Fall walleye trolling report 10/14/08

My time on the water has been very limited (like almost zero) since adding a little boy to our family earlier this summer, but I just had to make it to Mille Lacs for the fall trolling bite this year! I’m glad I found time and took advantage of a beautiful night on the water on Tuesday the 14th.

My brother Andy, had asked me to take him and his buddy, Ryan to Mille Lacs fishing sometime this year, so he was eager to go when I called him up a few days earlier and mentioned this fall bite. My father-in-law and fishing partner, Ron, also didn’t need any arm twisting to come along either! Neither Ryan nor Andy had experienced the fall trolling bite on the big pond, so I was a little nervous as to what the outcome would be. Wind, rain, cold and a poor bite can really dampen the spirits in a hurry, but as luck would have it, we had a perfect night on the water with light winds, 48 degrees, and mostly clear skies. I never even got a chill. As you can see the fish cooperated as well. I believe I heard Ryan say this is the biggest fish he has ever caught…….and I’m pretty sure he said that again later in the night!!! This eye fell victim to a #7 firetiger SSR.

We started out on a popular bay on the West side of the lake at sunset with some advice from Jason Halfen (Thanks Jason). We had one fish on each of our first two passes. Then the bite died for us here. We stayed until 10pm and decided to move North. As it turned out, I wish we had moved earlier, but 20/20 hindsight! From 10pm until 1:30 am we boated 14 walleye mostly in that mid 20 inch range, with the largest coming in at 26 ½ “, and mostly fat as footballs! Firetiger and Blue/Silver #7 SSR took 11 of the 16 fish for the night. Three fish came on firetiger #10 Husky Jerk, and one on black silver #9 SSR and one on #9 Hot steel SSR. I did try a variety of baits, but the #7 SSR’s just seemed to work the best. Here is a 26 ½ incher that came on the blue/silver #7 SSR.

As per Jason’s advice, I tried to keep the boat in that 1.5-2.0 mph. S turns were key to getting the fish to hit. I would say pumping the rod produced just as many fish as just letting it sit still did on this night. One thing about the spot we got the majority of our fish at was the very dramatic drop off to deep water. I would be in 7 feet and in a matter of seconds the boat would be in 21-22 feet and it would be fish on! If you could keep your s-turns timed right with that break, you could produce a strike. Boat control was key. I wish I had more time to fish up there, but it was just a one night trip. I think a person could really dial in on a specific technique and get your boat control down pat with a few nights on the water. I was a little rusty at first, but luckily figured it out. Here is Ron with one of his nice fish for the night. On a side note, below is a picture of a #5, #7 and #9 Shallow Shad Raps (SSR) next to some perch that came out of a couple eaters we did get. Notice the difference in size of the perch. If one size crank bait is not working, try another, because matching the baitfish to your bait can really make a difference some nights. Good fishing.