Due to circumstances beyond our control, the FW and I didn’t make it to our yearly vacation spot in June. The resort owner geneously re-scheduled us for last week. We had an enjoyable time at Whitewood resort on Spirit Lake, just East of Hwy 169.
Our usual plan is to spend some time fishing at the resort lake as well as venture to other local lakes to see what they have to offer. We had success fishing for Bass and Northerns using a variety of methods. The numbers were great but for the most part size was lacking. We caught quite a few 14-15 inch Bass. Jigging the deep weedline produced slightly larger fish but it was slow going. In shallower water the bait of choice was a white buzzbait, which was pretty entertaining. The reed beds were the place to be for that presentation. Northerns were hitting brightly colored spinnerbaits all day and into the late evenings. If I never see another 18 inch long Pike it will be too soon! The exception was the first evening. We were working a bed of cabbage weeds in what is a classic “big pike” spot. There’s a finger of very deep water that reaches up into the surrounding flat. I threw a Team Supreme spinnerbait up to the ring of cabbage weeds at the tip of this deep water and was immediately bitten off! It takes quite a fish to bite off a spinnerbait. My wife followed up in the same spot and hooked up with this fish. She had it boatside in a few seconds and I could see by the size of it’s head that it was a good fish. I also saw it was barely hooked, so I did something a I rarely if ever do and netted it while it was still pretty green. So congradulations to Ramona on her all-time biggest Pike, 36 inches!
Panfishing was productive as well. The fish were in their typical late summer patterns, schooling up deep along the outside weedline. Outside turns and points held more fish than inside turns. I was using the Bill Cadwell “Ice Fishing” method. I had a short ultralight rod, 4 pound line, and an ice fishing jig with a waxworm. You just drop it right over the side of the boat and watch carefully for a subtle pickup (no bobber). Just like ice fishing except it’s warm out. We had to sort through quite a few to come up with a meal or two but the better ‘gills were in the 7 to 8 inch range. One subtle but important point involved knot placement on the jig. If the jig wasn’t hanging horizontally the bigger fish wouldn’t hit it. It paid off to check the knot and slide it one way or the other to get that jig hanging right.
We spent Friday on Cedar Lake. This lake is known for it’s excellent Bass fishing and it’s been stocked with Muskies for many years now. FW fished for Bass while I threw the heavy metal looking for a Muskie. We weren’t on the lake for 5 minutes before I raised one on the edge of a long point. It was a “cold” follow as the Muskie was 3 feet behind the lure and well behind it. It still gets my heart pumping to see one! We had one “hot” fish, which chased my bucktail back to the boat and actually bumped it a couple of times without really hitting it. Ramona had the same fish swirl around her spinnerbait a few times too. She was so rattled I thought I was going to have to pull the wires off the trolling motor and jump start her heart. Pretty exciting stuff. By day’s end we had raised 5 Muskies, caught numerous Northerns up to 32 inches and also caught several Bass.
The only downer all week as on Tuesday when we attempted to find some Smallies on Mille Lacs. Problem number one is that the lake is very low right now. We tried to launch at the Cedar Creek access on the East side but found about 6 inches of water there. We ended up at Fisherman’s Wharf and even there it was dicey getting out to the main part of the lake. There was 1-2 feet of water for the first 200 yards. Once we got away from shore we hit Doe Island, Pine Island, 2 1/2 Mle reef, 3 Mile Reef, and Big Point. Nothing, nada, zip! Even the bait fishing guys were soaking their feet in the lake and drinking beer. Once again I come away from this lake with nothing to show for a lot of hard work. I don’t get it; I’ve gone to strange lakes and come up with something but I’m becoming convinced that Mille Lacs really is the dead sea. The guys on this site who actually catch fish on that lake have my respect as I sure as heck can’t do it 
And it wouldn’t be vacation without a little adventure. The resort owner need a little help with a downed tree. it turned out to be a several trees, big heavy trees, and about 2 hours of hard work. But hey I got to use a chain saw so it was fun 
Rootski
thanks again for a great report form the Aitkin area. There are so many good lakes in this area that do not get the recognition they should. Maybe that is a good thing we can keep them to ourselves.