This is my first report for the fall season from the big lake and as I sit here and pick away at the keys my head is just swimming with things I want to share with all of our readers here at IDA. Of course the most important topic is that the fishing is nothing short of fantastic and if anyone is feeling the urge to strap on a head lamp and take a shot at catching their biggest walleye, pike or muskie of the season, now is the time to get out there and do it!
I’ve been up here on the lake since the 25th of September (if my memory serves me) and I won’t call it quits until the 19th of October. Some might be wondering where the heck my reports have been to this point… I’ve been receiving a rash of emails, PM’s and even phone calls looking for updates and all I can say is that I have a reasonably good excuse.
I spent the first week looking for the best bite possible so I could capture the needed footage to put together an instructional DVD on fishing for trophy walleye and pike in the fall. I spent a grueling 72 hours with a film crew in tow and I believe we captured the footage needed to put together one top-quality piece of work. We got in on some unbelieveable action at night, filmed underwater footage during the day, got to see first-hand what a rock to sand or weed to rock transition REALLY looks like for the first time.
What strikes me as most ironic is that I set out to put togther a DVD that others could learn from… and in the process I picked up on some details and fine points that have elevated my own personal understanding of the lake to a whole new level. It is an understatement to say that I’m excited to start sharing footage from that filming here on the site so others can get a glimps as well.
One of the results of this time spent filming is an improved understanding of how to fish transitions and how best to get the big fish that frequent these areas to pull the trigger. Over the last 3 days I’ve been able to land 3 walleyes that weighed over 10 Lbs… a feat I’ve never been able to accomplish on mille lacs before or in such a short period of time. The big fish are definitely on the feed, carrying tremendous girth and mass, and I’ve been as proud as a pappa to help some of my favorite customers boat their new personal best walleye over the last week.
Show in the first photo is a 29.25" walleye I caught while filming a segment on lure tuning. The time was late afternoon but well before sunset, as is obvious in the photo, and this particular walleye hammered a #12 Husky Jerk in firetiger pattern with the camera running. I must admit that my first impression was that this fish was a big northern given the time of day but after a few seconds of fight time it became obvious that I had hooked into one heck of a walleye! Talk about unexpected and excellent timing! This particular fish and all of the others in this report were caught fishing weed to rock transitions with access to deep water nearby.
The remaining 3 photos are from Sunday night’s outing with Steve Plantz and Wade Kuehl. On this night we successfully landed a 30.25", 29.75", 29", (3) 28" and too many 26" plus inch fish to count… all from one short trolling pass located on this weed to rock transition. Steve is shown in the second photo with his 30.25", Wade is up next with his own personal best at 29.75" and Steve finishes things out with his MASSIVE 29" sumo ‘eye that had the girth of a pre-spawn river eye!
The top trolling speeds for my boat have been 1.5 – 2.0 mph. Stick with the slower speeds on calm nights, troll a little faster when the winds kick up.
We’ve been offering firetiger HJ’s during the twilight hours of sunset and then switching to clown rogues and HJ’s once the moon is high in the sky with consistent success.
Line lengths have been 75 – 95 feet back in 6′ – 8.5′ of water. We’re running the longer leads over the rocky portions of the area being fished and shortening our leads when we move into the weeds to keep our lures running just over the tops of the vegetation.
Another big story has been the appearance of HUGE pike in my boat nearly every night out. Each fall we see a handful of monster pike and even muskie come to our boat but this fall has been exceptional as I’m averaging at least one pike near 40" or better each evening with some nights kicking out multiple monsters. This is simply an assumption here but perhaps the tullibee die-off we had late summer due to high water temps is putting more of these huge pike in shallow chasing perch where anglers are more likely to bump into them?
The weather forecast for the upcoming days looks like it will be a little brisk out on the lake. I do NOT expect this incoming cold front to have any major negative impact on the fishing up here… in fact, once water temps fall into the mid to upper 40’s you can expect the best fishing of the fall to kick into high gear.
Dress warm and HANG ON TIGHT to that trolling rod!
With a little luck and decent sleep patterns I should be able to get out fresh reports every 2 or 3 days from here on out.
Look for short video clips from our filming up here to start appearing in 2 – 3 weeks!
As if this guy NEEDED to catch another big fish here’s Steve Plantz with a 40.5″ pike that gobbled a HJ.
Here’s a MASSIVE pike we caught last night. Dan French is the lucky angler shown holding this trophy of a life-time. Dan started shaking the moment he first saw this fish about 50′ out to the side of the boat and by the time she was in the net Dan was absolutely TREMBLING.
I was shaking too but only because I was worried about keeping all my fingers when I went in to free the crankbait.
Dan did his best to hold this fish for the camera. It was simply too big and too heavy and too VERY upset to be held for a second and third shot so this is the only one we have. We did try and get a measurement by laying her alongside my fishing rod and measuring that length after she was released. Our clumsy attempts resulted in a 42 – 45 inch estimate… sorry we can’t be more accurate but as a walleye guy I just don’t carry a long enough measuring board to get the job done right. Not that we cared too much… Dan was shaking, stammering and grinning from ear to ear for quite some time after this fish was released.
And his 14 year old son kept repeating one word, in a hushed breath, for about 10 minutes…
“Awesome.”
No words needed James.
Looking forward to Saturday!
Wow – Sumos, and all this time I only considered you a numbers guy
If anybody new to night fishing is reading this post, believe me 5 over 28″ in a night is considered the gold standard for this lake and a feat not easily accoplished. This is really unheard of for October and especiall early October if somebody needs a guide James is first class guy. Congrats on some quality runs.
Awsome fish!!! Great report James!! It was great meeting you this weekend. I can’t wait till next year, I want to come back up this weekend already! Congrats Wade on your personal best walleye!!!
Sweet!!!!!!
I will see ya tonight on the water!!!!
You are the M-A-N!!!!! Congratulations on all your success this fall. Can’t wait to hear and read more.
you guys are VERY close to getting me to not go pheasant hunting for the opener!!!!all I can say is WOW
James, Thanks for another GREAT outing. Catching my longest walleye to date was awesome but I had just as much fun watching Steve land a trophy eye and a trophy pike in the same night. That was COOL!
I can’t wait to see the video in full production. For those of you who haven’t heard about the Mille Lacs video that James is producing my understanding is that it should be released around December. I have no idea what the price will be but it is going to be worth every penny. If you don’t get a chance to take a guide trip with James, the video will be the next best thing.
Thanks again James. I feel truly blessed.
The old saying of “FISH ON!” has now been offically replaced with “HOLD ON!”
Looks like you got em figured out
Can’t wait for the video’s and DVD release !!! 
big g
It was great to get to meet with you and the rest of the guys up there. I had so much fun I wish I didn’t have to come back to the real world. I can’t find my cord for my camera to get the pics on it but when I do I will post my personal best as well. THANKS GUYS for all that you did for the Nebraska Boys this weekend. Harry and the rest of you were great host’s!!!!!!
Nice report James..
Glad to hear you caught some fish Ben and Zach.
That was some Mille lacs Moon Mayhem. One of the busiest I have seen in a long time.
James,
I was wondering How You Were, I knew where you were.
great report, and super fish.
Can not wait to see the new DVD.
Thanks for going the extra mile with the new videos.
The fish just have NO CHANCE with the 3 Amigos on the Pond:
James, Dustin, and Tuck!!!!
You guys JUST ROCK…
thanks again.
Jack..
Steve Plantz—
WOW
Sure looks a new Avatar might be in your near future..
Jack..
James, Thank you for a fantastic night on the pond
All I can say is WOW WHAT A NIGHT!!! Words can not describe what a great time I had with James and Wade on Sunday night, to catch not one two of my biggest eyes ever and to top it off with my biggest pike was just simply AWESOME!!!
Wade it was great to finally meet you in person and I hope we can share a day on the water again sometime soon you are a class act all the way.
James please save me a spot for next year I can hardly wait!!!
Congrats Steve, Wade, and Dan!
Those are some fantastic fish
James, it sounds liked your river rejuvenation project is going extremely well
Keep up the good work guys.
dave
SIMPLY UNBELIEVABLE FISHING
wow i think the ducks I shot last weekend instead of heading to the pond would be just a snack for thos fish….indeed true trophies guys a day that will forever be remembered i am sure….nice work boys and once again James you never suprise me with the fish you put clients on
Almost unbelievable! Good thing you guys have all those great pictures. They tell the story quite well.
Congratulations to all you guys who caught a personal best.
Very impressive James!
JWB
Those are some mongo fish!!!!!
Way to go guys.
The only thing i am more excited about this the release of the DVD. Please keep us informed as to the release of this DVD so we can order a copy.
I will be releasing some short clips from the footage up there over the next few weeks and will definitely keep everyone in the loop on the release date and all that. Thanks for expressing interest!
Here’s an update on the fishing… the fish are biting if you can stand the cold, wind and occassional cloud burst. Man, o’, man has it been hard on a guy the last 3 nights. Peak bite times are at sundown and 1 – 3 AM… if you can somehow last that long.
VERY plain to see a few friends of mine are VERY happy about catching some HUGE fish. I’m sure the talk of catching these fish will be heard for along time. And rightfully so. Like WOW guys. What a catch.
I’m sure Steve will be on cloud nine for along time with those catches . And Wade and others will be there right with him. 
Congrats guys and one hec of a guide trip if you ask me. 
Thanks, Bill
Where are the reports every 2 or 3 days?
The bite seemed to peter out after the last big front with all that wind came through. It dropped the temps 11 degrees in three days. I will be up there this weekend again, and I am sure others will be posting reports as well. As James said, the bite has moved later in the evening from the initial sundown flurry that we would expect.