Mille Lacs Lake Minnesota!! I love this country!! Few places in the midwest offer the type of fishing that can be found Mille Lacs. With the ice gone here in Iowa, it wasn’t a hard decision to load up, and head north…
Chris Tuckner, and I met up on the east side of the lake when I first arrived. The wind was out of the east. And after an hour of watching fish on the camera, it was easy to see that they were not biting. Anything, and everything I tried, did not work to get the perch to bite. We headed back in after dark, only catching a few perch. Very, very nice perch, but only a couple. We went over to hunters for some GREAT food, and to say Hi to George. He runs a great operation!
Day two- Calvin, and I met up at 6:00 am, and decided to make a long run out to the main lake structure. We fished hard to three hours with two dink walleye throwbacks. We drilled many holes, and I was beginning to think, "great another day of no fish"…As soon as I muttered those words out of my mouth, I saw Calvin set the hook on a nice fish. After that, the fish were on fire, and we limited out on nice fish in 45 minutes, while throwing back 15-17 inchers. We were using perch colored go-devils and minnow heads. This day the fish came in anywhere from 24-28 feet I believe. Catching these fish was an absolute BLAST. They smacked the spoons so hard! Two main things I learned. Go to a bigger treble hook, and have a stiff rod. Those were the two most crucial parts of catching these fish. I lost five or six nice fish, before I switched.
Day three- Doug Ertl, Bob Carlson, Chris Tuckner, Derek Johnston, and I, along with some of our friends met up early and hunters and headed out to the main lake structure again in search of the walleyes. We spent an hour at the first spot. I hooked and lost one fish. We moved to another spot and got set up again. I was talking with doug, while he was fishing,I was watching his lx-3 I said "that fish is going to bite"..two seconds later it smacked his spoon and he lands this fish around 25" inches. His fish above is around 28". Two beautiful mille lacs lake walleyes!!! I even caught my biggest ice walleye on this trip. It was around 27". I was so excited!! My fish absolutely destroyed my spoon! Having those huge walleyes smack a spoon on a 28" ice rod, is quite possibly the best feeling in the world!!!
I met a ton of people this week on the lake that are part of the in-depthangling.com family. And I can tell you, they are all CLASS acts!! Big thanks to the Hukriede family for putting us up! You guys are awesome! And you too tuck! Thank you everyone for your generous hospitality! I can’t wait for the IDA GTG!!
Good luck- Stay safe, and we’ll see you on the hard water!!
It was great meeting you and TJ! I see you made it home safely! Great news!
As you can see, we were walking distance from some good fishing.
Here is a picture of my fishing buddy and son Ben with a couple of Jumbos. As Steve Fellegy says, “With all those perch close to shore, who needs to go out to the flats?”
Sorry about the quality of the photos. I need a new digital camera. These are from my Treo phone…
I know that spot Tuck!!
Josh Hukriede and a great eater size walleye!
More Fish Pictures…
Just like a Hukriede! He shows up, drops a line, and ices a fish!
Sweet report Luke! Can’t wait for the GTG.
Thats alright I figured it out-..I guess TJ is the pout king!!
I see TJ is holding my breakfast for tomorrow!
Luke, it was finally good to meet ya!!! I enjoyed fishing with you on Friday….Man it was a good thing we found those fish!!!!
Look forward to seeing you at the get together!!!! I will mail your stuff!!!!
Luke, Nice report! Glad to see you made it back safely. Heading back from Minneapolis today, Tamara and I hit some nasty weather and terrible road conditions on I90. I suppose you were east of us and did ok?
You too Cal!! Thanks for letting me out fish you…
My wife LOVES the thorne bros rods you talked me into..
Wade- I headed out at about 10:30 from the Hukriede house. It was snowing pretty bad by then. I went straight east to 35- and took 35 the whole way. It was bad for about an hour, and then I got out of the snow, and it was easy driving. Good to see we both made it home safely!
You looked a little white knuckled when we passed you!
Did you listen to your phone message?
Yeah Tuck!! That was funny! We’ll see, believe it or not- we actually used to get that white stuff, AND ICE on our lakes down here…not any more. So seeing it for the first time this year made me a little cautious…
Great report Luke! Watch out for that Ben kid. He’s full of lies and BS.
Probably his upbringing.
Ya Luke, that must be our problem. We’re just not used to driving in the white stuff way down south here in IOWA!
Well, I’m just glad everyone made it home safe. We had nearly 5 hours of driving in that crud!
I spoke to James today and he said that he heard 12 people died due to the weather conditions. 
Here’s a view from the truck on the way home Sunday (interstate 90 west)…
We are glad everyone made it home ok. Luke and TJ is was great to meet you! You were our first Iowa visitors at this house
Just had to say that sorry. You are very nice and welcome anytime. You seem more of a good influence than Kooty 
sorry, had to say that too, oh my mouth er fingers just run 
Luke,
Very nice report and pics.
too bad IA is so far from great Walleye fishing..
It IS pretty awesome, Fall is Great…
Tuck- those are some great photos if that is a cell phone..
Keep those reports coming…
Jack..
Luke, great report
cheers 
I’m glad that you finally made it to the pond. These posts were getting the best of you for a while
Funny little story:
I’m out fishing with Tuck (Cuz) on Thursday morning when he tells me that Luke Haugland is on his way up to join him as well. Unfortunately, I had to bug out early, but on the way off the lake I spot a big ford with an enclosed trailer and Iowegian licanse plates. I jump out of my truck and wander over to introduce myself to Luke. Luke is so excited to hit the ice that even after the introductions, he turns to me and says “so, what do I owe ya for the lake access?”
Just ribbing you a little Luke, I’m glad you had a good time and a safe trip
Goo luck
Nice report and nice fish, Luke and Tuck!
We still don’t have any good ice here in south central Wisconsin either. Doesn’t look like we’ll be getting some anytime soon either.
JWB
are we there yet???
Way to Go guys.