Joining my boat last night was Micah Witham and Ian Newton. Together we got on the water about 6:30pm and with the winds howling at 20-25mph out of the NW, we decided to fish the west side of the lake with the hopes of being wind protected. We started our haunts in the 9-10foot areas with sand and sparse weed cover and immediately got bit right away on our first pass of the night, in fact we boated 7 fish on our first pass. Ian’s first fish of the night on this pass was one of his biggest fish of the night hitting the tape just over the 28-inch mark. At this pace, I was certain that the night would offer nothing but good steady action for all of us to enjoy.
With the winds at this pace, I continued to see more and more perch and walleye activity starting to rise up out of the weeds. Normally when I see this, it is a definite sign that the fish are aggressive and willing to pick off just about anything trolled through these areas.
With this in mind, we quickly re-rigged our lures and opted to dive for the Bomber Pro 15AP suspending model. These stickbaits have a fairly shallow dive curve and would give me the opportunity to get the lure away from the boat and still be able to run the shallow water to target these high riding fish. After a couple fish boated using the Golden Bengal color, we switched all lines up to this color and everyone proceeded to get bit immediately. At about 10:30pm, I decided to make a run to another spot to see if we could get into some better-sized fish. At this point, other than Ian’s nice 28”+ fish, the rest of the fish seem to be running a bit on the smaller side over all with a small handful of 25-27” fish making it to the boat.
Upon our arrival to our next spot, we were greeted with fish right away on the first pass. This produced one or two fish for each 100-yard pass, but still the size appeared to be on the smaller 22-25 inch range. Still nice fish none the less, but not the size one goes after this time of year when you have a good shot at producing numerous fish over the 28” mark. We stuck it our here for a couple hours going shallower and deeper with a variety of different lures including Smithwick Suspending Rogues and husky jerks and still no better fish to show for our efforts, so we decided to make another move back to our original location. As we set up for our first pass,I decided to dig out a planer board run a line out the side of the boat with a Bomber tailoring behind it. I no more got the rod in the rod holder and a fish hit right away. After a good battle, this nice 28”+ fish made its way to the net for a quick picture and a release. With hopes of cracking the puzzle of better quality fish, I continued to run the board with several more fish making it to the boat but still a little smaller than I was hoping.
At about 2:00am, we decided to tuck inside of the weedline a run a bit shallower in the 6-7 foot range. This produced more fish with the size a little more of which we were looking for. With yet another fish hitting the tape again just over the 28”mark, we worked this very small area more thoroughly and were rewarded with several more 25-27” fish.
This area seem to favor the husky jerks a bit more than the Bombers with the Orange craw being the top color producer here. Micah and Ian decided to end the evening around 4:30 to get back on the road home. Overall the bite was very good for numbers but the quality seem to be down just a bit from what we have seen in the recent nights for this area. With water temps reaching the low 50’s by the end of the night, the November full moon period should be right on for BIG fish time! I will see you then!
Fantastic report Steve. Keep up the good work.
Sounds like you really smoked em’ Steve. Nice report and great fish! 3 – 28 inchers in one night is good work!
Crossin’
Thanks guys.
She was blowing pretty good when we got on the water and the fish were really rolling. Seems as though we could not even get all three lines out before I heard one of the guys say…”there’s one!” It was a great night for the numbers. We worked pretty hard going through the numbers until we got a couple nice fish, but it was all worth it for the action that we had. The biggest lull of the night came about midnight for nearly an hour with only a couple fish and then about 2:00am the bite picked right back up again but this time in shallower water.
These kind of nights fly by way too quickly!!
Water temps were 50.3 degrees when I got off the water. The next 3 weeks should offer everyone some remarkable fishing.
Reminder….Daylight savings time coming up this weekend offering even more twilight angling early on in the evening!
Hey Steve-
Were the speeds in the 1.2-1.5 MPH range again? Do you think that the wind played an important role in the bite that evening? Great report!
Travis,
I meant to add the speeds in my report..Oops.
My main speeds were 1.5 on the nose. Tried the slower speeds as well as the faster 1.8-2.0 with nothing either. 1.5mph gave the Bombers just the right slow wobble that did the trick. The wind played a key role in the early hours of the evening making baitfish very vulnerable for all the predators. Later in the evening finding very small pockets of fish and working them well seem to be the best approach. Every night seems to be a different story to a certain extent. Similair patterns only with slight adjustments.
Great report Steve! Sounds like you really had the fish “dialed in.” I am strongly considering heading up to Mille Lacs for the November full moon bite. I was curious though what type of adjustments you typically make in your presentations(ie. trolling speeds, depth of water etc) or crankbaits as the water temperature drops into the 40’s during November? I know some guys use a little smaller crankbaits in late Fall and your tip in an earler post about looking for the “standing weeds” was an excellent one but are there other adjustments I should be making when fishing in November instead of September or October? I am relatively new to night trolling on Mille Lacs but really love it. Thanks in advance for your insight. Keep those Mille Lacs reports coming!
Eyes Have It
I’m sure Steve won’t mind if I drop my 2-cents here as well.
I list the following, in no particular order.
#1 – Speed. It’s unbelievably critical. I cannot think of a bite where 0.2 MPH means more to the number of fish put in the boat than up there on Mille Lacs in the fall. And this lone factor becomes even more important as the water temps fall into the low 40’s.
#2 – Size and lure used. I have smaller lures on hand and I often see a preference for non-rattlers. Not sure why. Maybe the rattles give off to much of a “buzz” and turns off lethargic fish. You’ll see me running more #13 Husky Floating Raps in November as well as smaller HJ’s.
#3 – Location. A guy needs to be ready to leave the weeds and gravel and get their keisters to rock. As the weeds die off and we see fewer and fewer healthy clumps of vegetation available to hold the fish, we see fewer fish and the size seems to drop as well. Couple that with a movement of tullibees to rock in prep for their spawn and we often see the true monster ‘eyes patrolling rock reefs and points. Not that that the weeds won’t hold fish but with the “best bite possible” being the goal of all anglers, have this option ready and waiting in the back of your mind.
Excellent question! Let us know how you do when you make it up and I look forward to Steve’s answer as much as you are I’m sure.
That is a great question. Ditto on James remarks above, I think speed can be one of the most important factors for lethagic cold water eyes. We have seen this before where boats will pass by fish going 1.-1.2mph and be too fast. Hard to believe but we have seen this every year be a factor.
Forage is another key element not to forget about whether it be on the rocks, in the weeds, or roaming the sand. The walleyes have still one thing on their mind and thats the next availible meal, but not willing to exert extra energy if they do not have to. So keeping an eye on your electronics for signs of schooled up perch can be crucial. Lure size can sometimes be a big factor as well. How many falls now have we all seen unfortunate dead floating huge walleyes with a 12″ tulibee sticking half way out of their mouths. Yes 12″ and most times bigger. I am not saying that we need to dig out the musky stickbaits, but just goes to show that the fish are not afraid to go for more bang for the buck in this period.
If I had to go out on a limb, I am gonna say that we will see an equal bite on the rocks as well as the weeds this year. The weeds still remain to stand proud for this time of year. The last standing clumps will hold plenty of baitfish and you can almost set your watch that walleyes will be nearby.
James and Steve,
The whole speed thing makes perfect sense to me, and I understand how it can affect the bite, but it drives me crazy at the same time. I have a 75 h.p. tiller and to achieve the slow speeds below 2.0 mph, I run a drift sock off the bow eye so it runs under the middle of the boat. This works great and drops my speed from 2.0 minimum to 1.0. My biggest struggle is keeping my speed at the EXACT right speed. James, you talk about .2mph making a big difference and I don’t doubt it, but when I watch my gps speed, it’s constantly bouncing around, especially if there is wind and waves.
How do you combat that problem or frustration?
Crossineyes,
The best answer to correct the speed issue while having a 75hp as your sole source for gas power engine…..put down the electric trolling motor. This is often overlooked and can be deadly as we have stated that snails pace can be deadly. I know guys that have brought extra batteries in the boat just incase you are dealt with a wind that you must combat all night.
From my experience, the trolling sock is marginal at best. You have little control of where you want the boat to go and stay for that matter, escpecially if you want to track a tight plot trail or edge break. Throw some wind in to the equation and you have yourself working harder on controlling the boat than detecting that little “tick” at the end of your line which gives all of us great big smiles.
Like I said, I ran a drift bag one time years ago on a friends boat so I am no expert at driftsock boat control while trolling.
Thanks James & Steve for your excellent responses. I understand exactly where Crossin Eyes is coming from as I have a Crestliner 1650 Fish Hawk S/C with a 60 HP Mercury motor and have struggled a litle bit to get proper speed locked in especially at lower speeds. I can see where a small kicker motor would be the ideal situation especially to make fine adjustments in speed that simply aren’t possible with the big motor. In October, we did try using the bow mount trolling motor at the end of the night and it worked ok since we didn’t have alot of wind. Also thought about using the drift sock to slow us down but never did try it. We should have tried slower speeds ealier in the night as we picked up a couple of fish later on by putting the big motor in neutral periodically to slow us down. Hopefully it will be in my budget next year for a small kicker motor. Time will tell. Thanks again everyone!
Eyes Have It
Well i’ll chime in on what we do. I have a 19 footer with a 100hp tiller.
It trolls at 700-800 rpms or 2.3-2.5 mph GPS. To slow down we drop the bow mount .2mph drag. Drop the transom mount another .2 mph. Make sure to set the motors at 90 degrees to create the most resistance. Then I throw homemade 2 gal. drift buckets out each side off the front cleats for another couple tenths. Now i’m down to 1.7-2.0 mph. If I need to go slower I have 2 more buckets to throw off the back cleats too. I know this seems like alot of B.S. to do but it works!
And when it comes to fishing I’ll do what it takes, short of gill nets and dynamite!
In the calmest weather I run the bow mount which is so nice, because your ears get a rest. Can’t wait to move into a 4 stroke!!!
Actually, I was surprised how much control I have with the drift sock out. When I have it off the bow eye and forward trolling, it runs right under the keel at the pivot point. Since my boat is a tiller, it’s relatively easy to control.
I’ve tried the bow mount too, but in the wind I find that to be an even poorer option for boat control. (at least for me)
I guess my main question is, other than having a lot of patience, is there any easy way to keep my speed more constant? The hardest part for me is staying at a certain speed all the time.
I have found that I get a lot better control by running two small sock in a series under the boat. I tie one side to the front cleat and run the socks under and tie the under end tight to the other front cleat. This runs the socks tight to the boat right under the front.I get great control this way.
GAtor HUnter
You guys are probably right on the drift sock idea. I have very little experience running drift socks for trolling appplications, so my one bad experience should not reflect negatively on the concept because it probably really has a time and a place for perfect applications.
As far as speed variability and being able to control a certain speed constantly…When I ran a tiller boat, I ran the transom mount t-motor if conditions would allow it or I would just feather the motor in and out of gear, This way I could keep the speed surges to a minimum. Last year, we had good success actually stalling the boat for 60seconds or more and just let the lure hang motionless in the water column with a taut line.
Im used to fishing Sakakawea in ND for walleyes… we never get much below 1.5 mph… Here at Mille Lacs Ive found recently that I have to run faster, about 2.8-3.0 mph to connect… but frm what you guys are saying its too fast…
The question is am I missing fish by going too fast ??? Also I determine speed by GPS… and RPMS, I try to get the lure to get the right action rather than by a strict speed…
Anyway your thoughts would be appreciated, maybe I need to slow down a bit and connect more ????
Wally
Walley, the best fall action on Mille Lacs has been while trolling under 2.0 mph. Sometimes slower than 1.5 mph.
Question: Are you having a good bite before the moon is coming up (dark period inbetween sunset and moon)? I rarely if ever have caught numbers of fish before the moon rises, but it might be my lack of confidence and so I am getting the boat & rods ready, drinking coffee etc. Thanks!
Sure we are. We’ve caught fish before the sun goes down. We’ve had times where we didn’t catch fish once the moon comes up. Then we go through all the rigamarow to find what color hits next, or what speeds working now, or where did they move to. Is it the fish just went inactive for a period of time?
Its all part of the game!
Good question.