A real problem???

[Fredd]

I have been having trouble finding keepers on the pond. I was out Monday and could only find one to keep (15 fish from 22-26 inches). I used leeches, crawlers, spinners and plain rigs. I fished the flats from the edges to the tops. I don't mean to complain, but would like to find more for the well. Should I key on the gravel, weeds, rocks?? Any suggestions welcome.

[slabslayer28]

i wish i had that problem in the detroit lakes my problem is getting ones that are too small but ive been getting some good fryers lately... i will be making my way to the pond monday i hope i can key in on some of those pigs ive been hearing about

[MuskieSlayer]

Prior to last weekend, I only caught one walleye over 20" and only a few under 15". Last weekend was the first time this season I got into some of the mid-to-upper 20" fish, but I still caught quite a few keepers. I CPR a lot, so I actually prefer to catch the bigger fish.

I would recommend keeping the presentation small and getting off of the flats for smaller fish.

[JDM]

I have only kept two fish all year and it's not like I haven't been catching fish. Everything else has been in the protected slot. It also seems to me that compaired to last year,this year's fish are skinnier. I have caught some fish that just didn't look well.

[TrophyEyes]

Gravel was producing some slot fish. But like everyone else, there are many being caught just out of the legal range.

[hawgeye]

I have been to the big pond twice this year and 90% of the fish were 23-26". Not complaining by any means, but I am wondering what this means for the status of the fishery. Are there no small fish, all harvested / poor year classes or are they jsut not being caught. thanks for any input

Dave

[tjoutdoors]

I was out on the Pond Saturday fishing gravel on the south side and more than half of our fish were under the 20" mark. 4 of them were even too small to keep. Just riggin' with leeches and crawlers. I would say the other boats we saw catching fish experienced the same results. At least half of the fish we saw landed were outside the slot.

[Heartman]

C'mon, you must have bigger issues to worry about...

I know I wouldn't mind your problem, but I'm having trouble finding time to get out!

[eyewarrior]

Last Sat & Sun we fished a couple of north end flats. We caught approx 40-50% keepers. We never boated a fish under 15 1/2". my concern is where are the little guys for the future? Maybe I'm just not fishing the right locations.

[Fredd]

I am not complaining but I also like to fry fish once in a while. I know that I have been catching 90+% of my fish this year that fall in the protected slot. I also feel that the overall length has been longer this year as well. Where I once thought it hard to crack 28 inches on Mille lacs, my buddies and I have cracked this length four times in the past four trips (two of these were 29ers). Last year I think we only had 3-4 fish all year above 28. I see some of the fish a bit skinny, but overall the fish seem real healthy. I was questioning the younger class populations as well, but others seem to be finding the "right" fish. I may have to venture to the gravel for a while. Thanks for the feedback!!

[fishorgolf]

Believe me the lake has fish of all sizes. I have caught fish from 8" to 26" all in the same spot in a one hour period. But for the most part if you want to target smaller fish don't always be pulling spinners on the flats and deep gravel like you hear everyone on this form doing. There are pleanty of places on this lake were you can have a nice relaxing time catching some nice slot fish without 50 boats arround draging hardwear.

[MuskieSlayer]

Quote:

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Believe me the lake has fish of all sizes. I have caught fish from 8" to 26" all in the same spot in a one hour period. But for the most part if you want to target smaller fish don't always be pulling spinners on the flats and deep gravel like you hear everyone on this form doing. There are pleanty of places on this lake were you can have a nice relaxing time catching some nice slot fish without 50 boats arround draging hardwear.

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To everyone wanting to catch keepers, this is very sound advice. There are many fish from all year classes. Like I said in a previous post I've yet to catch many of the protected fish.

[mille lacs muskie bum]

fish the gravel for slot fish. i love the mud though. 20 fish a day and the smallest is 16. only 2 keepers a day out there. I fish the flats in the daytime for pigs, then i go to the gravel and cork it at 7:00.

[Wormdirt]

I have been out several times, with a couple limits of fish and have been impressed with the wide range of healthy year classes present, any where from 6'' to 27.5'' inches. This week I took my mom and nephews out and we brought home our limit of 16 15-19'' fish and caught many small and large ones. I do not fish the mud.

The first thing I don't do is go and fish by other people if there is a boat on my spot then I go find a differant spot.

Leeches and red hooks have been the ticket for me.

[Harwad]

I was out yesterday and we had problems catching under 20's. I switched to pulling cranks off of the flats in no mans land. First fish was a 28.5" ending up with 8 off of cranks with 5 in the live well - all around 17".

[GoggleEye]

I don't mean to start any fights or problems, so please just hear me out, but some of you are worried about the absence of eaters under the slot and talking about how the future of the fishery may be in trouble, yet you are talking about how you want to catch them so you can keep them and eat them. If everyone out there keeps taking every legal fish outside of the slot limit (even when the numbers of fish present in this size are limited to begin with)to eat, then we are definitely going to be in trouble in the coming years. Walleye populations are cyclical and will fluctuate a lot depending on spawn success and angler harvest. Right now the numbers are high for walleyes in the 22-28 inch range, but they are low for the up and coming classes. This could be a bad situation a coming for the walleye fishing in Mille Lacs if everyone keeps harvesting those younger fish for the frying pan. It is your legal right though, so do as you please.....just don't get mad down the road when the walleye fishing takes a dive in 5-10 years. Good luck to all! Fish on and let em go so they can grow!

GoggleEye

[Shack]

I always figured a "a real problem" is like a life changing occurance . Kind of like people starving in a third world country. I feel lucky just to get out on lake, even if I do not catch a thing. .

I personly catch and release all fish, minus good sized perch. In the area I fish for perch, I will even throw back really good sized jumbo's. Just trying to do my part..

[daydreamer]

Well said Shackbash. It seems as though people sometimes forget they "choose" to fish Mille Lacs.

[CEDES]

I wish I had the choice It's an ADDICTION !!

[codyz]

I know this is not related to the subject but what is up with your picture.

[Shack]

It is an ice shack getting bashed.

I have a group of guys I have been fishing on local lakes with for many years. One night on Martin Lake by Linwood, we were ice fishing late at night during the week. It was very cold and we were in portables that were shut up tight. No one could see we were out there. Well around 1:00 am we heard a truck racing around on ice. All of a sudden, were could hear truck ramming into something. We came out of our porties and watched these crazy kids or men ramming into shacks left and right. This was in the days before cell phones and ice was thin enough were we walked out to fish, so we could do nothing but watch. I was young and the other guys were also, so we thought is was kind of cool then. Now I think different. So our group started a "kind of" urban tale about the shack basher. We also coined other terms while ice fish (I used to ice fish 6-7 days a week, so you think of weird things during this time)like shack back, shack(Contact Us Please),shackbashing and other terms we thought up while ice fishing. It all ended up rolling into "shackbash". When ever we are out at night and we hear a truck racing around on ice, the tail of the shackbasher always comes up and to this day when I hear that racing truck, my neck hairs stand on end.

Oh! the picture was a drunk that bashed a shack, it was e-mailed to me by one of the buddies who was out on Martin Lake with us, that night.