So frustrating....

[TechFisher78]

I spent most of the morning and day on Mille Lacs this Sunday and while it was a great day of fishing, it was the most frustrating day of fishing ever.

I have been fishing Mille Lacs my entire life (30+ years) and when I go there I am always on the search for walleyes and muskies. On Sunday I found the mother load. I was fishing for muskies along weed beds and I started noticing that there were walleyes laying on top of the weeds only a couple feet from the top of the water. As I pulled up closer to the weeds I noticed that there were walleyes all over the place. Huge ones too. I threw down my musky rod and grabbed my walleye rod with a rapala on it and started casting. I found that I could just about pull any lure over the top of one of the walleyes and they would just ignore it. If I bumped one it would just sink down into the weeds and disappear. I tried everything; lures, jigs, leaches, minnows, etc. They just were not interested. While I was messing around with the walleyes, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Here came a 45 + inch musky swimming right towards the boat. I threw down the walleye rod and started casting musky lures. Just like the walleye, the musky wanted nothing to do with any of my lures/baits. As the day progressed this pattern repeated itself. I saw 50+ walleyes and at least 20 muskies and couldn't get anything to bite. I had a couple muskies follow a bull dawg for a few feet, but were pretty lethargic.

Has anybody else ever seen something like this? I know walleyes and muskies are finicky, but I thought if you could find them you would at least have a chance? How in the hell do you get them to bite? Why were they SO concentrated in the weeds?

The only thing that made the day right is that the smallies were on fire. I probably caught 20 of them. I caught 3 on a squirrly phantom (musky lure) and the rest on a leach under a float. The biggest was around 6 lbs and was a lot of fun on my float rod. The 3 I caught on my musky rod pretty much didn't have a chance! The 80lb test pulls them right in!

[gregg52]

those walleyes were probably in those weeds for oxygen reasons

even though mille lacs is wind swept and should have plenty of oxygen

i spose maybe these hot not so windy days has something to do with it

just a guess

[Lundcranking]

You will likely think I am crazy but you may try a fly rod next time with a black or brown egg sucking leech or any other larger fly that you would strip just sub surface. They key is picking a fly that has great action when being stripped and almost floats so it it is only an inch or two below the surface. This has worked well in Canadian Waters in the same situations you mentioned in your post and if it works it can be crazy exciting sight fishing for any larger fish!

Good Luck!

[Willy]

If you can see them, they can see you. I have seen this too when casting for smallies around the rocks. Everyone once in awhile you would see a big school of eyes swim by and 99% of the time you couldn't catch one to save your life. Come back to that weedbed when you have some wind blowing in there and it might be a differnt story.

[mwal]

I have seen muskies behave like that many times. They are in the shallows to relax and sun . They are not in a feeding mood hence bait fish and walleyes all around them. FLy's may perhaps get them to move. If you can see they walleyes they can see you and will not bite. This has happened many times in Canada. Leave the spot sneak back after 1/2 hour or so and use 1/8 or 1/16 oz jig and leech or crawler piece. If that doesn't work rip jig a big twister or shad swim bait and rip it threw the weed tops. Knowing where fish are can be more frustrating then not knowing they are where you are fishing

Mwal

[Shack]

TechFisher78 are you sure those were walleyes? Sounds very much like dogfish. I think they school up and spawn this time of year and they want nothing to with anything other than hanging around shallow in the weeds. Seen this on this Eastside bays during this time of year and have never come across walleyes doing this this time of year, especially with the weather conditions we have had. Even at night.

When they are in heavy weeds and about 4-6' down, the tail is hard to see and they will look just like a walleye, because no other fish has this profile. Even the tails are hard to make out. Even experiencing it before, the first thing I think of when seeing them like this is WoW these are walleyes and they are huge. Nope, they are dog fish school up and seems to be after a stormy period so maybe not mating but they will not eat a thing.

[ANYFISH2]

I've seen this on Fish Trap in August before. Very, very shallow walleyes relating to weeds. A whistler jig and sassy shad retrieved FAST over the tops of weeds did the trick for us, caught numberous walleye none big however. They also were not on the tops of the weeds but seen lounging in them.

[TruthWalleyes]

Even if you didn't catch any, sounds like a good time. I'm sure you learned something from the experience. Did you try after dark? I like to think those shallow water walleyes turn on in evening hours.

[TechFisher78]

I am absolutly positive they were walleyes. At first I thought the same thing...that they were dog fish sitting in the weeds, but when I got close I could see the white of their eyes and the white spot on the bottoms of their tails. The only time I got a reaction is when two smaller eyes followed my black and orange bull dog to the boat.

Thanks to all for the comments and advice. you definitly right that knowing they are there and not being able to catch them is more frustrating then just thinking you cant find them LOL.

[nater]

I was out there on Sunday and saw some big walleyes cruising. Had one follow the ripped bulldawg in and almost became a meal. The more erratic dawg action had some strikes but none in the net.

[Lipriper84]

My cousin caught a 24" walleye on a medium sized Bulldawg in Isle bay last year about this time.