Mille Lacs fishing guide Steve Fellegy is trying to drum up business for the coming season by guaranteeing his clients will take home a limit of walleye fillets.

Guaranteeing success is risky for any angling guide, especially those who ply their trade on Mille Lacs.

After all, again this summer, walleye fishing there is strictly catch-and-release.

Still, there was Fellegy's guarantee, broadcast recently via Craigslist and other online outlets:

"Yep! Included in my Lake Mille Lacs guided walleye trips in 2017 is this guarantee: You will go home with 12 walleye fillets!! (For the group, not per angler).''

The fillets, Fellegy goes on to say, will not be freshly caught. Instead, they will be frozen and packed.

"They come from Canada — Lake Winnipeg, I think,'' he said.

Though Fellegy is the only Mille Lacs guide known (so far) to offer the take-home-a-limit-of-fillets deal, the idea isn't new. Retired state senator (and current Department of Natural Resources employee) Bob Lessard has offered the same deal to clients of his Ontario fishing camp.

Fellegy's $375 daily guiding fee isn't changing on Mille Lacs this season. He'll eat the cost of the fillets, he said.

So far he hasn't had any takers.

"But it's early,'' he said. "The walleye opener isn't until May 13.''