mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Northlander]

Most are off by a few feet or more, unless calibrated.

Yes but being able to repeat the same thing over and over is the most important part.

[FlyRodAddiction]

We hit the pond hard yesterday and fished from 1pm till 10. We heeded everyone's warnings about how without the moon the night bite is done yadda yadda.... We jigged rainbows off the rock edges and bobber fished with red tails with no results and one bite that was likely a perch. So I had enough of that and decided to start running the shore and wait for dark. Sure enough, 8 pm hit and for the next two hours we were pulling them in like crazy! My buddy Mike "the Archery Manager" at Big C had to work at 6 am so we were off the water by 10. But we pulled in quite a few including a decent number of 16-19" eaters. The water was like glass and we saw a couple other boats out deeper in like 10-15ft but when they landed they said they had no luck. My advice to you, SHALLOW!!!! 3-6ft is where we caught all of our fish.

[ProCor]

Hit the pond hard last night and fished the SW and West side from 6pm until 11:00pm...it was ugly. It was my first time trolling at night in the shallows for eyes on the pond as well as the first time being skunked on ML. With all the electronics on board, it was not hard to find the weedlines. We fished using the MinnKota, so when we were in shallow, we were less likely to spook any fish. We fished a nice weedline that started at about 12-13' and ended in about 6' of water. We trolled every color and size of SSRs, Huskys and floating raps that we had. It wasn't until about 8pm when we could start seeing fish move into the immediate outer edge of the weedline. Then they eventually got into the weeds within the next hour. We trolled all the way into 3' of water, s-turns, speed from 1.4-2.2; every option was tried. A disappointing skunk filled our box (except for a nice smallie, but that doesnt count). It was a clear sky and a half-moon, I figured it wouldnt be a great evening, but did not figure it was going to e a bad evening. We also tried the rocky shallows and sand shallows as well, but hit the weedlines hard. Nothing. We will be out again when the moon is full.

[WSwen]

If you don't mind me asking Jeff, what part of the lake were you on? rocks or weeds? I plan on heading up in the wind over the weekend and I was hearing the weedlines have been best but if the wind is blowing from the south I would prefer to not be blown around and fish the rocks/gravel.

[FlyRodAddiction]

WSwen, sorry I didn't get back to you in time. We have been fishing on top of the weeds on the NW side of the lake. All bays up to Myrmar have been producing well for me. I think sometimes the fish just don't like people and no matter what you can't catch them! It helps if you are drinking Summit beer and fishing out of an old ugly green Starcraft Tri-hull. Something about that combination with fishing an electric trolling motor going 1.5 mph, dragging both stick baits and SSR-5 firetigers in 3-6ft of water over cabbage beds, from 8pm-2am seems to drive the walleye crazy! I'm positive its the Summit beer and ugly green boat that trigger the bite though! Happy fishing!

[Tip Up Rookie]

I am having a hard time putting the boat away for the year.... reading the post above, I don't have a tri-hull and don't care for summit, so I am not sure how I will fare.... how has the fishing been lately? Saturday is looking like a nice day, hopefully the wind will be light. Would it be worth one last trip before ice up? Would prefer to fish the southside. any report would be appreciated

[Stick in Mud]

If drinking good beer caught fish, I'd be winning WaveWackers every year. There must be more to it.

[FlyRodAddiction]

Tip up, wish I could help but I brought the boat in to get winterized yesterday and I was Duck hunting all weekend. I have heard a couple guys come through the store tell me they are still getting shallow bite action at night but mostly box fish as lots of the big girls are in hiding. Nothing concrete, just hear say! Let's all pray for sub zero temps, no wind and no snow. Bring on the ice!!!!!

[scott b]

Where do you find cans of Summit? Glass not allowed on lakes. Gotta watch what you post or you'll get in trouble.

[maxpower17]

Quote:

Where do you find cans of Summit? Glass not allowed on lakes. Gotta watch what you post or you'll get in trouble.

Huh??? What???

[bassfshin24]

Wow...you really gonna call someone out for drinking a beer out of a bottle. I love my premium much more out of a bottle especially Nordeast :-)

[Eyewitness]

Please check your facts. No where in the 2011 Minnesota boating regs does it prohibit bringing glass bottles in the boat....If you have more info. than that please share as I would like to be enlightened. Maybe I'm missing something??

[Raider4ever]

Maybe Mille Lacs is now part of the BWCAW(aaahhh)?

[jwmiller33]

Is there anybody still fishing out on the big pond? I am really itching to get out on the water here in the next couple days and I am thinking Mille Lacs would be a perfect little day trip as long as the weather cooperates. I may be one of the few, but I am hoping the ice holds off for a little while longer. Heck, I might even break out the short rods and flasher and do some verticle jigging from the boat

[chrismackmn]

I was out this weekend and got a few eyes. I was out on the mudflats using minnows.

[TRZ II]

Fished cove all day sat. VERY slow. 1 pike and a million tiny perch with a few keepers. about 8 inches of ice. Alot of people out there making noise. I will not be out till I can fish outside the bay.

[The Grebe]

We were out yesterday, wound up with 7 perch, 5 of which were keepers and 3 walleyes, one of which was a keeper....thats for 3 guys, fishing for about 3 hours.

I will never get used to walking across that clear ice, like walking on a sheet of glass. Seen a number of fish on the way out and some huge walleyes on the way in after dark, the lantern didn't scare em even when you stopped to look. They just swam slowly along, monsters they were. I'm sure the ice must magnify, but they were still huge.

The ice is still wiggly and not to safe around those small heaves? On the way out, one member of our group stepped on a good sized section of ice near a ridge and it actually tilted...good thing he only weighs a buck and a half! It is certainly thick enough, a good 4 inches of solid ice where we were fishing.

[jerry91]

Went out Saturday caught 7 walleyes and lost 5. Just 2 of us. We didn't catch a single perch. Walleyes were caught from 3:30 to 6:00.

[Team_FBR]

Nice work Jerry!

[marshmallow]

Did Well West Side Of The Big Pond .. 4 Jumbos .. 4 Willy's .. Right At About 1/2 Hr. Before Sunset ..# 14 Feet Of Water .. Seen Some Pigs Swimmimg Below Ice After Dark .. On The Walk Back In .. # 6 Feet Of Water .. It Was Very Cool ..

[jerry91]

THANKS, HEADING BACK UP ON SUNDAY. THINGS SHOULD BE PRETTY FROZE UP AGAIN BY THEN.

[Dragon Fish ll]

When U say west side are U talking about cove bay or is the actual west side ready to get out to 14 feet or so. Im heading up tommorow and would rather fish from the west side than fish the coves. Any advise

[jerry91]

Today we caught 9 perch and 3 walleyes from 2:30 to 7:00. We kept 5 perch and 3 walleyes.

[Iceboy]

We walking out from an entry about a mile east of the Cove public access. Got to 16 feet of water over some gravel/sand around 3 PM, setup, and caught 3 perch and a 13" walleye before we left around 7 PM. We weren't trying too hard, though. There was 10" of ice where we were, and I'm glad I brought the power auger. Nice night to be out there!

Where did you walk out from, Jerry? Sounds like you had a good day...

[digmetrofishing]

I never have ice fished the big pond and would be greatful for any tips (jig tips, bait, techique) you may have on catching some eyes through the ice. I will be up there next week. Thank you in advance!

[Stick in Mud]

We probbaly caught thirty walleyes on Saturday and Sunday....left Sunday night at around 6:30. Kept four fish total, threw back four big ones, and caught buckets and buckets and buckets of tiny fish. Couldn't keep them off the line. It was pretty frustrating; tons of fish on the flasher, but none were worth catching.

We couldn't get out to any good spots because of the open water everywhere. Ended up walking out to about 13 ft and drilling some holes on a new spot. Worked out ok, but these ice conditions require patience and caution. Not worth walking onto an inch of skim ice...or getting caught on the other side of a crack.

[leech~~]

Sounds like you were up on the North end where the open spot is?

[northender]

There has been open water on all sides of the lake the past few days. With every wind switch, the open areas appear in different places. One report on Sunday afternoon from a law enforcement officer was 19 separate event Hovercraft rescues over the weekend from all 4 sides. The open water in some places on the west, northwest, south and east shores have been within a half mile of shore or closer. The north end has good ice for a mile from shore or maybe a little further. The Myr Mar area had the open water within a 1/4 mile of shore yesterday.

Then who knows exactly where the thin ice starts and ends.

[TProGuy]

Any word on ice conditions in the Rocky Reef area? I usually walk out from there...1/2 - 3/4 mile out at most.

[Will]

I don't know about today, but when I drove by there Saturday there was nobody out from rocky reef