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2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports


Rick

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Fished today from 8am to 1pm. Skunked in the brand new boat. Not a good start for the new toy.

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Fished with 3 in the boat all weekend. Had our limit of 15-17.5" by 10:15 a.m. Saturday morning. Also caught a number of fish over 18" with the biggest 24.5". Sunday was slower but still found the fish. Other boats we were with had success too both days. Was nice to have great weather but could have really used a little wind. Hope all had a great time.

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Decided to go up to Mille Lacs for Opener. Our boat must have boated 15 walleyes, but only 2 keepers. Biggest was 27 inches, our two keepers were 16 and 17 inches. All day of fishing and only 2 walleyes for the frying pan. frown

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pretty humbling day on sat for us. I took out one of my buddys and his 2 older kids and I caught one 20 incher and that was it for the boat. We fished 10am - 9:30. Worst part was we got off the lake and spoke to rockman who when we told him we were basically skunked all day he let us know that we were the first boat he's talked to that got skunked. Might try and get up there this sat to get some revenge. The 4 lines in the boat made it a little tough to troll so we spent way to much time with bobbers catching nothing.

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Boated 11 saturday, all around 24 feet. 2 were in the slot. Very slow sunday, didn't boat a fish.

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Nice to hear some fish are being caught...anyone been to the flats? Are the fish relating to transitions, rocks or softer bottom? Had friends up over the wkend and had only minimal success on the NE sand. Seems 15-20 was where they had their action. Anyone see any bug clouds on the graphs yet?

MB

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fished for 14 hours on saturday, 5 on sunday. We caught about 20, 10 of which we kept. 1 29" and 1 26" with a tag as far as big ones go. Bobbering on deep gravel was the best for us, and we got a few up on the northeast sand.

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10 fish Saturday with (5 slots) and 5 "overs" biggest 25.5"

Felt like we had to grind out soem fish when the wind went down...

We did almost all our damage deep 24'+ but we did get one slot shallow at night.

Stayed at Appledoorns and again Paul had everything set up and running like a top. Thanks Paul... Looking forward already to next year.

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Dale,

Thanks for the kind words.

Could we have had better weather? What a beautiful weekend it was.

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10 fish Saturday with (5 slots) and 5 "overs" biggest 25.5"

Felt like we had to grind out soem fish when the wind went down...

We did almost all our damage deep 24'+ but we did get one slot shallow at night.

Stayed at Appledoorns and again Paul had everything set up and running like a top. Thanks Paul... Looking forward already to next year.

+1

Didnt catch as many fish as we would have liked, but we did get some (including some keepers). Got them btwn 22-28 fow.

First time at Appledorns for us and I echo what dfv87 said...everything was great. Nice people and accomodations. Cabin was very comfortable. Best weather I can remember for an Opener so it all added up to a great weekend.

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Fished sunday on the NW flats boated 7 in a few hours. We probably missed that many. The fish where all caught between 27-29 on the edge of the flats. The bite was really tough, all you would feel is extra weight give the fish some line and set the hook. The biggest fish was 21 and keep three in the slot.

mark

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Sounds like many had good results! As far as bait, seen only one say a bead and a leech, is that what worked best on a bottom bouncer? Any luck with a blade and a crawler?

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9 keepers in 6 hours of fishing... great day on da water

What time of day or night

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Went out of Myr mar at midnight and fished the rocks in 8-9 fow. Had our limit of 8 by 6:30am. Every fish we caught was a keeper. Had a fish fry Saturday dinner. Went out again Saturday at 7pm and fished til 10:30pm and picked up 5 more keepers/ 2 small ones/ and 1 19"

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Wallyeye,

C'mon dude, why would you put that on here. It blatenly says that between two of you, you kept 13 fish on saturday. Even on a six fish a day lake that is illegal. Lets say you come back and lie and say those "5 keepers" you caught saturday night were put back. You still shouldn't have been targeting walleyes after filling your bag limit for the day.

Just think a little before you put something on here.

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madtown04: thought the same thing when I read this. Legally couldn't do anything with the eyes until 1201AM Sunday morning........Limits kept and eaten on Saturday, you are done for the day...... frown

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got up late saturday evening made it out for an hour or so with nothing doing. went out sunday night to 25+ feet of water over gravel and had some luck on the bobbers. caught a few keepers and one over. pretty flat out there compared to previous years a little breeze would have been nice.

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Went out of Myr mar at midnight and fished the rocks in 8-9 fow. Had our limit of 8 by 6:30am. Every fish we caught was a keeper. Had a fish fry Saturday dinner. Went out again Saturday at 7pm and fished til 10:30pm and picked up 5 more keepers/ 2 small ones/ and 1 19"

Thats too many buddy. sick

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Didn't make it up till Sat. night. Took a while to find the fish and avoid the 1000 boats all grouped up. Once we found them it was nice catching fish with no boats around. Big ones were 2 @ 26" a 25" and a 24.5"

Managed enough keepers to keep us happy, but would have been nice if we had some wind! I've never spent such a calm 2 days on Mille Lacs, this time of year, in my 10+ years of fishing this lake.

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Fished yesterday up by Fishers and did well in the 18-20 foot range. I had a 7-8 foot leader w/ red hook and a bead and my dad had about a three foot leader w/ a PINK hook. He out fished me 3-1 until I switched. Can't beat em, join em. Got our limit of eaters and half dozen from 20-27 inch range. The old man had a 25, 25.5 and a 27. Saw others catching big fish around us. Great weather and beautiful day to be on the water but like others said a little more wind would have been nice.

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I went up this last weekend for an adventure. I had two friends (one being Harmonica Bear) with me, my father in law, and my nephew.

I will give you a little history, before I continue with my fishing story. Last October my nephew's (Joey) dad (Joe) lost his battle with brain cancer at the age of 39. It is the first time that I/we have had Joey with us to understand what fishing opener was all about. It was nice to have friends and family that were close to Joe this weekend.

We fished off of the break transitioning from the break on the north end to the mud in between 19-23 feet. Since we had 5 people, we spent most of our time bobber fishing rather than dragging.

The first night, we caught around 11 fish with 4 being in the slot. One of my friends had the first bobber down and set the hook and gave it to my nephew. Others in the boat followed suit and he reeled in most of the fish that night. Not bad for a 10 year old.

The next day, we went out in the afternoon and everything was pretty slow. We had a few bite and a few losses. We came in and then had a fish fry for our whole group of about 20 people. That night we went out and caught 11 fish and 6 were in the slot. Around midnight, the fish fly hatch came out and covered the boat with bugs. Sorry to say, but I have never seen a hatch like that.

Sunday in the afternoon we caught two perch and one keeper walleye. That night we headed to our same spot and gave a tribute to my brother in law. A few words and then beer cheers for that adults and a Dr. Pepper for my nephew. When we got to our spot, we had bait fish that were jumping at the water line and we felt that it was going to be a special night. We ended up with 10 keepers and threw back about the same. One of my friends lost about 10-15 himself.

In all a great weekend both fishing, and spending time with my family and friends. Most of the fish were caught at night and the days were slow for good discussion.

Fish fry

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11.jpg

Father in law enjoying a pork chop

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My nephew after taking off a hood and holding his first fish

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God rest brother in law Joe. I will make sure that Joey has every opportunity to enjoy some of the same experiences that we had together.

2005_0604Image0005.jpg

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Wallyeye,

C'mon dude, why would you put that on here. It blatenly says that between two of you, you kept 13 fish on saturday. Even on a six fish a day lake that is illegal. Lets say you come back and lie and say those "5 keepers" you caught Saturday night were put back. You still shouldn't have been targeting walleyes after filling your bag limit for the day.

Just think a little before you put something on here.

Come on guys you don't have to rip on people when you don't have all the facts. He said they had their limit and had a fish fry. It did not say they kept their limit. He just said keepers which on a lake that has slots is how you refer to them even if you do not keep them. I often will keep 2 or 3 of the keepers I catch and catch and release a lot more keepers. There is nothing wrong with that. I will also say I had my limit. This does not mean I kept my limit. Give the guy a break unless it explicitly says I kept 13 fish.

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Well stated Ice Shack. It was a fun weekend for sure and I was honored to be part of it.

Two things I'll rememeber most:

That first bobber going down Saturday morning at 12:30, setting the hook, handing the rod to Joey, telling him to hang on to this for second. Then him yelling "Hey! There is a fish on here!" Priceless.

Also, Kubels grand slam against the Yankees Sunday afternoon. It was as though every boat on the water was listening to the game. Cheers and horn honks were heard far and wide. Boats, for an instant, were elvaetd off the water for a split second. Only in Minnesota!

Oh, and a third thing, me mising all those %@&*$#! fish Sunday evening (more on circle hooks later).

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heheheh...Bear, I loved your post. Thats great! Oh btw, I lost a fish of lifetime on a circle hook (or something similar) a few years back. I threw every one of them in the lake and havent tied one on since. My catch percentage has improved darastically (sp)

Good luck to all....we are heading up in the morning for the first outing of the year..I cant wait!

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Has anyone tried the night bite slip bobber fishing? I'm going to be up this weekend but can't get out until about 7pm or later.

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Has anyone tried the night bite slip bobber fishing? I'm going to be up this weekend but can't get out until about 7pm or later.

Have usually done quite well in past years with nite bite slip bobbering. Personally have not done very well this year. Seem to be in deeper water and scattered, havent been able to find many schools.

Friendly reminder that you need to be off the lake by 10pm if you have fishing gear in your boat.

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95% of the fish we caught last weekend were caught after dark with a slip bobber.

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