Back On the Big Water

Ben's First Walleye of the Day

 I won't bore you with the details however Mille Lacs Lake opened back up to walleye fishing August first after being closed for the entire month of July.  August is not one of the best months to fish walleyes on Mille Lacs but after a scorching hot July, with a moderate amount of rain in the area as well as cooler night time temperatures, the lake surface temperature  has dropped at least 8 degrees, things were going in the right direction.  After watching this video of one of my favorite YouTube guys, Tom Boley, it was titled, Mille Lacs, Part 2.  Tom is a young guide from the Hayward, Wisconsin area and has his own YouTube channel regarding fishing.  He does an excellent job of explaining the fishing scenario's on his video's and is especially interesting when it comes to going through how to use electronics to locate fish.  Tom posted this video last week and it influenced myself to get and try lead lining an long line trolling with planar boards in the deeper water off the flats on Mille Lacs.  I have been asked buy a good friend Greg Kinblom  to take him and his son Marcus back to Mille Lacs and this was a perfect time.  Although storms blew by the night before, Sunday was to be calm, partly cloudy, a perfect setup for trolling.  Unfortunately Marcus has a girlfriend who's parents were coming over for dinner on Sunday............it was a no go.  In their place was my good friend Jack Taylor and his son Ben.  I guess next time I see Marcus we'll have to go over his priorities once again!  Heading to 8 Mile Flat, the strategy was to fish just off the 25 foot break in the 32 feet of water. With barely a breeze we headed out from the landing at full throttle, full trim.  It was fun opening the boat up and still remain comfortable as we made the 6 mile run in about 15 minutes.   Everything ran exceptionally well with the exception of my live well valve, it still won't shut off the water coming into the live well on Recirculate.  More on that later.  8 Mile Flat looks like a big H facing north and south.  Starting on the west (Left) side of the bottom of the flat we positioned ourselves about 50 yards off the edge and got set up.  The first rod we rigged was a long line rod with a Reef Runner 800 deep diver.  This lure will run at 28 feet with the about 150 feet of line let out.  Ben originally wanted to use pink, not my favorite on Mille Lacs but the kid needed to learn a lesson so we put on a pink colored Reef Runner.   Using a line counter reel we let the proper amount of line then attached a Offshore Tackle planar board to the line which will carry it 20 yards to the side of the boat.  Next Jack an I rigged up a lead line setup, each has an 8'6" trolling rod with a large reel that carries 10 colors of lead line.  Lead line is simply a braided Dacron line with a lead core inside.  The line comes in a variety of diameters based on the breaking strength one is interested in.  Regardless of the size (diameter) they all have on thing in common, the line is segments of 10 yards (30 feet) long that are different colors.  For each segment or color, the line at 2.0 mph will sink 5 feet deep.  With normal lead line to fish 25 feet deep, one would let out 5 segments or colors.  On the end of the lead line is tied a fluorocarbon leader, maybe 10 - 12 pound test and I tend to make them 10 - 15 foot, so the lure has a minimal effect on how deep the lure itself will run.  With a number 5 Shad Rap it may only run a couple of feet deeper than the stated lead line depth,  and usually a walleye on the bottom will come up 4 to 5 feet and slam the lure.  In all the years fishing I would estimate that the number 5 shad rap crankbait has caught more walleyes in my boat than all other crankbaits combined.  Of course I do use them alot!  In the case of lead line my reels are loaded with Suffix brand 832, a thinner diameter line that runs 7 to 8 feet per color instead of the standard 5 foot per color.  The thinner diameter allows one to add more line to the reel and in the case of using the 832, I can get all 10 colors on my line counter reel just in case something would happen to the end of the line, which I've experienced before.  In 32 feet of water we attached our lures and set them to the proper depth.  It took a while but about after an hour of trolling Ben's planar board was acting funny.  I had him reel it in and checked the lure, nothing so telling Ben pink was not cutting it I attached one of my favorites, a brown perch pattern.  20 minutes latter Ben pull this walleye from the depths.

Fishing wasn't terribly fast.  We had a little trouble with the planar boards a those reef runners pull very

Jack's 25 inch walleye

hard and was finding it difficult to keep the back line clip in place.  Keeping slack between the main line clip near the front of the board and the back clip that is hooked to a flag system is critical as the flag acts as a strike detector and if it's down you probably have a fish.  After getting it clamped on the line we let it out and before long the flag went down, another fish.  That would be Reef Runner 2, Shad Raps 0.  We started aggressively changing colors on our Shad Raps, finally putting a Fluorescent green/white on Jack' line and before long his rod was bouncing in the rod holder.  One nice thing is my EZ Troll, kicker motor throttle control.  When we had a fish on we could dial down the speed to a crawl, this would not mess up the existing lines that were set yet allow one to fight the fish without the pull of the motor.  This fish looked like a nice walleye and once in the net it was definitely what we were looking for, a 25 incher.  Deciding that this might be a clue I changed the Shad Rap on my line from a crawfish colored pattern to a lighter colored, similar to Jack's.  The previous strategy was to use a color similar to the Reef Runner as Ben had already caught 2 nice walleyes, but I had dragged it for over an hour with little success.  Unfortunately I had a nice white/chrome shad rap on earlier but it got hung up in some weeds that were floating and the line broke.  We did go back to try and find it but were not successful unfortunately.  Well after 30 minutes of switching my rod starts to bounce in the holder, I was finally on the board.  After setting the lines and another 30 minutes of trolling Jack tied into a dandy.  The battle ensued and he finally got it up to the surface.  I estimate it was in that 27 to 18 inch range.  Putting the net in the water and asking Jack to bring it my way, a quick head shake and the hook came out.  A quick flip of it's tail and she was gone.Although it meant no picture, it's a great way to release a fish as we work hard to unhook them quickly and get them back in the water.

Finally a Walleye!

So a quick day of fishing which included 6 hours on the water, 7 walleyes to the boat, and a variety of lures tried.  Maybe not my best day of trolling but we did not come home skunked.  The lake was beautiful and with a slight breeze from the Northwest it was just about perfect.  the original plan was to go on Saturday but severe storms had moved through that area Friday night and usually fishing isn't that good after a big storm rolls through.  Apparently they had an isolated storm come across Mille Lacs Saturday night..........well that sounds like a great excuse!  Either way it was fun, especially being able to teach Ben how to run the boat, he did fine so all I had to do was to bark out some instructions and keep the lines going.

I am still having issues with this new version of blogger, it tends to drive me crazy.....I suppose it's the old adage, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks!  Between trying to get out on the boat and the river, there are plenty of things to do.  The second crop of sweet corn is ripening this week, the tomatoes look great and it will be time to make salsa again this year.  Canada recently closed it's border until September 21st so no trip to Lac Seul this fall, a pretty big disappointment but one just has to take it in stride.  It looks like our rescheduled Leech Lake Opener on October 9th is still on so that is good.  The winning strategy there should be trolling shad raps and I am set.  My brother Steve is working on getting a new boat and I've committed to helping him remove any electronics from his current boat and reinstalling them.  One thing that has me going is seeing the posts from my good friend Keith Holtan (he is located at the left side of this post or here ) .  Gary Blinn, a guy who frequents Keith's place in Alaska but also by chance is often at Lac Seul Outposts when we are there, is pictured with a nice silver salmon.  It takes me back to those days with my brother and cousins as this is the perfect time of the year to fish Alaska as the pinks come into the rivers and it's like catching sunfish!  Those were some good times for sure.  We will see Keith this winter, maybe I'll help him with his booth at the Sport show this year, and we'll definitely have to go ice fishing again!

Back From lac Seul

Lac Seul Outpost "Red Tops"

Interesting, usually I find time to write this either at lunch hour or stayed late after work to finish this however now that I don't go in and I was all set up on my computer I have had to relearn how this even works!  As you can see, I did figure it out but finding the time is also an issue believe it or not.  So a couple of weeks ago Bruce called and two guys on their June trip cancelled at the last minute and asked if Pete and I would like to go back up.  The dates would be that we would have to be at the docks at Deception Bay at 8:00 AM on Friday, June 14th, returning out of camp on Tuesday morning June 18,  This put into motion a number of things that needed to be resolved.  First was the Ranger sitting at Frankie's, the insurance issues needed to be resolved before the boat could get started on.  Getting a hold of the insurance guy and straightening a few things out by Friday night the 7th it was a go.  The next Monday found me at Frankie's to see what the possibility of getting the boat by Thursday evening.  It would all depend on when the parts came in.  I did not put the burden on them and I know they did their best but on Wednesday the critical part, the main motor mount, was not in and could not promise.  That's OK, Plan B, talking to my brother Steve, who just got back from Lac Seul a week ago.  "Ya wanna go back up, we are leaving Thursday night, we need your boat, I'll drive" but he had too much going on at work. He did say we could use his boat, that was nice but too much screwing around. Plan C, rent a boat from camp, so Pete called Ken and explained our situation, he confirmed an asked if we could drive a couple of his Red Top boats back into camp, which definitely put us in that Drive All Night strategy. with nothing more than gas and the border in front of us, we left at 7:00 PM on June 13th with the plan on being at Deception around 4:30 AM, sleeping in the car for a bit then head to camp at 8:00.  The ride up was rather uneventful until we left Ft. Francis, Ontario at 12:30AM.  About 20 minutes north on hwy 502 we came across something black laying on the road.  Originally it looked like a piece of tire off a truck so at the last minute I decided to straddle it.  In a split second we decided it was a bear most likely dead already as we ran over it, the big thump and the truck rising up a couple of inches pretty much gave it away.  Everything seemed fine so we kept

Gary Blinn, a sight for sore eyes!

going only to catch a glimpse of a moose entering the ditch to our right, just crossed the road.  That is something one doesn't want to tangle with.  I was surprised at the amount of deer around Dryden but finally at 4:20 we pulled into the landing, parked and attempted to get some sleep.  We were 500 miles north of home and at that time the sun was already starting to rise.  Having slept about 90 minutes the boats started showing up and Mike Wiley, Bruce's son, who stayed in Sioux Lookout would soon be here.  Helping Mike load up the boat, the first of 3 camp boats showed up, it was Ken.  Tying him up and 10 minutes later the barge (the one who towed me back a couple weeks earlier) and 2 more Red Tops show up.  Helping one of the boats, the guy driving was none other than Gary Blinn, a gentleman I know from my friend Keith Holtan.  Gary was in camp last June when we were there and he brought a group again this year, I missed him by a week!  He has a business in Chattanooga, Tennessee and boy did they have the stuff!  Actually the barge was loaded with their groups possessions, enough that they rent an enclosed trailer in Minneapolis, their plan was to drive back then fly south.  I got him to pose for a picture to send to Keith.  He is a very nice man and it was a nice surprise to see him unexpectedly.  It would have been nice to be in camp with him as one of his guest, Lord I don't remember his name, but he is a fabulous picker and it is a pleasure just to hear him.  He remembered me as he got off the boat, we said hi.  Usually Gary will go to Alaska and stay with Keith in the even years as that's when the pinks and silvers are in the Kenai River and apparently both Gary and I believe, is the best time to go.  Maybe I will see him next June.  It was time to leave so after helping Gary load, I got in the Red Top with Mike's friends Dave and Alex and I followed Ken back to camp.  It went pretty good as we passed the scene of the crime from 3 weeks ago and made it in without any trouble.  After unloading and settling in it was time for a little nap which really helped!  We scheduled the rental for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so the rest of the day was relaxing, not hard to do up there!

Alex and his 35 inch norther off the dock. 

Alex, Dave's son, is 11 years old and reminds me of myself when I was that age.  He could not wait to get up in the morning and fish the dock before breakfast.  The dock at camp is a great place to fish as it's easy to catch walleyes, saugers, and northern pike.  While getting our nap in, Alex was down catching walleyes, one after another.  After finally getting set, it was time to see how Alex was doing.  Within a couple of minutes from arriving he tangled into something that definitely wasn't a walleye.  Finally landing it, it was a 35 inch northern, a beautiful fish.  we got it unhooked, snapped a few pictures and let it go.  That was a great way to start a trip.  He actually casts a bait casting reel pretty good for an 11 year old, I will have to give him credit.  His tackle selection wasn't very good for northerns so I dug into my box and set him up with a leader and some spoons for casting.  With Friday behind us Saturday was the start of a new day as our rental boat was ready and in front of the cabin.  It was a brand new Lund 16 foot with a 30 hp Mercury tiller on back, no electronics, just and anchor and a cooler.  I told Pete he could drive, as it was my turn to relax and complain!  Our first day was in Tuk Bay, one of my favorites.  We did catch a lot of walleyes but admittedly one get's used to the electronics and the trolling motor's anchor function, but heck we were in Canada.  In previous satellite maps I saw where the Tuk River flowed into the bay which looked much like where the Wapesi empties into the lake and we headed up to investigate.  We found the rapids however it wasn't as deep therefore the fishing wasn't very good however we got out and walked up a ways seeing moose tracks, eagle feathers, and the leftovers from something's whitefish dinner.  As we were coming out of the area, I was casting the stumps and a few lily pads for northerns using a red and white Daredevil when something hit it.  it wasn't that big and when it arrived at the boat it was a walleye!  I should have took a picture as the last walleye I caught on a Daredevil was 47 years ago with Hub Rose, we were trolling a small channel going into a lake off of Lake Nipigon, when a walleye hit it.  Hub threw it back because at that time we were fishing northerns and not interested in these trash fish!

Typical Chamberlain Narrows Sunset.

The next 2 days were Sunday in Wapesi and Monday we fished the Bear Narrows region.  It wasn't bad but again really missed the electronics.  Sunday we headed to the Wapesi River and caught a few but not spectacular.  It was good to see a full river as the rapids was beautiful as always.  While fishing a point by an island a camp boat kept going back and forth, we figured he was lost.  Coming up to us we gave him the way out however when we left, about 3 miles up the lake he was still running around.  He finally saw us and decided to follow us home, thanking us later.  Monday was fishing down by Bear Narrows, close to where I had hit the rock.  Coming up to the green buoy it was located in 12 feet of water, apparently someone had moved it to the right position.  We finally found an area along an island on the north side of Bear Narrows that with the wind, offered a perfect drift patterns.  Pete had a hot rod using a chartreuse curly tail so I followed suit and we would get 5 to 7 walleyes each pass.  The wind was perfect and within a couple of hours we had our 8 fish to take home as well a a great time.  Drifting at a pretty good clip made the plastics a great choice, and it was a lot of fun despite the fact that we knew little about the depth, figuring it to be somewhere in the 12 to 18 foot level.  It was one of the best times I have fished Lac Seul, maybe because of the simplicity. Admittedly the Ranger is a lot more comfortable! Heading back on Tuesday was uneventful however I did want to mention that I drove my 2018 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 6.2L V8.  Keeping track of my mileage I was amazed that we averaged over 24  mpg for the 1000 mile trip, and the best we got in a 25 mile segment was 30.1 mpg, pretty impressive.  I will leave you with the view we have each evening, absolutely beautiful!

Back From Lac Seul, Part 2.

Nice 24 inch Canadian Walleye

Because our trips to Lac Seul usually run 3 days then upon return it's usually a weekend to get caught up, and there is usually a lot of things to post about, I tend to take advantage and stretch it into 2 weeks.  It is interesting, before going to Lac Seul I would have at least 4 trips to Mille Lacs by now yet I am still waiting for the opportunity to get there as the reports are the bite has been short of phenomenal, maybe next weekend as there is a family get together this weekend that will put a damper on my ambitions to get to Mille Lacs.  So I did catch some fish the previous weekend.  As stated last week, the numbers were not there yet I was still impressed by the numbers of larger fish over 22 inches, clearly over 50% of our walleye's caught, including the one pictured here!  Usually we stop at the Ojibwa Baits in Sioux lookout and I buy 3 or 4 dozen large minnows specifically for these big fish.  Not that the minnows in camp are sub-par, but it's nice to have a few larger minnows to attract the larger fish.  The group ended up fishing Wapesi again on the second day as Bruce decided to do a shore lunch for our 10 year old guest, Alex.  Shore lunch is always a group event, I clean the fish, a fire needs to be built, potatoes and beans are cooked first before the old cast iron frying pan is filled with oil and put directly on the fire. We found a nice sandy area where I could park my boat without worry of scratching the bottom on the rocks.  While cleaning the walleyes I noticed a leech had attached to a sore on my foot and was having its own "shore lunch"  Leeches, especially the blood sucking kind, are opportunists and with a sore, blood vessels are just a bit away as they somehow have an analgesic effect where one doesn't feel them bite then secondly they inject and anticoagulant so as to keep the blood flowing as they feed.  I didn't take a picture unfortunately, but it did remind me of my late brother Jon, who had a tissue transplant on his face due to the horrible disease he suffered with.  In the hospital the doctors

Bruce Cooking Shore Lunch

would put on special blood sucking leeches that were bred specifically for this function.  The nurse came in and using sugar water set a leech on his cheek to entice them to bite.  Once attached to his skin, they would inject the anticoagulant into his tissue and start sucking blood.  The would literally gorge themselves and become 6 or 8 times their original size.  What this did was promote the proper blood flow into his transplanted tissue as they did this a number of times during the day.  It worked and Jon was able to have some sense of a new cheek.  When I removed the leech from my foot the sore bled for a good 10 minutes before it stopped.  I guess we all have to eat!  Well, Bruce's shore lunch was delicious as always and both Alex and his dad had a great experience.  It took about an hour before we cleaned up our mess, put everything in the "Shore lunch" box, then made triple sure the fire was put out before heading back to fish.  It was kind of nice as everyone was quite full wen getting back to the cabin so no one had to make supper that night!

Two Handsome Guys!

One of my favorite things is to meet people, especially those who have something in common with myself or a situation.  My good friend Keith Holtan, Alaskan Guide, has cabins on the Kenai River near Soldotna, and every time we tried to rent from him in August, he was already booked with a man from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Gary Blinn.  This happened for a couple of trips then one year Gary took Keith to Lac Seul Outposts with him and his crew, as Keith had worked out the time to fish with him.  Well, Keith informed me that Gary would be in Camp the same days that I would be so it turned into a goal, to go and introduce myself to Gary.  Talking to Ken, the owner of Lac Seul Outpost, and asking him which cabin Gary was in, he said Cabin 6.  And oh by the way, Gary is a great guy, you'll like him.  Well those words echoed Keith's same thoughts so I knocked on the door and introduced myself.  It was a great first meeting as I started by giving him crap for renting Keith's place when we were there! Actually not a big deal as we shared some home made core hush puppies he had made, absolutely fabulous.  Not wanting to over play my self invite, we talked about things we had in common and I promised I'd return on Tuesday night with a bottle of good Red wine and a steak that I cook every trip.  Of course I kept that promise, he enjoyed the steak and wine, and it fulfilled a desire to meet this famous man that graces a number of people I know.  We had a great time and his guest were also pretty interesting, all in the medical fields in or near Chattanooga.  One actually was very good at playing the guitar and sung pretty well.  I challenged Gary to bring himself and some of his friends to experience ice fishing this winter at JR's on Red Lake.  We'll get some houses and stay on the ice, these southern boys will be in for an experience of a lifetime, at least for them!  It is an even year on the Kenai and Gary will be at Keith's again so I told him to add to the pressure, they can fly into MSP, I'll pick them up and away we go north, first to Brainerd to pick up Keith then on to JR's, I know they would have a blast!

As stated, I have to get to Mille Lacs soon before the bite slows down.  Next week is the 4th of July and for years I fished with my good friend Tom Emmons and Tom McAtee on this day.  It's a great time to remember him.  The 4th is on a Wednesday and the plan is to go to Eau Claire and have a catfish fry, sounds good to me!