mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[RumRiverRat]

Fished the South end for Bass on Sunday.

3 of us put about 20 fish in the boat and lost at least 5 during the fight.

Average size was 3.5 to 4 pounds.

Put a couple Bronze Footballs in the boat.

Juan Grande with a 5 pounder.

Same fish on the Tape

Nils and I with a Green and Brown Double

[Gopher_Guy]

rumriver - what were you guys using? I was out in the rocks this weekend and boated several over 16 and one a 19 but nothing in terms of quantity like you have. The ones I caught them on mainly were a shallow glass shad rap in 2-4 FOW. They sure fight good!

[RumRiverRat]

Fished 3 to 6 of water.

Tried everything, Cranks, Husky jerk-baits.

Ended up figuring out the pattern towards the end, all of the fish came on grubs dragged on the bottom with an occasional hop.

Used Zoom Fat Albert Grubs and Yum Wooly Grubs, caught a few on a 1/8oz jig head and a Zoom Fluke.

Used 1/4oz and 3/8oz jigs because of the wind and the fish wanted the bait on the bottom.

The fish were gorging on Crawdads, the Largemouth I caught had crawdad parts coming out of her rear end and a recently inhaled crawdad in her throat.

[Gopher_Guy]

I need to figure out how to jig fish. It is something I have never figured out. I must be the only person alive that hasn't caught a fish on Senko yet either. In the end I always go back to cranks/huskys/x-raps. Here's the 19 I caught:

Then, on the last day I managed to land this guy. Not even a legal one, but my first ever and I sure was excited about it. 12 lb mono on a husky jerk. I actually thought I had a snag for 10-15 seconds and started repositioning the boat as such. Never even dawned on me what it was until I saw it by the boat.

[BSB879]

Gonna be taking the 6 hour trip to visit family in the Isle area for a few days starting on 08/08. I've never fished Mille Lacs before, and just looking for a little help. I'm not looking for specifics or waypoints, just a general idea for that area on Mille Lacs. I've been reading up on reports, and looks like the walleye bite has gone dry for the most part. That's what I intended on primarily fishing for, and was wondering if I could get any tips for this time of the year in the Isle area? Would also be open for any tips on smallies or perch if the walleye bite is completely dead. By the looks of things spinners or rigs on deep water transitions during the day and slips in the evening on rocks was the plan, but am open to any kind of fishing as I have the equipment for it. Thanks in advance. Open to trading information for Bay of Green Bay or Lake Winnebago.

[jwmiller33]

im hitting mille lacs tomorrow going to be targeting walleyes. i have a lakemaster chip so i should be able to position myself onto some good structure... just wondering what people would suggest for presentations for eyes in early morning/afternoon... my main game plan right now is to troll around with some bottom bouncers and spinners with crawlers and see if i can pick anything up.. if i catch a few on the same spot of the troll i will post up and jig or bobber... also thinking about trolling cranks but not sure if i should troll them with 3 ways or just straight cranks? anyone have any suggestions?

[flyboy10]

The spinner bite has slowed quite a bit. Don't be afraid to go back to a lindy with a long snell. The mud has also slowed from what I have seen this last week. The south end gravel has been very consistant for me the whole summer or if the wind is up some shallow rocks. The smallmouth bite has been amazing this last month. Find any rock pile and try a slip or a tube jig.

[Walleyehooker]

Bright sun tomorrow but maybe some wind might get the flats going.Myself I would head back to the deeper rocks in 15-20+ feet and catch walleyes,Smallies and even some very nice Jumbo perch mixed in.And this hasnt been just an evening thing.Exactly where?Well thats another story and not for the internet.Ill be back up in about a week.Going to be some monster perch caught this fall up there on the rocks.Some 12+ inchers showing up already.

[Wishin4Walleyes]

Heading up this Saturday. Gonna be on the water before sunrise. What is the consensus for the early morning bite? Is it spinners/crawlers or lindy/leeches on top the flats or use these tactics in the gravel/rocks?

Any help would be really appreciated. I have been blanked the last 2 times out. Bringing the gal with me and what to make sure she has fun.

[Pat Burch]

Rough water today on the south end of the lake today. Took John from Minneapolis out for 5 hour trip of Bobber fishing, he got a little sea sick after 3 hours and we went in for the day but we did get 7 walleyes 6 of which we could keep.

[Felden]

I'm heading up to the north west end tonight for some night fishing from 8pm-3am. Will let you guys know the results.

[Felden]

Weather was super calm, then the wind picked up a little as the night went on. Something that I didn't expect to happen was the May Fly hatch.... Still caught some perch and a small mouth bass, other then that was a very nice night of looking at the stars.

[TechFisher78]

Weather was super calm, then the wind picked up a little as the night went on. Something that I didn't expect to happen was the May Fly hatch.... Still caught some perch and a small mouth bass, other then that was a very nice night of looking at the stars.

Does a "May Fly Hatch" completely shut down the walleyes? I'm headed up to the big puddle Sunday afternoon hoping to get on some eyes Sunday evening. I won't bother if their not going to bite. Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Riverratpete]

Stayed at Fishers last weekend, experimented with leadcore trolling and ended up with a 23, 24 and a couple 15's and even some jumbo's. Green #7 shad rap was the go to bait, trolling speed mid 2 mph..all came off of planer boards...very important. depth was anywhere from 29 ft to 19. Bobber bite was pretty nonexistant at least for my boat and never did get to dragging rigs but did hear some people did good. Looking forward to the fall bite, should be good.

[Blainebob]

Coming up this weekend for golf and fishing-heading out on Eddys launch on Friday evening-any word on the bite out that way?

[NAGORSKI]

. Green #7 shad rap was the go to bait' date=' trolling speed mid 2 mph..all came off of planer boards...very important. depth was anywhere from 29 ft to 19. quote']

Just curious why a planer board would be very important in 29 - 19 feet? Other than spreading out your lines. were you on the flats? Thanks

[MidCoast]

We tried bobber fishing on deep rocks this past weekend and did okays. A few 16 and 17 inch Walleyes.

[RumRiverRat]

Another wonderful morning on the Big Pond Saturday 8-14-2010.

Fished the same rocks as on 8-1-2010.

2 of us fished from 6am to 10am.

Put 30 smallmouth bass in the boat.

Biggest was 17"

The rest were 12 to 16".

Caught a few on a Rapala Crankin Rap 3-5 foot model.

Zoom Fat Albert Grubs in Pumpkin and Green Pumpkin on 1/4oz jigs and Strike King Coffee Tubes in Pumpkin with Red Flake on 3/16oz jig rigged inside the tube were the key presentation.

The Clear Sky had the fish holding deeper on the rocky fingers of the area we were fishing.

The fish were negative/neutral and wanted a slow presentation.

The bites were light and not very aggressive.

[Cove]

Sounds great, RumRiverRat.

Last week I spent a couple of hours fishing for SMB on a rocky reef in the south end of the lake. It was shallow rocks. tops out around 3 feet and slopes to 8 - 10 before giving way to 15 foot sand or rubble. Is this the type of reef to be fishing SMB on? Or is it the deeper reefs, the ones that are 15, 20 feet down? There are so many rock piles in the south end, not sure which type hold SMB

[BartmanMN]

Fished the crazy windy day yesterday and only managed one 22inch eye early in the AM. Couldn't even attempt to drive to East side for smallie action.

We consistently were marking fish at the 20 ft range on the mud flats, although we were working bottom bouncers. We only attempted one pass with cranks to try to dive to that 20ft range. Does anyone know if there is a thermocline or what is holding the fish right at 20ft?

[RumRiverRat]

Sounds great, RumRiverRat.

Last week I spent a couple of hours fishing for SMB on a rocky reef in the south end of the lake. It was shallow rocks. tops out around 3 feet and slopes to 8 - 10 before giving way to 15 foot sand or rubble.

Those are exactly what you should be looking for.

Generally the sharper the drop the better.

If the reef has a point that extends into deeper water with large rock on it even better.

Lately the pattern has been plastics dragged on the bottom.

On Saturday I would cast to the top of the reef and drag the lure over the break. The fish would take the bait as it came over the break.

Large isolated rocks away from the main reef on those 5 to 8 foot smaller rock to rubble to sand transition areas are another thing to look for.

[deerwoody]

No thermo on mille lacs,too shallow

[RumRiverRat]

Fished Saturday 8/22 with Juan Grande.

Banged our head against the rock piles looking for smallies, only caught one.

Ended up fishing The edges of the emergent vegetation beds.

The Pike were feisty and snapping at spinnerbaits.

Put some nice fish in the boat.

Juan Grande had a nice Largemouth on but could get a solid hook set.

Lesson of the day was if the target species does not cooperate, try looking for Pike. They always seem to cooperate.

[MarkBruzek]

No thermo on mille lacs,too shallow

Yes there is a Thermo, I SCUBA Mille Lacs and its generally down 12-15 feet depending on the structure and side of the lake. -Mark

[northender]

Quote: Yes there is a Thermo, I SCUBA Mille Lacs and its generally down 12-15 feet depending on the structure and side of the lake. -Mark

Maybe 2-3 degree difference from top to bottom but surely NOT a thermo-cline. Surely NOT. Cold springs in places but NOT a thermo-cline where oxygen levels change etc., and a 5-10 degree temp change exists. Not at Mille Lacs.

[Walleyehooker]

Because ML is fairly shallow and wind and waves mix the water you wont see much for thermoclines.

[hart0670]

hit mille lacs out of the Red Door this weekend. Did pretty good picking up walleyes on the deep water trolling with lead core (usually around 28 ft). Kept six and threw back quite a few, including some big girls around 27-28 inches. Also hammered the perch, put four limits of jumbos in the boat all at least 8 inches, with 18 in the 12-14" range. Had to sift through the smaller ones, all in all, probably caught 300 perch in one afternoon.

Tried trolling the north shore from Malmo back to the Red Door for muskies, no takers.

Wind was shifting on us all weekend, started out of the west, then moved to the south, and ended up out of the east yesterday...that doesn't help.

[Riverratpete]

Put in time out of the Liberty Beach launch on Sunday, 6 box fish (for two people) 18-20 inch fatties, threw back a 22 and a 30 inch Slimer. Trolled leadcore off the reefs 25 - 28 ft (no boards)200Ft seemed to be the magic number for amount of line out..falls going to be a great bite, wallys look in fabulous condition.

[Wishin4Walleyes]

fished about 20 nw flats on sat am from 530 till 2 pm. Caught 1 12 inch eye on first flat right away & that was the last bite of the day. Pulled off at 2 & went to gull lake.

question is, what can a guy do that is not setup for lead core to catch a couple right now. I was pulling lindy rig with leeches. What can be good right now & at what time of day? Should I give up on the flats now? Have some relatives coming in this weeknd that want to go out. Can't expose them to a 1 fish day! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BrdHunter01]

Get leadcore or troll raps in the shallows after dark. I wouldn't even waste my time with leeches right now