Mille Lacs Smallmouth- BRF Trip

Chasing smallie is my passion; it also is for IDA member John Buzzel, better known as Johnnyb. John had the winning bid for the Mille Lacs Smallmouth trip that I offered up to raise money for the Brandon Rolen Foundation.

Since John was charitable enough to offer money to fish with me, I wanted to make this one trip that he would remember for awhile. After PMing John about his desires and then finding out where and how long his drive was, I offered John a multiple day trip. As you know, Mille Lacs seems to have a mind of its own with weather. I know that I would feel terrible if the one day that we picked was windy or storming. Good thing that we did, as day one had a north wind blowing straight down the lake, making finding a calm area nearly impossible.

We did find one small spot that held a few fish hanging off the edge of a shallow reef but the bite was slow because of the multiple weather fronts that moved through the area just hours before. John and I decided to keep searching for other fish; finding just one small bass, we pulled the boat out and headed to the north end of the lake, an area of Mille Lacs that I am not very familiar with. As we drove north, I made a call to a good friend looking for help. As it turned out, he was not much help as he doesn’t fish that area either. We launched out of the north end and found some calmer water, but the one area that I wanted to fish and had good luck with had some scuba divers on it so we were out of luck fishing that spot. We tried a few other areas but our efforts were just that. We pulled the boat out again and drove all the way around the lake just to make sure there were no spots calm enough to fish. Nothing was available, so we called it a day, catching just three small bass.

Day 2 was much better, as the wind switched directions, and for a while the lake laid flat. All my spots were good to go so we launched and started fishing. We starting seeing cruising fish almost immediately, always a good sign. We started fishing with tubes as I knew that the bite would still be slow so finesse fishing would be in order. After spending a short time in some heavily fished areas we moved to some lesser known areas and started catching some fish right away. Nothing like normal but they were biting and that was what this trip was all about. Spot after spot we moved catching a few here and there, we were in search of a good school of decent size smallies. One area we came to John cast and I think before the jig hit the water he had a fish, a solid 18 incher, not a bruiser but a nice fish in any lake anywhere in the country.

I try to net the majority of my smallies as I do not like to wear them out to the point of exhaustion. This can lead to some funny and heart stopping moments. If you have ever tried to net a smallmouth that is still somewhat green one never knows what is going to happen. Sometimes they slide into the net, sometimes the jump over the net, and if you are lucky and your prayers are answered, the fish jumps into the landing net. This fish was giving John everything he could handle. I grabbed the net, waiting for a chance to put it into the boat. This fish dove under the boat and then decided that he wanted to play around the outboard. I asked John to bring the smallie to me; he looked over his shoulder and said with a smile, “I am not in charge at the present time.”

We moved again and I eased the boat into an area that has held many big fish for me in the past. John and I were both standing on the front deck looking for big boulders that in this area that seems to hold the big bass. I told John that the back of the boat should be in prime water so he walked back and made a short flip and began to drag his tube. I was keeping look out for some rocks out in front when I heard John set the hook on smallie, another solid 18 incher.

The fishing was not fast and furious but we, mainly John, caught fish. Our trip consisted of mainly smaller fish, nothing over 19 inches, but I think that John got a good impression about Mille Lacs Lake and its famous smallmouth bass fishing. Our weather was the biggest factor but with stable weather the fishing should be very good. We did catch some of those other fish; John caught a 9 inch perch on a fat rap in an area that the wind was blowing in hard on a shallow rock reef. I was throwing a spinnerbait to mimic baitfish that should have been blown into the same area; I was getting bumps but not hooking anything, when I got pounded by a fish. “Alright it’s about time”, I was thinking. After a short fight I see that I have caught a 19-20 inch walleye in 5 to 6 feet of water — a first for me. I have caught walleye while fishing for smallies on tubes, senkos, jerkbaits, mepps spinners, and crankbaits, but never on a spinnerbait. Oh well, you just never know about fishing.

I would like to thank Johnnyb as well as all the other BRF auction winners. Without your generous bids, IDA would never have raised enough money to help Brandon and his family. Your generosity says so much for our members. IMO, the members of IDA are what make it the best fishing/hunting site on the net. I tip my hat to all of our members and a heartfelt thank you goes out to all of you for helping when you can.

Thanks Again,

Ron