Early August Open Basin Trolling – Mille Lacs Lake

The open water trolling continues to “troll” on during the month of August putting many walleyes in my boat. Over the last week I was able to get out 4 different days and each day was very memorable. Last Thurs it was my birthday and one of my gifts was for the entire family to go fishing with me. This would be the very first time that our son Nick would be on Mille Lacs. He’s a special needs child (CP and Autism) and our goal was to get him his first walleye as soon as possible and then go from there. Unfortunately, as soon as we hit the lake, the wind picked up and it was pretty rough creating 3 foot waves. We battled through it and Nick was quickly rewarded with his very first walleye! A tear came to my eye as Nick clapped his hands with joy. I looked over at Tina and she was crying too. It was truly a moment that I will never forget. Not only that, Nick was a real trooper and we ended up fishing for over 2 hours and he caught another 3 walleyes. One was under the slot so he wanted to keep it for supper – perfect!

The next day my good friend Rick and his son Sam joined Ian and I for an afternoon of trolling. It was hot and humid with no wind. Many times during the day, Sam and Ian jumped in the lake and went for a swim. . We ended up catching about a dozen walleyes and it was a great day. On Sat., my good friend Lane from Milwaukee and his son Michael joined Ian and I for another day of trolling. The day was very similar with a bunch of fish coming to the boat and the kids doing cannon balls off the boat. All was good until we got chased off by a thunderstorm right before dark.

Joining me yesterday was my nephew Derek and 3 of his work clients (Zach, Mike and Adam). Again it was dead flat calm out there and hot! However, the fish cooperated and we ended up boating 22 walleyes and they all caught their personal best! Deep Tail Dancers #11s in chrome colors worked the best. We also had a couple of doubles and one double was a 25 and a 26 incher.

Here’s a couple of tips for this week that helped us put fish in the boat:

Understanding the depth curve of your crankbaits is one of the most important factors when trolling in open water. Precision Trolling “the troller’s bible” – Pro Edition is an excellent book that shows individual depth curves for most of the crankbaits that are on the market today. I will try and place my crankbaits 3-5 feet above the arcs on my sonar in clear water conditions and 1-3 feet above the arcs in dirty water. Once you get a fish on, remember exactly what you were doing! Successful speed trolling is being able to replicate what works. How much line did you have out? How fast were you trolling and where was the position of your planerboard when your crankbait got hit?

Understanding the importance of speed is also critical and it varies from the time of the year, day to day and sometimes even hour to hour. I typically start trolling at 2.0 mph and work from there. In order to determine the speed I like to do “S” curves until I discover a pattern. Learn how to troll down using your big motor, your kicker motor or a trolling motor. I can’t say enough about how happy I am using a trollmaster that allows me to dial in and fine tune my kicker motor speed. I also equipped my boat this year with an engine mount trolling motor and that was a big key to our success yesterday when there was not even a ripple on the lake. It cuts down on motor noise and this helps prevent spooking fish.

In rougher conditions, it’s important to troll with the waves and this will help eliminate planer board hesitation. When your planerboard is jerking back and forth in the waves, your crankbait below is pulling and pausing and not swimming consistently.

Another question I received recently was what do I get a strike and what’s the best way putting that fish in the net? In order to detect a strike, you need to focus on the planerboard and not the rod tip. Watch for any subtleties in that board. Sometimes a smaller fish will slowly pull your board towards the center of your wake. Tattle tag flags attached to your planerboards will also help detect bites. If you are not sure whether or not there’s a fish on, reel it in like there is and take off the board to check.

OK – so now your board takes off and there’s no doubt there’s a fish on. Grab the rod as quickly as possible raise it up in the air and dig those hooks into the fish but don’t set the hook! Turn off the clicker on your line counter reel (this will help make your drag run smoother) and tighten down the drag just so you can gain on the fish. Make sure you have all your other lines out of the way. Keep the rod tip up and fight the fish with your rod tip and not your reel. Slowly and consistently reel in the fish and do not make any rod pumps. Work together as a team to get the planerboard off as quickly as possible. This is where most fish get off because you stop reeling allowing the fish to swim freely. Keep the motor in gear and keep trolling. It’s OK to slow down but I prefer to keep on trolling. This will help put constant pressure on that fish until it’s in the net.

Thanks again for everyone who shared my boat with me this past week. It was the highlight of my summer and it was great to see all those smiles. Watching a child catch a fish is truly an incredible feeling! I encourage all of you to take a child fishing and help build a cherished memory. I will always remember Grandpa George who took me fishing for the first time and I will be forever grateful to him. I know he’s smiling down from above watching over us.

Until next time – keep trollin!