End of June Mille Lacs Lake Walleye Fishing Report

The open basin trolling bite is in full swing and now is the time to get out there. Joining me on Sunday was John and Kathy Krebs and their two daughters – Molly and Sarah. Back in April, I donated a Mille Lacs Fishing trip at my sister’s breast cancer benefit and the Krebs family generously donated and won the trip. We met at the landing and as soon as I put the boat in, the rain started. That didn’t stop them and they still wanted to go out – my type of people!

We motored out about 6 miles and focused on the same area where I had some success the weekend before. I immediately marked a couple of suspended walleyes at 25 feet (in 35 feet of water) and we quickly put out our lines (3 straight lines on planer boards and 2 leadcore setups). One hour later and at the end of our troll line, we finally got a hit but the fish got off.

Even though I was discouraged that we didn’t have more action, I was graphing a lot of baitfish with arcs mixed in and it didn’t make sense to me to leave fish to go find fish. So we reeled in all our lines and motored back to our original starting point in order to troll with the waves. This is extremely important because if you troll against or perpendicular to the waves, your planer boards will be crashing into the waves causing your crankbaits below to hesitate in a pull/pause fashion. Many of the suspended arcs on the graph were a little higher in the water column then what our crankbaits were running, so I moved them up a little bit.

This run was a little better and we landed a couple of fish (23 and a 25 incher) but still not what I was expecting. Then the wind started to pick up a bit and I thought maybe it would turn the fish on. We stuck with it and repeated the same troll run for the third consecutive time. This was a good decision and we boated 5 suspended walleyes and had one other hit. All five rods caught at least one fish so we were getting them dialed in. However, the bad news was Kathy was getting nauseous from the waves even though she was using patches. We all know once this happens, there’s no stopping it and I suggested that we go in. After a bouncy ride all the way back in, we took a short break and a decision was made for John, Molly and I go out for a couple more hours while Kathy and Sarah spent some time in Brainerd.

We made our way back out even though the wind was really humming now creating 3 foot waves. We finally reached the beginning of our troll run and put out our lines. Speed control was certainly going to be an issue. We battled through it and finally we were awarded as Molly picked up another walleye (her personal best) and the biggest fish of the day – a 27 incher. Way to go Molly!

Shortly after the cell phone rang and plans were made to meet back at the launch at 4:30. We ended up catching 9 walleyes for the day from 20-27 inches. TDD#11 – purpledescent was the crankbait of the day.

On a side note – Each report I make I’m going to include a trolling tip. Here’s this week’s tip!

Measure out your line periodically to determine accuracy. Line counter reels do not measure actual feet – they measure revolutions of your reel’s spool! If your spool is really full and has a lot of backing, it may actually measure less than one foot per revolution. Or in most cases, if you spool is half full, it will most likely measure more than one foot. Using a tape measure, I measure out 150’ and then I pull out each line off my reel to compare. You would be amazed at the difference! If it’s way off, then I would consider adding or taking off some more line. If that’s not an option, I then calculate the percentages to determine the difference. For example, let’s say I pull my line out to the 150 foot mark but my line counter reel says 180. That’s a 20% difference (180-150 = 30 and / by 150 = 20%). I now need to add 20% more each time to get the correct distance. Another thing you will notice is that sometimes the line counter will not always read the same when you reel it back in and go to zero. Therefore, it’s always wise to reset it every time before you put it out again.

One of the things I love about the open basin trolling bite is that you are out there on your own! I can’t remember the last time I had another boat fishing within a half mile of me. The bite is just starting peak so get out there and try it!

It was no surprise to me that the Krebs family won the guided fishing trip at the silent auction. The reason I say that because they were so nice and pleasant throughout the day and they surely understand family values. Many stories were shared amongst each other and laughter was certainly abundant. Thank you John, Kathy, Molly and Sarah for supporting my sister’s fight against breast cancer. It’s people like you that make this world a better place. I hope your day on the water was as memorable as mine.