MILLE LACS, Minn. It still takes getting used to, the lack of boats on this big lake. Years ago on a late June evening, you could put in near Garrison or Isle or Wealthwood or Malmo, and watercraft on the lake bobbed like corks as far as the eye could see. Not so any more: The other evening when Robbie Robinson, Mike Giefer and I motored out of the harbor at Fishers Resort, we saw nary another boat between us and the horizon.
Our intent was to catch walleyes. Fishing on Mille Lacs has been good this summer since the May 12 opener, though not as crazy-good as it was last year at this time.
As evidence, consider that the record for walleyes caught in 2017 from a Fishers launch or large charter boat capable of handling as many as 20 anglers was 170 during a four-hour evening cruise.
The same bunch was up a week or so ago, and this time they caught 130, Robinson said.
Robinson, who spent the bulk of his work life as a flight paramedic in Duluth, Minn., his hometown, fished whenever he could as a kid. Now, he says, hes living his dream, fishing nearly every day as captain of Fishers Resorts 30-foot Sport Craft or 55-foot launch.
So much does Robinson enjoy fishing that on this evening, hes off duty and hes still willing to swing a leech overboard for a few hours, hoping to fool a walleye or two. Also along is Giefer of Woodbury, a pal of Robinsons who keeps a vacation home at Fishers and, like Robinson, indulges his fishing habit whenever possible.
I was nuts about fishing when I was a kid and I still am, Giefer, 57, said, adding that unlike most anglers he wasnt drawn to Mille Lacs by its walleyes but by the lakes smallmouth bass and muskies.
A few miles from shore, Robinson cut the boats engine, casting us adrift. As quickly, he, Giefer and I baited sliding-sinker rigs with leeches and airmailed them overboard. The lakes annual mayfly hatch was just beginning, and clouds of the emerging bugs were visible on the boats depth finder.
The mayflies will slow fishing on the lake for a little while, Robinson said.
Though Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries managers believe the Mille Lacs walleye population generally is unchanged from a year ago, the lakes walleye bite has cooled somewhat from 2017.
The dominant Mille Lacs walleye year class remains the one hatched in 2013, and these fish, which are plentiful, range in length this year from about 15 to 19 inches, with 16- and 17-inch specimens being the norm.
An increased population of Mille Lacs yellow perch, a prime walleye forage fish, likely is responsible for the lakes slower action this summer, officials say.
As of June 15, anglers had caught an estimated 11,132 pounds of walleyes, according to the DNR, during a period that began Dec. 1. Thats about half of what it was for the same period a year ago, said DNR central region fisheries manager Brad Parsons, adding that Mille Lacs angling pressure is up slightly from 2017 (Parsons last week was named DNR fisheries chief, beginning later this month.)
Again this summer, anglers arent allowed to keep walleyes from Mille Lacs. But theyre operating under a 76,450-pound walleye harvest quota nonetheless. The quota is determined by estimating the number of walleyes that die after being caught and released.
The DNR has predicted the quota wont be met this summer, and that Mille Lacs walleye fishing wont be shut down before Labor Day like it was last summer a hiatus that hurt area businesses.
Meanwhile, DNR Mille Lacs treaty coordinator Tom Jones said the eight Chippewa bands that co-manage the lakes fisheries have essentially concluded their walleye harvest for the year.
