"We were on a big sunken island between the Arcola Bridge and Big Island," he said. "Boats were blowing by us every few seconds. It felt like I was on a non-stop rodeo ride, yet the fish were hitting night crawlers in 18 feet of water."

Spinner trolling is another useful technique for Minnetonka, but you must find some milfoil-free runs.

"Boat traffic cuts milfoil, then it suspends and you snag it when you're trolling," Johnson said. "But there's always a run on the edge of deep vegetation where you can slow-troll a spinner and a night crawler harness and catch a lot of walleyes. Look for mid-lake structure in Brown's Bay or West Arm for a milfoil-free trolling pass."

LAKE MILLE LACS
Mille Lacs/Aitkin Counties
The suspended bite is a phenomenon that occurs every summer on lakes with decent populations of tullibees.

The forage base -- in this case tullibees -- move to open water and many walleyes follow to be close to their supper.

"This is when open-water trolling heats up on lakes like Mille Lacs and Leech and Cass lakes," he said. "You'll find me setting up trolling runs on Mille Lacs."

Johnson said this is a good time to invite your buddies so there will be more lines. Four is perfect as far as he's concerned.

"Use trolling boards to spread the lines behind the boat and try different lures until you see the fish showing a preference for a particular color or shape," he said.

On a lake like Mille Lacs, Johnson said it's more important to use a lure that can dive down to the school than worry about color, although he admits that shad-shaped bodies seems to out-produce others.

"Lure depth is the No. 1 priority," he said. "Then consider speed, color and shape. One of the biggest mistakes I see anglers make when trolling for open-water suspended walleyes is using crankbaits that need tuning. The lure has to run straight and true or it won't get down to the depth needed. Keep the lure tuned and it will generate some action."

LAKE OF THE WOODS
Roseau/Lake Of The Woods Counties
Dog days begin at the end of July and don't release their grip until September. During this period, the fishing for walleyes is tough. Tough in most places anyway. Anglers, however, still have a chance on Lake of the Woods.