Making Memories on Mille Lacs

Last Monday, June 4th my older daughter Gracyn’s asked me to take her fishing and catch a walleye for her fifth birthday later in the week. Now you need to understand that we catch smallmouth bass all summer in the Mississippi River in our backyard but whenever we catch one Gracyn reminds me that “Daddy, this is not a walleye!”. As a retired tournament walleye angler (a competitor on the Professional Walleye Trail, PWT and FLW Walleye Tour) I was delighted to say the least that she was ready to go on a walleye fishing adventure – I have been patiently waiting. We checked the weather, work schedules and decided that Tuesday was our day to take advantage of the outstanding bite on Mille Lacs right now. The next morning we were busy packing the boat with Barbie’s, coloring books and crayons, the iPad for music and games and of course lots of fun snacks. Both of our labs were not impressed as I took their kennels out of the truck and hitched up the Ranger – they’ve seen this sequence of events before and know this means a day of fishing without them – Chesney and Zander you get to go next week! After dropping Gracyn’s little sister off at daycare and explaining to her that she would get a special fishing trip with Daddy when she turned 5 we were on our way north watching movies and talking about who was going to catch the bigger fish. Gracyn told me she was going to catch the 6 walleyes and also catch the biggest one – no pressure there for Dad…

We hit the SE corner of the lake and made a quick stop for some special snacks and then up the east side of the lake to launch at Wilderness Beach where I now have a camper. We launched the boat in at 10:30, fired up my 150 E-Tec tiller and headed my 620T Ranger right out to the mud after reading the reports about the solid bite the flats were having. We lindy rigged for the first 15 minutes and I quickly picked up a nice 16” slot fish and missed several other bites while my rod was in a holder and I was being an attentive father. With the conditions flat calm I made a decision to bobber fish the edge of the flats and quickly baited up Gracyn’s rod and casted it out for her. After getting my rod in the water I noticed Gracyn’s bobber was under and slowly moving away from the boat. Gracyn came over and I helped her set the hook and the fight was on! Gracyn was reeling for all she was worth with Dad’s help she let out a loud squeal when she finally saw the walleye that was on her line – It was a priceless moment and there’s no doubt all the boats in the vicinity knew we had a fish! Quickly the walleye was in the net it was a beautiful 16 3/4" keeper! The parade of pictures started and this would have been a good time to have either a tripod or someone else in the boat to assist with pictures – we made do and thankfully one handed cell phone images are an option!

We caught 10 fish off the mud including 3 legal slots with bobbers and Gracyn was an absolute trooper throughout the day as there was no wind, some bugs and it got really warm when you are little and have to wear your life jacket. She really wanted to jump in and swim but every time I lowered her feet in the mid-60 degree water she changed her mind. Luckily I had the thought to bring an umbrella for a patio table and drop it where my front pedestal seat would go, this really helped her enjoy the day and gave her a special area to play in. At around 1 the mud bite started to tail off and it was time for a change so we dug out the leadcore line and headed to the basin to look for some open water fish. Gracyn kept busy throughout the day making spinner bead necklaces for her mommy and little sister in-between fish and we caught an additional 6 fish trolling – thank you Brad Juaire for the tip. Gracyn would run over to the side of the boat to watch each trolling fish come in and then back up to the bow to play in the shade.

We ended the day at 4 PM with 16 walleyes, 3 legal keepers and memories that will last us a lifetime. Now I have had some success competitively fishing: winning the PWT Rookie of the Year; finishing in the top 5 for FLW angler of the year; weighing an ‘over’ in two different Mille Lacs tournaments (didn’t beat Chris Tuckner though…) but by far, this was the best fishing memory I have created to date! During the ride home Gracny asked me "Daddy, can we do this every year for my birthday?" Without a doubt, this was a speical day for the two of us. Hold on though, Brielle will turn 5 in 2 more years I will get to do this all over again and experience the thrill of watching my other daughter catch her first walleye on a special trip with her Dad! Take advantage of this great bite on the lake right now and get your family up there to make some memories that will last a lifetime.