Mille Lacs New Year Report

It was nice to bring in the new year with some more real nice fish. I was out with a crew originally from Columbia. Ice fishing is a whole new concept for these guys. They are used to throwing musky-sized lures for peacock bass down on the Amazon instead of drilling holes through the ice to fish. They were anxious to give ice fishing a try and take on the cold in search of a 10lb walleye.

I was still getting lines set up when we caught our first walleye. The first fish was roughly 6lbs and was followed immediately by a 6 lb pike. These fish may be considered average for Mille Lacs but were very unique to my group. After the initial flurry of action the fish gave me a break so I could get the rest of the lines set and go back to the truck for the camera. (note to self: bring the camera on the first trip out)

The biggest fish on the day is pictured in the first photo. This is Edgar with a healthy 8.5lb walleye. A little while after this one, prime time brought us a flurry of action as the tip-ups started going up around us. At one point I had five tip-ups up or out of the water, having just caught or missed a fish. It’s been a while since my hands got that cold.

In just the short time it takes to get a picture, you can already see the ice beginning to coat the fish in the next photos. These pictures are Mathew with a 7lb eye and John with a 5lb pike. These two fish were the only two we capitalized on during the series of five flags. Other than the prime-time flurry, the action was slower, but enough to keep us busy throughout the day. We caught some nice fish and missed some others, but overall, it was a good day, especially for guys that have never been ice fishing before. We didn’t end up with a 10lb eye, but like Edgar said, "how many people can say they caught an 8lb+ walleye and an 8lb+ peacock bass in the same month?"