mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Rick]

13 hours ago, JBMasterAngler said:

Was probably close to 30 inches on main lake, 18 or so in cove bay. But it was deteriorating really fast. I could only imagine what today’s temps did, especially along the pressure ridges.

 

11 hours ago, Kettle said:

There were guys out on wheelers today when I drove past

 

Thanks JB and Kettle!!

[gimruis]

My parents tried Mille Lacs on opener for almost 6 hours and this is what their boat looked like at 2:30pm.  They did not have a single bite.  I told them not to go and they still went.

[CLPDB]

We went out on the NE side after the snow and the 3 of us got one lindy rigging and than we anchored up on the rocks and caught 9 more.  All of them were 16-18 inches.  It was definitely a cold and wet opener.  

[gimruis]

If you can't go out for a few hours and catch some walleyes right now on Mille Lacs...it may be time to try another activity.  They're biting shallow, deep, live bait, artificial, daytime, evening.  Heck even the bass guys are catching them by accident.  I think they're starving again.  They all look pretty unhealthy.  Granted, some of that has to do with being post spawn but they all look deathly and skinny right now.  Here is a 30 incher my Mother caught lindy rigging the mud flats on Sunday afternoon.

[rumeye]

My brother was up there on Sunday with the Nephew and had a 70 fish day. He said most were 18 to 21 inches with a few 22 23's and 24's mixed in. Think they also got a few 25 and 26ers. Leech's lindy rigging off Agate reef and Half moon deep side 21 ft plus. 

[Wanderer]

Agreed, the eyes didn’t look healthy and didn’t have much spunk, even for walleyes.  We caught some off the dock fishing leeches under floats in about 8-9 fow.

 

Lots of boats out!  I don’t visit Mille Lacs much so I don’t know if the memorial crowd was more than usual but I have a feeling it wasn’t.  Except for the rain showers that moved through we could count anywhere from 45 -100 boats from the dock at any given time.

[gimruis]

3 hours ago, rumeye said:

My brother was up there on Sunday with the Nephew and had a 70 fish day.

 

I don't doubt that.  Bass anglers are catching way more walleyes than bass right now too.  The bass fishing has gotten to be difficult.  There's way too much pressure on those fish.

Edited May 26, 2020 by gimruis

[CLPDB]

I was out of the NE side again and was surprised with the amount of boats out fishing this last weekend.  I agree, the fish are biting and look a little skinny and could be post spawn.  This weekend was the first time that we caught fish out of that 17-20 inch range.  We caught a bunch of 12-14 inch which is good to see.  

[gimruis]

I was bass fishing on Saturday out of Liberty Beach.  The entire access was already full at 7:10am when I got there and people were parking on the road.  Bass fishing was tough.  I caught four of them in about 5 hours but they were all quality fish between 17-18.5 inches.  My parents have been walleye fishing on the mud flats and they caught 71 walleyes on Sunday in about 7.5 hours using a lindy rig and leech in 4 foot waves.  The walleyes are starving and willing to bite just about anything you want to drag around out there.

[gogophers]

thinking about getting my son out on Friday, hoping to fish the south west side after the wind lies down. I haven't fished Mille Lacs in my adult years, any suggestions on where to launch?  Willing to pay the resort/launch fee if needed.

Edited June 17, 2020 by gogophers

[Kettle]

There's really not any great accesses on the SW side, cove has a decent public launch but that's on the south end but fairly far west and then Eddys has a decent ramp and that's about a third the way up on the west side. Few other resorts south of Eddys but definitely launching on a narrow road

[gimruis]

11 hours ago, gogophers said:

thinking about getting my son out on Friday, hoping to fish the south west side after the wind lies down. I haven't fished Mille Lacs in my adult years, any suggestions on where to launch?  Willing to pay the resort/launch fee if needed.

 

Cove Bay public access is pretty good but depending on how far you want to go, it could be a bit of a haul in a boat (also depends on what kind of boat you have I guess).  I've made the run from cove to Vineland Bay/Indian Point a couple times with my 75 hp and it does take a while.  Otherwise the next access is Shah Bush Kung which is just north of the casino.  Or you can pay at Eddy's like Kettle stated.

[gogophers]

thanks fellas.  

[fish_hunt_guy]

Broke the 40 mark! 

[Rick]

Very nice pike. Mille lacs is awesome for them.

[fishingMN4eyes]

Heading up this weekend. Any recent reports?

[gimruis]

20 hours ago, fishingMN4eyes said:

Heading up this weekend. Any recent reports?

 

What is your intended target?

[fishingMN4eyes]

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

 

What is your intended target?

Walleye preferably

[gimruis]

Well if you're out there during the day time and the sun is out I would head to the basin and troll with lead core and crank baits.  If you can fish in the evening when the sun is going down then you could move shallower with lighted bobbers and live bait.  My parents were out there a couple times in late August and it was pretty awful.  They fished for about 7 hours each time and boated a total of 6 walleyes (2 one time, 4 the next).  They aren't professionals by any means but they are tournament anglers so they know what they're doing.  I have not heard anything since Labor Day but perhaps it has improved since then with some cooler water temps.  I guess there is a big hatch of perch and all that forage is making the fish less willing to bite than they were in the spring.

[fishingMN4eyes]

Thanks for the info. We will probably trying fishing around Spirit Island Thursday afternoon and then troll cranks or bobber fish until the cutoff.

[Rick]

Hennepin has a very nice reef/spine that heads north. It gets deep on the east of it and a huge rocky flat on the west.

 

The reef turns northwest at one point. That's a good spot.

[JBMasterAngler]

As of today ice conditions on north end were in great shape! However, even though it wasn’t that warm today, was still getting soft. Shoreline might not even make it through the weekend.

 

With that being said, I walked ALOT today! I probably made it just shy of halfway to 8 mile reef. As I type, my feet are feeling the effects only caught 3 tullibee, probably lost about 10. Marked lots of fish in every hole I drilled.

 

Going back tomorrow. Hopefully this time they’ll be more hungry!

 

 

[gimruis]

Holy cow that is one tiny walleye.

[Hookmaster]

Couple small ones (sauger? and walleye) from LOW a few years ago.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Hookmaster

[JBMasterAngler]

Another ice season in the books! Surprisingly, the wealthwood public access was still in really good shape as I left. But yeah, this will be the last weekend for safe access to the lake for sure. Today may have been one of my best ice outings ever, weather wise! Caught 8 tullibee, lost a couple others. Hopefully next year will be a normal winter, so some of the resorts can keep their roads open longer...would make getting to my new found hotspots much easier! It is pretty cool being on a 133,000 acre lake, and not having anyone around for miles and miles though

 

 

[gimruis]

No open water reports yet from the big pond huh?  Well I went on Friday and caught some toad smallmouths.  All of the fish I caught were prespawn females between 18.5 - 19.5 inches.  I saw some beds too but no fish on those.  Water temp was 62.5 degrees.  The lake is down about a foot so be careful around shallow areas.  Some access points may not be useable in the near future without significant rain.

[Kettle]

Fished the pond for eyes today, water temp 66-70. Didn't pick up anything on the flats. The edges of the reefs held fish, lot's of nice 18-21 inch fish, nothing bigger or smaller 

[leech~~]

2 hours ago, Kettle said:

Fished the pond for eyes today, water temp 66-70. Didn't pick up anything on the flats. The edges of the reefs held fish, lot's of nice 18-21 inch fish, nothing bigger or smaller 

How long are they going to play with this lake before they let us Fish!  How many years has been now?  I think Red Lake recovered sooner then this!

[gimruis]

7 hours ago, leech~~ said:

How long are they going to play with this lake before they let us Fish!  How many years has been now?  I think Red Lake recovered sooner then this!

 

What the heck are you talking about Leech?  You can fish all you want right now, just not at night time unless its for muskies.

 

I have been out there a couple times, once for smallmouth and once for walleyes.  The walleyes are much easier to catch at this point.  Just drag around some live bait when you mark fish or set up on a rock pile in the evening with a bobber and you'll get bit.  The lake is down about 18 inches and the water is very clear so back off on when targeting some of these fish.  They get spooked very easily.

[leech~~]

47 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

What the heck are you talking about Leech?  You can fish all you want right now, just not at night time unless its for muskies.

 

I have been out there a couple times, once for smallmouth and once for walleyes.  The walleyes are much easier to catch at this point.  Just drag around some live bait when you mark fish or set up on a rock pile in the evening with a bobber and you'll get bit.  The lake is down about 18 inches and the water is very clear so back off on when targeting some of these fish.  They get spooked very easily.

Really, dang I must have missed the DNR update. So how many Walleyes can we keep and eat now 4-5?

Cuz driving a 100 miles to just poke holes in fishes mouths and releasing them in this hot weather. Is not what I call back to normal.