Scouting For This Weekend



Tom's 27 3/4" Walleye on an X-Rap

 My brother Steve is one of my best friends.  About 45 years ago our Dad would have begged to differ as we had our share of scuffles growing up together.  I remember one incident in particular, as we were pushing each other around on the stairs he took a swing at me.  That day I was faster than him and when I ducked his fist continued all the way through the sheet rock.  I knew we were in trouble, however it was apparent that he would take the brunt of it, I mean really, it was his fist that put the hole in the wall.  The years have added civility to our relationship as we have been to Alaska together, ice fishing at Lake of the Woods, is a seasoned member of Team Walleye, and the occasional trip to Mille Lacs.  Steve has recently changed jobs and the company owners love to fish.  When the subject of Mille Lacs came up he said that his brother Dave fishes it all the time, which evolved into let's go and this weekend it's show time!  Steve, his son Kevin, and 6 others are meeting me on Friday as we try to put some fish in the boat. September can be an interesting time of year to fish Mille Lacs.  My strategies have changed through the years as long line and lead line trolling have become an important technique to catching walleyes.  The walleyes have been hit pretty hard this year as well, things have changed regarding fish location in September and October.  It was a given that starting about the first of August the big fish would move back on the reefs to take advantage of the forage found there.  My only mounted walleye came off 3 mile reef on August 12, 1988 in 5 feet of water, right at dusk.  There were years where I could show up on a reef, cast shallow running lures like Rouges or Husky Jerks and catch 10 - 15 walleyes in that half hour before sunset to dark time period with a few in that 28 inch class.  The last 4 - 5 years this pattern has definitely changed.  Myself and a few others who have taken advantage of this now


My First walleye of the night

 rare bite believe that the recent change in smallmouth regulations which only allow one fish over 21 inches have affected the shallow negatively (for walleyes).  We theorize that the smallmouth populations have exploded and have taken over the shallow rock reefs making it almost impossible for a walleye to find anything to eat there.  Certainly there has been a movement to deeper water and maybe it was already there, we just didn't know.  All I can say is things have changed.  So in light of my task, neighbor Tom Olson and I went up Saturday afternoon to do some pre fishing.  Launching out of Cove Bay, the plan was to fish the deep water for a few hours, hit the shallow rock points before settling into that "potential" shallow water crankbait bite at dusk.  Well the deep trolling simply burned gasoline and the shallow rock point proved little to build my confidence.  On to Anderson's Reef where I have had success before but it's been hit or miss.  Tom likes to cast for muskies so he casted a large #13 jointed X-Rap while I pitched for walleyes.  About the time I lamented the lack of fish on the reef a dandy 27  3/4 inch walleye grabbed his muskie lure.  Not that walleyes don't hit large baits but it is a good example of "big fish eat big baits". 



19 inch walleye on a #5 Hot Steel Shad Rap

 With the sun setting we changed to long line trolling shad raps and rouges at the edge of the reef.  I have a milk run that goes from the south tip of Anderson's, up along the west side and over to a little known hump and back.  Much of this water is 10 feet and word was that this depth was putting out fish.  My favorite color shad rap has been Hot Steel as it's been a great lure both for shallow water and deep lead lining.  15 minutes into the troll I hooked my first walleye, about 13 inches and came out of the 10 feet depth.  My next fish was a 12 inch smallmouth and was followed up with a 14 inch smallie.  As a side comment, I'd love to keep a few of them.  Smallmouth bass out of Mille Lacs are as good deep fried as any walleye can be.  Swinging around the hump something more substantial hit the lure and we landed this 19 inch walleye, interesting..............maybe the reef bite might materialize this year.   In the next 30 minutes I got another smallmouth and an 18 inch walleye before darkness settled in and the bite went dead.  After a half hour of trolling with nothing to show it was time to head in.  We ended the night with 4 walleyes including the nice 27 3/4 incher, 4 smallies, not bad for a short time fishing.  It goes back to what I had stated earlier, often the bite this time of year is in that last 2 hours of fishing and it was no different this time.  This is why I am never much in a hurry to leave for Mille Lacs in September.   A comment on the drive back to Cove Landing.  There is a very shallow rock reef that lies across the entrance to Cove Bay.  In recent years it has been marked with red and green navigational buoys however I have it marked in detail on my GPS as they will eventually remove the buoys for the winterbefore open water fishing ends.  At night I simply follow my route with out incident.  For some reason this year they decided to add additional buoys and extend them out further from the reef.  The route I have on the GPS now has a red buoy smack in the middle of my marked entrance.  It's a reminder that you can never trust the exact placement of the buoys on Mille Lacs and if I had remembered my spotlight, things would have been better.  I didn't hit it thank God!!

I look forward to fishing this weekend however the wind cast has both Friday and Saturday at 20 mph from the Northwest.  It will definitely change our strategy of where to fish and of course help cool the water down.  The surface temp was still 68 on Saturday but I expect it to have dropped under 60.  With air temps in the 50's predicted, its interesting when the water is warmer than the air.  We are due for our first frost soon and it should put an end to canning tomatoes, finally!  In Chicago next week for the exciting Coil Winding Show as I have a reservation with a good supplier at Gibson's Steak House on Wednesday.  It's quite an experience if you haven't been there.

Walleyes with Welly

It's been an interesting week as we are on a collision course with autumn.  I am writing this from the San Diego Convention Center exhibiting at a medical show.  The weather here is beautiful and consistent, 70 degrees during the day and 65 at night.  Intellicast is saying tonight will be 30 degrees at home.  Usually that number is associated with the temperature at the airport so unless they are wrong we could have a hard freeze.  The garden is in a low spot, so much for my watermelons!  The great news is the mosquito's day's are limited.  I am flying back on Thursday and will assess the damage then.  Sunday was the full moon, the opportune time to fish walleyes on Mille Lacs.  During past September mid month fishing trips to Mille Lacs, I have been extremely successful casting Shad Raps and Rouges on the shallow mid-lake reefs.  An hour before sunset to an hour after, the reef would become the popular destination for walleyes looking for an easy meal.  Admittedly that bite and pattern hasn't been so good lately.  There were evenings where we would handily catch 12 - 15 nice walleyes.  My goal last Sunday was to see if that bite will ever materialize again.  Stopping at Lundeen's, Bill knew my plan and sarcastically ask if I was fishing for memories tonight!  Based on my success of the last 4 years that was a pretty honest assessment.  Even so if you don't try you'll never know so I had to try.   A new fisherman joined me, Welly Chou, an engineer that I work with.  Welly was born in Hong Kong, has developed into an excellent engineer as well an excellent Karaoke singer.  Having won a number of amateur contests, he even opened up for Keith Urban a few years back.  Not much of a fisherman, he expressed interest in accompanying me on one of my trips to the pond.   One thing I really enjoy is introducing fishing to someone who has little experience.  Sometimes I can be somewhat overwhelming with the electronics, methods, and strategies, Welly is curious enough to put up with that for a day.  After buying a fishing license we headed to the east side of the lake the plan was to lead line the nearby deep gravel bars for a few hours then head to the reef and cast shads through dark.   Connecting a #5 purple shad rap to Welly's line and the same in hot steel pattern to mine we let out 5 colors of line and started trolling.  We would go through pockets of fish but didn't seem to strike a pattern to make them hit.  Bill had called to see what we were doing and decided maybe the #5 shad raps were too small and the fish were looking for something different and larger, maybe a husky jerk or a rouge.  After hanging up on him we would switch after we went around the one hump however within about a minute the port rod bent over.  Giving Welly the rod he reeled in our first keeper walleye I had gotten in over 2 months, a nice 16 incher.  Resetting the lines back at 5 colors we went another 100 yards when we nailed another one.  Between the keeper walleyes would often be a single pull on the rod then it would return back to normal.  Reeling in to check the line there was a 9 inch walleye at the end of the lure.  Enough to move the rod but once hooked they would simply be dragged behind the lure.  Because you really want to keep a clean lure going you had to watch the rod all the time.

Within 45 minutes we had 4 keepers in the livewell and by the time 2 hours had passed we had 6 keepers, a nice 12 inch perch, and released a 27 1/2" as well as a 23 inch walleye.  In addition Welly caught a nice 28 inch northern pike, an unusual catch in 30 feet of water.   We ended up with 13 walleyes caught, 1 northern, and 5 perch.  Not bad for 3 1/2 hours of trolling.  As the moon began to rise over the horizon we decide to pull in the trolling lines and head to the reef to cast for walleyes.  As Bill gave me a hard time about "fishing memories" I noticed the buoy marking the northwest corner of the reef had been moved.  It is good that I have the latest Lakemaster chip which overlays the bottom contours (1 foot increments) on my front HDS5.  There were still GPS tracks from last October's trip so following the reef would be easy.  With a southwest wind we stayed on that side of the reef casting with the wind into the 3 - 5 feet of water.  It took about a half hour to cover the entire reef and as Bill probably predicted, not even a follow.  Having to fly to California in the morning, I decided that one pass was enough.  If the fish were there they would have hit.  Not the case.  Maybe Bill is correct as this would be the 5th or 6th time I have tried my hot pattern of 6 years ago with little or nothing to show for it.  I am not sure what has changed but it certainly doesn't look good.  I will try again in a week or so and maybe we just need a little cooler weather (it's coming!).   With surface temperatures in the mid 70's this could be the key, we'll see.

My good friend Adam Mayerich is getting married this Saturday.  I gave his him and his dad a lesson on trolling walleyes on Leech Lake last opener and I am looking forward to seeing him and his family.  Sunday will probably find me back in Eau Claire as my brother Jon has been in Intensive Care since last Friday with a severe case of pneumonia.  I am worried about him as he has had enough medical problems in his life.  I am not anxious to see the frost damage tomorrow but unfortunately it is what it is.  Maybe we'll be ice fishing soon!!!