mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Luv2angle]

Called a friend of mine that hadnt put his sleeper out yet and said lets get that baby out there. We left Elk River around 1:30-2pm on Saturday and got the house banked up and started fishing around 5pm. Caught two little ones right off the bat jigging with a green forage minnow tipped with a minnow head. First keeper was caught at 5:40pm on the rattle wheel with a lite sucker. Slowed down for a while until roughly 10pm when we were winding down - 26" Eye on the rattle wheel brought us right back! Nothing overnight...woke up around 7am and had a good morning bite. Literally an 18.1" to start the day jigging (tough one to throw back Caught another 19.5", 21.75" and multiple small eyes thru the morning. Ended up with 3 walleyes and 1 jumbo. Not bad for an in prompt to trip

[RiverChuckNorris]

Took the girls up first time ever for an overnight in the castle. Started around noon Saturday and pulled lines about 10 sunday morning. There were far fewer out fishing this weekend compared to last! Fished the transition on the mud and only caught 3 eyes with a 4th getting off at the whole. 2 were nice slots around 17", the other was small. Very slow and erratic bite. Was really surprised at having no bites after midnight and nothing in the morning.

[Fisher_Dude]

2 were nice slots around 17", 18 -28 is slot?

[RiverChuckNorris]

My bad, I think of slots as fish I can eat In which case, none were slots, two were nice keepers.

[Mr_Iceman]

Wait a minute there RiverChuck... Are you sure about that slot deal? Remember, 1.47 million viewers were on this thread since 1.14.09 and I'm willing to bet a few of those were DNR? Hmmm. Do I need to be concerned here?

[Smithers]

Finally made it out to the pond last week for the first time this year. First time my wheel house has been there ever. Even though the bite was a little slow, it was a good time. We still caught some eyes. There were just two of us. We went out of Liberty. Fished in 26 FOW on the rocks/gravel. Didn't get setup until right at dark. Marked fish right on the bottom throughout the evening. Could pull them off bottom about 1-1.5' but they weren't too interested in biting at first. I thought maybe they were perch and wanted something different. Pulled out the light rod and crappie jig and tipped it with a grub. Finally had a short run of bites at 9:15 pm. I caught a 19" eye. First time I caght a walleye on a grub and crappie jig. Seconds later my buddy had a nice one on that got off. He rebaited, dropped it down and he pulled up a 24" eye acouple minutes later. We caught two more eyes around 10:30 pm (20.5", 22"). The last three were on small jigs and fatheads. My buddy was using full minnow. I was using just he head. Light tackle and minimal action seemed to work the best. My buddy left at 11:30. I stayed the night in my sleeper. I had four bites overnight on the rattle reels. I didn't feel the first one. The second one felt really nice, but got off. I caught the last two. Both were eyes (20" and 22"). The morning was pretty slow. two missed bites and a nice 11.5" jumbo perch. The biggest perch I've ever caught. It sure beats the little dinks I'm used to catching!

I will be back up this weekend to attend the DU tournament. And then head out to find some eyes out further. I typically fish the East side. Any pointers on where to go on the West side? Thanks!

[Smithers]

Here's a pic of the 11.5" jumbo. The picture doesn't do it justice!

[pushbutton]

Nice report Smithers! We did not catch any eyes this weekend, none, notta, zilch. The perch were going pretty good though.

This time of year i usually switch up to dropper rigs and plastic critters and root around in the mud a little bit. With Hali having some issues last year with breakage and not trusting the new ones i bought.... just fashioned my own. Am not much of a tackle fanatic, would rather have faith in finding active fish, so just let Jr. pick out the set up....some were quite interesting

Usually only keep about a dozen of them, which ones are usually up to Jr. and is often quite random,but this weekend my count always seemed to be in question. If you look closely at the pic you will see a headless fish and a clue to the count discrepancy.

Finally found the issue........

[maxpower117]

Quote:

Wait a minute there RiverChuck... Are you sure about that slot deal? Remember, 1.47 million viewers were on this thread since 1.14.09 and I'm willing to bet a few of those were DNR? Hmmm. Do I need to be concerned here?

Lock him up!

[motley man]

Years ago a friend and I where broke and went spearing. All we had was a house that we made like a teepe and a chisel, spear, decoy, and a bucket that we burned wood in to stay warm. We had speared 4 fish and when we went out to go there where only 3. The fourth had been eaten by his dog to the point we let him have the rest. After that we left the dog at home. To this day we always remember every time we hit the ice.

[The Grebe]

We went out of Rocky Reef today and we didn't do very well, not well at all and we fished our butts off. We covered an area probably equivelent to 3 square city blocks.

The depth was from about 31' up to 24'....lots of little dinks, a couple of small walleyes, a couple of fish that felt a little better then average, but got off and that was about it? Just before dark there was a small flurry and my brother got 4 perch in the 9-10 inch range.

We threw everything we could think of at em and in the end, it was a crappie minnow on a plain hook that got the fish.

[Suomi]

Fished out of Hunters this Sunday. Evening bite out on the flats. 24 -32 FOW. Rainbows both on set line (plain hook, no color) and jigging (slick jig). dusk produced 5 walleyes (3 keepers) and 2 jumbos. Just saw the roads have been closed to the flats for the season. glad to have got out and back safely!

[Fishnblood]

Me and my wife were up at Eddy's this past Monday/Tuesday we had a deal my parents got us for xmas that was good for a full day ice house rental and hotel room. I had read a couple guys had bad experiences there but I thought it was good, doubt I would pay the prices they are charging for there houses but anyways. The house we fished out of they said was in 24-35 fow but was actually in 15' of water. Fished from about 12pm Monday until 8:30pm caught one 26" walter and that was by my wife. We were both pretty psyched because neither of us have ever caught anything that big before (sad I know!). It was a blast landing it on the ice. That was it. We didn't even mark any fish all day. Tuesday we went out of JR's resort and fished in 15' of water and caught 10 keeper perch. All in all I can't wait to get back up next year. This was my first time fishing Mille Lacs and all I can say is what a beautiful lake.

[pushbutton]

Fishingblood, glad you and the Mrs. had a good time. Be careful, that is how the lake gets you hooked

Made it up Thursday night and from our experience and from what I heard, the lake was on fire. The eyeballs started hitting right after dark and finally had to reel up the rattles around 2 am in order to get some sleep. Of course the smallest fish caught was 18 1/4. After a little flurry Friday morning the lake went dead. This continued into today as well.

Jr. and I spent the day fishing in Lyback"s TWP Tourney. It offered a little more low key atmosphere than the DU event on the other side of the lake. It was very well organized and a good time was had despite the slow bite. This was my first time fishing Lybacks and what really struck me was how well the people were abiding by the speed limit....even lybacks resort trucks...and the roads showed it. Too bad this can not be said on many parts of the lake. Here are a few pics from the day.

This was the staging area where the fish were weighed and the evening festivities took place.

Even though the weather was decent today, a little fire was nice after a long day on the lake, and a great place to tell our fish stories.

If you were not lucky enough to catch anything, some people still got to take home some very nice prizes, including augers, flashers, portables, gps's....everyone did walk away with something!

We were lucky enough to catch a few fish. Although not big enough to put him on the board, Jr. did at least get to weigh one in.

In all the craziness of the day fishing a tourney with a 5 year old, I forgot to snap a pic of my entry, but did at least remember to get one of results.....an envelope full if cash.....which i should probably just give to him right away, since he will end up getting it anyway. Was fortunate enough to land the biggest tullibee today.

[DTro]

Does that say $500?

Nice!!

What the heck was I doing at home today?

[griff321]

Went out last week and had a blast. Fishing was pretty slow, but I was marking them left and right, but I just couldn't get 'em to take. The few I did pull up had mouths just clear full of bugs.

Thanks to all the great people at Sunset Bay, I can't recommend them enough.

[fishmounter]

Fished just out from agate bay in 34' of water caught two dandy perch 13.5'', one 11'' perch and just one walleye that was a keeper. Left just before dark cause we put in at the south end with snowmobiles, the lake was great for riding on saw alot of perch but they just won't bite.

[team wild]

Fished out of Agate bay resort fri. afternoon till sun morning.Fished in 28 foot of water the fish were not jumping out of the holes but fun anyway.Kept 3 walleyes 14.5 inches 15.5 inches and 16.5 inches and 2 perch 10 inches and 11 inches also released walleyes of 13.75 18.5 22 and 24 inches and lost one about 27 inches at the hole and lost A couple more nice ones.Also caught A couple tullibee.Most of the walleye came on dead sticks with A plain hook and fathead jigging was A red lindy flyer with A minnow head. good luck everyone and be safe!!!

[rough_rider]

here's a question maybe more for the lifelong anglers or those with environmental degrees: why is a shallow lake (30 ft isn't eye-popping deep esp when you consider Lacs has coldwater fish like eelpout and tullibee) like Mille Lacs more dominant in perch and walleye compared to say lakes in the metro that are more crappie and sunfish dominant? Or is it simply due to the fact that people do not target crappies in Mille Lacs and therefore it is not raved about. Other than the monstrous size of Mille Lacs , most other factors are constant yet perch and walleye fishery are much better than metro lakes of similar depth.

[jay83196]

My understanding is most lakes don't support natural reproduction like the bigger lakes millelacs, leech, LOW etc. I think bottom content, temps , other fish populations play big factors. millelacs is also unique it has no thermocline due to depth and being so windswept, I don't think that plays factor.

[USDA3]

Thought I would give a report from last Friday and Sat. Great fishing and friends 8 guys, brought home 10 eyes and 4 perch. Threw back about 20-25 eyes including 6 fish between 25-29inches.

Friday it was glow hooks and rainbows, and sat it was shiners and red hooks. Actually caught more on tip-ups than rod and reel!

Friday we were in 27-29 fow and sat we were in 22-26 fow. 29 incher came in at about 1 in the afternoon in 24 fow on the break of a flat.

[JFan02]

Had a great day of fishing yesterday with Tony Roach and his guys. I ended up the day with a 27", 22 1/2", 19" and several keepers along with about a half dozen jumbos. Beat the heck out of a day at the office.

[Stick in Mud]

We had a sick day today...best day of the season so far, and it was the last day we'll be fishing until May. Don't know why we caught them today...but something happened and they started biting. My dad and I caught a total of 19 walleyes today. We got one dink, six keepers, and 12 big fish. The biggest was "only" 24.5'', but it was an absolute blast.

The last two weeks we've more or less struck out. I think we got two or four fish for the last two weeks, and then today was lights out. We caught EVERY fish that came through today...we're sight fishing in shallow water--12 ft deep--so we didn't even have the vexilar down.

And for what it's worth, we also caught six smallies. One over 20'', and the rest were between 17 and 20. Needless to say, I'm sad the season is over for us. Usually this year, the smallies and the walleyes haven't shared the same space, but today they were mingled pretty thick.

Man, I can't wait for May!!!

[Stick in Mud]

Here are some pics of a few of the bass we caught. Sorry about the water on the lens on the second one. All are super fat and a ton of fun to try to bring through an 8'' hole, though I've learned my lesson and started drilling two side-by-side.

[BartmanMN]

Nice pics USDA and CarMike. Way to go out with a bang. I am jealous, looks like you all had a great time.

[MinnetonkaMan]

Weekend report out on 7 mile . Four eyes for the bucket from 14 to 18 inches and two jumbos at 11 inches . Also the tulies were on fire brought ten home for the meat market to smoke up. They were hammering jigging spoons with larva or fatheads on the depp break lines on many flats on the central to west side of lake. perch were not schooled up. Winner at the PE was 1.4 lbs I believe !!!

[addict]

here's a question maybe more for the lifelong anglers or those with environmental degrees: why is a shallow lake (30 ft isn't eye-popping deep esp when you consider Lacs has coldwater fish like eelpout and tullibee) like Mille Lacs more dominant in perch and walleye compared to say lakes in the metro that are more crappie and sunfish dominant? Or is it simply due to the fact that people do not target crappies in Mille Lacs and therefore it is not raved about. Other than the monstrous size of Mille Lacs , most other factors are constant yet perch and walleye fishery are much better than metro lakes of similar depth.

I agree with jay, however, Mille Lacs, I do believe has a thermocline, though, some years that are exceedingly warm and the wind blows a lot will mix it from top to bottom effectively eliminating a "thermocline." It's years like this that really hurt the coldwater fisheries present like the big tullee die-off a few years back.

It is my understanding that the lake is more suitable to the walleye and perch, ie, lots of spawning habitat. Crappies prefer cattail type swampy areas, which there are not a ton of give the volume and surface area of the lake. There is however great crappie fishing, you just gotta find them.

[pushbutton]

Wow, Carmike, did not think it was preseason football yet.....those are some dandies, bet that was a blast!

We did not run across any smallies, but did have nice multi species action this past weekend. We were set up on a north side soft bottom feeding flat in about 28 ft of water about halfway between shoreline and mid lake structure. Must be a rather buggy area as the showdown was literally "lit" up all night with almost constant marking of bait fish.

That bigger mark on the bottom of the screen was not a baitfish. Could not managed to coax it in, but one of her friends just slammed a glow red flyer.

By far the most effective presentation for the eyes was and has been all year...... a set line with a hook and small split shot; do think that at least one jigging presentation helps to draw them in however. Also, as usual did not get one eater this trip. Not complaining, will take these pigs any day!

If we wanted to eat, could have, as the perch were semi cooperative. In this "bug" bite usually throw on a dropper and root it around on the bottom for awhile and after marking an interested fish, ever so slowly raise it off the bottom.

This area also was holding tullies in the morning. It was not a big window and not schooled up heavily, but as the sun broke the horizon they were hitting hard. We used buckshot dropper and micro slick jig for this twofer.

Got to try out Thorn Bros new med/light tripwire rods this weekend. For he perch it was a feel only bite with my normal heavier spring bobber set up, but this thing could detect a ever so small hit.

The tip is made of titanium, so even let jr. use one....although not trying to, he has a knack for breaking things and so far has been unsuccessful.

The great bite detection was not needed for this one Was slamming the bottom with a tiny crappie minnow and a 5mm tungsten jig....was not my target...but hey, whatever works!

[RiverChuckNorris]

Fun report, thanks PushButton! Great to see the next gen of fishermen learning the skills. Seems not that long ago that I was learning from my dad and now I take him fishing (and cherish every minute).

[aanderud]

pushbutton, your kid must LOVE fishing with you. You let him use the expensive gear, you put him on fish, and you've got that comfy looking shack! Nice report!