Another Year For the Book

  In many fishing eyes , Mille Lacs represented fear and doubt years ago. Heck, to see a fishing boat more than a half mile from shore was talked about for days and played a part in yearly overviews of a fishing season. After mid June, it was rare to see a small boat fishing for walleyes until late September. And even then, for the most part, the large numbers of boats were exclusively seen on the “Carlsona Sand”. A sprinkling of northern fishing boats, mainly trolling with husky daredevils and cane poles, made up all of the fishing during mid summer. Of course, several launches ventured out on a daily basis, for $3.00 per head for a half day trip, ...mainly to mudlflats and reef areas within two miles of shore. It was a much smaller lake back then in many ways, yet much larger in other ways, than it is now. It’s been quite an evolution to witness first hand....these past 55 years.

  Back in the ‘good ole days”, navigating on the big lake was done by using maps only saved in the minds of a few sharp launch drivers. And even then, most launches frequented just a handful of fishing locations. Once a spot was located, big 55 gallon barrels or even flags were anchored for the whole season, allowing room for navigating error by as much as the naked eye could see the markers. I proudly look back at being around and being a part of the times when mudflats were explored for the first time by humans . My dad and older brother would take off at a snails pace with a six ounce sinker hanging over the bow of the boat, set at a depth finding level, looking for any change in the bottom of the big lake. These trips led to finding the mudflats as they are known today. Landmarks, using tree line changes along shore, quite often tied to a cabins appearance “under” the tree line, allowed for repeated, pinpoint travels to newly found walleye haunts. As the 70’s evolved, Dutch elm disease destroyed years of useful navigational landmarks and forced a whole new set of coordinating landmarks on launch drivers around mighty Mille Lacs. Of course, nowadays “coordinates” have a new meaning...

  Naming of the “flats” is something most present Mille Lacs fish hunters just take for granted. But there’s usually quite a story behind each of the many names of popular fishing spots known today. Yes...there was a day when the very first fishing lines were trolled across the places like the “Backer Flat” and the “Sweetman Flat”. Yes...there was a day when , without a electronics, the “Needle” was fished for the first time. For many years.... at least until the late seventies, there was only a handful of boats and only a handful of humans to have ever fished the spots frequented these days. I was on many of those maiden voyages....and personally knew many of the namesakes Mille lacs fishing spots are named after. Anyone know the name of the guy who did all the bitching one day while fishing on Art Barnevelds launch , just east of the “Fletcher” , that soon after was forever given the name “Bitcher Flat”?

It never ceases to amaze me when I hear people talk of the “good ole days “ at Mille lacs, when it involves the size of the walleyes they caught 30 or more years ago. The fish tales are quite often stretched from those days. Trophy pictures of proud Mille Lacs anglers from the 50’s, 60‘ and late into the 70‘s , are of them holding five to seven pounders for the most part. Heck.... “Eileens Point”, a mudflat just west of the “Backer” was named after a lady who caught a six and half pounder while fishing on my dads launch in the early sixties. The daily jackpot on the launch was usually won with a fish from three to five pounds. The biggest fish brought into our resort annually, throughout the period from the mid-fifties to the late seventies was rarely over seven to eight pounds. Veteran Mille Lacs walleye hunters, such as the Barneveld brothers and my dad , didn’t catch a walleye over nine pounds until the late seventies...and then passed on after a lifetime of catching tons of Mille Lacs walleyes, with maybe only one over ten pounds between them. These days., eight to ten pounders are brought in during busy fishing periods, on a daily basis. 55 years from now....the “good ole days” will show a different picture than my “good ole days” for sure!

  Muskies at Mille Lacs? Who da thunk!! My first trip for muskies, in the early 70’s, was with my dad on Leech Lake. On my first official muskie hunting trip at Mille lacs, in July of ‘94, I saw and caught more muskies then I had on many trips elsewhere, combined.

  Believe it or not...I remember the lake flies as being worse in my first 35 years at the big lake than they have been the past 20 years. It seemed we used scoop shovels more often to clean up the bug hatches than we have in later years. Or is that memory my way of “stretching “ things from the good ole days!

  There’s been many waves over the bow in my past 55 years at the big lake. Too many! But the stories never end. The times, the people and all the countless experiences are now part of my Mille Lacs history. How lucky could I be to have that history! I can’ wait until 2064..... contact Steve at 651-270-3383 or sf1954@embarqmail.com