Bill Miller is a client of mine, as well as a good friend; or should I say, a good friend of mine, as well as a great client? Bill was one of my first clients. I was 16 when I first took him and his friend out on Lake Waconia, and he has driven me to new heights in pursuit of my fishing passion ever since. Only catching one or two is never enough; Bill wants the "whole enchilada," as some might say. He is very passionate about fishing and is always the first ready to hit the water, whether it is summer or winter.
Bill's passion for the sport is what brought us together. Quite frankly, he wanted to catch more fish and be more effective with his time on the water - just "drowning a minnow" was not an option.
For the past 10 years I have guided Bill for every fresh water fish that swims on numerous bodies of water across Minnesota. He has joined me for an ice fishing excursion on Red Lake and many muskie trips in August and September in the metro. It has been very fun watching him grow into the avid angler he is today.
Bill moved to Lake Waconia about 3 years ago and has been fishing 150 days a year since. Even if he only gets 10 minutes, he is on the dock casting for whatever will bite. When he first decided to move onto the lake, I was wondering if showing him all my best spots over the past 7 years was going to come back to haunt me. Lets just say Bill doesn't usually have to leave his dock to catch all the fish he wants in the summer -as for the winter, he is under my guidance.
One of the services I provide is a fish house move and set-up service. If you own a fish house and want it moved, set-up, and ready to fish (on the fish), I can provide that. Bill takes advantage of this service and reaps the rewards when the fish cooperate. Some years the focus is crappies, so I set him up on crappies. Other years, like this year, he wanted to catch walleyes. So I did my best to put him on the walleyes. Bill had a banner year of walleye fishing right here on a metro lake that had as many as 400+ fish houses on it. Yes, there was a lot of traffic at times but I made sure to get him away from the crowds and the noise and it payed off.
Many people will opt for what is easy or where others are fishing - sometimes that works. But one thing I have learned over the years is that the harder you work, the bigger the reward. It might take you all day to find an area to set-up but it usually has its benefits.
All of the above photos feature walleyes caught out of Billy's fish house this winter on different outings. They were caught in one area that I fish a lot in the summer and was not amongst the masses. If you were to ask me, I would tell you that Bill had a great year of ice fishing. I think you would have to agree - by any standards, he has been on the honey hole.
Friday, January 23, 2009 at 3:31PM 
Lake Waconia