mille lacs jumbos

[JohnWester]

was out of lybacks saturday with a group... there are plenty of roads being maintained.  managed a few jumbos, but they really were not biting good.  but there are roads out.

also saw quite a few people fishing in isle bay... crappies!

[JohnWester]

oh yah... did I forget to mention sunscreen? 8)

[ScottPugh]

BFG - Nice meeting you , Pat and Leech.  I will get a report and some pictures up later on, but yea it was a good time, except for the sunburndt hands and face.   ::)

The fish just haven't grouped up just yet. 

[Spinach]

Aint no stinking Crappies in Mille Lacs.

[iceman]

Aint no stinking Crappies in Mille Lacs.

wanta make a bet ?

[Mayfly]

Mille Lacs Crappies:

[Mayfly]

[Spinach]

Aint no stinking Crappies in Mille Lacs.

[Mayfly]

Aint no stinking Crappies in Mille Lacs.

You are right. Those were all from the Atlantic.

[ScottPugh]

It wasn't for the lack of trying that’s for sure.  We moved four different times and Pete drilled ~ 50 holes through 32+" of ice.  Some spots with the snow we buried the extension on the auger; I bet Pete is still wore out two days later. 

My group of three started just south of the tundra @ 7:00 and found some nice structure on some rocks that in the matter of 100 yards it dropped from 8ft to 20ft.  Nothing but small fish there, but lots of them, maybe we missed the bigger ones.  ???

We moved on to deeper water and Pete went to work drilling and drilling and drilling some more.  First couple lines down got a few 10" Jumbos and then the fog started to lift and the fish seemed to start going dead.  They would come through in schools of 1 - 2, going from the NW to the SW.  We had 20 holes in that direction trying to follow them, but they just never came through consistently.  I did pull my only two keepers of the day within 10 minutes of each other, one was 11" and the other was 12" but very fat.  It went about 1.5lb.  Pat, BFG, Leech and Ole got there and caught a few but then the fish seemed to move on to somewhere else?  Maybe up shallower? 

Around lunch we moved to some new roads that Lybacks plowed and set up in 23'- 30' of water with not much to show for it.  Pete and I did venture off to a couple humps a few hundred feet away but nothing was interested there.  Brats and venison for lunch were good.   

Ole led us over to near Graveyard and we thought we would give some structure over there a chance.  Not much but small ones once again with me getting bit off once.  So we headed back to our second place near the tulibee hole. 

The fish never really came around as we added a few more 10" to the bucket and one more tulibee (for Pete's SD trip next week).  We were off the lake by 5:30 headed for home sunburned and wiped out from a long day of trying to hunt them down. 

I want to thank everyone for coming out trying to hunt the Jumbo's and an extra thanks to Pete for drilling all those holes... I OWE YOU ONE next year when the shoulder is all healed up you can point me in the direction and I will drill till I can't drill anymore.  You had to be wiped out from drilling 50+ holes with an extension through 32+" of ice.  Heck I was wiped out from trying my best to fish every one of those holes.

As a group of 7 guys I think we ended up with 15 that were 10" or over a few smaller ones that wouldn't swim down and three tulibee for Pete. I was using a nils spoon with a 2" - 5" dropper the entire day with a small red (lightweight) jig on the end.  I would drop the spoon into the mud / bottom and then the light weight jig would slowly float down, they would hit it on the drop.  The jig was tipped with a waxie. 

I will get some pictures up tonight.

[RonZych]

My son and I were out on the mud Saturday all day. We managed 14 keeper perch ranging in size from 11" to darn near 14". The big ones were right on top of the flat.
Total catch: fish size caught. 18 perch(5-14") 8 walleye(6oz-7lbs)

All the fish were caught on a plain pink jighead with a waxie. People around us were using minnows and all they were catching were walleye. They were wondering why we were catching perch and not them. Voices travel a long ways out there when its calm and sunny.

A spring bobber was very important!! My son outfished me 3-1 with his. I left mine at home >:(

We were canstantly moving from hole to hole. We wore down some nice paths between them

These were caught before 3 pm. 3 more after that.


th

[Mayfly]

Looks like a good fish fry to me! Thanks for the report

[ScottPugh]

Here's some pictures OF FISH FOR MAYFLY finally...  ::)

Pat


Some of the day's catch


Just your oh hum 12" Jumbo from Mille Lacs