Mille Lacs fall walleye trolling update, 10.25.08

October will soon turn into November, and the first snows are in the air. While thoughts of deer and ditch chickens occupy the thoughts of many outdoorsmen as the wind blows the last of the leaves from the trees, let us not forget the shallow water walleye bounty present in Mille Lacs. They’re still there, and are still willing to make short visits for photo ops in your boat, as long as you adjust your presentation to the cooling waters of late fall.

I was joined on Mille Lacs last night by Mark Steffes and Kevin Krumenauer. We had all traveled to the Mille Lacs area to attend a reception for IDO staffer Jason Sullivan and his new bride, Kathryn. After a nice meal and a bit of central Minnesota socializing, Mark, Kevin and I hit the water for an evening of working to solve the fall walleye puzzle. We fished the west side of the lake, taking shelter from the approaching gale than eventually brought rain and snow to Mille Lacs.

While the public launches on the west side were quite busy by day, nighttime boat traffic is definitely winding down. As we worked the unpressured western shores of the lake, I was surprised by the resiliency of some of the weed beds…even in the last week of October, the weeds are standing tall, green and strong. Working baits through the weeds wasn’t particularly productive for us, unless you count pike. This chunky low 30" class fish whacked an aggressively worked suspending rogue we we cut S-turns through weeds in ~ 8 fow. We hooked this fish early in the evening, giving Mark, Kevin and I a chance to practice all the tasks (clearing lines, lighting, netting, etc) needed to successfully land Mille Lacs night-shift eyes.

As the evening wore on, it became apparent that our action would be limited. We sorted through baits, changed depths and speeds, and finally found a partial solution to the puzzle by putting the rods in the holders and forgetting about them. The key presentation for us was to run baits 120-160 feet back at 1.2-1.4 mph with NO action imparted to the bait by the rod. Gentle S-turns and the baits catching (and then releasing) weed tips was enough to convince a few walleyes to pry their mouths open. Even then, our bites were far from bone-jarring. The 26" fish in the first picture barely loaded the rod when it hit…it must have hit the bait and swam along with the boat. All of our fish came to the boat pretty easily, and just "sat there" in the net while getting unhooked. These were sluggish fish, and I was very greatful for the limited action from photo-worthy that we did have.

Our trip ended in the small hours of the morning as the first rain drops were getting blown around by the stiff west wind. I appreciate Mark and Kevin fishing with me last night, even though I wasn’t able to show them Mille Lacs at its full fall potential. If you plan to hit the lake soon, SLOW DOWN and keep those bait actions subtle to convince a few more sluggish Mille Lacs eyes to pay your boat a quick visit. This will be my last visit to the pond until 2009, as I shift my focus to "winter camp" down at Everts Resort. I look forward to seeing many of you guys down there, maybe starting next weekend!