Mille Lacs Lake Minnesota Walleye Report 06-28-08

It is about that time of year when the cranking bite heats up as shown here with a planer board walleye by Steve Huettl from Gamehide. Find out how the weekend went for my boat as a new technique is really to starting to shine or Shak-e for me on Mille Lacs. With high hopes for this past weekend with the water temps finally starting to climb I was looking forward to pulling some planer boards out in the mud this past weekend. My spirit was dimmed a little when on the way up to Mille Lacs Stacie, Rufus and I were minutes from the lake and the lightening storm we had watched the entire way up finally hit as we were rolling along @ 15 mph and still could barely see the road from the very heavy down pour we were getting on highway 18. Lightening was lighting up the sky and I was hoping that it wouldn’t scatter the fish for the weekend. Saturday morning came and after a little delay, Steve and his buddy Andy finally made it to our place Saturday morning. The bad luck those two had that morning carried into the boat as when we got out to the mud we observed the fish even more scattered then the week before and we could not find a decent school of fish or bugs. We sat and shot the bull in the boat of past hunts and planned out some future hunts the four of us would share. It was some great company and conversation, but the fish did not cooperate all that well and we ended the day short. We never really found many fish or bugs that day but the water temps finally hit 65 degrees was about the only bright spot of the day for us. We ran cranks high at the few fish we were marking and we ran some close to the bottom where the few other fish were holding with not much luck of doing either. It was with out a doubt my worst day cranking on the lake.

After some regrouping and thinking Saturday night Stacie and I had two other buddies (Chris and Jason) coming up to troll some cranks for a few mid day hours on Sunday. We were greeted with some very angry seas as we hit the water around 10 am. We scouted out a new area that I had not really touched yet this year and I instantly knew it was a good decision as we started to graph fish, bugs and bait fish immediately. The problem was that more then half of these fish were really high in the water column. They were suspended about 14-16 feet down and in the past I have not had very good luck getting these fish to bite. So giving it another whirl at these high roamers, we set 2 cranks up high on the 2 outside boards @ about 13-15 feet down, right in line or just above these fish and the other two lines down about 24-26’ where the majority of the other fish were suspended. We changed the cranks around a few times changing colors and models but no takers or bites on the first pass. At the end of the first pass, I grabbed another rod out of the locker and rigged it up with a Lindy Shak-e Blade tipped with a 6” Gulp crawler. We reeled in and made a run back up top to the beginning of the biggest school I have found yet this year. We set the Shak-E blade / Gulp combo out with a snap weight and targeted those high fish and maintained the rest of our set up the same. Well about 10 minutes into the trolling run, I look out at the Shak-E board as I am making an outside turn to watch it start jumping in the rough water indicating that a FISH IS ON. I grab the inside rod to clear that board as Chris reels in an nice 25” walleye. We get everything set back out and just as I was thinking of changing the other outside rod, the drags starts to scream right behind me as I turn to see the Shak-E board making a long mad dash backwards as something just ed this bait. After clearing the inside rod, Jason brings in a dandy 26.5” fish to the net shown in the 2nd picture here.

Now we are rolling, things are starting to come alive and fish start coming to the boat like a normal end of June. Here in the third picture is Chris and Stacie as they teamed up for a double taken off the same side of the boat. The out side board gets smacked with a gold hammered Shak-E- blade and as Chris goes to clear the inside rod, he yells “Double”. Chris’s fish came on a Purple Deep Tail Dancer #11 targeting the 26’ depth. Both of these fish had some pot bellies on them. One thing I have noticed this year is these larger fish seem to be in pretty “hefty” shape and it appears there is no shortage of food. As 2:30 pm starts to roll around and the talk of getting home for dinner is brought up. Chris “the spotter” Bristow starts giving Jason “the intern Captain” a hard time for his lack of production behind the wheel. When no sooner as Chris just finished giving him some verbal abuse when Jason steps up to the plate and gets the inside board rocking. To add insult to injury Jason steps up and lands his personal best eye shown here in the last pic as she fell victim to a Purple Deep Tail Dancer #11 and taped out a just over a hefty 27.5”. Congrats buddy on a dandy fish. From there we decided that it was a great way to end the day and we headed in. On the way home from the lake we stopped at Jason and his wife Susie’s house to see there newborn baby girl Anna and to grill out on the deck with Chris and his wife Angie. Now what a way to end the day fishing. Spending time with good friends grilling out on the deck and talking about the day fishing and the pleasures a newborn can bring. Thanks for the hospitality Jason and Susie and thanks for the ice cream Angie.

Well with the water temp finally cracking the 65 degree barrier I’m really looking forward to what July will bring. The water temps are behind, but perhaps this will mean that the July fishing will be as hot as the weather. I’m really looking forward to keep experimenting with these new Shak-E blades as I have caught fish through out the water column with them now, trolling them behind boards out in the basin. I still am probably trolling them too fast as I’m trying to troll them along side cranks. I think if I slow down a little they will even be more effective. I have been pulling them 1.7-2.0 mph. with S turns. If I can get these things dialed in, it will be a great tool to add to my arsenal for these roaming suspended fish. I truly think this is where these baits will truly shine. I would be interested to also pulling these as a traditional spinner with a bottom bouncer or 3 way rigged to see how they do. I had some experience doing this early in June, but that bite has been slow to get started and hopefully now with temps above 65 that spinner bite will begin here on Mille Lacs also. The purple tail dancer has been putting it’s fair share of fish in the boat for me this year and is a new producing color for me. I can not wait to get back out with the increasing temps and fish showing up out in the basin. However, I will be missing this weekend as Stacie and I go to SD to spend some time with her family over the 4th. But I’m hoping to make a mid week trip up next week and spend some time on the water with Wade and T1blondie. I hope everyone has a great and safe 4th of July and remember there will be a lot of people on the water this weekend that are not use to being out there boating and some that should not be out there driving. Be safe everyone and we will see you next week!

*CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE*