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| 19.5" b/b Chigger Craw |
4:00-8:00PM Mille Lacs off tip of Center Jetty
Conditions: Calm, 70 degrees, mostly sunny perfect for sight fishing.
I went to Reeds to pick up the shirt I got for entering a Facebook contest then headed to Eddy's. Here are the rods I brought with me.
I started out throwing topwater and was so distracted by doing that that I failed to notice what kind of visibility there was; I could see out a 35 to 40 feet off the tip. When I did notice I saw two big smallies and a 14-15" one. They weren't interested in the Phantom. So I tried a Slush Minnow. One of the big smallies eyed it for a little bit, but never went for it. Next I went to the Chigger Craw. The little one showed some interest, but never went for it. The same with one of the big ones. Then they left after I had been fishing for them for about half an hour. About 15 minutes later four 17 inch class smallies came swimming through from the SE to NW. They didn't show any interest and were mildly spooked when a cast landed. They left in about 2 minutes to the NW. About a 15" largemouth came from the SE and swam into the North harbor. I had my jerk bait suspending right in front of it. But it looked at it for a little bit then continued into the harbor. A 12-13" smallie came in from the NW and left in the same direction after getting spooked.
I didn't see anything for about half an hour and went up for one last look when three 17' class fish swam into sight from the NW. I made a cast to them and they initially spooked, but two of them quickly turned around to investigate. I hadn't noticed that a 4th smallie came in with them. I finally noticed him when it picked up the bait as a smallie I was watching went to try and steal it. I set the hook and played the fish across the Jetty into the South harbor where I landed it.
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| 17" Chigger Craw |
When I got up on the Jetty there was a bigger fish a little bit off to my right (SE). It was just on the edge of the rocks and the South harbor channel. I made a cast about 10 feet to it's SE. It spooked for about 2 feet then turned back toward the Chigger Craw when it got back within 10 feet, I hopped the craw and it sped right over and grabbed it. She did some good head shakes on the surface, but I landed it. It was full of spawn, probably just under 5lbs. It is the one in the first picture.
There was nothing for quite a long time and I threw various topwater lures including the cool Salmo Bass Bug. Which is basically a floating round rock with a lip and a single treble hook. Darned if that little bug doesn't throw a wake and sound like a small buzzbait. It didn't attract any bites or lookers.
What did attract a fish was a chart. 1/2oz Rippin Rap. I could see something trailing it. But that was no smallmouth. It was a 40" ski and it nearly caught the Rap before I jerked it away. The thing then stared me down. I thought if your gonna do that then I'm going to get a picture of you and I went back to get my camera. By the time I got back up on the rocks it was swimming off to the NW. I put my sun glasses over the lens and this was the picture I got.
Darn camera went on the Fritz. By the time I got it working right the fish was gone.
I did take this next pic to show how close it came in. I got a really good look at the fish.
One or two more small 12ish smallmouth's came through, but were spooked easily. I packed up at 8PM because visibility was deteriorating and I wanted to get back to my area Lakes.
Here is the set up I got my fish on tonight.
TD-Z Type R
St. Croix Legend Xtreme 6'8" Medium XFast. The rod is a medium light compared to the Avid, but quite a bit more sensitive.
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