Mille Lacs 8-18-03

On a whim I went out fishing Monday morning and had one of those morning where you begin to question if you should of got up. Not prepared for night fishing, I scrambled around the garage looking for boat lights and flashlights, take this box out of the boat throw this one in, scramble, scramble scramble…

With the hot weather I ventured out at 4:00 am to beat the heat and fish until mid morning. After haphazardly prepping the boat my next questionable mishap was launching the boat. I get the boat backed into the landing, unhook the strap, tie off a line to the trailer and back it in to float it off the trailer. I slowly back down the ramp to float the boat and all of a sudden feel a slight pop. Realizing immediately the pop I felt was the rope snapping I used to secure the boat to the front of the trailer, I jumped out to see the boat float off the back of the trailer in the harbor. (You see what I mean about should have stayed in bed.) I now have to wade out into the harbor and get the boat. To add insult to injury, in the dark, I trip over the under carriage of the trailer, falling down, so now not only are my pants wet but most of the rest of me too!

Well, after securing the boat, pulling the truck up, and changing my wet close, I hit the lake, 4:20 am.

I catch my first walleye on the first pass into the wind, a 15 ½ inch keeper. The fishing action was none stop till daybreak. I caught 2 keeper walleyes over the 3 hours but also had my fill of rock bass, jumbo perch and a nice small mouth to boot!

With the flowing northern lights, bright moonlight, dazzling stars in the east and Mars in the western sky it made for a thoroughly beautiful morning even after the shaky start. I hope this is the prelude to a productive fall night bite.