Mille Lacs Multi-Species 10/30

My friend Steve and I, this past Thursday, decided to head up to Mille Lacs for possibly the last trip of the year for a day and half trip. The weather was mild, the winds were light and tolerable, and we were not disappointed. Arriving on the east shore by early afternoon, we were on the water by 2pm, and had only a few hours to try and find some of the SUMO Smallmouth that Mille Lacs is famous for. Steve has not been able to join me this year for some time in the boat, and I REALLY wanted to get him into some great Smallmouth fishing.

We headed to a rock reef, that I had some good luck on a few weeks earlier with my fishing club Outing. We started out in 17 to 18 feet of water, using basically lindy rigs, with large minnows. I was able to use my electric motor this trip to control a slow down-wind drift. With the wind direction, we were also able to maintain a constant depth.
This Smallmouth was Steve’s first bite (also first bite IN the boat) that turned out to be a terrific 19 inch Smallie. I told Steve, with the cooler water, we didn’t want to deep hook any fish, so after the initial bite, wait only about 3-5 seconds before setting the hook. After a good battle, with the fish under the boat most of the time, I was able to slip the net under her. This is what we were after, Quality Smallies. The excitement on his face, and THIS fish MADE the whole trip worth while for me, already.

Steve also had the second bite this trip, with his rod doubled over, and seeing the slip sinker starting to come out of the water, and me having the net ready, the fish came unbuttoned. I quickly looked over the side to try and get a glimpse of the fish and saw a very nice 5 pound Walleye was heading back towards the bottom. Too bad we were not able to get a quick CPR of this Walleye. Steve baited up quickly and was ready for the next bite.

We continued for the next 4 1/2 hours fishing mainly from 15 to 20 feet. We boated 15 Smallmouth from 14 inches to two over 20 inches. We also had 4 at 19 inches plus, and numerous 17’s and 18’s. These fish were not very active, but were tempted to eat our offerings.
That evening, Steve wanted to try and fish for some nightime Walleyes. After dinner, we headed over to the NW side and trolled some Rogue’s and Salmo minnow baits. The bite was just almost non-existent. We fished from 5 feet to 11 feet, and just couldn’t get a bite. I moved to a new spot, and within 10 minutes, Steve caught our only Walleye of the night, a healthy looking 25 1/2 incher. After a couple of quick photo’s, she was returned to the water. This Walleye IS Steve’s Personal Best Walleye. Overall the Walleye fishing was just too slow to make much of a report on.
We really enjoyed the Smallmouth fishing during the afternoon and early evening, and that was our main purpose for our trip. I could not have been happier than to see my good buddy finally get some real quality time on the water.

We still have some prime Pool 4 time to look forward to this Fall. Steve, you ready??

Thanks for the trip and the memories, Pal.
Jack