Mille Lacs Report

Tom's 17.5 incher

The last week in July was the last time I had been on Mille Lacs Lake, and that was only the 3rd trip of the year.  Thinking the late September bite may have improved, my neighbor Tom Olson and I decided to head up on Saturday night to fish the sunset time, from 5:00 - 8:30.  After getting caught up on a few chores around home we hooked up the boat and pointed the truck north to fish Anderson's Reef on the southwest end of the lake.  Unfortunately this reef has been a hit or miss area, nothing like it was 20 years ago when you could easily pick off  6 to 12 walleyes trolling Shad Raps or Rattlin' Rouges.  The advantage is it has some nice structure and minimizes our time on the road.  There is 2 special areas off the main reef that can be good and one has to troll through the 10 - 12 foot water before you hit the spots.  This can be good if the fish are hanging a little bit deeper than the 5 - 7 feet that I usually like to fish.  Stopping at Bill's to drop off some raspberries we headed to the landing.  I was surprised how high the water was for this time of year, as well there appeared to be a lot of musky fisherman working Cove Bay.  Getting the Ranger in the water, we headed straight for Anderson's through the marked channel out of Cove.  Interesting as the "new" channel doglegged to the right as you entered the main lake, where as the last 10 years it was marked pretty much straight thru.  It seemed somewhat deeper and I guess I should have changed my waypoints but decided maybe later.  There was only one other guy working the 10 foot perimeter of the reef and another boat anchored in one of those "special" spots.  Working the south edge we headed towards the anchored boat, a 621 Ranger and it
was the same guy we talked to at Bill's as he picked up a couple dozen leeches. Reports of substantial catches of 10 inch walleyes have been coming from the launches and as we trolled by we saw them pull in 2 that size.  Looking for better fish we were trolling 4 inch Rouges when Tom nailed a 17 inch small mouth bass.  Before long he had another fish, actually a nice 17.5 inch walleye. With the keeper slot at 18 -20 inches, the fish went back.  Although a 17.5 inch walleye is not really worth taking a picture of, we snapped one anyway to prove if nothing else, we did catch something. Twenty minutes later I felt like a weed had tangled my lure only to find a 10.5 inch walleye hanging on the back of that 4 inch rouge...go figure.  Hitting both special spots with nothing more to show, we headed out.  The surface temperature was still 65 degrees so maybe the full moon next week along with a major cool down will change the bite.

Sunset at 5,000 feet

With snow predicted in Minnesota for this week I have been working feverishly to put the finishing touches on my Salem Ice Cabin before winter.  As stated earlier I had the underside spray foamed and expect a noticeable difference.  Finished installing the compartment door underneath the unused space by the couch, it turned out pretty nice.  With the help of my neighbor Tim's Rotozip and air stapler, it went in like it was designed to be there.  It's a perfect place for my cord storage, up front and handy.  The next thing was to install an outside cable jack to connect a satellite antenna to. Because the wiring is all pre-done I decided to replace the current inside antenna output/12 volt power jack with a dual antenna/cable outlet.  Figuring the framing would allow me to snake a wire near the floor by cutting an access hole at the back of the cabinet, in line with the jack,  I was successful in running a wire between the openings.  Using a hole saw and my other neighbor Todd, we drilled some holes, pull the coax cable through, connecting the external jack before bolting it together.  It turned out like it was supposed to be there!  Reattaching the internal cable jack, I think it turned out very well.  The last thing is to caulk around the floor with clear silicon RTV before it gets too cold to cure.

As you know I like sunset pictures and had 2 to pick from.  The first was from Saturday night on Mille Lacs and the one I chose was taken from my airline seat coming home from Chicago on Wednesday night.  The low clouds hung all the way from Milwaukee to when we landed.  Being on the right side of the plane I didn't have a nice view until we turned south for the final approach.  It was still very nice.  Off to Lambeau as we are going to the Packer Vikings game tonight.  The weather guys are calling for heavy rains so it should be interesting.  Either way the Pack should win tonight and give me bragging rights back at the office on Monday!  Once a Cheesehead, always a Cheesehead.  The high this weekend is supposed to be in the upper 40's so I'll be scrambling to keep moving on all of the outside chores.  I can finally drive on my new concrete driveway thanks to the bungled job the city contractors did with the asphalt overlay on the street in front of the house.  The good news is we have more room.  Go Pack!!

Window of Opportunity

 

First fish of the evening.

Last week we finally got some much needed rain.  Projections had rain through Sunday however by noon Saturday, it was looking pretty good.  Too wet to mow the yard, too wet to garden, I decided to fire up the old Ferguson and finish mowing the field behind the house with the brush hog.  I didn't really care if I made ruts in the field and with the wet grass, there would be minimal dust.  The brush hog is a 3 point hitch mower that is driven off the tractor PTO.  5 foot in width, the heavy blades will mow down anything in it's path including trees up to 2 inches in diameter.  I was able to finish it up while contemplating whether I should try and get up to Mille Lacs for the evening, after all it was turning into a nice night.  After stopping by my neighbor Tom's place, we had a plan to leave at 32:00 and fish till about 8:00.  Nothing too long but if they were biting, we'd know.  I finished the mowing, unhooked the brush hog and put it away for the winter, cleaned the tractor, and at 3 Tom showed up.  The sky didn't look too bad to the west, maybe it would be a nice night.  As we approached the lake and hour later, the sky was telling us a different story!  I hadn't seen Bill in a while so we had to stop and touch base.  It's been slow on the lake and anyone (even me) coming through those doors were welcome.  Picking up a few things, getting the latest reports, we left but not before he gave me my early Christmas present, and ice cream pail full of his hand harvested wild rice from a month ago.  It's insanely delicious.  From there we headed to Cove Landing as our strategy was to troll Anderson Reef, just about a mile out from the landing.  Anderson Reef used to be very good in the fall, often there is competition for the trolling runs by the guys fishing leeches under bobbers.  To my surprise there was not one rig in the parking lot, we would have the lake to ourselves. 

Supper!

Besides the fact that the trolling bite had been slow, the darkening skies didn't help either.   Bill thought the buoys marking the channel and the reef had been pulled yet to our surprise they were still in, which always helps to have a visual reference point.  As we launched the boat the clouds gave us a little taste of what was to come.  Maneuvering through the marked channel that separates Cove Bay from the main lake, we headed straight for the south tip of Anderson's Reef (no relation) and started on the west side.  I like trolling the south and west side of the reef as it offers a nice trolling run caused by the gradual slope of the drop off from the shallowest point.  On the north and east side of the reef it's pretty abrupt and you can get into trouble fast.  At Bill's we discussed the strategy of using larger baits so I went with a large Rattlin Rouge while Tom tied on a #12 X-rap.  We hadn't gone 100 feet and Tom nailed a nice walleye, actually it took me somewhat by surprise as I did not expect a fish so soon.  We snapped a picture and back it went.  Now at this point it's easy to say.....man, it's going to be hot tonight!  With the lures back in the water and another 5 minutes later a fish hit my Rouge.  Unfortunately it must have struck short as it came off after about 10 seconds, oh well, still a good sign.  I like to troll over to an off reef hump, makes for a nice trolling run and 20 minutes after Tom's first fish I landed a 19 15/16" walleye, good enough for the live well.  A half hour later Tom gets our 3 fish in the boat and at 7:20 I even the score with 2nd fish.  By now the rain is in full deluge mode and we were getting pretty wet.  With the wind and rain and our years of experience, there was no need to continue the punishment....we headed back to the landing and to report back to Bill.  It was the best trip I have had on Mille Lacs since the middle of July, 5 hookups, 4 landed, 1 lost, all in about 2 real hours of fishing.  The water temperature was still a balmy 60 degrees as the fish felt warm to the hands as we unhooked them.  Although the night was short

Fishing in the Rain!

This post is later than usual as I just got back from Chicago.  My friends offered to include me on a salmon fishing trip out of Waukegan, Illinois but it didn't work out.  My apples need picking, the trucks in the shop, and it looks like Sunday I will be joining my 2 brothers for a nice fall motorcycle ride back home to see the gorgeous colors the trees are displaying this time of year.  My friend Jeff King was here last week to see his son and we just didn't have time to get together, maybe next time.  On the other hand Keith is returning home and might force me to take him on a trolling run to see if this post is actually true!  Earlier I stated that my friend Bill gave me a pail of wild rice.  He and a friend spend a number of days around the first of September and harvest wild rice in the lakes around his place.  Using a canoe and rice harvesting sticks they paddle through the rice beds, knocking the rice off the plants into the bottom of the boat.  This method of harvest is the same the Native Americans have used for centuries.  Once gathered the rice is spread out to dry for a few days before it's brought to a processor who will further dry and remove the hulls.  After harvesting around 1000 pounds of wild rice the processing yields about half or 500 pounds.  If you are ever driving north on Highway 169 by Mille Lacs stop by and buy a package of his hand harvested wild rice, it's absolutely delicious.  Open water season is swiftly coming to an end, time to start thinking about ice fishing...........uffda.

Still Waters

Friday was another successful ENA golf tournament.  Our 8th annual produced 184 golfers, a record, as well some beautiful weather to raise money for a great cause.  My job was fairly simple.........help set up the proxy holes along with the hole sponsorship signs, take pictures of each foursome as they prepared to tee off the first hole, and spend money.  I did all three very well, especially the last part winning the highest silent auction bid on an Ardent C400 Fishouflage Walleye bait casting reel.  Although I had never heard of this brand, I was assured by the donor that not only it was a good reel but my winning bid was quite bargain.  Looking it up on the Internet that night proved to be an eye opener.  Made in the USA,  the reel is a high end product worth about $230.00.  Although my winning bid was about half that, I will probably have to throw in a few extra bucks to clear my conscience!  Saturday and Sunday morning was spent tearing out all of my landscaping which is 18 years old and about 5 years past due for being replaced.  Sunday afternoon was Mille Lacs time with my neighbor Tom Olson. 

My strategy for this weeks trip was to allow Tom a chance to call the shots for the first 3 hours then transfer the decisions to myself.  Tom wanted to try for smallmouth bass so we launched at Cove Bay Landing and fished the shallow reefs on the south side of the lake.  The rather large reef at the end of the Cove Bay outlet is a great place to start.  Really any part of the lake marked by hazard buoys spell smallmouth bass.  The water was somewhat stirred up from the previous days wind however what remained was quickly dying down.  There were a few active bass chasing minnows on the surface yet they were more interested in the real thing than the menagerie of imitations we threw at them.  Seeing a number of fish cruising the bottom, a 4 inch tube proved just as uninteresting to them.  After hitting a different reef we simply gave up on the smallies as I suggested we head to Sloppy Joe's, a deep gravel bar about 2 1/2 miles off shore.  I had done pretty good on this spot a few weeks ago and it was worth a try.  Rigging up a bobber and leech it took about 5 minutes before this very nice 24 inch walleye took the float down.  With such a quick hit, I figured we hit pay dirt.  Ah, the joys of premature thinking.  Marking a ton of fish on my depth finder we only ended up with 3 more fish, all on Tom's line as I could only just sit and watch.  We kept one and released the other 2 as they were pretty small.  After trying a spot my friend Bill Lundeen was parked on, we headed to Anderson Reef to finish the night trolling Shad Raps.  Once again all I could do is sit and watch while Tom caught 2 more smallies, including this beautiful 19.5 incher as well as a nice 17.5" keeper walleye.  It's interesting that fishing 3 hours for smallmouth produced nothing yet post sunset trolling seems to be the ticket.  I have caught a surprising amount of smallies after dark, something that would have been unheard of 5 years ago.  In all it was a great time as I had not been fishing with Tom since prior to my surgery. 

We got a later start on Sunday as Tom's son had scheduled a phone call to him from Afghanistan.  A Captain in the Air Force, he is in charge of building infrastructure such as schools and roads.  It is a dangerous job, one that has Tom isn't particularly fond of yet he is tremendously proud of him and all the men serving in harms way.  Sending pictures of our weekend trip  to him was a nice finish to another successful fishing trip. This was the third time in a row that I had glass like conditions on Mille Lacs, a tough situation when everyone is saying that the bite is hot when the wind blows.   I leave you with another picture of the gorgeous sunsets on Mille Lacs.  Like snowflakes they are all unique and represent a welcome finish to a wonderful day.  It truly is a beautiful world.