Making Memories

Was joined this week on Lake Mille Lacs for big smallies with long time friend Mitch Petrie, his son Aaron, and Mitch's co worker Monty.  The morning started with heavy cloud cover and plenty of wind, but as the day went on the clouds let go of their strong hold and gave us high sun.  The wind continued to pick up as the day went on and so did the smallmouth bite.  We had lots of doubles, fist bumps, and laughs which all = memories!  

Memories is what this is all about.  I am in the memory making business and if you are looking for an opportunity at a great time, a fish of a life time, and memories that you have for the rest of your life, look no further and join me for a day on the water.  Even if you don't join me, get out and spend some time on the water and outdoors, you just might leave with new memories.  

This was our biggest fish of the day coming in at a little over 5.5lbs.  I know this will be a day I will never forget, and am pretty sure these guys won't either.  Now get out and stretch the string.  Until next time, Fish On!  

Learning Curve

May is always a great time to get on the water in MN and this year has been no exception.  The last few days I was guiding a good friend to his first Lake Mille Lacs smallmouth, and he got the crash course on what its like when hundreds of smallmouth collide with the shallows and set up pre spawn on main lake rock piles.  Ethan was really on the water to shoot photo and video content for Grizzly Coolers but I had to make sure to get him his first Mille Lacs smallmouth.  

Ethan and I met on the water on Tuesday and got a little later start then expected but once we made the decision to go into the big lake and chase pre spawners with jerkbaits, he had a quick learning curve.  The winds were blowing in the 10-20mph range and we had waves that were crashing over the bow of the big boat, but that also means the smallmouth usually are feeding.  The first spot we pulled up on, I was able to find the smallmouth rather quick with a jerkbait and the crush was on.  After I caught 6 or 7 in a row I handed my rod to Ethan and explained to him how to fish a jerkbait in heavy wind over the sand rock transitions.  30 min in Ethan was struggling to get a bite and I knew the fish were there and wanting to chew.  He didn't give up on it and started to figure out the jerk cadence and eventually got his first smallmouth bass on Mille Lacs!  Needless to say he was excited since he had been staring through a camera lens for the 4 hours prior to snatching his first bass.  

Wednesday am we got up early hoping to shoot some sunrise content but the clouds and rain had set in so we opted to get out and just see if we could get around some bass and finish up the content work he needed to get.  Our first spot produced a few nice walleyes but no smallmouth.  After a short move we found a bunch of shallow smallmouth and power poled down and caught them for the next 4 hours straight.  Made short work of the video and photo content that Ethan needed for Grizzly.  He was able to take a 15 minute break from behind the camera to pull on one of those Mille Lacs 4lb Smallmouth Bass!  I think another smallmouth freak was spawned this week and he has already asked when he can come back for round two.  That is the best part of what I get to do day in and day out, create memories taht folks will remember forever, teach them a thing or two about these magnificent fish, and make it where they can't wait to come back.

Will be on the water everyday this next week and will have more reports coming soon...... 

Until next time, Fish On!  

Another Open Water Season Upon Us

With the days getting longer, our ice finally melting, all signs of spring are in the air.  This last weekend we fished a charity tournament down on the Mississippi River on pool 4 and 5 for the St. Jude Hospital.  Althought Dustin and I had a decent few days in practice, when it came tournament time, our fish had vacated.  With the water getting pulled down I wasn't willing to run like a wild man into some of the shallow back waters I probably needed to in order to relocate our fish.  Instead we opted to stay out in the secondary current and managed to catch only 3 keeper bass the first day of the event.  

Knowing that 3 bass were not enough to compete against the stacked field of local hammers we loaded the boat and opted to hit the tavern for some food and drink.  Being that this event is all for a good cause and to raise money for the St Jude's Childerns Hospital we took it in stride and told ourselves we will get even next time.  

I did manage to get done to the Florida Keys for a little spring break and get away from the tail end of our MN winters.  This was a trip that I won last year for winning the Champions Tour angler of the year award.  Scott and Nancy Bonnema hosted Jen and I for a beuatiful week of fishing, food, drinks, and lots of great laughs.  Memories we won't soon forget.  

We ended up catching all kinds of different species with some hard fighting snook mixed in.  This one above went 32" and was the biggest I landed that week.  

With MN Fishing opener fast approaching I have been taking guide trips for Lake Waconia and Lake Mille Lacs.  Will be guiding again this spring for smallmouth bass on Lake Mille Lacs and will have lots of great days if you are looking to get out.  Lots of May is already full but I still have some days open in June if you are looking to hit the water.  Until next time, Fish On!  

This coming weeks will be all smallmouth bass trips on Lake Mille Lacs. 

Living That Ice Life

As fall gave way to short days and cold weather the hard water season started and it has been a memorable one.  Although we haven't had a ton of cold weather the last 6 weeks we did get decent ice around thanksgiving at LOTW and have been hard after the fish ever since.  

I started with fishing friends and family the first month or so and the fishing was fair to good the entire time we were up at the lake.  With the lack of snow it really made great ice right out of the gate.  The lake has been averaging over 18" of ice most places we are fishing. 

The week after thanksgiving we had about 7-10" on the south end in most the places we fished and were able to get skid houses out right away behind the Polaris titan snowmobile.  

Even got into some big pike on rod and reel with 8lb leader while fishing shallow walleyes.  Never know what's gonna bite your bait on a lake of this size.  

Good friend and fishing buddy Bobby was able to capitalize on a 28.5" lotw giant on his jigging rod in an area where we were fishing to avoid the crowds a bit.  

If you or anyone you know is looking for a great outing on Lake of The Woods have them reach out and we can work to put together a great outing.  Tight Lines and Fish On!