Smallmouth, Walleyes, Largemouth, Crappie Oh My!!

This is one for the record books, Lake Mille Lacs is on fire and one of the greatest lakes in the country.  Yep, I said it, one of the greatest fisheries in the country!  The fishing has been so good as of lately I can't even put it into words.  I have been chasing Smallmouth, Walleye, Largemouth, and even Crappies.  All of the mentioned have been willing partners and wanting to play the past few weeks. Getting to guide on Lake Mille Lacs is something I will never take for granted.  So here goes the latest fishing report including some stops at Lake Minnetonka, Lake Waconia, and Lake Mille Lacs

We have had some 100 fish days and lots of giant gravel lizards and smallmouth coming over the gunwale and into the new Ranger Z521 on a regular basis.  For those that I have been fortunate enough to experience this magical few weeks with-thank you!  Every laugh, smile, and new personal best was worth it.    

Our best bite has been on pre-spawn and spawning smallmouth.  The best gravel lizard bite is all post spawn fish.  We are catching all of our fish in 12 feet of water or less on artificial.  We have not fished live bait and haven't needed to.  If you have been thinking about booking a trip or getting on the water NOW is the time.  Not sure how long this great bite will last but it has been a good ride either way.

When it comes to what artificals we have been using, I would say that tubes, drop shots, and jerkbaits were the best at fooling these fish.  

The bite has been best for us when the sun has been shining high in the sky and the wind is light to variable.  

Did I mention that the smallmouth are really fun to catch and GIANT!  Not to mention they pull really hard.

We have had many walleyes in the 20-30" range over the past few weeks.  Like previously mentioned, they all came on artificial lures.  

Did somebody say 2lb crappies....  Yes, I did manage to find an area holding some of the biggest crappies known to swim in the MN area!  This is a sample of a few we managed to wrangle on a recent outing.  One was 2lbs even and one was 1.14!  

Erik Rasmussen has hung up the hockey skates and now enjoys his time fishing.  This was one of 15 largemouth he was able to entice into biting during a morning outing on Lake Waconia.  

Yesterday we finished the day with 7 smallmouth over the 20" benchmark, those are fish in the 5+lb caliber and made for a fantastic day.  The guys also managed 40+ fish in the 18-19.5" range throughout the day.  

Will do my best to keep the updates coming and not be too many weeks between updates.  Until next time, Fish On and get out and stretch the string.  Signing off for now....have to get some rods rigged for the next adventure.  Any specific questions please contact me or to book a trip.