For even the most fair weather fishermen right now is the perfect time to grab a few friends (The more lines the better) and head to Mille Lacs… Put simply there is no better time to catch walleyes on crankbaits than right now!
Fish are cold blooded and the warmer the water the more they’ll need to eat, so with water temps now in the mid 70’s they’ve got the feed bags on. Not only are they looking for a meal, but the bigger the meal the better which is when larger crankbaits such as Rapala’s TD-11 Taildancer really start to shine.
Joined by my good friends Garret Piecek and Jon Jordan we took advantage of a long weekend and hit the water last Friday afternoon for some open water trolling. Greeted by 3′ waves and windy conditions I completely expected that leadcore would be the best approach however after more than 20 minutes of trolling a great area and no fish to show for it our board looked to be running a bit heavy so we decided to give it a check and wouldn’t you know it we were dragging the "little" guy that Jon’s holding… First time it’s happened in a long time and I can’t believe he didn’t set off the clicker, but I sure am glad because it was the first hint that wind or not don’t forget about the boards!
Suprisingly even with the big waves boards turned out to be our best producer for the day, but what was not suprising at all was that our 1st fish (and many more) fell victim to my #1 favorite big walleye bait on the planet – TD-11 Purple Clown Flash Rapala Taildancer. Given the choice to pick one lure this would be it, but for anyone who may be just starting and looking for a few suggestions my other favorites would be a Chrome/Blue Storm Deep Thunderstick with the red bill, Clown TD-11 Taildancer, and recently added to my top lure list is a Gold Alburns Scatter Minnow.
Good friends, big eyes, and blue summer skies… I can’t think of a much more perfect way to spend a weekend in August!
See you on the water.