Mille Lacs, MN – Guide Trip Give Away Follow-up..!

Mille Lacs Lake Guide Trip Give Away Follow-up!

I had the distinct pleasure of fishing with Mike Bigdad Donahoe and Greg Reefrunner Vandemark up on Mille Lacs this past Saturday night. Mike won the Guide Trip Give Away and invited Greg along as his guest for the night. We met at 7 PM in Garrison, MN and in a very short amount of time we were on the water and into quality fish.

We opted to start near Indian Pt. working a weedline in a nearby bay… and so did quite a few others as well! The boats were in this area pretty thick but everyone basically behaved themselves pretty well and the fishing went smoothly.

Our first fish of the night, shown above, was a 27.5 inch walleye that sucked down a #12 Orange Craw husky jerk, slow trolled just inside the weedline in 7.5 foot of water. Mike did a great job of landing this fish and she was back in the lake in no time after this quick pic.

Over the next couple hours we consistently took fish from a 200 yard long trolling run that would sweep back and forth from just inside the weedline and arch out over the weeds and turn back shallow again searching for fish. Pods of fish were found relating to the heaviest weed growth and once spotted, we’d make shorter runs through these fish, taking as many as we could as fast as we would until the bite slowed. Those that simply trolled on past the spot that gave up a fish or two really cost themselves fish as the active fish just were not very spread out in this area. In this second photo Mike is shown with his largest fish of the night, a 28.25" eye that smoked a #12 firetiger husky jerk pulled smack dab through a NASTY thick weed clump. The plug made it through without hanging up… until this fish’s mouth got in the way that is! Nice fish Mike and good job on the release.

Our plan was to get the ball rolling by putting some numbers of fish in the boat near Indian Pt. early in the evening and then head out on a piggie hunt on the north shore. Dustin and I have caught some incredible fish on the north end sand but the numbers of these mongo fish are always a bit tough to come by. After putting 20 or so fish in the boat down on the SW side we strapped everything down and made the long run up to the sand looking for a HAWG or two to really put the shine on this particular night.

And it didn’t take long to produce!

Greg Vandemark is shown here with a 29.5 inch whopper that inhaled a #12 orange craw husky jerk fished just off the outside edge of the weedline. Trolling speeds were kept right at 1.5 mph as these big girl seem to really want their next meal moving slow and vulnerable… but when they decide to pull the trigger… look out! BOOM! The strikes are very vicious.

This particular fish was in perfect shape down to the last scale on her body and was treated with kid gloves during a quick photo shoot prior to her release.

And our last piggie of the night, one of the fatest fish you’re likely to see, was boated by Greg… AGAIN! He kept us busy by being the hot stick late in the evening and he was quite funny about it too! Every time he’d stick a fish he’d calmly say something like Ummm… hey, I think there’s something wrong with this rod… I think it’s BROKE! It feels funny all of a sudden….! And of course it would just be another monster walleye putting the BIG BEND in one of my trolling rods! Funny stuff Greg.

Great trip guys. I was so pleased with the way this Give Away turned out that I plan on making this little donation back to the visitors of in-depthangling an annual deal. Every year from here on out, the Saturday night closest to the full moon in October will be set aside for this type of trip. I look forward to many more successful night and the chance to meet some new faces and show them a trip of a life time. The only real downer about this year’s trip is that past winners won’t be eligible for any future trips and these guys were a hoot to fish with!

PS – Oh yeah, Mike, I think something’s wrong with your cat!