Mille Lacs Lake Update

As I sit here on my couch treating the worst cold I have had in ages with chicken soup, I am taking pause to reflect on a few nights of “Full Moon Mania” on Mille Lacs. I have decided to hold off on the Nyquil until I finish with the report, or heaven knows what I will say! Every year it seems some new or different crank bait becomes the “Go-To” stick. This year was to be no different. Different lures excel in different conditions. One year it may be a Thunderstick or Rogue that tears ‘em up. Other times it is the venerable Husky Jerk in it’s multitude of flavors. This year was no different. Different depths of water over weed beds and absence of them altogether calls for different baits. This year for me it was trying to figure out what to use when there was absolutely no wind for two and a half nights. The lake received about 4” of rain in the last week. The new water may have had an impact as well. The fish were there…the puzzle was to find out how to make them react.

When there is a lack of wind, you need to vary your direction of travel more so than if you would have a good chop on the water. You need to make sure that the lure is running over water the boat hadn’t. How many times have you noted that you often have more strikes when you make a turn? It also changes speeds of the lures, which is another triggering mechanism. Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of line you have back. Floating or suspending stick baits are not as reactive to amount of line back as are deep divers. You can easily let 100 to 200 feet of line out and still be able to troll over an 8 foot weed bed with most of these baits. We noticed a marked drop in catch rates on nights where the wind was slack. I also noted that the fish were much shallower, or should I say that the fish that were shallower were easier to catch than the typical weed line walleye of years past.

Wednesday night I had the pleasure to fish with Bruce Bombard (Bruce B here on IDO) and LeRoy Carl (Elroy) of Hastings. We targeted some of the old haunts of years past, and ventured into some new areas for me. In doing so, it wasn’t long before Bruce tagged into a nice slot fish that came to the boat boasting 17 ¾” of length. He would go nicely with the half dozen crappies we got earlier in the day! More on that later! After making a turn and heading back over the same plot line, Bruce set the hook on something that literally pulled him off his seat! You could tell it was not the ordinary “Run of the mill” walleye. What it turned out to be was a 40”+++ Northern. This fish took up the whole net! And it turns out this fish was a personal best for Bruce in the Pike arena. Congrats Bruce! Our biggest fish of that evening turned out to be a nice hen just shy of 27” in length. Thursday night turned out to be a very tough bite as well for our boat. Mike Little, former owner of B-Fish-N Tackle came up with his son Alan who was on leave from the Air Force. Mike got a speeding ticket on the way up, and he and Alan blanked for the evening. Insult to injury for sure! We put only a few fish in the boat that night.

We got out in search of perch in the bays on the south end, but found very few takers. What we did find were some nice slab crappies! Simple presentations with a small jig and a lively minnow were the keys here!

Last night was another story all together! It was a story of two nights. The first half of the night was again flat calm. The report was for it to stay that way for the night. So I was preparing for the fact that it may again be another low fish count night. I fished with Brian Wirebaugh of Princeton and Tom Schertz of Woodbury. Brian got us on the board with a nice 27” fish right after dark. This fish came on a bent lip Shad Rap in Hot Steel and #7 size. SSR Shad Raps were our hot bait for the week, followed by Rogues and Thundersticks. We managed 8 fish before the call came out that Dave Koonce was making Johnsonville brats in the harbor of the Red Door. So off we went to eat! As we were pulling into the stakes that mark the harbor entrance, Tom hooks into a chunky 21” fish! After our little break…(Thanks Dave and Blue Fleck!!) we decided to fish my shallow rock pattern. It worked out well for us pulling a half dozen fish out of the 3-4 foot rocks with the SSR’s again. We got one slot, and the others were between 18” and 19.5”. Not the sows we were really looking for. But it worked out well for some rod bending action! And then???? The WIND picked up!!! Back to the weed beds we went, and it was “GAME ON” until 4:00 AM. We never cracked the 28” mark, but did manage a good number of fish around 27”. When the wind picked up, I switched to jointed baits, and the catch and hook up rate improved greatly! I think the extra action and vibration in the wind mimicked the sound of a dinner bell under the water. Anyone heading up in the near future should be prepared for a bite that is quite a bit slower than years past. If your expectations are to go out and have a great time on the water, you should have a great time! Good to see all the IDO folks at the Red Door!