Mille Lacs update 11/19

I've been off the water for the past few days, so I apologize for letting so much time slip without an update.

The warm, stable weather has been bad for the fishing, just like last year see the post for 11/3 for a summary of what happened last year. Fishing has ranged wildly from good to poor the past couple weeks. There have been multiple-fish days, but there been multiple days with no fish. Last Saturday and Sunday we got nothing, Monday we got a 51X26 fatty. Last Saturday a fellow guide friend missed a huge one that was up shallow on a major reef. I've been off the water Tues., Wed., and Thurs. I'll be back out tomorrow for a four-day stretch. I'll post another update next week.

The water temp, as of 11/16, was still an unbelievable 42 F. It's been warm enough this week that I'm sure I'll find tomorrow that it's still 40F or higher. I've been casting and trolling about 50/50. Monday's fish was caught trolling the break on a well-known reef. While casting, we've been throwing big plastic on the shallow parts of the reefs close to deep water, and on the breaks. Trolling has been shallow, on the break, and the open water nearby.

Mille Lacs will almost surely be open until musky season season closes Dec. 1st. As I mentioned in the other post, I'll be on Mille Lacs until it freezes or closes, whichever comes first. I see no reason to suffer in cold, miserable conditions for a mediocre fish - I want a fifty pounder.