The Mille Lacs bite could not be in better shape than it is right now. The last several nights have brought nothing but mild temps, calm seas and lots of walleyes. Fishing from sundown to near sun up has never gone so fast as it has the last couple of nights up here. Patterns have been pretty stable and locations that I have been finding fish have all been pretty similair from spot to spot.
Last night, I shared my boat with Jim Eihle and his friend Paul Hammer. We got on the water about 5:45pm and started pulling planer boards and deep diving crank adjacent to nearby shallow night productive areas. With only 45 minutes before the night bite would turn on, Jim and Paul expressed interest in learning a little planer board tricks for Mille Lacs lake walleyes. With this presentation producing 4 fish on Wednesday evening before dark, we did not get bit this evening. 7:00pm rolled quickly upon us and we headed into some of my productive shallow area that have been producing fish for me lately and immediately got bit right off the get go. Both Jim and Paul started things off getting into right away with fish nearly back to back within minutes of each other. Jim’s first fish was a new personal best walleye that taped just over the 28-inch mark. Nice fish Jim and congrats! Needless to say these guys did not stop here and continued to put the heat on the fish with steady action for the next 2 hours.
Our best presentation was trolling Bomber 15AP stickbaits in the Golden Bengal color in the shallow sparse weed flats in the 7-10 foot areas. Trolling speeds seem to heavily favor the slow 1.0-1.2mph speeds versus the quicker 1.7-1.9mph speeds that seem to be productive for my boat the night before. Letting the lure just run over the top edges of the weeds with an occasional contact with the vegetation seem to be the key for getting these fish to react. Making S-turns over this weed flat also seem to play a key role with the majority of our strikes coming on the inside lines of the turn. Jim not only beat his personal best walleye earlier with his one fish over the 28 inch mark but did it 3 times this evening. Nothing like doing it in style right Jim!
Our bite was real steady until about 11:00pm when it fell off the mark considerably. At this point we picked up our lines and headed to another nearby spot that produced fish for me the night before. With about half hour into it, we had little action other than 2 miss hits. After a little more exploring and still not much happening, we picked up again and headed back to our original area with hopes of this spot turning back on. Soon after our return, we got bit again. Even though the bites seem to have slowed here, there were still fish willing to cooperate. With knowing precisely where my Bomber 15AP was running, I decided to change things up a bit and try running a planer board off the side of the boat.
This presentation got things back rolling with immediate results and pulling our next 4 fish including another fish over the 28-inch mark. Running planer boards at night over weeds is something that I would not recommend unless you know your precise running depth of your lure as well the depth of the weed tops.
Last night did not prove as well on the numbers of fish as we did the night prior but the size of the fish were much better. Most of our fish were remarkably ranging 26-29 inches with only a handful in the 22-24 inch range. We ended the evening with about 25 fish including several nice sized pike.
I will be on the water the next several nights and will report back soon. Now is the time to take advantage of this great fall period, especially with the mild late summer like weather!
Steve, thank you for the great night on the water. I caught my 3 biggest walleyes, Two 27″s and a 28″. Not bad for one night.
Paul and I really appreciate all the questions you answered on trolling cranks in the fall and summer. I’m looking forward to fishing with boards next summer. I also appreciated the pool 2 info you provided.
This was the first time I hired a guide and it was definitely worth it. Maybe next year I can schedule a pool 2 trip.
Have a good fall on pool 2 and maybe I will see you out there.
Jim,
I had a great time with you guys. The night really flew by that night.
Jim had the hot hand this night and caught a good share of our fish. Paul and I were just being nice to you and giving you full honors!!
I will be back on Pool 2 in full swing this week. The real good bite is just around the corner on the river.
Glad you guys had a great time and I look forward to the next time we can share the boat again.
Take Care and good luck fishing!
Steve,
I just wanted to echo Jim’s comments. Even though I did not get a big one this time, I had fun and I learned a lot. I would like to try some of the techniques we used on Thursday down here in Madison. To fish Walleyes down here you have to be able to fish the weeds. You gave me some valuable ideas. Hope to fish with you again.
Paul
My pleasure Paul.
I really thought you were going to get revenge from all of Jim’s “razzing”. Maybe next time….
ALot of anglers have a misperception about walleyes in the weeds. Truth to the matter is that walleyes use weeds all year long, even in the hottest periods of summer. Talk to any musky nut that throws for muskies on Mille Lacs and see how many accident walleyes are caught.
Good luck in Madison Paul and feel free to PM me if you have any questions or thoughts.
Thanks again guys.
The razzing only got worse as the weekend went on. I would rather have it that way since Jim is a bear when he is behind in the fish count. He still has not recovered from our June trip to Mille Lacs.
One quick question. While we were trollling in teh weeds, how far below the surface were the weeds? I understand they are breaking down, but were they about 3 ft below the surface?
Thanks Steve
Paul
Paul,
The weeds varied quite a bit from one area to the next. For the most part, the weeds were down about 5 feet from the surface. As the season rolls on, look for the last remaining “standing” weeds for the best areas of action. This groups up the baitfish and in turn attracts the walleyes or predators. Generally weedlines with quick access to deep water nearby hosts the most concentrations of fish this time of year and is even more important later in the fall.
Thanks Steve.
As I said on Friday morning, I will be sure to recommend your guide servies for friends from down here looking to hook into some large ‘eyes.
Paul
Here is a nice picture of Travis Renville (aka..Rippinpigs) with a nice big 47″ musky that hit a Bomber Pro 15AP stickbait in the Golden Bengal color on our Saturday night outing.
Nice fish Travis!
Man… that was a blast getting that fish in the boat. At times the planer board could have been easily mistaken for a meteor.
What a great night… good company, airborne muskies, rogue buoys, and listening to James’s party barge. Who cares if the walleyes were tight-lipped that night!
Here is another pic from Saturday night. This was a fat fish that also fell victim to the Golden Bengal Bomber 15A. I do not think a guy could ever get sick of catching walleyes like this. Man, I love it.