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2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports


Rick

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Just got back from a 3 day stay at Appeldoorns, and all I can say is that despite the bitter cold, we caught fish, nice Perch to bring home and one in my Avatar that is now back swimming in the pond.

Thanks Paul for running a class operation, you and your gang are the best, my wife, and daughter who is 10 had a riot, we WILL be back.

By the way most of the perch came on the rattle wheels with colored hooks, some were taken with jiggin' spoons, and the big girl in the picture came on a rattlin' flyin spoon well before sunrise. wink

Mark

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Chris,

He was in our 6 hole premier.

Mark,

Thanks for the pics. I will get them up on our site as soon as I can.

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Upnprthfoshin do not forget a puck of red euro larvae. Dangle about 3 or 4 off of a glow Lindy Rattlin Flyer Spoon and you will get perch. wink

Good luck!

Mark that is a nice eye!

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Grabs,

Like Paul said, we were in the 6 hole premiere and had a blast!

I left to portable and wheeler at home and all fish were caught in the sleeper.

Paul, I cannot say enough about your service you provide.

We are already thinking about how many houses we have to rent next year, now that a few other friends and family are finding out how fun and successful our trip was.

Like I told them the catching was a bonus, when the house is warm and the company is great the time is enjoyable.

Although Paul seems to get you on the fish too!

Shash,

Great to have you back on the site!

Hope your recovery is going well and you are back full soon.

Mark

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Mark if you were in #2 you were right next to us crazy ladies in #1. We did not have very good luck, a few keeper perch, one 12" walleye and an eelpout about 20-23" long. And we did throw everything but the kitchen sink at them. My hubby did lose a big fish this morning right before we packed. Not sure what it was but it had his rod bent in half and just kept peeling line out until it broke. He couldn't budge it when he tried to crank it in. Second New Years trip for us with bitter cold and not many fish. Paul has nicknamed us cold front.

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Just got back for a 24 hour trip from Saturday at 3:00 pm to today at 3:00. Fished out at Boot Flat and caught two walleyes, both 14" in the 24 hour period. Missed probably another 3 or 4. Both fish were caught at 7:30 pm last night. Went in to Hunter's last night and most everyone was getting skunked because of the weather. Sure made the bar owners happy though I bet, Hunters was packed!

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Fished Saturday day and Sunday morning out of Hunters and overnighted Saturday in a rental at Appledoorns. While we only caught 1 small walleye out of the rental, accomodations were warm and clean and Paul had us on structure, high pressure just had the fish deep and lethargic.

Picked up 2 nice eyes Saturday and "boated" another 4 eyes, 1 perch and 1 pout Sunday morning with two of the eyes kept. With almost all traffic bee-lining out to the mud, we elected to fish away from the crowds alone off the rock piles between 29-32 fow. Fish were finicky but a slow presentation on small swimming jigs 6" to 18" off the bottom worked best.

Lakelovr, you couldn't be more right about Hunters Bar! I think a lot of the world's problems were discussed and solved Saturday night since the fish weren't cooperating.

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lamb,

Wish I would have known, I was going to come over and check out the luck you were having anyways, but I was kinda wussing out with the cold to go anywhere.

If you are nicknamed cold front, I could be CFII.

Last year we were up there and it never got above -10 the whole weekend. We had windchillls last year that averaged -50 all weekend and the fishing was ok for catching, not keeping. We caught small perch and a small eel-pout.

So it is not just you that brings on the cold.

I am glad the Walleye in the picture above looks nice, cause I look like C&@P. It was very early on the 1st of January. crazy

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Heading up to the big pond tomorrow. Gonna stop by and talk to paul and see where to go. Staying at the cabin right by Carsona Beach any special place they have been biting, thinking about heading to 3 mile reef were the rocks are, haven't ice fished this lake in a while. Any help would be great thanks alot guys and good luck out there.

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Thanks guys. It is nice to be back. grin

Shack, glad to see you up and back on the forum. how long till yu can get back on ice?

As far as getting out on the ice, that depends on the weather and temperatures. My lungs are still heeling and these temps are not good to be breathing in. grin Plus I have to build back up some muscle mass for loading and unloading gear.

I have no doubt that I will at least get one March perch trip in and I know I will get in a late ice crappie and sunny run to the pond.

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I was out on new years day and with the cold and high pressure the fish were really lethargic. We did mark a fair amount of fish on the mud though. They would slowly come up to the bait and then slowly sink away. There were some flurries of activity though. I caught 2 to in about 10 minutes in mid-afternoon. Then again towards evening there was another flurry where I caught 2 in about 5 minutes. A lot of dead time but those flurries definitely made the trip up there worth it.

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Just got back from the pond today. One word SLOW. I new it would be bad when I woke up this morning and saw -25 and the pressure at 30.50. Tried Brandts because I thought his road was out to the gravel but not yet. It stopped at Sloppys so thats where I fished. Tried off the edge and on top and wound up with 2 four inch perch for the effort today. Graphed fish all day which I am sure were all small perch. It still was well worth the sick call into work today.

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Shack,

Awesome to see you back posting!!!!!. You were in my Prayers daily, as I recieved updates.

Keep working hard, and you will be on the ice soon!!!!

Take Care!!!!!

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New to the area and planning on getting out on the big lake the weekend of the 16th and 17th. Wondering if anyone had any tips they were willing to share with a fresh college grad wet behind the ears :)I was thinking of maybe going out from hunters point/agate bay. Thanks a lot.

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definitely go out of hunters. Will you have a permanent or portable? I should be up there most weekends and probably the one you are coming up. Hunter's has a superb road system and they are very popular. Anywhere off that point is producing. If you email me, avidjunglist at yahoo we can try to hook up when you get up there. Later.

Phil

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Shack:

Great to see you posting here again. I received the countless updates from your family and thought about you often, despite us never meeting. I'm pleased to hear that you're doing well and very much on your way to a full recovery.

Tight lines.

SPTRIX

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looking at going up to the pond the weekend og the 16 17. going out of brandt's. can anyone tell me what to expect. we will be in a sleeper house but will also be bring the clam's along for mobility. maybe try for some perch. does a person think a guy could get into some tulibee.

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ILLIFIED:

I'm not sure yet whether it will be two of us, in which case we would probably just take a portable, or 4 of us in a sleeper yet. What have you heard about agate bay resort?

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looking at going up to the pond the weekend og the 16 17. going out of brandt's. can anyone tell me what to expect. we will be in a sleeper house but will also be bring the clam's along for mobility. maybe try for some perch. does a person think a guy could get into some tulibee.

I ran into some tullies this past weekend, I had no problem hooking them. they were very active. good luck

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Fished Mon, and Tues nights (couldn't find the nerve to wake up in the morning in -20 temps to set up the portable). Mon night was good. Between 2 of us we kept 3 eyes, 2 14 inchers and 1 15 incher. Had a couple more on, the GF's line, she doesn't have the greatest hook set but were working on that smile probably missed like 6 or 7 between the both of us. The camera died and not sure if they were just little ones or were just nibbling but we were letting them take it forever and still couldn't hook em. Needless to say we went to the same spot tues night and never had a bite frown lots of lookers but no takers. And ALOT of fish moving through on the bottom that we saw on the camera. Could get a few of them to come off the bottom but they would just lick your minnow then turn around and laugh at the camera... All and all a pretty good trip, wish I could of made it out for a morning bite or two but the gf wasn't having that and I didn't want to do it by myself.... Maybe next time

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Hey Big what time are you taking off to your house? what size and you getting?

I am taking off with my GF and another couple on the 16th at noon for a 24 hour shift.

-Bill

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I was out of Brandts 12/31 through 1/3. Didn't do too bad on rattles. Missed quite a few though. Ended up keeping 7, released 2, and lost probably another 15. Most kept were around 13-14". Good little eaters. Didn't catch any perch. Have my shack in 26'.

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Fishing over the last 10 days or so has really been hit or miss for most people. The cold front and high pressure sure made fishing more challenging, you could see the negative feeding mood of the fish on the by watching them on camera. Deep tranistion areas and the top edge of mud flats have been best for me lately. There are really specific times of day and spots were you can catch allot of fish. Finding these areas takes allot of work and allot drilling. Find the fish with the flashers and the cameras and be patient and try different colors until you trigger some bites. Allot of fish will follow it up 3-5 feet before taking it. The walleye have been biting best for me with perch colored frostee jigging spoons with a gold back. Orange with a glow back has also been decent.

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lamb,

Wish I would have known, I was going to come over and check out the luck you were having anyways, but I was kinda wussing out with the cold to go anywhere.

If you are nicknamed cold front, I could be CFII.

Last year we were up there and it never got above -10 the whole weekend. We had windchillls last year that averaged -50 all weekend and the fishing was ok for catching, not keeping. We caught small perch and a small eel-pout.

So it is not just you that brings on the cold.

I am glad the Walleye in the picture above looks nice, cause I look like C&@P. It was very early on the 1st of January. crazy

We were there last year too at the same time. Got my Ford Escape stuck in a snow drift at one shack trying to get back to our shack. Then a friend stuck his Toyota Tundra trying to punch through the snowdrift at our shack trying to get back in. Rough night all the way around. We had pretty tough fishing last year too. I am jealous of that eye you caught, Mille lacs has not been good to me in the fish department. We went up for Piggy Perchin in late February and drug the cold front with then too. Now I see why Paul calls us the cold front crew.

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I will have to see if we can loosen up the Piggy Perchin weekend on Mille Lacs.

Try to drag 4WheelinMama with if she would go.. smile

Mark

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we should be up about 2:00 pm on fri. until sun around 12:00. we will be in a 8x16 sleeper. i hope the fish are biting either walleyes perch or tullies. maybe we can get together look for a green ram pick up with a topper. good luck fishin

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