Ending 2006 In Style

Battling a fierce cold for the last couple of days, I decided to deal with my sickness on the ice rather than on the couch.  I figured that I'm sick either way, I may as well be sick and doing something I love instead of being a pile on the sofa.  So, Dingy and myself left early yesterday morning for the big pond (aka: Mille Lacs).  With a great trip the first time up there this year, my hopes were extremely high going into the morning.  After a broken rod, a few cuss words from Dingy, objects being thrown (Dingy again) , and crossing a major ice heave, we were to our first spot and fishing for the day.  We had minimal results from our first few spots for the day, but stumbled onto some late in the morning and decided to make that our campsite for the rest of the day.  Unlike last time we were out, the fish were not concentrated on the bottom ledge of the reefs, instead they were roaming around on the tops of the flats.  This required only about 75 - 100 holes from Dingy's what seemed like 200lb ice auger, and a sore back the next day.  By drilling all of these holes, we were able to move from hole to hole finding active fish instead of waiting for them to come to us.  This is my favorite technique for catching many walleyes and we probably tripled our catch for the day by doing this. 

When the day was all said and done, we had in the neighborhood of 20 eye's, one broken rod, a few classic misses from Dingy, and many good laughs.  While the giants weren't smacking for us on this day, we still had action and brought home a nice meal for the table.

On a side note, I want to give a "shout out" to my cousins Matt and Bobby and their buddies who were up on the lake as well.  They were fishing a different area and struck gold, limiting out on eaters for the four of them, and throwing many large fish back up to 28".  Well done boys! 

Happy New Years to all and Fish On in 2007!

Some Real Giants

 The first trip to Mille Lacs for the season is in the books. 

Mike, Dusty, Brandon and myself all spent the day on the big pond yesterday and found some awesome results.  Our morning started by fishing a spot that some friends had done well at on the weekend.  The fish were there, but they just didn't want to bite.  Knowing that we only had one day to get in on the action, we quickly packed up our gear and headed elsewhere.  My theory on this huge lake is that there is always fish biting somewhere. 

Our second spot of the day proved to be another bust as we scored only one jumbo perch and several smaller ones.  It was now almost noon, and we had to make a drastic decision as to what our afternoon was going to bring us.  With half of the day already gone, and only two walleyes in the pail, we knew we had to change up gears quite a bit and decided to put about 10 miles between us and anybody else on the water.  We hit the "MUD."  We were the first individuals on this particular mud flat for the year, and it was obvious right from the start that we were going to have a good afternoon of fishing. 

The fish started coming through the hole and everybody got in on the action.  Before today the biggest walleye Mike had ever caught through the ice was 22" and he broke this record several times before the day was over.  Not only that, but he also caught his largest ever at over 27".  Brandon also scored his largest ever and landed more than one fish over 25".  Dusty and myself caught several nice ones as well, but we were able to find a few more fish in the slot for dinner.  The trouble when you get on a bite like this is finding fish small enough to bring home for dinner.  On Mille Lacs this winter, everything from 20 - 28" must be released.  Our trouble was finding fish under 20", which is a great problem to have any time on the water. 

We found the fish we were looking for, but it definitely wasn't with ease, or luck.  We put about 40 - 50 miles on our fourwheelers and crossed some areas that no sane person would probably go.  This early in the season if you get out that many miles, you really have to trust yourself and the ice and know where you can and cannot go.  We found ice sheets as high as 10 ft in the air, and cracks of open water as wide as 5 ft.  If you are not paying attention when under these conditions, you will be one of the people we all hear about on the news.  We packed up and headed out 25 minutes before dark just for this very reason, and it definitely made our drive back to solid land a whole lot safer. 

We ended our day trip with several walleyes over 24".  Everyone caught a few large ones,  with our biggest fish of the day being in the 27 1/2" range.  We kept a total of 11 walleyes and 2 jumbo's for our fish fry.  With the first Mille Lacs trips in the books, I am already looking forward to the next time I get to hit the water.  They're biting, get up there and get on them.  Fish On!

 

WHAT A DAY!!

Uh Oh's from '06

While I enjoyed every trip on the water this season, it doesn't mean that they all went as planned.  Looking back at it now all I can do is chuckle at the things that happened and try to learn from what took place.  Not that I didn't already know how to pick out backlashes on a muskie reel, but I would say that I am now a professional at doing it even though the one in this picture went home with me and required a little TLC from my mother (thanks Ma).  That was the best one i've ever seen Tim (heehee).  I also was shown again more than once that my heavy muskie rods with the large cork handles do actually float when thrown out of the boat on accident, whew! 

The weather here in Minnesota as i'm sure everyone knows is never very predictable.  The trip up north to Mille Lacs with Don and his fishin buddy proved that again as we were faced with what was dead calm conditions that turned into hurricane winds and rain.  On that big pond you can just imagine the waves.  Sorry bout that one fellas.  We even experienced it on Minnetonka when we needed to take safety under a bridge as the fastest moving front that I have ever seen came rolling in causing near white out conditions for Bob and his nephew.  Thank goodness the fish didn't mind so much huh guys!!!

I guess I found out that my Ranger boat doesn't exactly float in ankle deep water.  Who would have guessed it???  Funnier thing is, I beached it on that spot more than once.  You'd think I would have learned...Oh well.. no harm done.  And why is it that tree's are so much easier to catch than muskies?? I guess the world may never know the answer to that one.  I'm not even sure I should mention the battle that I did during a tournament with one of the millions of rocks in Lake Vermillion.  If you didn't know this already,  THERE ARE ROCKS IN VERMILLION!

I can't say looking back at things now that I may have done a few things differently, but sometimes you just never know.  Thought i'd show a few pictures that show the not so great side of our wonderful sport to prove that we all face many challenges on our travels and how important it is to have a good sense of humor and laugh at some of the things that we are faced with.  FISH ON!!!

Oh Yes, There Is More

Sorry for the delay in finishing this story, but here is the rest of the trip.

After the tournament was over on Saturday, Mike and I wasted no time in heading south.  He headed for home, and I headed to Mille Lacs for 4 more days of fishing.  This time of the year can be brutal on the big pond for the simple fact that extreme sun and heat can cause for long and agonizing hours on the water.  The next four days proved to be just that.  During those days on the water clouds were an extreme rarity along with absolutely no wind.  The sun however, was always there and very very hot (brutal). 

Saturday night Mike Ernst came up to fish the evening and morning on Sunday, so as the sun was fading we ventured out onto the water to try our luck at the dusk bite as well as into the darkness.  Our thoughts were proven to be correct.  The fish that we were seeing were lazily sitting around with no thoughts of chasing a bait.  We planned on having things turn around after dark, but once the daylight slipped away, all hell broke loose on the bug factor and fishing was not even close to possible.  They were not mayflies, but they were similar and they came by the billions, literally.  It was the biggest bug hatch that I have ever witnessed in my life, which quickly ruled out any night fishing for the rest of my trip, which was a huge blow during this heat.  

Sunday morning we hit the water at first light.  We saw close to 20 muskies early, with two fish being hooked, and several other close calls.  We managed to loose both hooked fish which was unfortunate, but the action was there.  We switched gears by 8:00 AM and targeted the smallies for a while, then switched to my infamous shallow water walleye bite for some sight fishing for the big ones.  This worked, but as the sun got higher, we couldn't take the heat and called it a day.

After a fairly good morning on Sunday my hopes were still pretty high for my guests Don Murray and Ed Benecke who traveled many miles to battle the big ones.   Monday morning was our first time on the water.  The conditions were terrible to say the least, but we saw many fish early on with some close calls, but no muskies in the boat.  One of the best parts about fishing muskies on Mille Lacs is the bonus large northern pike that swim this water.  Don managed about a 37" which was the highlight of the morning.  To escape the heat, Don and Ed decided to hide indoors during the heat of the day, and return for the evening bite that we hoped would take place.  This turned out to be a mistake on this particular day, because a brief gust of wind and clouds came through and the fish turned on for myself .  I boated a 45" muskie which doesn't really have the same appeal when fishing by my lonesome.  By the time these boys could get back out on the water, the clouds were gone and the lake turned into glass again.  At the end of day one we managed to see nearly 40 different fish, catching one and having 3 others find their way off the line.  

Day 2 was more of the same for us.  It was very frustrating to have so many large fish swimming around the areas we were fishing only to have them watch the lures go by as if they weren't even there.  With night fishing not even being an option, we were forced to fish the heat and hope for the best.  We didn't land any muskies on Tuesday, which was a total bummer, and we even got to see the nasty side of Mille Lacs.  Our evening got cut short due to a very large and intense storm that came in a couple of hours before dark.  With hopes high from a big front moving in, we tried to fish till the bitter end in hopes of landing a quick one before the rain and wind hit, but it just made our drive back to the landing a lot more interesting.  The lake went from complete glass to 4 footers in a matter of 30 seconds as 50 mph gusts came tearing in.  The only positive to this front was that we were able to witness the most intense and amazing rainbow any of us had ever seen.  With all of the unfortunate turn of events that took place we all decided that we would skip our morning excursion and cut our losses.  With the weather being so unbearable, it made for very tough fishing on all of us.  Not all trips end with a ton of fish, but that didn't take anything away from the fun that Don, Ed and myself had on our days on the water.  These gentlemen were truly class act individuals, which made for many great stories and laughs.  Thanks for the fun time guys and I cannot wait to do it again! 

Wedding Bells & Muskies

With my buddy Jason Wagener's wedding fast approaching, we decided to get him away from the house for a couple of days of fishing on a lake he's always wanted to try.  We launched out of Waconia at about 6pm on Saturday night to fish the last hour or so of  daylight on the red hot Lake Mille Lacs.  With my recent results and the stable weather this past week, I felt very confident that we could get Jason his first muskie on a lake that he's always wanted to tackle. 

It didn't take long before we had our first encounter, and let me say it was quite an encounter.  It was roughly a 51-52" fish and I thought Jason was going to pee his pants.  The reaction to this monster was awesome and something that never gets old when the true giants come out to play.  Shortly after that, while explaining how to run the topwater bait that we were using at the time, Jason was not paying attention when Mike in the back of the boat yelled "Wags you got one." The fish came out of the water, missing his lure completely the first time, and then coming back and smacking it 10 feet from the boat.  It was not a giant, at about 36-37 inches, but the battle and explosiveness at boatside left Jason shaking.

With the water turning to glass the last 1/2 hour, all that was running through my head was thoughts of the big one coming up with a giant wake behind my topwater, then exploding on it half way to the boat.  So as you could imagine, this was pretty much all I kept on talking about to Jason and Mike, and needless to say,  our intensity was at an all time high.  With Darkness approaching and yet to have that massive wake, I decided to work back over a few of the fish we had seen  earlier.  We'll just say it paid off.  In the last seconds of daylight, Mike and I both watched as what appeared to be a submarine, rose up behind Jason's topwater, following closer and closer for what seemed like a mile and a half, when it finally unleashed its fury on Jason's bait.  It may go down as one of the top 10 battles that i've witnessed.  This fat 44" just wouldn't give up, and Jayson was loving every second of it.  What a great way to end an intense hour of Muskie fishing.  Jason's first two muskies (while fishing for them), and he only spent an hour trying (some people are so lucky sometimes).

With the fish going, and the weather staying the same, it was a no brainer that we would stay and fish the morning bite.  4:30 comes around pretty quick when you don't go to bed until 2, but that didn't make a difference to us.  Our confidence was so high that we didn't wonder IF we would get bit, but WHEN we would get a bite, and WHO would get it.  Well, we would have boated one within the first 5 minutes if I didn't make the biggest "rookie" mistake ever, and pull it away from a hungry, wide open mouth (sorry guys).  I guess I made up for it a little later by watching a 47" come out of the water and completely miss the bait right in front of my eyes, only to keep the same retrieve and watch the fish whip a 360 and smash it.  We ended the morning by seeing in the range of 10 -12 fish, and having a quite a few close calls, but only the 47" in the boat.  Still a good morning of muskie fishing, and I cannot wait to get back up on this great bite.

Mike, sorry buddy, but like you said, if you keep trying eventually you'll be catching instead of always watching, but hey you are a great net man, and your picture taking skills are awesome :)