Working Big Water

[Fran Myers]

2022 started with a huge life crisis for me and I found myself much more time to fish than I have had in years. Granted I got a late start because of a boat lift issue, everything is up and working and I am on the water pretty strong.

Three years ago I bought a cabin on Lake Mille Lacs. After the Native Americans won several court cases in the 90’s I had decided to never fish there. But since getting addicted to Smallmouth at Lake Erie and Lake StClair, when I was finally dragged to Mille Lacs I understood what a special place it is.

Now Mille Lacs does have special rules that makes it really challenging and quite honestly unexplainable - most of the time there is unbelievable opportunities for fish.

So…
Lake Mille Lacs depending on which source you look at has 144,000 acres of water. It has rocky bottoms, sand, mud and muck. It has great fields of cabbage and other native weeds and I am sure milfoil is there too. It tends to be on the clearing side of things with Zebra muscles and there are Muskies said to be over 65” long.

When I fished here the first time I found a school of Smallmouth adjacent to a rocky hump adjacent to the deepest water in the lake (42’) but despite repeated visits I haven’t been there the same time. I thought about using that hump as a center of a target and work out but I thought I would try closer to the cabin.

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This is a part of the South East section of the lake. That’s a LOT of water. For my attack plan I chose areas that had shallows and were surrounded by deeper water. Also because the structures were so BIG all I did was straight line passes. I started with a 250 because I didn’t see any water less than 6’. And I just went back and forth for HOURS. Each line was from .3 of a mile to 1 mile long. And all I did was mow the lawn back and forth.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten the courage to put the cameras up yet but I am now recording and have posted a couple videos. I am still figuring things out like camera location, quality of video, editing which includes multiple camera angles. It’s a lot to learn.

My new Garmins have Quick Draw so every pass I made update the map which pleases me.

Some conclusions…if there is rock on the bottom there are Smallies and Walleyes on it. If all there is is sand or mud, nothing. I don’t know if it’s a seasonal thing or permanent.

Here are 3 bars I have worked:

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All I can say is more to come Including an instructional version d on what we do at Lake Erie and Lake St Clair. It’s Long over due.

Thanks

[John Bales]

Fran, Make it short. What was learned? With all straight line passes, can you draw your finger in the water and say where the contact point is? What's next on these same structures? What about casting? I realize the wind can hamper casting but some casting will have to come at some time during the learning. What will you cast? Just asking. John

[Garry B]

Fran, being from Minnesota, I am sure that you heard of the Griz. When Dick was younger, he guided on Winnie, Mille Lac and other lakes. Now that he's a lot older, Dick mostly fishes the Mississippi and St.Croix river in the twin cities with his jon boat. I have fished with Dick starting in the 1980's. Dick has caught thousands of walleyes on the mud flats out in middle of Mille Lac. Dick is famous for "snap jigging" while slow trolling in the shallows. But when Dick is fishing Mille Lac, he uses only one presentation on the mud flats. See below:

• 3-way swivel
• 18-20 inches dropper with a 3oz pencil weight
• 10-foot leader with 7 green beads, a hammered silver Colorado and a fine-wired Aberdeen hook. Use the smallest Rainbow minnows that you can find. Hook the minnow through the mouth, out the gill, spin the hook and hook the barb into the side of the minnow.
• Just feel the hit and sweep the rod to set the hook.

Dick says the 3oz pencil weight stirs up mud which attracts the walleye looking for a meal and then comes along the rainbow minnow on the 10 foot leader. Dick laughingly says that he has drug the 3oz. pencil weight over the mud flats so many time that the mud flats now has furrows in the mud.

[MuskyAddict]

Fran- thanks for sharing. Looking forward to hearing more of what you learn. You will undoubtedly learn a lot as you work the structures you are targeting. Mille Lacs is a massive lake with unique weather and constantly changing water conditions. I admire your tenacity to figure it out.

Ken

[Bink]

Fran are you catching fish while you “ mow the lawn for hours”?
I’m a bit surprised by your plan of attach. I just assumed with your experience with the electronics and side imaging you wouldn’t just get a quick outline of the bar and then possibly go back to any areas that might show promise on the Side scan.

[John Bales]

If I make it out today, it will be day 97 for this season. Headed out to get my back re-aligned in hopes of feeling better. It used to be once a year, then twice a year and now quite more often. Just a slight missed step or wrong move can make a day on the water not so comfortable. Thank God and this great country for allowing me to spend lots of time doing what I love to do. Mr. Perry said that we can judge our success by our catches. He would always hold both hands up as imitating holding up a stringer of big fish. Knowledge is still the key to success. What we do on the water with that knowledge will control our continued learning and the catching will take care of itself. There are many aids out there that if used with good spoonplugging knowledge can take you to a complete different level of understanding. A fisherman should never place limitations on themselves. John

[John Bales]

Bink, I will answer this for Fran. We have discussed how to learn this monster of a lake. This thing is 144,000 acres. His house is on the SE end so it would make sense to start with the structures near home. When this place riles up, it can kill a dude with a small boat so learning something about what is near is a great start. I have used the mapping on my garmin units. I have to say that I have actually found some shallower features that I could not fully understand without this tool. So the time it takes to map any area with the most accuracy , passes have to be made to over lap one another. What this will do for him down the road will show him the high spots within the structure that will become very important when the smallmouth come shallow next spring. So far, the depths he has gone has not allowed him to see most of the contact points which he will eventually find and are those depths which are important this time of year. He will get there in time. Sure, he could have done it exactly like you said and he would have had one or two exact spots to cast or make good passes on. I think his investment in this fine home he has, he wants to really know the structures well for the future and this means starting out shallow and work his way out. Some of those bars have rocks that can take a mans prop right off and most are marked. He told me he wants to take it a little at a time and will eventually come to know it all. 144 thousand acres is a lot to learn. John Forgot to say that while mapping, his lures were in the water and he caught his share of fish while learning and letting the depth finder draw really good maps to use down the road.

[Fran Myers]

Bink,
Even with my experience and all the expensive electronics, I still have to do the basic work of going back and forth with a lure out learning the structure. With so much water 145,000 acres I can’t just use my experience to catch fish. I could get a guide, I could just pick a direction and start catching. But I must use our guidelines.

Now I may go across the bar with once without a lure but I almost always have a lure in the water talking to me. Another thing how will I find breaklines and stuff. And at Lake StClair I do just put waypoints on the piles and just go point to point to point.

Maybe this is a good example of procedures. I could have just gone around the outside of the bar but because of the size that I would learn nothing. Straightline passes were the only way to figure anything out.

Does sidescan work? Absolutely but it’s only a partial answer.
I just don’t know how I would get the answers I need to be successful.

[Bink]

I guess this is more you have the time to do it thing. Not living on a lake and only getting limited time I’d just never think about putting that much time into mapping when there’s so many spots that jump off the map.

[John Bales]

Your right Bink. Having lots of time to spend on the water means a lot. Not only can you fish more, you have more time to study everything you have ever thought about. If those are your goals. Yesterday was day 100 for me since the ice came off on March 9th. For me, taking the time to know all of my structures has paid off in the long run. More and bigger fish with more consistent catches. More time spent in the best places I have a chance to catch a fish. More time spent on depth and speed controls, trying to understand seasonal movements and just more time thinking and doing. Much satisfaction comes with the learning. A person wonders what retirement is going to be like. It will be what ever you have the desire to make it. You can be as good as you want to be, now and when you have more time. John