Mid Week Adventure

My First Mille Lacs Walleye, about 16 Inches

Being retired no longer requires that all fishing trips are either on days off or weekends.  With Red Lake being such a mess this year and the Salem has been parked by the pole shed, my friend Jack Taylor suggested we try Mille Lacs on a mid week, a lot less pressure on the lake might make for a good outing.  On Wednesday we headed up to Mille Lacs with my wheel house with the intent on staying the night and coming home on Thursday.  Another friend Pete Mlinar met us at Rocky Reef Resort where we decided it was a place to get on the ice.  Ice conditions on Mille Lacs this year have been sketchy, especially with the amount of snow that has fallen.  Last weekend the ice conditions changed for the good and there were many resorts getting out to some of the more popular fishing spots.  Mille Lacs Lake is full of walleyes however the current situation hasn't improved much therefore the limit is 1 walleye and it must be between 21 and 23 inches, what remains of the great 2013 year class.  There are plenty of fish in Mille Lacs but let's not get into that!  Anyway our first stop was at the resort to get a road pass for the 24 hours we were going to be out on the ice.  We had a chance to discuss the "good" spots with their road guy, Dewey.  After talking to him a while it dawned on me that he looked awfully familiar.  "Didn't you used to run a road out of Vineland a few years back?"  Yes was the response as I reminded him of the time a number of years back when I went on his road but the heave messed up his bridge and while he was trying to fix it the ice was moving too much so Dewey, his helper, and myself stood around drinking his home made Apple Pie.  Uffda and after 1 too many I decided to stay on the safe side of the heave and fish the sunset.  He remembered that day and it was enough to secure some good information like where his shack was, what the fishing has been, and how to get there.  Once on the ice we headed straight east

Jacks second walleye

for Spirit Island and came across the first road to the left (North) which looked like it went to Indian Point, our destination.  About a mile up it dead ended by Rocky Reef so back down to the main road then we found the right road headed north and got to our spot without much fanfare.  Locating Dewey's house we set up about 50 yards from him in 27 feet of water, and area of scattered rocks on

the bottom.  In about an hour we were set up and fishing.  I was surprised how well the ice was and it was about 22 inches thick.  Mille Lacs is very clear and when we started to mark fish I put my camera down and at 10 feet I could see the bottom already.  It was definitely scattered rock and everyone was covered with zebra mussels.  The fish we were marking were small perch, a good sign as where there are small perch there are walleyes!  It wasn't until the late afternoon before we hooked a walleye, Jack had a nice fish, got it up and it went about 20 inches, just an inch shy of the minimum length.  I gave it to Jack so I could get a picture but he let it slip out of his hands and back in the hole it went.  The picture on the right is his next walleye, about 13 inches.  It was funny as he was reminded which fish was going to be put on the blog!  I hooked a nice 16 incher on my flutter spoon and got that picture.  In the end we had 6 fish, the one 20 incher, a couple of 16's and another couple 12 - 13's with a small walleye under 10.  We certainly didn't light them on fire but it was a good shot trip, enough to get away for the night and enjoy my friends.  Actually it was a perfect spot, no heaves in the ice, the road had to be 80 feet wide, the ice was solid and one never knows what will swim by these days as a couple of friends were out there last weekend and caught a few over 27.  I'd take that any day as I have plenty of walleyes in the freezer.  I am sure that there is alot of good fishing left on Mille Lacs and I am not sure if this is good news or not but even though we have about 22 inches of Ice it should be almost 3 feet by now.  Maybe ice out will be early this year, I guess time will tell.

Last spring my friend from work, Mike Scheunke  bought a wheel house and we were talking about various things to have and I showed him my generator box I had bought at Red Lake.  The box really helps to keep what little noise there is down, and in sub zero weather prevents the carburetor freeze ups and come in very handy.  He asked if he could use the box as a pattern, I said of course but you need to buy enough materials for 2 as mine is made with chipboard and it's both heavy and not very good to hold the screws for the hinges, in fact I have replaced mine this year already.  Anyway he called on Tuesday stating my box is done and he'd like to drop it off.  It is a work of art, made with strong plywood, full hinges, self closing hinges, and painted up in the perfect colors, it is absolutely perfect!  I asked what I owed and instead of money he wanted some lures and maybe a good walleye rod.  Taking one of my better rod/reel combo's off my rack, I found a tackle box then I gave him some of my best lures, seemed like I got the better of the deal however.  It is definitely a work of art and certainly one can see the care he put into making this!  Thanks Mike.  Went to the boat show last week and didn't get a single answer to a few questions I have with my Minnkota Charger, Lowrance/Evinrude NEMA 2000 communications however the big Sportshow is coming in the first of April and I will definitely have time to get some real discussions going as I should be working Frankie's booth the entire show.  What does the future look like, well maybe another trip to Mille Lacs, maybe back to Lake of the Woods in March, chasing some crappies with Bill Lundeen.  Winter is far from over!

BTW tomorrow I officially join the old man group as on February 1st I begin Medicare.........damn where did the time go?