New people, same faces, similar results was the theme for my boat within the last week. I shared my boat with a ton of different people over the last week. Most of the people I knew well, but don’t get to share a lot of time on water with them. I fished multiple presentations and just had a relaxing time on the water this past weekend. I personally only boated 2 fish, but enjoyed watching others reeling in some real dandies. Here is my buddy Paul with his largest eye to date, a real thick fatty that was just shy of the 28” mark. 
Congrats JR on a beauty! 
It all started out when I had the pleasure to share an afternoon with Wade from Jolly Ann Marine, Tom Donaldson (Blue Fleck) and the man James Holst to shoot some video footage for the website. We pulled boards in my usual haunts and had a good afternoon with some good ribbing, fishing and catching. Believe it or not, even “Rough Fish “ Blue got into the EYE action (pictured in the 2nd pic) after boating 2 nice sized pike. Both Blue and Wade put on a clinic on catching planer board fish. It took Blue, James and I awhile to get the “Iowan Conversion” down for weighing these fish as Wade was measuring his fish in “Bushels of Corn”. Look below the report to see Wade with a 1.54 bushels of corn Minnesota Walleye. 
I had a great time with you 3 and would like to do it again soon. You guys are welcome in my boat anytime, even you Blue!
Stacie and I then spent the 4 day Holiday weekend sharing the water with some good long time friends. My hunting buddy Paul & his wife Miranda came down from ND for their first Pond experience. Along with them I also shared time on the water with my buddies Torre, Chris and Angie who all have been long time IDA lurkers. Both Paul and Miranda landed their biggest walleyes to date and Miranda landed her 5 biggest fish period this past weekend. She sure caught on fast to this big fish thing. In the 3rd picture is a great Husband / Wife double to start the trip off right, with Mirandas personal best @ 26.75”. We fished the rocks, the gravel, the mud, the mud flats, rigging, pulling spinners, cranking and corking. We did as much as we could and caught fish and big fish doing all of them in all locations. I did have a first for me this weekend. While rigging a flat and getting a bite as I’m feeding line I watch my buddy Paul set the hook on a decent looking fish. I go and check my bite and nothing, just a ton of slack. After I catch up with the slack, I feel a fish on. And set the hook. While Paul and I are both fighting a fish, I notice are lines awful close together as we get are fish close it turns out to be the same fish. I’m thinking perhaps we are tangled??? But it turns out we both hooked the fish as both are hooks were in the fishes mouth on different sides. Go figure, I think that fish was a little hungry. 
The last picture is Torre with another Brute!
The mud flats are loaded with fish that can be caught rigging with leeches or crawlers, spinners with crawlers are still taking the most fish and there is a real fast and furious corking bite from about 8:30-10 pm on the mud right now. The shallow rocks and gravel are still puttting out fish alos in windy or low light periods. There was quite a lot of wind and waves for my boat this weekend that hindered my ability to run and gun, but the FISH are still biting even after 2 nasty storms and a major cold front that came through. I’m off this weekend to visit Stacie family in Pierre, SD and this will be my first break from the pond since opener. I would like to say sorry for those I did not return calls to or call this past weekend as I left my phone charger at home. 
I hope to get back up there soon. Until I do, I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July and make sure to be safe on the water.
*Click on Pictures to Enlarge*
Here is Wade from Jolly Ann Marine with a nice Corn Fed MN Walleye!
Nice meeting you Wade and look forward to spending some time on the water again with you! 
“and the hits just keep on comin”
Sounds like the great year continues
These reports make me more and more anxious to get to Mille Lacs… somehow
dave
Paul with another Beauty that fell to a 3 hook B FISH N Tackle Spinner “Hot Perch” with a Crawler at 1.4 mph!
Here is Staice with a nice Rigging fish.
Edit: Spinner Fish
My Buddy Chris with a nice 25.5″ caught rigging with leeches on the flat edge in the middle of the day with a high sun!.
Miranda with her biggest Rigging Fish!
Same spot as Chris’s previous fish. 
Here is another nice riggging fish caught in the middle of the day after the major cold front. Notice my Baby Blue in Stacies left hand.
I knew I should have never let her try my new St. Croix Walleye Tournmanet Legend Rod. 
Do you think I will ever be able to Fish with it again. 
It looks like I need to head to the store to do a little St. Croix shopping. 
Are there any videos on the site now? Never seen a video clip on here.
Brian
I feel for ya Rob, but that’s why when I had my custom made, I had one made for my wife as well. They are nice
dave
James and BrianK video
Here’s one, at the link above. There will be more to come. We’ve got some excellent video of Mille Lacs Smallie and Walleye action that should be on here within the week. I think James is in the editing room as we speak.
Awesome report Rob! It’s great to see so many different presentations taking fish. I’ll try to get up this weekend and catch a few for ya. We were up all day Sunday (I don’t think I saw you out there?) and faired pretty well, but you are right the numbers have slowed some.
Lurker no longer Rob! As always, we had a great time fishing with you guys!
So, I make the six hour drive to Mille Lacs, not to catch fish, but mainly to try to figure out what a bright, beautiful young lady like Stacie sees in this guy they call Lip Ripper (I think we should change it to just “lip”). As you can guess, I came away with many more questions than answers. Some mysteries are meant to go unsolved I guess. Stacie, I’ll be calling to give you the “You don’t have to settle” and “There are many more fish in the sea” speech.
I suppose I did find one quality in this guy. He could sure put you on fish!
Alright, alright! I had a great time on the water with Rob, Gilligan, and the Skipper too. Rob put us on walleyes right away and the smallest eye was 23 inches. Rob was an excellent host as well. I got a chance to sample his Gamehide gear he had on board and I am sold. Rob has written a product review in the Outdoor Gear Forum if anyone wants to check it out. It’s more comfortable than most rain gear I’ve tried and it allows for better movement in the arms, even for us chubby, corn-fed Iowa boys!
Thanks again Rob! It was a pleasure.
Welcome aboard to IDA Angie!
As you know already this is a great place. I’m looking forward to our Camping trip in a few weeks! 
Emover. I miss my Baby Blue though.
She is so sweet and sensitive, but got enough backbone to her to handle even the biggest and badest fish. 
Big C- As Wade said there has been a few videos. Jon Jordan also has posted a few in the Mille Lacs forum and from White Bear Lake also. James and IDA’s Staff is trying to keep IDA on the cuttin’ edge with geting some action packed and infromative video on the site. I think within the next few weeks, we will be seeing some great video footage from different Staff members chasing their favorite qaurry with their favortie methods and presentations. I think we better all hold on because, IDA will continue to grow, stay on the cutting edge of being a informative fishing site and it’s signed up members will enjoy some great benifits and information.
Wade, Thanks
………………………. 
I think???? 
Above is a picture from yesterday of Stacie and I sporting our GAMEHIDE Typhoon Rain Gear . Aynone that has a tin (aluminum) boat and is a frequent visitor to the pond knows exactly how wet you can get when the wind blows and you have to travel 8-10 miles in a cross wind. Thanks to Gamehide’s Typhoon Rain Gear, we stayed dry and warm.
Wade anytime your coming up give me a call!
Nice fish fellas and ladies.
Wade, was this your first time on the pond?
No, trip #3. But who’s counting.
NICE REPORT LIP!!! looks like you guys had some fun!!!
Great report Rob. When you mentioned Stacie’s left hand I thought you might have done something foolish this weekend.
Love2Fish.
Great looking fish Rob
I heard you had to smack Blue Fleck around a little bit in your boat.
Great post, I looked for ya out there but never did see you I don’t think. Maybe next time. I want to go back this weekend but I think the wife has another idea.
Great report Rob! Staying on those pig walleye I see!!!
Wade….
Rob…. 
Hey Lip, I think we met around 11:15am Tuesday…I was coming in off the flat’s to clean fish! and your boat was just heading out! Anyhow….I saw a C-liner with two people with red santa suit’s on!!!
Was that you?
Rob,
Great report, and Great pics.
WOW, is about all I can Muster at this hour….
DO keep them coming.
Jack..
Love2Fsih- No, no yet anyways.
Mack – Blue kept on wanting to pull top water behind the boards. I did have to smack him around a little, after the first 2 fish he pulled were a mid and lower 30″ Pike. After the beating hhe started to pull the right fish.
Brent – It look sliek you were in the right spot this weekend. Nice fish.
Bobber – That was probably me.
Heading out to do some fishing on some Northern flats to stay out of the wind. 
That was the earliest I go on the water @11 am. 
Jack, what are you doiig up that late????
Rob,great report dude.You’ve caught some awesome fish this year.
Whats crazy is that Wade caught a walleye and not a drum??
Been super busy at this end,gotta run.
Ryan Hale
Nice fish Rob. My neighbor (fish them all) and I made a run up there last Sunday and got into some real dandies. We hit them right away in the morning and the bite stayed steady all day long. We heard that there would be a few IDA boats up there but we din’t see another troller all day long. We kept looking for a Crestliner with a broken down Mercury, but we figured the motor only made it a few hundred feet from the landing
Kidding aside your tips have been very helpful. We caught a ton of big fish, with the largest going over 29″. Not too shabby for some amateurs…
Thanks Ryan. Hope all is well down there with the Resort!
Hunter- We are all amatuers here.
Well most of us. Congrats on some nice fish. I have yet to pull one over 29″. 
It looks like you dudes had a great time. Im sure there were some sore stomachs from laughing while sticking those pig eyes
What’s the best boards to use?
That’s a personal choice, ford vs. chevy in my opinion. I like the inline offshore board. However I’m thinking Rob is church fan. I’ve used both. I think the church boards are easier to use with super lines, but since I’m a mono guy in open water the offshore work awesome too!!
Thanks for your advice. I have to pick some of those up. Heading up early on Sunday.
Jetro, If I’m running only 2 boards (1 per side) I like to run the Church Boards. If I’m running two per side I like to run Church on the inside adn Off Shote on the Outside lately? Not sure why just like how they track together. Or perhaps it is my eye sight tha tis going and the Yellow with Flags is easier to see 100 feet from the boat. I agree with Kooty, it is a Ford Chevy Debate. However with Superlines I give the “stock” model a
to the Churck Boards. If you go and spend another $15.00 a piece (Cabelas Cost)and get the upgraded clips for the Off Shores then it is a even race in my opinion. Church Boards Run around $23.00 a piece and $17.00 on sale. Off Shores are $29.00 a piece, then you have to go and spend another $15 a piece to upgrade the clips that is $44 for a board, when you could get 2 Church boards that do the same job and are just as equal in my opinion for about the same amount of money. So that is the info I give you. Good Luck 
I was going to ask before and forgot. Did anyone else notice all the dead walleyes floating on the lake last weekend? It pained me to see so many 20-27″ fish floating belly up. Most of them were not bloated and looked to be fairly fresh. I’ve never seen that many dead walleyes in a single day before. I think people need to take a LOT better care of their fish and get them back in the water more quickly. <Steps down from soap box>
How come Stacie’s pictures are downloaded so much more than the other ones?
Great Report–I am heading up next Thursday for three full days of Mille Lacs (Please weather be nice on me!!)
Rob,
, however Staice’s fish photos look better for some reason 
……..BB
I’ts nice to see you are still getting a few pointers from Our buddy Chris
Well I managed to get one nice fish on my first short expirement with deep cranks. She measured 27.5″
Glad to see you kicking around and feeling better Bruce.
Congrats to you and your family on the upcoming wedding! 
Jetro, did you get boards? What kind? How did things go? What did that beauty of a fish hit on?
Congrats on your first deep cranker. 
after I blow-up my Yam.tiller and no kicker on this boat, at 11:30pm on sunday about 1 mile south of the jug I put down the auto pilot and hit the button
with 7.35 miles to go to the trailer and traveling at 1.5-1.7 I thought lets try some board (not good idea) one rod down till day light but now core thats idiot pruff and so away i went
I got 5 fish from 22 to 27 before I hit 3-mile
got back to the trailer at 4:30 am and by the seat of my pants
Thanks Lip,
Did not get the boards yet, I plan on getting them this week.
I got that fish on a #11 firetiger deep tail dancer over 33fow near 8 mile. We caught a 24 & a 25 also. Jig and leech and chrome spinner on those. It was a little slow for us. The fish seemed to be spread out. Going up again this weekend. Where can I get trolling curves for the deep tail dancers?
Jetro, you got a PM.