mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[GasPumpGuy]

Finally the bite has picked up. After many weekends of wasting gas and drowning bait we actually had some success this weekend. Maybe 15-20 walleyes all around 20' and smaller. 2 N. Pike both round 20-25'. And a bout a dozen jumbo perch. All still swimming! Most were caught on leadcore, trolling hornets and flicker shads. Right off the breaks into the basin. Also quite a few caught on bobbers with leaches at dusk. Hope this a good sign for next month.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, the last few days were better than I expected, too. Still not getting much for size, but the small ones are going nuts. It would've been some good eating on just about any lake besides Mille Lacs.

[pikerliker]

I've been reading a few reports of multiple small walleye being caught. Hey maybe the DNR isn't a bunch of idiots after all!

[ripstick]

If a person was to go on the north end in sept. Where would a good place to start.

[BlackArrow1]

Been fishing Mille Lacs the last 2 days. Trolling lead core and fishin bobbers. Getting some eyes in the gravel and on the rocks. There are a bunch of small eyes biting. 9-10 inchers. Both in the gravel and on the reefs. Finding them wherever Im fishing. The reproduction is not failing IMO.

[MuskieFever]

Saturday was a struggle on mille lacs. Only 4 smallies caught. Couldn't get a pattern going and the wind didn't permit us to fish everything we would've liked. The AIS checker at the launch said our 4 was the most successful report he heard….

[tolle141]

Does seem like a lot of people are reporting small walleyes. Maybe there was a good class this year?

[BrdHunter01]

Sounds like a good class coming up.

Funny, the natives haven't been able to net the last 2-3 years due to weather/walleye numbers and we have a bumper crop. Imagine that.

[MNSlaunch]

Snuck out to Mille Lacs Lake this morning to do a little big fish hunting with my good friend Alex Paterson. The smallie fishing was below average for Mille Lacs standards, they do not seem to be schooling too hard yet. After trying many different techniques and areas, we were unable to break the 20" mark. The majority of our fish were in 10-14 feet of water and favored green pumpkin/copper flake 4" sticks and tubes that were slowly crawled along bottom.

Highlight of the day was coaxing this 28" Gravel Lizard into biting before the sun melted the rest of the hair off my head. The water temperature was around 64 degrees for the most part, we will certainly be heading back to the Big Pond as that temp starts to drop.

[fish_hunt_guy]

Anybody been out lately trolling the shallows? Anybody having any luck? Wondering if its worth the time to take a quick trip to the lake. October Full moon is middle of this week, so it should be now or never.

[Griggs]

Any reports for water temp? And maybe what the smallmouth are up to? I've never fished for Smallmouth in October.

[jay83196]

56 on Saturday north end

[Stick in Mud]

Holy wind, Batman. That week-long stretch of WNW winds sure switched around on Saturday, and the north side of the lake was pretty rough. I was hoping the wind would turn on the fish, but my little tin can for a boat wasn't enjoying the 20+ mph steady winds.

We did get five in a bit over two hours of trolling, no keepers and no pigs. Just typical low to mid 20'' fish. They sure are healthy, too. Found them in 9-11 feet all the way up to about 4 feet. Some on shad-style baits and some on stickbaits.

I will definitely be back up there.

[BlackArrow1]

A little late report. Trolled cranks off the north sand break last week. Got some. Thought I would do good right on the sand break. Didn't do very well. The fish seemed to be holding just off the break in 19-23 feet. Trolled shad raps fire tiger was all they would hit. Just long line no lead core. 120 ft back. Fish suspended. Got a 28 inch that just inhaled the crank in the throat at 2.7 mph. Saw pockets of fish there. Barnacles to west of Red Door. Bobber fished and lindy big minnows and didn't get a hit. If ha get on active fish they will hammer the right cranks. Seems they want a chase.

[BlackArrow1]

IMO, if ya run the sand break on the north end graphing you'll see eyes. They are hanging there. Red door said some guys were catching from shore at night in 3 FOW. Really tough pulling cranks shallow on that sand with the weeds in dark. Find em staging for night feed and crank em off the break.

[Stick in Mud]

That deep sand bite is a fun one. I usually pull lead over them, and while the last two years haven't been fantastic, a few years ago that bite was disturbingly easy. Super easy to follow them in after dark, too. If on the outside weedline, put the boat over the weeds and a long rod out deep. If on the inside weedline, put the boat on the weeds and a long rod out shallow. Shouldn't be too tough to avoid most of the weeds. Of course, if two guys are in the boat, one guy will be unhappy with that arrangement.

[Stick in Mud]

Was out fishing Thursday and Friday.

Thursday night, after sorting through a few big girls, I had my limit of two 19+'' fish in less than hour. Caught a few more mid-20'' fish and then went in before 10 p.m. All fish were caught in 6-7 feet, near weeds.

Friday night, went back to the same place I had caught them the previous night. Didn't catch any. Changed lures about 30 times, moved about six times, stayed out for four hours, and didn't catch a fish.

Why one night they were on fire and the next night not, I have no idea.

[fish_hunt_guy]

That lake is notorious for that stick.

[BlackArrow1]

Ok here's what I know from today. Hunters Point has a staked passage to the Boot for wheeler travel. Left at 6:30 am to the mud. It's rough ice and basically bare. Not sled worthy. Some cracks but nothing unsafe if you watch where you go. I didn't see any bad spots just a lot of jagged ice. Went to a flat off the road a ways. 10 inches of good ice. Chains recommended for the wheeler. Had good action around 8am. Got around 20 eyes today. Lots of 10 inch eyes on the mud right now. Caught a few decent 20 plus inchers and lost a big one maybe 8 pounds in the hole. Glow perch forage spoon worked best. Gold and silver seemed to scare them. That's what I can tell anglers from today. Ice is good but be careful. It's been making lots of noise today. Use your own judgement.

[chris63]

Good to hear 10"eyes are plentiful......caught a bunch of9to11 inchers this summer/fall.........thanks for the report black!c63

[BBWFisherman22]

Shermans point?

[Stick in Mud]

Stick in Mud the Elder put the little house out on the northwest side Friday afternoon. Sounds like the bite is actually pretty decent, as he's been texting me every time he catches one. A few little ones, with the ubiquitous 22-25 inchers to keep things interesting. No keepers, of course.

[Stick in Mud]

I don't know why so many folks are skipping out on the Pond this year. The slot sucks, of course, but the big fish (and the little fish) are still here--and they appear to be biting.

Got set up by about 2:30, and by 6:00 I had five 'eyes in the house. Picked up another right before leaving at 6:45. Total: Two small ones, four big ones. No keepers, of course, but it's nice to see the bite back to good.

And the fish are TANKS. Looks like they've been sneaking into the casino buffet.

[Ole #1]

I'm guessing they're not coming to the pond because of the slot. It's a lot of time and money to spend, to not be able to keep the walleye you catch. For me, I'd rather spend the time and money going somewhere where I can keep some walleye.

[bdubs78]

I am used to fishing Lake of the Woods where you catch a million dink eyes and sauger in order to sort through to get a good limit. Yes its nice to be able to catch and keep some fish for the fry pan but I think I would rather catch quality fish that I have to throw back than 10-12 inch dinks all day.

I fished Saturday and caught some decent fish. They all looked healthy in the belly like myself.

[Chad_Fish]

I agree with you bdubs I will take quality over quantity any day of the week and don't mind letting them go to catch another day. If I really need to eat walleye I can stop at culvers on the drive home for a walleye sandwich

[Ole #1]

Just because someone fishes a lake other than Mille lacs doesn't mean you can't catch quality fish, and I don't think I ever mentioned anything about quantity over quality. I've caught enough of those 25-29 inch Mille Lacs walleye. I'd rather fish a local lake where it's not so easy to catch a walleye, and you can actually keep what you catch. To each their own, but I'd much rather filet and cook my own walleye than go to culvers or the grocery store. If I go to Mille Lacs this winter it will be to spear. Part of the ice fishing experience for my family is cleaning, cooking and eating fish.

[MuskieFever]

I'll be headed there in search of some giants. If I catch 3 walleyes all day and one is over 25" I'll be fired up about it.

[BrandonJ]

Went up on saturday fished from about 7am-2pm found 13 inches on the northeast end. Ice was getting pretty beat up all day with the warm weather. Managed 1 19 inch walleye and marked plenty more but didnt bite. Tried to go back out at 4pm but very thick fog and water flying down my holes from earlier in the day made me turn around. Lost my rod bag out there during that aswell and didnt notice when I left

[archeral566]

Any reports on ice conditions and whether there is any snow on the lake? Planning on going up Saturday and want to know if it's worth taking my snowmobile with. I don't have a studded track so without any snow it's pretty worthless.