Mille lacs this weekend?

[mtreno]

who's in - i will be out of cove bay. hope the wind is down enough to get out of the bay but high enough to keep the ice off. anyone been out on the big pond? it will be full moon..... tubies should be in full swing...... everything will be frozen..... cant wait.......

[i got carps]

I just might be up there this weekend fishing out of Isle.

[esox addict]

I will be up there on saturday. I will probably put in at Isle and try trolling some rock reefs. Hopefully I'll find tulllibes and some big muskies close behind. Does anyone know what the water temp is right now?

[i got carps]

48 degrees last weekend.

[mtreno]

almost perfect water temps - they should be up ther movin soon - trollin trollin trollin - good luck to everyone who gets out and post how you did - should be some real big pigs cought this weekend..............

[gkl]

So would a muskie newbie (3 so far) like me be nuts to try the big pond this weekend? I look at the picture of that 55" on the fishing reports page and I wonder how much fatter that thing would be this time of year! Any advice?

[mtreno]

of course your nuts to be trying the big pond this weekend. we all are. when your sitting in your boat, it snowing, you butt is frozen to your seat, you have gone thru all three pairs of dry gloves and you go to take a sip of your beer and not only is it frozen but the snot from your upper lip freezes to the can. at this point your ready to quit - and then....... you no longer feel cold untill the fish is again out of sight and your wondering..... think maybe i will still be able to get the boat back out again in the morning? look for shallow rock reefs - try and find some schools of bait fish on your sonar - they should be schooled up somewhere just off the reef - troll - casting is even more insain this time of year.

[gkl]

thanks metreno! Well, I'm seriously considering Sunday. Any advice with lure type? colors? running depth? a lot of line or in the prop wash? the slowest I can troll with my big motor is 2.4. Is that slow enough? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

[mtreno]

jakes, believers, grandmas, and maybe a bucktail - the key is big baits - 4 mph was the lucky number last year but you will have to play with it a bit. last time out last year we were pulling a believer and a big white bucktail - the bucktail hooked one hell of a walleye so you never know what you may find....... post how you do - oh ya one thing i forgot - where your lifejacket. this is the only time of year i have mine on but i never take it off when its this cold out. the way i look at it is your still going to freeze but at least your family will have something to put into the ground.

[gkl]

definitely a yes on the on the life jacket. I was at anchor this spring bobber fishing walleyeys at night and a runabout hit me at 30-40mph. I had to bail out. I was heavily dressed and no life jacket. I very nearly didn't make it. If it's a tulibee thing, I'm assuming silver, black and white?

[mtreno]

yep thats the colors to be working but dont shy away from trying something new. if your lucky enough to have two crazy friends with you try running one in the prop wash but it you are only running two or even one bait i would long line them. if you do find a school work the outside edges - sometimes you can even do like a half moon around the deep side of the school or even circle around the whole dang group of em. the main thing is keep your baits in the water - those big fish are eating and are not going to turn down a meal even if your bait is not where it should be-i.e. if you cant find spawing fish keep lookin - you may run across a monster while in seach of "the spot".

you got hit by a runabout - total your boat? everyone ok? what lake? did you have your lights on? sure hope everyone is ok.....

[gkl]

Pokegama up in Grand Rapids. totalled the boat and his. Had my lights on. Luckily, there were witnesses on shore that saw the whole thing so the other boat owner's insurance picked up the bill. They were very accomadating, just glad not to have a wrongful death lawsuit on there hands I think. Short of nearly drowning, I didn't get hurt. He saw me at about 75' and cut one way so I bailed the other way and got very lucky. He and his girlfriend both ate windsheild but no serious injuries. The worst part was the 'eyes had just started to bite.....

Thanks for all the help!

[mtreno]

so did anyone get out - i had a 6 hour unexpected grouse layover myself and than spent a little too much time at the bayview...... no my buddie really did not want to fish and we ended up getting some other stuff done - but man everytime the lake was in sight i was thinking about it. going to be up thanksgiving for all four days but not sure about access - i know in front of the cabin on cove bay there was about 3 inches of ice (yes the tipups will be in the truck) how did the access in wakon look? anyone need a partner i will have a boat but no one in the family fishis this time of year..... you boat or mine.....

[gkl]

unfortunately, no. Got a 3 year old, a newborn and lots of family coming in for Thanksgiving, so I had to get other stuff done....