Lake Mille Lacs Mn Smallmouth Bass

What do you get when you put a Minnesotan, an Iowan, and a Nebraskan in the same boat??
I’ll answer that question later, but first let me introduce the guys that I shared my boat with at the recent In-Depthoutdoors Get-Together held at Hunters Resort on Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota. Both guys are on the In-Depthoutdoors staff, as well as on the Steering Committee. Each is an accomplished fisherman in their own right and great guys to say the least. Ben Garver, the reigning State Farm Walleye Champion from Nebraska, and Wade Kuehl, the world-renowned Bass Specialist from Iowa, joined me for some of the fantastic smallmouth bass fishing that Lake Mille Lacs is known for.

Wade and Ben drove a long way, and with a weather forecast of light winds and bright sun, expectations were high. Lake Mille Lacs had other ideas for us, though. Wade and I arrived to find moderate winds blowing straight South down the lake, not what I wanted as a wind like that really cuts into my prime fishing spots. Wade and I unloaded the boat and headed behind one of few points that blocked the wind so we could fish in relative comfort. Ben was still driving and was about an hour away.
I eased up the shallow reef, shut off the main motor, and headed to the front deck to man the trolling motor. Before I could even deploy it, I heard Wade say “fish on”. The chunky 18-inch smallie fought with complete recklessness all the way to the boat, as most smallies do. I joked to Wade about how I never even thought about using corn for bait and if I had known that the fish liked it so much I would have tried it years ago. We worked the top of the reef, the deep rocks, and the drop-off from shallow to deeper water trying to find a pattern that would hold up for the day. A fish here and a fish there but not the numbers we were hoping for until we headed shallower. When we did, I started seeing fish — and I have confidence that if I can see smallies, I can catch them.

At about this time Ben called and said that he was at the public landing. Wade and I reeled in and prepared ourselves to fight the wind and waves that had gotten worse since we first made the trip. We picked up Ben and his gear and headed back to the shallow rock-laden reef. Wade and I told Ben just to grab a couple of his favorite medium- weight spinning rods and we would supply the tackle. Tubes would be the top choice for this trip. Colors varied — white, green pumpkin, orange-red, watermelon and smoke, all rigged on a 1/8 ounce wide gap tube hook. We also tried crankbaits, topwater and Mepps with the topwater hooking a couple fish for us. Notice how I said hooked, not caught. The explosions were simply amazing to watch in the clear water.
It did not take Ben long to get on the board. I saw Ben give a solid hookset and a split second later a thick-bodied smallie jumped two, maybe three times, its length out of the water, shaking wildly. After a short fight, I grabbed the net for two reasons: first this fish was the biggest of the day and second Ben is a walleye guy and is not used to landing fish by grapping them by the lip. Wade and Ben kept me busy netting fish and laughing with the all the bantering that happens when fishing with friends. The rest of day we fished every rock on that reef, catching about 20 average Mille Lacs smallmouth.

The next day, Saturday, Ben was going to chase walleyes with staffer Brad Juaire so that left me alone with Wade. The weather changed and now the wind was blowing to the North West which opened the whole East side of the lake. We launched the boat at 9:30 or so and headed right to one of my favorite spots. After some searching, we found a few fish but not what we were hoping for, so we headed to another spot, then another, and another, and another. I think that you get where I am going with this. We struggled to find any real big groups of smallies. We did find a few small clusters of bass, so we were still catching some. I did set a personal best, if you want to say that. I caught my smallest Mille Lacs smallie that I have ever seen hit a lure. An 8.5 inch behemoth, that I set the hook on and almost flung it into the boat all in the same motion.
Finally we went to a spot that has always been hit or miss for me. Wade hooked a fish and told me that there is a follower. A follower is another smallie that is tagging along with the hooked fish, looking for bits and pieces of scrap food, something that happens quite often. So I tossed my tube alongside of Wade’s hooked fish and got a bite immediately, a double. A quick fight ensued, and when my fish finally wore out and I leaned over to lip it, I looked back to see that Wade was doing the same thing. The only difference is that I grab mine without leaning on the button for the boat’s horn. I stood up holding my fish and waved to all the boaters who were looking at us now, laughing the whole time. Wade’s fish measured 18 inches and mine was 19 inches. Wade said that if he had known my fish was bigger he never would have said one word about the follower. That double was a great way to end our day, but we figured that we had a little more time before heading in, so we stopped at a couple more spots and I got to watch Wade out fish me again with the last two fish.
So what do you get when you put a Minnesotan, an Iowan, and a Nebraskan in the same boat??
One of the most entertaining fishing trips that I have ever experienced — one that I hope I get to do again someday.
Good Luck and keep catching,
Ron