The fishing reports have been a mixed bag this past week at the Red Door Resort. Some have had success catching fish while others have not. The results have shown a decline in the fish cleaning shack also. The walleye that are getting caught are coming from the northern flats. Fishing the breaks have been the best areas. Rigging has been one of the better presentations pulling a long lindy rig with a large or jumbo leech. A few fish are coming on spinners and crawlers. The fish are at times difficult to locate while other times they are very visible on the sonars. The water temperature has been in the mid 70's this past week. Looking at the calendar and seeing that we are now in the last week of July really makes you aware how fast the summer is passing us by. The month of August is just around the corner and it can be a exciting time to be on Lake Mille Lacs. I’m looking forward to it!
Do you guys ever wonder about what the mortality rate must be catching them big females in 34 feet of water. I myself quit cranking out there for the rest of the summer. Back to shallower water!
Sorry about my last post, for some reason when I reply using my phone I can't use capital letters or numbers.
As for the open water trolling fish, they all swim away healthy. Most of the time I am targeting fish at 25-28 feet in the water column, so they aren't laying on the bottom in 34 feet. These fish are aggressively feeding on tullibee and in turn, are some of the strongest fish in the lake. The tackle is pretty stout, so many times the fight is shorter than it would be on lighter spinning gear. The fish are quickly unhooked and returned to the water. The fish are never gut hooked or rarely in the gills, so bleeding is not a concern. I also try not to measure or take a picture unless its someone's personal best.
The way I see it is if fishing pressure was significantly hurting the walleye population, the DNR would tell us and they most certainly would not have expanded the slot size.
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Humana Insurance Representative-Brainerd and Mille Lacs Area
You are doing it right and that is all we can do. I hope to get a few slot size keepers and I tend to fish the water column in 22-26 feet. If they are not taking bait -- I can always enjoy the 'Power Loon' on the boat stereo right? Or I just follow Tat2Jonnie around on the north flats -- as he always catches fish! HA! Jon knows that I grew up there, too.
Do you guys ever wonder about what the mortality rate must be catching them big females in 34 feet of water. I myself quit cranking out there for the rest of the summer. Back to shallower water!
I have never "trenched" that deep with cranks. I too am targeting high suspended fish feeding. Lead core simply helps get the little cranks down. The best fishing I have is with boards and Little Rippers not far below the surface. As Fife stated the fish are lightly hooked in areas that are not fatal.
I would bet more people that feed a ton of line rigging and corking kill 99.9% more then crankers. When I rig I simply let them pull the tip back and hit em. Who wants to re-tie hooks all day long and it really hurts the fish as most people do not take the time to properly cut or remove a hook.
My two cents worth. Good luck out there...
When people graph a big area and say there is nothing down there they need to turn their head and look up!
