mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[headcheese]

was out last weekend and had a good time 2 of us got about 15 fish in 2 days. all were slot fish two 27, and a 26 were the biggest.

fished mostly deeper water around 8 mile flat. mostly lindy riggin with a leech. but the biggest fish came on #5 perch shad rap in 35 fow.

first time up there so we were pretty pumped! definitely will be back.

[Vitreus]

Just by reading these posts you can tell the average size is going up. Looks like the slot's working.

[BrdHunter01]

Just by reading these posts you can tell the average size is going up. Looks like the slot's working.

The slot is working and has for many years now. just needs to be followed. I personally know many people up here that refuse to throw back 18-24 inchers. I've called tip many times. One guy did get pinched a cpl years ago but now he's back to his old ways.... I know many of us on here do follow the regulations and I thank everyone for that. I wish there was more CO's in the area to patrol the lake.

My boat this year has caught many limits of "keepers" two 28 inchers that are still swimming and numerous 25-27 inchers. Please follow the regulations out there and have fun while fishing the walleye factory

[maxpower17]

Yes, please follow the regs or I will call TIP as well. Matter of fact, lets all chime in if you'd call if you see the same. Maybe it'll make these aholes think twice.

[bhs91]

I would cal TIP with out thinking twice!

[Stick in Mud]

I'd call TIP, too, as I think many would. The difficulty doesn't come when you see a boat obviously keep a 26-incher. It's when it's impossible to tell if that boat kept a few 21'' fish or a few 17.5'' fish. But like all laws, the slot limit relies less on law enforcement and more on individuals enforcing themselves, and unfortunately, lots of folks don't. Just my .02.

[Vitreus]

I agree carmike. There's so many fisherman out there it would be impossible to police that lake 100%. I think the fact that size is increasing, though, is a testament to the fact that there are more ethical fisherman out there than ever before. Sites like this are a big part of spreading that wisdom. Keep doing what you're doing, because it's working!

[1eyeReD]

Was out in the heat yesterday afternoon into the evening. We started out looking for some smallie action for "skunk-prevention insurance" and found a few decent ones around that island south of the public launch below Sherman's Point after launching. Then we headed over to Sherman's flat and miscellaneous spots between there and the launch. Only boated 3 over the slot throwbacks, but that was all I really came for.. Needed my walleye fix. A 22", a 24" and a 25". All dragging gold spinner crawler rigs with 6' lengths. Two caught in 28' FOW and the larger one came from 25'. Missed a few more good hits as well when I wasn't paying attention. Marked a buttload of fish, but not many interested besides the ones caught. Lastly, a few very large perch were mixed in as well and those became taco meat for today's breakfast. Overall, just what I expected and a good time indeed.

[ThndrDkl]

I agree TIP it is. Now, if only we could change the gross overfishing of the lake with gill nets...

[Redranger]

Thanks for the report, nice fish!

[Gopher_Guy]

I went up with some buddies this weekend, none of the 3 had ever caught a walleye before. We were out there Saturday all day and pulled in some really nice fish, including 2 26 inchers.

For the life of me though on Thursday and Friday I could not find the smallmouths. I hit the rocks hard in the SE bays, NOTHING. The only thing I can think of is I was fishing too shallow. These were all spots I had caught them last year. I threw everything I knew at them - senkos, x-raps, tubes, you name it.

Any suggestions as I am going back again this weekend. My nephew will be with and we'd love to be able to get him to pull in some nice smallmouth.

[TravP]

I went up with some buddies this weekend, none of the 3 had ever caught a walleye before. We were out there Saturday all day and pulled in some really nice fish, including 2 26 inchers.

For the life of me though on Thursday and Friday I could not find the smallmouths. I hit the rocks hard in the SE bays, NOTHING. The only thing I can think of is I was fishing too shallow. These were all spots I had caught them last year. I threw everything I knew at them - senkos, x-raps, tubes, you name it.

Any suggestions as I am going back again this weekend. My nephew will be with and we'd love to be able to get him to pull in some nice smallmouth.

Cork.

[TravP]

Mark Bruzek and myself had a pretty good day. We pulled leadcore this morning in the fog and had quite the morning. A few doubles to boot. The edges of the mud were best. Took a break and headed out again at 4 to pull blades/crawlers in another mud area. Pulled 5 more and called it. Everything was caught in the 30-34ft range. $ boxers and the rest were overs. Thanks Mark!

[1eyeReD]

Schmevouse are flipping huge.. I'm guessing 27"s? Thanks for the report. I have a hard time staying on the edges without a chip compatible sonar unit. Only a decent depth finder for an early 2000' model. I try to stay on edges by weaving in and out of the 3 to 4 ft drops between 28' and 32' once I find it but it doesn't last long before I lose the drop. Any suggestions for my feeble settup? I otherwise just look to mark tight schools n drop

bait then try to figure 8 over a spot...

[TravP]

A chip is really key, but you could try and get on the endges and then s back and forth over them.

[TruthWalleyes]

The edges of the mud flats can be quite intricate.

Without the proper electronics, you should do just as you say, weave on and off of them.

Here is a typical mudflat on Mille Lacs, you can see that there are numerous cut outs where fish like to sit waiting to take any crawlers or cranks that go by.

It's the small structure on these giant flats that concentrate the fish the most.

[Superduty]

Was that screen shot taken from on top of the flat, looking out over the edge to the left?

[TruthWalleyes]

Was that screen shot taken from on top of the flat, looking out over the edge to the left?

100% Correct. The picture is curtosy of Jason Halfen.

[311Hemi]

Lindy Rig and I were up there this past weekend. We had our minds set on heading out to the flats from the east side but turned around after getting out a little past 3 mile....waves were just more than we wanted to deal with with the possible storm activity being forecasted. Decided to fish a few different reefs that were closer to shore and ended up with 6 keepers (out of a total of 7 eyes caught) on Saturday for two guys. All of them came from the same spot pulling spinners w/leeches (green beads with minnow color blades), a little off of the reefs yet still on some structure.

Fished a couple flats Sunday morning and only managed one (keeper) off the top of a flat with the same spinner rig. Tried some lead core for the first time on the tops and edges of a few flats with no luck.

[1eyeReD]

Do you mind if I ask what depths you were finding the fish in?

[TravP]

The fish are ALL over. Tops of flats, bottoms of flats, open basin, rocks, and gravel. I've been getting my fish on the edges of various flats. No one flat has produced for me 2 days in a row. Your best bet is to drive around until you mark fish.

[311Hemi]

Do you mind if I ask what depths you were finding the fish in?

We found most of them in 17-22'....drifting over a deeper point that extended out from a reef. Also picked up 3-4 smallies at that same location.

[1eyeReD]

TravP, 311 Hemi and TruthWalleyes.. Thanks to all of you for the info. I'll be sure to use it wisely and responsibly. In my two years here in MN I've learned a ton about fishing MN lakes and rivers from the info gathered from good guys like you! I really enjoy the pictures and the stories that you guys share here. If any of you ever decide to head out to CO, KS or NE and would like to get into some wipers (whitebass x striped bass) I can pass you on some info any time. Some excellent walleye fishing on that side of the bread basket too..

[walleyedane]

Got out to the lake at 6:30 on Friday morning. Over the course of the day we must have hit 9 or 10 flats. Seemed that we caught fish on most but had to work for them. Most were over but ended up with 2 for the box. 1 15" and 1 19". Ended up with 8 fish total for the day.26.5, 25, 20.5, 15,26,19,28.5, and 23". Had the best luck pulling a 10 foot slow death rig with a crawler and putting a little air into it. Did the best on the flats with no fishing pressure on them. Morning was by far the best. After the noon whistle blew what bite there was stoped. I think we might have done better if the wind would have picked up some. It was a pretty good day to be on the water.

[isojam]

I gave it a shot Sunday. Did not get out till 1:00 pm, fished until about 7:00. Dead calm, pulled a spinner and crawler with a bottom bouncer {.9-1.2 MPH}various flats. I had enough action to keep me occupied. Boated 4 lost a couple others. Three were nice box fish the other was about 26". Caught all the fish on the tops, 20+ yards from the break. Nice and quiet out there, I did not have a boat within a half a mile of me all day.

[ProCor]

Back from the pond; fished from 5:30am to 5:30pm out of Garrison. Fished the closer flats out of Garrison and immediately marked numerous fish on the edges of the flats, but no immediate takers. It wasn't until around 7:30am before our first hookup. I like the flats in this area as it seems to hold numerous, smaller fish to put a couple of meals in the box before heading out to some other flats 8 miles out where we usually have fun catching pigs.

What worked for me over the past three weeks - long 10' lindys and crawlers with/without #5 copper/silver Colorado blades and/or plain, single red hooks with/without a red bead, did not work today.

We ended up catching 5 keepers near Garrison. After we moved out further to our favorite spots, I was amazed at the lack of fish in our spots the previous three trips. The fish had moved.

What worked best was a #0(maybe #1) hammered brass on a 5' lindy with a jumbo leach. This rig outfished all other rigs that we used in the past three trips. The leach was the ticket today. A 0.9 mph(gps) worked the best in the past, but this morning, 0.7-.09 was the key and 0.9-1.0 mph worked best after the lunch hour. The fish on top of the flat as well as those fish at the bottom were least active with the fish right smack on the top edge and those halfway down the ledge being the most active.

Finally, there was a nice southerly breeze all day providing a good chop. We ended up the day with three full limits and numerous, fun-catching pigs that were released with a 27" being the biggest for the day.

[TravP]

Back from the pond; fished from 5:30am to 5:30pm out of Garrison. Fished the closer flats out of Garrison and immediately marked numerous fish on the edges of the flats, but no immediate takers. It wasn't until around 7:30am before our first hookup. I like the flats in this area as it seems to hold numerous, smaller fish to put a couple of meals in the box before heading out to some other flats 8 miles out where we usually have fun catching pigs.

What worked for me over the past three weeks - long 10' lindys and crawlers with/without #5 copper/silver Colorado blades and/or plain, single red hooks with/without a red bead, did not work today.

We ended up catching 5 keepers near Garrison. After we moved out further to our favorite spots, I was amazed at the lack of fish in our spots the previous three trips. The fish had moved.

What worked best was a #0(maybe #1) hammered brass on a 5' lindy with a jumbo leach. This rig outfished all other rigs that we used in the past three trips. The leach was the ticket today. A 0.9 mph(gps) worked the best in the past, but this morning, 0.7-.09 was the key and 0.9-1.0 mph worked best after the lunch hour. The fish on top of the flat as well as those fish at the bottom were least active with the fish right smack on the top edge and those halfway down the ledge being the most active.

Finally, there was a nice southerly breeze all day providing a good chop. We ended up the day with three full limits and numerous, fun-catching pigs that were released with a 27" being the biggest for the day.

The leadcore bite is alot better then the blade bite now, at least for us. Were not fishing the flats anymore either, there's way to many bugs and baitfish to compete with aka: your lack of fish. We picked up 10 on the basin this morning pulling leadcore. Lost a few too.

[TravP]

Meant to say your lack of box fish.

ProCor, you have a P.M.

[ProCor]

Although it took all day, we still ended up with three full limits of box fish. I am currently looking to buy two lead core setups and looking forward to learning a new technique. Might be coming to you with questions.

[TravP]

Awesome on the 3 full limits.