mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[justinman]

Originally Posted By: rodmaker

I haven't been using floats. But Pat mentioned he was.

The snells for spinners I have been using are 7 1/2 - 8 ft.

Thanks Rod, Sorry I didn't read far enough back on this thread. I'm heading up tomorrow for the day. The few time I've been to Mille I've never tried spinners. My luck in the past has always been a jumbo below a slip bobber or drifting a 6 foot snell with an orange or red hook with a jumbo. Are you using a trailer hook with your crawlers. I've heard some other reports that people are doing well with rainbows. I think we're going to try a little bit of everything. I'll post when I return.

We were out from 4 pm till about 11 pm with only 2 small ones. Got one on the mud drifting spiners with a crawler and the other on a leech under a bobber over the rocks. Pretty slow and windy for us.

[John Mickish]

Yestersday spent the day on 7 mile and a few other flats in that area. Had it basically all to ourselves. A few fish to be had but the wind made things tough. A bit of a "walleye chop" going on.

[Pat Burch]

Fished Friday and Today and the same presentations are still producing fish. Fishing was very very good both days. I heard from some that Saturday was a little tougher with the high winds etc.., Crawlers on spinners seemed to still be out producing cranks but they are both putting fish in the boat. I run crawlers with 3 oz weight and two hook crawler harnesses. I do this mainly because when you guide the fish kinda hook themselves and it increases the hooking percentages with begginers. If you lindy rig a crwaler then run just one hook and go slow. Borch and Harvey Lee sounds like you had a pretty good day. Any tweny some fish days in late July is nothing to complain about. Good Job guys.

[rodmaker]

Pat,

I didn't get up there over the weekend. Moved 3 cords of fire wood. Still the same colored blades ?. Hammered gold, silver, copper, and blue/chart beads, or chart/orange beads.

[Pat Burch]

sunday they really wanted hammered copper blades. I would guess 20 out of the 30 fish we caught were on that color. I ended the day with three lines in the water with that blade. Orange colors were dead on Sunday, but a silver/green blade was probably second best.

[rodmaker]

Was it cloudy or Sunny Sun. what are you using for rods (baitcasters I know) when using the 3 oz sinkers.

[Luck e 1]

Hey guys...quick question...

Looking at the weather for thursday or Friday...

THursday mid 60's and 30-40% chance of rain

Friday mid 70's and 20% chance of rain.

Which day do you think may be better for fishing? We can come up either day, but not both.

[rodmaker]

First thing I would check is the wind, Take things from there.

[Pat Burch]

bright and sunny hardly a cloud in the sky, maybe a 5mph wind. I was suprised the bite was that good under those conditions. The sunday before was a little slower for me with similiar conditions.

[Luck e 1]

Rodmaker-

SO take the least windy day?

We are just trying to figure out which would be the best day with the front moving in. The day that is the cooler with rain...or the day after when the temps pop a little.

Thanks guys.

[bucketmouth64]

Thinking of coming up to the lake on Tuesday and do some smallie fishing. Forecast calls for 10-15 miles/hour winds. Will this be white capping on the lake? Have a 16' flat bottom aluminum boat.

[rodmaker]

if it were myself, I would go Fri. A little warmer and less chancerain. Doesn't look like the winds would be bad Thurs 5 mph. Fri. 9 mph.

[fishorgolf]

I agree with rodmaker and would plan around the wind.

[fishorgolf]

Thinking of coming up to the lake on Tuesday and do some smallie fishing. Forecast calls for 10-15 miles/hour winds. Will this be white capping on the lake? Have a 16' flat bottom aluminum boat.

I would not take a 16' flat bottom boat out anywhere on the main lake in 15mph winds.

[Red Miller]

I second that. She be rolling and capping pretty good in 15 mph and just because they are forecasting 15 mph doesnt mean thats you get. You could get 10 to 15 or you could get 15 gusting to 25. Just a matter of what mood mother nature is in.

[bucketmouth64]

We didn't go to the big lake. We usually stay close to shore when we do fish there. When we got up this morning I saw the news saying wind speeds close to 20 mph. So we just went to some new local lakes that we've never fished. We did crappy fishing and the winds were terrible. Hopefully, we can make it up there some other time when schedules mesh.

[Otts]

Fished Wed morning 6 to 1. Stopped on Banana Flat, graphed lots of fish but no biters. Moved to 7 Mile and fished the north edge and picked up a few. Headed to Deans and caught one right away and then nothing. Stopped at Eileens on the way back and and caught fish on the the north side of it. Graphed a lot of fish off the south of it in deep water as we left. The morning bite was hammered silver and the afternoon was hammered copper followed by hammered gold. 13 fish 6 in the well...one over 20 inches. One caught with a leech and the rest on crawlers. It was fun...enjoy your tryip.

[BJB]

I went out trolling Mon evening in a tough wind and whacked a couple to give to my 80yr old aunt. Windy side of reefs w/ a small Taildancer. Not easy fishing but productive for eaters.

[eyewarrior]

Fishing was slow for the 2 of us on Sunday. We fished from 7:00am to 5:00 pm Sunday. Caught 29 over 15" and about 8-10 under 15 as small as 6". Mostly on leadcore/cranks run on west side of flats at bottom edge of flat. 2@27" 10@15-18" rest 19-25".

[justinman]

Fishing was slow for the 2 of us on Sunday. We fished from 7:00am to 5:00 pm Sunday. Caught 29 over 15" and about 8-10 under 15 as small as 6". Mostly on leadcore/cranks run on west side of flats at bottom edge of flat. 2@27" 10@15-18" rest 19-25".

I'll take that slow day any day! Nice job!

[Labby]

30 plus fish on cranks

Whatever

[eyewarrior]

30 plus fish on cranks

Whatever

I guess if it doesn't work for you it won't work for anybody else. And people wonder why more people dont share information on this site.

[willie]

30 fish day, I believe it. We had over 30 fish a week ago saturday. All on cranks. Cant wait to get back this weekend.

[Borch]

Thanks for the info guys. A 30 plus day on cranks or livebait is very doeable if you have a pattern figured out. Cranks can be at times the hot ticket especially mid summer.

[311Hemi]

Eye, any cranks in particular?

Hit up the big pond yesterday from around 9:30-3:30 and only really worked a couple flats. Ended up with 3-25", 1-18.5", and 1-14"...all released. It was a N-NW wind and the 3-25" all came off the south sides of the flats. The first was in 30' FOW just off the flat, and the next two we caught of them we were waaay off the flats in 36'FOW (200-600 yards). I found it strange that I was marking most of my fish in the deeper water off the flats and a good ways out. I hit up Banana, 7-mile, and then tucked tail up to 3-mile when the winds picked up pretty good. I did not mark many fish on top of the flats, but saw some on the edges. We did not get any on the wind blown sides.

Four of these were caught on a hammered gold spinner, yellow beads(with 1 red), and a crawler. The other was on hammered gold spinner, blue beads (with 1 green), and a leech. Had a tough time locating any pattern and the wind made covering distance somewhat tough.

[eastsideangler]

Just getting into the deep trolling.What pound test do you suggest for leadcore and leaders?

[eyewarrior]

Eye, any cranks in particular?

#5 jointed shad rap in hot perch(cabelas exclusive) was by far the best. Most were caught with 4 to 4 1/2 colors 18# lead with 30' fireline crystal leader in 30-31'. We caught several on bouncers & spinners but the fish were really spread out so cranks seemed to work best. Sunday the wind was from the E-SE but I think the fish were still relating to the heavy NW wind from Sat. We saw most fish on west side of flats.

[eyewarrior]

Just getting into the deep trolling.What pound test do you suggest for leadcore and leaders?

I use 18# leadcore with 30' of 10/4 crystal fireline leader. Check older threads on leadcore as I can remember a pretty good discussion on leadcore.

[rodmaker]

good to hear you are still on the fish. Taking the weekend off and heading over to Lake Michigan 8/13-8/16. Then it's back up to the Pond!!!

[Pat Burch]

Eye Warrior it seems like there is always someone who can't understand that people are catching fish when they aren't. but don't get discouraged by the nay sayers, keep posting. 20-30 fish days on the mud have been pretty common for the last 3-4 weeks. When you think about it in an 8-10 hour day of fishing that is only 3-4 fish hitting the cranks per hour, it's not that crazy to get 25-30 fish in a day. especially if you have 3 - 4 lines out.