mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[wingnut38]

westside,

were you right on top of the flat or fishing the edges? we fished shermans too. had the perm on top with no luck but drilled a bunch of holes off the edges. caught a few in the deeper water.

[pushbutton]

since most of the ice in my area has been under a foot of snow and slush, i set up camp on the pond this year. never have fished the lake and after a couple of weeks here is what a newbie has found. put the house on the base of a steeper break on an inside turn and have drilled on top and on the break as well. have caught fish on every level, just not many(couple eyes, 1/2 dozen perch a day), with no real consistent pattern, but most of the fish have come early and late, and the night bite has been non existent. been trying everything in the box and various minnows. so far i like a small perch colored dropper tipped with a head the best.

[Shack]

Rattlin Flyer with minnow head.

Great report Westside. I am glad you got into some eyes and glad you got back out. You have a great set-up. Did you get that hole fixed? Sucks when that happens but you will always have something to talk about or break the ice when outside shootin' the breeze.

[Westsidefishing]

Great report Westside. I am glad you got into some eyes and glad you got back out. You have a great set-up. Did you get that hole fixed? Sucks when that happens but you will always have something to talk about or break the ice when outside shootin' the breeze.

Yup, I got the house fixed. Got free matching fabric from a fellow HSOer and paid $10 to a guy from C -list to put it on. All in all a great deal. Can't even tell that house have a patch. Yup, HSO outing was afun trip!

[Westsidefishing]

westside,

were you right on top of the flat or fishing the edges? we fished shermans too. had the perm on top with no luck but drilled a bunch of holes off the edges. caught a few in the deeper water.

Was fishing on the top of the flat.

[Dylan33]

Has anyone seen anything caught after dark lately? Haven't heard much about eelpout being caught, anyone catching pout?

[Crm7290]

Were out here on the gravel area out of fishermans wharf and we all but got the skunk. We got maybe 10 perch in a day. There was 8 people fishing. I personally didn't catch any.

Anyone know where they are biting?

[RiverChuckNorris]

Was out of a Hunter's rental Monday through Wednesday this week. After getting blanked Monday on Sly's, they moved us Tuesday morning per our request out further into the lake onto some deeper gravel. While waiting for them set up the house, my dad hit this hog on a nearby transition in 29 fow.

Left Wednesday morning with 4 eyes and 5 jumbos. For the first time this year we hit eyes after dark with one coming at 7:00 and one at 10:30.

One trick I discovered with the perch after getting sick of watching them on the vex and Aquaview, was once they came into view, start slowly lifting my jig. The active perch would follow it up and eventually hit it (usually 4-6 ft off the bottom).

[monstermoose78]

was out with the cousin fished the gravel and caught 3 eyes and no perch. Moved out to try the mud again and caught nothing on the mud. I tried 9 mile, 8 mile, the boot, and someothers and nothing.

[pushbutton]

moved the house on the edge of a rock pile in 25 ft and had constant perch bite all day, not jumbo jumbos but a good number hitting 10 and 11. the bigger fish were not that aggressive had to bang the bottom a few times, slowly raise and twitch the line, and give them a little time before setting the hook. used a #6 grub jig to help keep the smaller more active ones off the line. red larva or waxies equally effective. lost an eyeball at the hole around dusk when packing up to go, the only one i saw all day.

[TravP]

Fished the pond again today and it was SLOW for us. We did the family thing with a couple wheelhouses so not really a big deal. Fished 30-33ft, caught maybe 20 or 25 fish all day. All the walleyes caught today were released but we did keep a few perch. The tullibees were biting once again and a few were kept for the smoker. The lindy flyer spoon did it again with a minnow head. Also deadsticking a red hook with a fathead produced a few fish.

Quick pic and then a release

[hart0670]

Went up with a group of guys and rented the big 12 person house from Appeldoorn's, they had it in about 16 FOW. Fished in one form or another from Friday 1:00 pm until about 9:00 this morning. Fishing was pretty slow. Friday the weather was awful when we got there, almost white out conditions with the blowing wind, so we just stayed in the shack. Caught a few jumbos that afternoon, then landed a 17" walleye and lost a 22" at the hole right about 5:15. No other bites until an eel pout around 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Saturday we hole hopped a bit further out around 25 FOW, had lots of lookers, but very few takers, picked up a few jumbos right before dark, but no keeper walleye. Then hooked a 26.5" walleye this morning at 7:15 on the rattle reel and caught about 10 jumbos before we left. Only 4 of us really spent much jigging, most of the guys just dropped the rattle reels down, so it's not like we had 12 people fishing hard. Over the course of the weekend we threw back probably 10 small walleye, and saw a TON of small perch on the camera, so hopefully that means the fishery is still improving, but I think with the cold front that hit yesterday things just slowed down. Still had a great time, and would recommend Appeldoorn's to anyone looking for a rental.

[FlyRodAddiction]

Fished the pond for the first time this year on Weimer flat. Got out last night around 2:30 pm, set up and had lines wetted at 3:30. I had three quick bites all of which I missed and nothing else came through until 1:30 am when I iced and released a 12" eye. No other action until noon when some tullies moved in and bumped my minnows around but no solid bites. The guys I got the icehouse from fished last weekend and filled out so i'm guessing the weather is what is affecting the bite. I saw some fish on the cam and marked plenty on the flasher I hope not all of my trips out there this year are so unproductive.

[fishgutz77]

Got out on the pond for the first time this year and set up on the big bar off Indian point. got a late start at 7:45 in 26 fow and only small perch showing up so we moved out to 30 fow and started getting fish. ended up with 7 eyes with three dinks going back and keeping four between the two of us. only a few big perch to be had but the tullibees kept us busy in between schools. Still a great day even though it was 17 below when we started.

time to fire up the smoker and pull'em out of the brine.

[Westsidefishing]

I had another fun day on the lake today. We got 2 limits of eyes on the westside of the lake.

[flyboy10]

Fished yeterday on 4 and 5 mile gravel. The bite was on for most of the day. Deep was the key 30+ in the 2 spots I fished. Wound up with 2 limits but nothing over 16 and nothing under 13. 50/50 split between the dead stick and jigging. They only seemed to want to bite one type of jig. Its made by Lindy and its not a spoon . Once a fish showed up on the Vexi they would rush up to this jig and just hammer it it. No cute little nips at it just a full out wack.

[Westsidefishing]

Fished yeterday on 4 and 5 mile gravel. The bite was on for most of the day. Deep was the key 30+ in the 2 spots I fished. Wound up with 2 limits but nothing over 16 and nothing under 13. 50/50 split between the dead stick and jigging. They only seemed to want to bite one type of jig. Its made by Lindy and its not a spoon . Once a fish showed up on the Vexi they would rush up to this jig and just hammer it it. No cute little nips at it just a full out wack.

Good to hear about that flyboy10. I am thinking about tryin 4 and 5 mile gravels this afternoon. Thanks for the report.

[iceman1005]

Any luck with perch out on the gravel or just walleye?

[DRH1175]

We are getting perch and walleye. But more walleyes than perch.

[Mclovin]

and just witch of lindyss jigs where you using? lol

[TRZ II]

HUGE secret, if we know the lake might get fished out soon!

[icefishingguy06]

Where were you getting the eyes at heading up there this weekend looking for a good place to go to get a number of eyes and what access to go out off

[icefishingguy06]

heading up to mille lacs this weekend wondering were the eyes are hitting and what resort or access that is best to go out of to get to spots where eyes are hitting

Thanks Matt

[bbird5310]

They were not at Fishermans Wharf, horrible fishing until tuesday there. Small perch, thats all. No eyes at all. I heard that 4 miles out there were catching some. DNR stopped a buddy of mine, Said no one has been catching many eyes at all. Sorry for the bad news

[Westsidefishing]

We did okay yesterday at 4 and 5 mile. Caught few fish only 2 keepers.

[fishuhalik]

fishgutz, how many tullies did you end up with? And what size were they? I'd love to get some in the smoker, i just ate the last of 'em from last year about 2 weeks ago.

[ldbbeck]

The last week has been the worst fishing I have had since 2006 when I really started to ice fish Mille Lacs. Yesterday was the first time I have been skunked since 2007 about 80 trips. I have gotten lazy the last 3 years had 2 spots that always produced no need to move. Is it worth trying to move around or is it just a slow year.

[eyebjim]

Keep moving til you find fish that bite. I have seen a lot of lookers this year. I finally went deeper than I thought I should and there were biter there.

[fishgutz77]

I ended up with 8 which is just about right for me.

They were 1.5 pounders or so.

[JumboJumbo]

Launched out of NW side of lake just south of Garrison this weekend and got 1 walleye (25" on a rattle reel over night) a couple smaller perch and 7 tullibees. All in all fishing was very slow all weekend considering we had six in the group. Anyone have better luck out there this weekend?