crankbaits that imitate their favorite food – the tullibee.

We headed out to an area where I had some success the previous outing. I wasn’t marking as many fish compared to the last time out but just enough to give it a try. Five minutes after we put out our fourth line, the leadcore line took off and we boated our first walleye which was barely hooked – a 26 incher. We got another hit on that troll run but there wasn’t enough sign for me to try that troll run again.

We headed south about 5 miles to another area that has produced a lot of fish for me over the last month. The sign was a little better but not exactly what I had hoped for. About an hour and a mile later we finally boated our second walleye and had one other hit. Another decision – do we try that run again or go look for some better sign?

I decided the sign was simply not enough and decided to do some more scouting. I motored a couple of miles and then stopped every half mile or so to look for suspended fish. I finally found some better sign and we decided to make another troll run. The more we trolled north, the better the sign got! I couldn’t believe that our lines were not catching fish. I played around a bit with depth and speed but it didn’t make a difference. We continued to work this area and about an hour later we finally picked up another walleye, then two more and we also had a couple of other hits. Almost all of the walleyes that we had caught so far were barely hooked and got off as soon as they were in the net. I’ve seen this before and realized that these walleyes were barely nipping at the crankbaits and not real aggressive. I finally thought we were going to get into them but another hour passed and our lines went silent again. It was now 3:30 pm and we had only boated 6 walleyes in about 6 hours.

Another decision – do we continue to work this area or go look for some other fish that may be more aggressive? I decided it didn’t make much sense to leave fish to go find fish and that we were going to stay put and grind it out. 3 of our rods had caught fish and one had not. I asked Steve to pick out a different color and he chose a Deep Tail Dancer – in Bleeding Tiger. About 4:00pm we finally got another fish and then it happened. The fish started to turn on and we really got into them. To make a long story short – over the next couple of hours, we boated another 24 walleyes, ended up having 6 doubles and we caught two fish over the slot limit – a 28 and a 29 incher! It was a great run! Due to calm winds, we were able to figure 8 this school and it got to a point where we could predict when the clickers on our line counter reels would peel off screaming. All rods were firing equally even though three of them were different (Rapala Deep Tail Dancers TDD#11and Storm Deep Thundersticks). Color didn’t seem to matter as long as we were at the magic depth of 28-30 feet down (in 35 feet of water). Due to the recent warm spell, the tullibees were deeper than usual seeking cooler water temps and we adjusted our crankbaits accordingly.

Another interesting thing I noticed was that almost all of the walleyes we boated during our hot streak were hooked solid and we didn’t have any other missed opportunities. These fish just decided to eat and we were in the right position at the right time and made the most out of the opportunity. I’ve always said that the time of day doesn’t matter when trolling the open water of Mille Lacs. However, a recent report by fellow IDO Reporter – Randy Wieland got me thinking more about solunar tables. It was very interesting to see that the major was when we had our unbelievable run. Again, I will fish when I can but from now on I will also make sure my lines are in the water during those peak times versus time spent on scouting.

I also want to point out that we were extra careful in getting all of these fish into the boat and back into the water as soon as possible. This is extremely important due to the recent increase in water temps and you need to work as a team to get that fish revived as soon as you can.

I was recently asked “what is your typical set up out there in regard to fishing equipment?” I’ve been spoiled lately and every time out this year I’ve had 4 people in my boat.

So a typical set up that I would start out with 4 lines is:

2 St Croix 10’ 6” Wild River Rods (WC106MMF2), with 20lb (6 lb diameter) Spiderwire Stealth spooled on a Shimano Tekota Line Counter Reels. These two lines will be attached to 2 Church Tackle Walleye Planer Boards (customized with OR-18 clips). Right now I would probably start out with a Deep Tail Dancer (TDD11) on one and a Deep Thunderstick on the other placing them 2-4 feet above the arcs on my sonar. However, I will say I change crankbaits a lot and what works one day may not be the ticket tomorrow.

Out the back of the boat I will long line:

2 St. Croix 8’ trolling rods (PGT80MM) spooled with leadcore line (18lb core) and 50 foot 10lb XT mono leaders spooled on 2 Diawa SeaLine reels (SG47LCA). Again one with a TDD11 and the other with a Deep Thunderstick. Right now I’m using chrome and bright colors due to the algae bloom and the poor water clarity.

This setup would be how I would start the day and from there I would let the fish dictate how I would end up. If the fish are hitting on braid/planer boards and not on leadcore, it’s not uncommon for me to fish with 4 braid/planer board set ups. Or vice versa, if leadcore is hot, I will then use segmented leadcore on planer boards . This consists of a 50 foot mono leader, 2-3 colors of leadcore and braided line to the reel . The reason I like to segment the leadcore is that I don’t like to snap leadcore line on the planer board because it has a tendency to kink so I attach the braid instead.

It was another great day of open water trolling. It’s very unusual to see Mille Lacs lay down flat as glass and it’s happened to me 4 times this year. These calm conditions certainly played to our favor and it allowed us total boat control and we were able to work this school at will while always being in the strike zone. However, the best memories for me are never about the fish and always about the shared stories and laughs along the way. Thank you Mike, Steve and Jay for a very memorable day! I hope we keep this as an annual trip!

We are only half way through the open water trolling season so there’s plenty of time to get out there and experience it. As always – I’m here to help and until next time – keep on trollin’!