Today was the final day of fly fishing Lake Mille Lacs here in Minnesota during a super fun get together with college pals. While most of the guys headed home this morning and a couple mid afternoon, I fly home tomorrow.
We started with two boats. The wind was strong again but the sky was blue. There was a ton of traffic on the lake due to a walleye tourney so we decided to chase the smallies and have the rockpiles close to shore all to ourselves.
The one buddy I haven’t fished with yet is friend Dave Kittaka. Dave had till 1 PM so to kick off the day Dave and I hopped in the boat with Andy while Mike took out his boat with Danny. The action was hot right at the get go and Mike’s first fish was by far the most impressive – about a 4lb smallie on the popper!
It wasn’t long before we had to seek some shelter from the wind which put us in a bay where there were plenty of weeds. I considered adding some wire as bite tippet just in case of an onslaught of nice pike but I blew it off. It wasn’t five minutes into casting there before Dave, who was using one of my rigs, went tight.
Sure as heck, Dave had a pike and he was using my 7-weight Winston Air without wire bite tippet. Dave’s done some fly fishing with me out in Idaho but it’s by no means his main method of fishing. He was really excited to have this fish on and I wanted him to land it more than anything.
The one thing I did have though was my trusty straight 0X SA Fluorocarbon which pulled off a couple nice pike with early this trip. I crossed my fingers and watched this fish rip line and run in all four directions. When the pike made a nice jump and remained on I felt like we had this one.
There was Andy and Dave working together on the bow. Andy with the net and Dave doubled over. The pike made a few hectic last attempts to escape the at last he was in the net. I believe my boys are truly convinced on this fly fishing stuff for all fish!
After Dave released his nice pike he went on to land yet another on the same rig. Like I said the other day, the 0X SA Flouro is impressive! We also picked up a few more smallmouth and I got on to the walleyes nicely each time we drifted just off the weed beds.
It was more like 2 PM when we dropped off Dave at the dock to head home. Andy and I packed up his boat and from 3- dark PM four of us fished from Mikes boat. We picked up some beer and made it a very fun afternoon. And best of all, we tore up the smallies and walleyes the rest of the day.
Its been a great four days here fishing MN with some of my best friends. Mike Neumann put on a mean show here on Mille Lacs. While my hosted parties in Idaho are always well received I think Mike will be evenly in the mix for future get togethers. The fishing has been spectacular!
For now its time to pack the bags to return home tomorrow then off to New Hampshire on Monday. Back to the tight and crazy travel schedules I’ve missed so badly the last few months. . . .
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