ONAMIA, Minn. — The mood was one of giddy astonishment Friday. One day after Mille Lacs Lake astounded the top 50 Bassmaster Elite Series anglers by producing 23 five-bass limits weighing at least 20 pounds, the ante got upped to 24 such limits. That’s almost half the field two days in a row at the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship.
And there were a bunch more 20-pound limits caught that weren’t weighed-in. Matt Herren caught six 20-pound limits yesterday. BASSTrakk indicated he landed 33 bass weighing a total of 120 pounds, 11 ounces.
“When I came in, everybody said, ‘Is BASSTrakk right? Ain’t no way.’ I said, Oh, yeah, there is,'” Herren recalled after his best five weighed 24-9 putting him in second place with a two-day total of 48-7.
“The smallest fish I caught weighed three pounds, and I only caught one of those. Everything else weighed 3.89 to 3.90 to 4.50. They all looked the same. It was fun.”
Said Casey Ashley, “I probably culled 20 pounds twice today with four-pounders. It was every cast for a while. It’s crazy.”
Steve Kennedy, who lives in Auburn, Ala., may have offered the ultimate fisherman’s perspective, saying, “I missed my 20th wedding anniversary and my son’s sixth birthday. And it was worth it!”
To put this in another frame of reference, the most 20-pound bags weighed at an Elite Series tournament this year was at Toledo Bend, when there were 35 caught over four days. Two of those days featured a full 107-angler field. Mille Lacs has produced 47 bags of 20-plus pounds in two days, with less than half the anglers.
And those were mostly largemouth bass at Toledo Bend. It’s been 95 percent smallmouth bass at Mille Lacs.
“And the majority of these fish were caught on six-pound-test line,” Kennedy said.
After citing all those accolades, here’s the topper: Mille Lacs Lake isn’t in prime condition for fall fishing. The bass are in transition from summer to fall.
“In two weeks, it will be absolutely insane here,” Seth Feider noted Thursday. “They’re going to get even fatter as the fall moves along. All those five-pounders are going to turn into almost six pounders.”
Feider’s story is second only to the smallmouth heaven that is Mille Lacs Lake. The Bloomington, Minn., native calls this his “second home,” and he’s showing why. The second-year Elite Series pro, coming off a second-place finish last week on the Mississippi River, is proving to be “the man” on Mille Lacs. He had the big bag of the day weighing 24-11 to give him a first-place total for two days of 50-3.
“I’m saving some good stuff for Sunday,” said Feider, of the finale that will take place after a day of seminars Saturday. “I fish here all the time. The amount of hours I’ve got on this lake is extensive.”
Now that the spotlight has been on him for two straight weeks, the world is getting to see what a joy it is to watch him operate. When Feider landed a five-pounder early Friday, and no celebratory air horn blast sounded, he remarked, “Where’s my air horn crew? Must have drank too many Busch Lights last night and missed the wake-up call.”
Like he did last week at La Crosse, Wis., Feider has an armada of friends following him on Mille Lacs, cheering him on, and Feider’s loving every minute of it. Even though he’s still the longest of long shots to earn a Bassmaster Classic berth this week, even with a victory, he has established himself as an Elite Series angler with a future over the past two weeks.
“I’m just having a blast,” Feider said. “I’ve got all my friends with me. There’s nothing cooler than catching a five-pounder and having 40 of your buddies yell their heads off. It’s pretty cool.”
Toward the end of Friday’s weigh-in, Ott Defoe walked off the weigh-in stage, looked over at a group of reporters and said, “I had 22 pounds. No one wants to talk to me?”
Defoe was smiling. He knew the answer. Twenty-two pounds is big news on many lakes. Around Mille Lacs Lake, that’s as common as cheese curds.