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2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports


Rick

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Interesting note...I marked tons of fish and bait pods on my GPS as we would go over them..at the end of the day looked at my screen and they were all hanging in that 25 - 28 ft stuff, couple feet off the bottom..pretty tough to get at them any other way then trolling getting the positive/active fish to go. Just a observation.

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had a feeling that was the response I would get (go to lead core). Thanks for the good feedback. For an old school live bait guy, at what water temps do the fish go after live bait? Never faill fished this lake but plan on spending a lot of time out there this year. Should I keep the boat hi & dry until late september if I want to catch anything with live bait? Any advice on some fall strategies would be hugely apreciated. Do you head back to the gravel in the fall or can you pull rigs/spinnerrs on the flats? Do minnows turn back on at some point?

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Not sure what old school live bait thing your talking about. But Fall fishing on Mille Lacs = trolling raps all the way to the ice. Thats old school fall fishing on Mille Lacs...

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I am almost certain you could do well fishing the shoreline breaks deeper with livebait during the day. Quite a few guys pull lead and cranks on these same breaks during the day. Just fish out further on the break from where all the night fishing is being done and you should be able to snag a few. 55 degrees usually starts the fall trolling and the big migration to the shorelines. These fish should be just out off the breaks during the day. A good graph should help you find them.

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I trolled cranks Sat. & Sun most of the day and into dark, not one eye, few snakes. Really slow bite. I'm a fall trolling guy and believe me it has not started yet! I put in way too much time trolling. Finally resorted to bobbers on deep rock humps and goat a nice limit of perch 9-12 in. (no 14"'s! I would like to see those pics) & 4 keeper eyes. I think it will be a good fall for perch. Also got a 20" smallie that had to push 5lbs-fun fight.

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Anyone fishing just outside of any bays in the shallow rock piles? I wanna try and hook up with some smallies maybe a few eyes.

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I have a 14 foot boat w/ a 25hp---I would like to bring the lil boy with and try do to some fall perch fishing--I'm guessing this set up would be fine in the bays but I'm wondering where to look for the perch any general areas or starting spots would be great--also what do you use for bait to catch these pesky perch

thanks alot

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night bite with cranks is key right now.. if not lead core deep runners with planers have been ok for me. wait til october it should turn on a bit more and you will have plenty more options as far as depths and presentations go.

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This weekend the leadcore bite was just awesome. Pulling in depths 26-28 feet with #5 shadlings and #5 Rapapla Shads. The bite was very good and colored didn't seem to matter all that much. We caught them on Perch, firetiger, hot tiger, blue and purple. My clients had limits to eat and many nice walleyes in the 24-26 inch range. We also did some perch fishing. Perch are starting to show up mid depth and few in that shallow 7-9 foot range. We did get some good keepers 11-13 inchers but not as many as I would like. That should improve however as we move into the fall.

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I noticed a few launches were fishing in the bays this weekend. Assuming the perch moved in. I caught a couple off the dock but no big size to them but edible. Also caught several 7-9 inch sunfish!

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Pat,

do you think that bite will last much longer before the fish move in shallower? would like to get up there and try that...have never done the leadcore trolling on Mille Lacs. have done the october full moon shallow trolling bite for several years, but not the mud flats/deep water thing. just wondering if it would be worth a trip up there in the next couple of weeks. what do you think? thanks.

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i've never fished leadcore

i think an easier way would be pull cranks on shallow rocks with

some wind on them like indian point or some of the reefs on the east side

or even the shallow breaks on the west side if theres any wind

little easier than trying to figure out leadcore for the first time specially with guests with you

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What area of the lake did you get the sunfish? Rock or weed? I got a few of them mixed in with perch in the isle area a few weeks back on the rocks in about 15ft.

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sorry for the delayed response, Rosspj59, but we were catching them on small bits of crawlers on the smallest jig head you could feel just off the bottom

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caught about 20 on sunday in 5 hours. trolling lead. 8 keepers. also had a 24 and a couple of low 20's. Great day to be on the water.

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Forget the leadcore, we went out of hunters on the east side and just like last year they told use to use leadcore, only if you want to catch fish from 25 to 30 feet of water of which their all above 20 inches and have to be thrown back. We fished lakeside fri night until the wind blew us off and ended up with 6 walleye 14 to 18.5 and 23 perch all in 10 feet of water or less, red hook and leeches. lots of bait fish in the 5 to 8 foot range. Went out sat. and got blown off the lake, ended up fishing 3 mile that evening and picked up 2 walleye( 15.5 & 16 ) 1 smallie and several rock bass, very cold and windy all fish came from 8 feet or less. Went out sunday morning to lakeside and picked up 8 walleye, all eaters nothing under 14 and 1 at 17.5 and 25 perch. all in 8 to 10 feet of water, all the perch were 9 inches or better with a few in the 12 inch area. There were a few fish in isle bay but the conditions were to tough to fish effectivly, water temp varied from 58 to 60 degrees. Threw for muskies sat morning north of indian point just to get out of the wind and did not see a thing, darn cold front.Will be up later this week for the full moon bite and hopefully the weather cooperates with us.

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where and what is lake side? I don't have much luck after july and i tried 3mile, isle bay, wakkon bay and 4 mile on sunday without marking much. I marked most in Isle bay but didn't have live bait as I was trying lead core and plastics.

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Thinking about heading to the big pond this weekend for anniversary. I have a very rare weekend with no kids. Mama wants eaters. Should I hit Mille lacs or head somewhere else in the state. Any info would be great.

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Who's trolling the full moon this week?

I've got some buddies trying it this weekend. It's probably still a bit early but you never know until you try. I'd be going with them but I have a different trip planned for this weekend.

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Who's trolling the full moon this week?

If the temp is right cove might be hot.

I plan on being up there Sunday night and Monday morning,my wife claims she has never caught a fish at the "dead sea" so my plan is to change her perception of Mille Lacs.

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About every other year in cove bay the fish really pile up around this full moon in sept.

good luck everyone I hope they are in there.

best lures have always been the black and silver rattlin rouges and small black and chrome grama lures. somthing about the the big wobble I guess.

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Anyone know what the water temp is. Heading up today and thursday if rain holds out. Ill be on west side of lake.

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