Mille Lacs Lake, MN walleye report 6-29-08

Each of the last few days fishing Mille Lacs seemed to be completely different form the other. Thursday we had almost no wind a bright blue bird skies. We started pulling spinners and crawlers on the bottom of a couple rock piles in 23′. We managed a few nice fish, but nothing that was a keeper. Next we moved out to the gravel and after looking around and not marking or catching many fish at all we made our way to the mud. There we found a couple flats that were holding good schools of walleyes in small areas on the top edges. These fish didn’t want the bait moving at all. Slow was the name of the game with a leech on a long Vanish leader.

After a couple hour break for dinner we headed back out to do some slip bobber fishing. We set up on a rock pile that topped out at 7′ and had a quick drop to 14′. Leeches on a small jighead worked well for me while Scott went on a tear on the smallies with his plain hook and leech combo. One thing I noticed was how many of the spots we fished on the east shore were full of bugs waiting to hatch, and hatch they did when it got dark. I don’t think my boat will ever be the same.

Friday I had another full boat guide trip. We started pulling spinners with both crawlers and leeches on a rock to sand transition in 27′. We spent 3 hours working the same general area catching a nice mix of keepers and slot fish. Once these fish slowed we moved to the mud. The schools had moved off the flat and were more scattered on the bottom edge. We worked these fish for about an hour and decided to try to troll up some piggies. Mid way through our first run I noticed it was starting to darken up to the northwest. There had been some rain that went south earlier, but this one wasn’t going to miss us. Once the weather radio stated there was a warning to the north west, I told the guys to reel up as we were going to get closer to Hunters. We stopped and about a mile out and fished a sand to mud transition with spinners, catching a couple real nice keepers, before we had to call it a day. I had enough time to load the boat, clean fish, and get into the bar before the storm hit. Sure glad I wasn’t on the lake!

Sunday I fished the Full Throttle Tournament with my dad. He stood in for Jbob who was in the hospital (get well soon buddy). The winds were blowing and she was rough, but we were able to get to all the spots I had wanted to fish. We just couoldn’t get any keepers to the boat as we did the days prior. That’s fishing. Good numbers of 18-20″ fish were on the rocks we fished and we managed a 27.5″ eye off a deep transition, but put a goose egg on the board. Sounds like there was on 1 5 fish limit weighed along with 2 overs. Mark and NaCole run a great event and you should check it out.

There are still plenty of fish out there and they are scattered all over the lake. My guiding partner Scott has his brand new Lund tiller ordered up and we are in high gear booking trips through July. Give me a call when you are ready to hit the water!