Well the bite is on!!! With terrible weather pretty much all weekend, the fish didn’t seem to care and were on the chew. As forecasted, there seems to be low levels of baitfish in the lake and anglers took advantage. The cold air and rain that blew in before the weekend didn’t seem to phase the walleyes at all. Water temps were 48-50 and the big lake was busy with boats.
Joining me this weekend was IDA member Lntony2 from Lansing IA. This was Tony’s first trip to Mille lacs and I was excited to get a river fisherman on the big lake. We decided not to head out at midnight Friday night but instead get on the lake early Saturday morning. It did not take us long to connect with fish on the northend sand flats. Long snells with leeches were the best producers. We found fish in 14 feet all the way to 26 feet. The key was finding groups of fish out in the basin. The fish were really slamming the rigs hard all weekend. But Saturday we missed a lot of fish. The old standard of feeding the fish line once the leech is picked up wasn’t working to well. These fish were slapping the leech so hard that on Sunday we weren’t giving any line at all. Once we felt a good thump, we set into the fish and it paid off. The key is finding these grouped up fish. With the north wind we had, it made for some good long drift runs. But today we headed for the sand in the Wealthwood area to see if we could find some fish that hadn’t seen a boat yet and it paid off.
We also pulled some Salmo crankbaits and dragged some BFT paddletails and hooked two fish on spinners. But the fish wanted that swimming leech. We boated a 14 inch walleye that had a cut line with a leech and a perch stuck in his throat and then he ate my leech. These smaller fish are aggressive and really putting on the feedbag.
Even though the weather was terrible. The fishing was great and will only get better.
nice post derek, plan on going up more often this summer
Excellent report Derek! It’s really good to see you getting on the water more!!
Nice fish Derek!! What was your biggest walleye?
Thanks for the report and pics Bud. Looks like that new boat of yours is doing a great job of catching fish no matter what body of water you are fishing on.
Glad to see you having a great time fishing both Mille Lacs and down in the southern part of the state too. 
Thanks, Bill
LNTony, were you able to hold your breakfast on the big pond?
Nice fish fellas 
Derek,
nice job on the Opener, and great report, keep ’em coming.
Jack..
I had a great time.It was good fishing a new body of water,and learning new ways to fish for walleye’s.I basicly am a river fisherman so this was truly a great experience.Thanks Derek and all the other IDA staff and members I got to meet.What a great time I hope to make it up again soon
. Alivinmack I kept it all in 
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Nice report Derek.
I can’t wait till I get up there and
some fish. I stopped at the Weigh in yesterday hoping to see a few of you guys. I saw a few but missed out on you and Tony. Nice seeing the rest of you boys and the fish were awesome Boober & Tuck. Tony now you are talking Chasing Monster whitetails and fishing the big pond. Life is now complete. 
Awesome report Derek
looks like you guys were hammerin em all weekend. Love2Fish.
Derek,sure is nice seeing all these fishing reports coming from you this year.It looks like you and Tony had a great week-end on the water.Whats the size of those 2 big eyes?
Ryan Hale
Nice fish!
Great report Derek. I would love to get up there sometime soon. Looks like a blast.
I hear ya Lip Ripper life is good
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Ryan.. 24 and 23.. Tony missed a dandy..
Great report Derek. Thanks.
Bowhuntr24 and I will be wetting a line up there this Friday and Saturday. Hope to have similar results.
Sully
Nice report Derek. It was good meeting you this weekend.
Josh
Rather than make another report on Mille Lacs, I would like to echo what Derek said. I found that rigging on the sand, the big girls hit so hard, that both big fish I got…I couldn’t even get my finger off the line to feed it! I just closed the bail with my other hand, and it was “Game on!” Here is one I got that taped out at barely 27″ while by myself. I hate taking pics this way…
Tuck
How’d you like the new boat on the bigger water?
Here is one I got with my Bro In-law Scott Olson. This one went a hair over 26.5″. Another nice healthy eye from the big lake. This girl was hanging around a small rock pile surrounded by sand in 22 FOW. Long snelling leeches and glo-beads.
The boat ran out great! Very dry and rode the big waves well! (Did I mention I love the top? Josh?
)
Here is ElRoy with a 27″ caught during a flurry where Josh Hukriede and his grandpa Art boated a 25″ & a 26″. My son Ben in the boat behind us boated a 25″ and ElRoy with his 27″. Unfortunately we had a mandatory check in at 2:00 PM, or we would have broke the 28″ mark!
(Did I mention I loved my top?) We put the fish house heater on the rod locker between the windshields, and it was shirt sleave comfortable. Unlike the poor soaks in the boats next to us shivering.
If you put enough time on the water, you all know you will see some flat out goofy stuff, and things that make you scratch your head, and go “Huh?”
Here is a 13″ walleye that would have gone 19″ if we could have used a tape measure rather than the “Judge.”
This thing had more twists and turns than Daytona!
Tuck;
That “thing” would make an AWESOME “jerk” bait glider for hunting muskies!!!!!
JUST KIDDING ALL!!!!!
But serious, it looks like the Dunwright glider!
Looks like a “brokeback” walleye..
Nice pics and report Tuck.
I can’t wait til I get up there on Friday
Good info derek. My only ‘novice’ add is that on Sat evening when the wind died and the skies cleared, the fish shut down…at least where I was at.
Considering the theory on the lack of bait fish, whats your (or others) opinion on how long it will last? I recall in 2002 it was awesome right up until July or so, then back to normal.
I noticed fish I cleaned of Bobber and Kooty from the sand were full of perch. Fish from the rocks were devoid of food. It would stand to reason that when the bug hatches start in the mid-lake, the smaller perch would follow, as do the walleye who eat them. That is probably why the sand dies off in about a week or so. In the fall, they move back in, and so do the walleye.
Tuck,
You remember what I told you about that top??? Right???
Josh
Hedder, we saw the same Sat night. I believe that’s why our boat had a poor slip bobber/crank bite Sat night. Usually when the wind blows with overcast all day long, the fish will chow pretty much all day and IMO don’t need to feed as much after dark. But some folks did say they did well on slips and cranks after dark..
I think we are going to see this bite only get better. From the size of the perch we saw in the fish, they are feeding on last years fall YOY perch. The smaller 14-16 inch walleyes are going to burn through that hatch in a hurry. The PWT in Aug will be interesting and should tell us more.
Forgot to also mention there was a nice fish fly hatch yesterday from what I heard..
Oh-oh….
Your hands are probably too wet to light a match! 
So Chris how do you like that top anyway?
You would have to ask Josh!
I think Josh would like to
me.