Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports


Rick

Recommended Posts

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Getting ready to spawn my cousin said they are super fat!!! 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Ran the mud flats a few days ago. Mid lake flats. Saw fish holding on the points and side breaks to deeper just off em. Got some nicer fish out there 22-28inchers. But it was kinda tough. They were not super positive. Lindy n leeches. Hit a rock reef shallow at dark with bobber. Smallies to start. Got kind of worried at around  8 pm. It was dead. At around 8:30 the bobber kept going down steady. Was anchored in 5ft and drop was to 8-10ft where I was fishin bobber. Got a 28 inch big gal and a handful of em from 18-24inch. The fish were all full guts fat! Even the smallies/Rock bass I got there were fat. Funny thing was by 9:30 all the eyes got were small. Like 9-12 inchers and they were abundant. Could not keep em off the line. Not many reports here. It was real windy and tough fishing. I talked with several other anglers and they did similar. Heard the rock reefs by shore were full of fish still. The reports of the lake being in a state of emergency are up-played for media popularity in my mind. Stayed next to a couple fine guys from Iowa that came 10 hours to fish smallmouth out of Hunters Point. Mille Lacs is still a phenomenal fishery. People wanna be on it still regardless of bad press. All species of fish are still abundant. I've stayed at 2 different resorts the last 2 weeks and the service was great for lodging/landing. (Agate Bay/Hunters Point). I had great angling and had great services. Even last winter the Red Door was premium. Mille Lacs outfits do what they can to point you to fish and make your stay nice. It's just great. 

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fished the mud and rocks today in the 5-10mph winds....(N 10-15mph gusts to 20 with 3 foot rollers) what a joke, nice forecast for a 3 hour drive! ANYWAY.....didn't do real great, 1 22" in the mud and lost another. Red spinner and leech. Tried power corking with one take down but notta when I set the hook. Marked a couple good pods  of fish in the deep mud (28-31') but couldn't get them to go. Boat control was a spectacular nightmare!

Moved to the south end rocks (16' to 3') with tubes and cranks for smallmouth....3 in the boat lost 1. A lot of windshield time for little results. Still beats work! Gonna go back next Wednesday, I'll let you know. 

Edited by Captain24
  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not much talk going on here. Was out on the mud last Monday. Did fair. Graphed pockets of nice fish. They were kind of finicky at times. Seemed they hung side breaks or deeper. Long lindy and leeches did ok. I got frustrated and did some slow death rigging through them with crawlers and no takers. At some point they turned on for no reason. Got active for like an hour at a time. Some of my best action came from a blown up whole crawler on 8ft leader below the boat with a 1/2 oz weight. They hammered and ran with the crawler. When the leeches aren't going give the crawlers a shot. I use a #4 red hook, hook once above the knuckle and back through just below it. Inflate and fish it slow like a leech rig. They really seemed to like that presentation. The fish that hit that set up pounded it. My rock bite at dark was plagued by small eyes a plenty. 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was up Sat. Caught some fish. Wasn't a totally hot bite. But some bit. Yes, they're out on the flats.

 

 

Edited by 1eyeReD
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fished both Friday and Saturday for a tournament... Tough fishing a flat calm sunny lake for 2 days, but the fish were biting!

Seemed like Friday it was a live rigging day. My dad ran a 6ft snell red hook with a leech which seemed to work well for him. I was using slow death and that work fine as well. It was the first time I had used it and I am hooked.  In the morning the fish were running the top edge of the flats. speed was SLOOOWWW! .3MPH would work fine.

 

Saturday was tourney time and we managed 2 nice fish right away on long snells again with a leech in 24ft of water.  Picked up another off the edge of the flat that was 22.5" but we were fishing more like .08-1 mph.

Judging by the weight in though, DEEP was the ticket with live bait rigs. 30-34ft of water off a flat all day put up a 28lb 5 fish bag which was awesome!

LOTS of little dink walleyes that will keep you busy out there. Didn't matter how you fished you will catch them. Heck even pulled leadcore on Friday for a little while and the little guys still would go after the bigger stick baits.

 

Smallmouth action is still hot! I have read that they have moved out to deeper water. Seemed like all fish caught were up along shore in rocks with tops waters and shallow running cranks and drop shot rigs.

 

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the report, elusivecrappiecacher.  I think we would have had more luck later in the day further off the flats, when that water flattened out and the sun was out.  They slowed down bigtime on top and near the edges.  I might give those slow death hooks a try too.  And there's some wobbly floaters (Lindy 'Lil Guy) that a guy can get that are supposed to be all the rage too.  Might try them next time.

I really prefer fishing for flathead catfish better than walleyes, but for enough action to keep the 7 year old interested, I'll compromise on Mille Lacs walleyes!  :) I might be back in 2 weeks, we'll see.

Edited by aanderud
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually tried the Lindy Lil' Guy with no luck on Saturday during the tournament. No luck with it. I won't give up on it though as I never had a chance to give it a real shot. I just had to drop it down and see. The live bait had turned off for a bit so I was throwing the tackle box at them trying to get something going again. I needed more fish for the card! haha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

The weather threw us a curveball yesterday, left cloquet after work at 2 with no wind and drove right into a T-storm when we got to Mille lacs....Ended up holed up in the bar until 7pm (crazy how windy it got at the end of the front) we fished from 730 till dark and got 9 eyes all on jig n leech

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hit the pond again yesterday got 20 some eyes and 8 smallies...Got the majority of the eyes on slip bobbers and leaches, they were stacked on the bottom edge of a hump....23ft was our best depth...They were sure off on the wind forecast...

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sitting on the shore currently in father Hennepin state park and their are clouds of mayflies......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Picked up around 20 eyes this morning, all relatively small 12-17 inches. All on the mud and on lindys and leeches. Tried different baits and different areas to try and get a bigger fish but I just ended up picking up smallmouth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me and a buddy were out for 9 hours , we got 37 eyes from 14-24"...Most came pulling spinners and dragging jigs w/leeches in 22-32ft....

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hit the pond yesterday, from 10-7 ended up with 32 eyes, biggest was a fat 25"er....pulling spinners was the ticket, purple blade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Good walleye fishing in the north-end flats a few days ago when the lake was like glass. Pulling spinners at 1.3-1.5 mph, hammered-metal #3-4 blades, 22-32 FOW, crawlers during the day and leeches in the evening.

Probably 50 walleyes total, with the smallest 10" and the biggest a 9-lb 29" beauty of a fish. Most were 13-15", which would be 2012-2013 class. Handful of fish 6 lbs and up.

Most striking was the fact that NOT ONE walleye was an "eater"-class fish. Not a single fish in the 17-21" range that I ordinarily would keep on a lake that allows harvest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

went out to 30 fow on gravel yesterday and caught 7 or 8 between noon and 4:30 pm.  A few 7 inchers, 12, 14, 17.5 and a 25.5.  Probably would of hammered them on top of the gravel after that but had to work last night.  They were hitting hard on a spoon at 3:30.  No pictures as I was by myself and just wanted to get good releases on them.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was out Saturday too on the deep gravel and the bite was way better than the previous week/weekend as one could imagine.

I hit -22F on the way up from the south and when I go to the lake it was -12F.

Hit Sloppy Joe's for a bit, lots of traffic and stayed in 30ft to keep away and found a few fish and they were actually a bit aggressive. Moved to 4 mile and found some more, again away from the communities, saw quite a few nice fish on the camera but they would not bite.

I caught all mine jigging and a buddy who stayed overnight caught all theirs on plain hook/shiner.

I saw 14"+ of ice everywhere I went.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Any updates on lake travel, particularly on the north end? Am heading up tomorrow, and am hoping to drive to my destination spot(s).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
1 hour ago, JBMasterAngler said:

Any updates on lake travel, particularly on the north end? Am heading up tomorrow, and am hoping to drive to my destination spot(s).

Bring chains and a shovel there is huge drifts and no plowed roads out to the flats that I have heard of. A snowmobile is the best option

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not much going on out there. It does not appear anyone is even maintaining resort access points.  Barnacle's is closed until April, nothing going on at Garrison Sports, or Red Door, or Myr Mar.

Lyback's may still have roads on the South side. Or perhaps Hunters Point..

Call ahead

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I decided to skip Mille Lacs today. With the poor fishing reports and even poorer travel options out there, I’m hoping next week might be better. So bring on the sun for the next 7 days!

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • The title was changed to 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Similar Content

  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Kettle
      Walked today and yesterday, flushed 9, shot at two and got two. Hopefully next year I'll have a dog to hunt with. Still warm up here, skim of ice on ponds. Weather has been nice. Hopefully walk a bit more the next few weeks. Been pretty cautious walking for birds to not interfere with deer hunters. There sure are not the deer hunters there used to be 
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  The focus for many this week is the ongoing deer hunting season which is a big tradition in these parts, even for avid walleye anglers.  There were some that either already harvested their deer or are more into catching fall walleyes than hunting.     Those that are fishing are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and excellent walleye and sauger bite that is happening across the lake.  Cold weather is in the forecast in the upcoming days and weeks so that is also getting many excited. The best depths on the south end of LOW are 22-28 feet of water.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners is catching most of the walleyes, saugers and jumbo perch.  Depending upon where on the lake you are fishing, some slots and big trophies are in the mix as well, but most reports are talking about good numbers of eaters.    Jumbo perch are coming in good numbers this fall which will serve ice anglers well.  Watch out for an occasional pike or even lake sturgeon mixed in with the walleyes.      There are good numbers of walleyes and saugers across the south shore which is setting up nicely for early ice.   On the Rainy River...  There continues to be good numbers of shiners in the river, and consequently, there are good walleyes in the river as well.     Walleyes along with saugers, pike and some sturgeon are coming in up and down the river.  Most walleyes are being caught in 10-25 feet of water in various stretches of the river.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners is the key. Some anglers are also still slow trolling crankbaits upstream to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing remains strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  As temps are getting colder, most are in the woods hunting and not fall fishing, however, for those who bundle up, fishing continues to be excellent.     A nice mixed bag with walleyes, saugers, perch, pike and crappies being caught. Very good muskie fishing with the colder water temps and shorter days.  Some big fish and some good numbers are being caught amongst the islands.  Both casting and trolling is getting it done.  
    • gimruis
      I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to.   There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely.  It has bipartisan support.  Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow.  They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times.  Probably just a matter of time.
    • Wanderer
      Oh, h e l l no! 
    • leech~~
      Screw that, here's whatch need!  😆   Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280
    • Wanderer
      20 ga has become a real popular deer round in the last 5 or so years.  The rifled barrels are zinging those sabot slugs with rifle like accuracy out to 100 yards easily.  Some go so far as dialing in for a 200 yard shot but really, by 150 they’re falling off pretty low.   I have a single shot Ultraslug in 20 ga that shoots really well at 100 yards.  Most everyone I know that has bought a slug gun lately has gotten the Savage 220 in 20ga.  Problem can be finding the shells you want.
    • leech~~
      My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting.  I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!!     So, I'm keeping my 12ga.  
    • 11-87
      That’s almost exactly what I was thinking.  Have slug barrels for both   One for turkey and one for deer.      I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used.   I always liked the 12 better
    • leech~~
      Wanderer is right on the money and covered it well.  I was wondering too if you had a slug barrel for one of your guns?  If so you could make that your slug gun with a scope, and the other your turkey gun with the Red dot.  As you can afford it. 
    • Wanderer
      Kinda depends on if you want magnification or quick target acquisition.   More magnification options and better accuracy with a scope.  You get what you pay for too so get comfortable with a budget for one.  Tasco and Bushnell work but I find they lose their zero easier, have low contrast and don’t gather light well in low light conditions.  That said, I’m still using one I haven’t replaced yet.  Vortex has been the hot brand for the past several years for bang for the buck.  Good products.  Nothing beats Swarovski though.  Huge dough for those.  Burris is another decent option.   There are some specific models for shotgun/slug hunting in the economy brands and bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticles.  Based on experience I’d recommend not falling for that marketing ploy.   Red dots are usually lower magnification and easier to get on target.  Reasonably accurate but don’t do well with definition, like searching the brush for your target.  I put a HAWKE red dot on a .22 for squirrels and it’s been good.  For turkey, that’s probably the route I’d go.     If your slug shots are normally not too far and too brushy, I’d think a red dot could work there too if you’re only buying 1 scope.  You’ll be better off dimming the reticle to the lowest setting you can easily use to not over shine the target and get a finer aim point.   If you don’t have a slug barrel, you might appreciate one of those.  I had a browning with a smoothbore slug barrel that shot Brenneke 2-3/4 inch well.  The 11-87 would well fitted with a cantelever rifled barrel. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.