mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[hart0670]

Hey pushbutton - can you explain what the "dropper" is that you put on to root around in the mud? I am assuming it's what is in the two up close pics of two perch, but I've never seen nor heard of them before.

[walleyeking19]

I've never fished with them before, but I've seen them work. Here's a good video about them:

[leech~~]

Hey pushbutton - can you explain what the "dropper" is that you put on to root around in the mud? I am assuming it's what is in the two up close pics of two perch, but I've never seen nor heard of them before.

This is a dropper rig.

[pushbutton]

Thanks for the kind words Brian and "Chuck".....we have been going to the camper or a fish house nearly every weekend since he was 2 1/2 months old....and yes, he better pay it back to me when I get old, start to drool on myself, and need depends. Seriously though, these are just the highlights. Most of his time is spent watching mom banned cartoons on the computer and eating mom banned treats at the end of their shelf life that we picked up at milaca unclaimed freight on the way up

Hart, I am sure there are other companies that make chain/dropper hooks, but Hali is the only one I know of. Yes, the close up of the perch is showing one of these on a tullibee flyer. Here is a pic I found off the internet of them. You just remove the treble from a buckshot, varmint, or flyer and attach.

Actually they do not need to be attached to a ball bearing type lure, I just like the idea of the noise and flash combination. They also do not need to be a chain and you can just fashion your own with a piece of mono, but for the tullies I do think the chain is best. If you happen to have or can borrow an underwater camera it really shows how these can be effective when letting them hit the mud and a little twitch on the rod will send the chain and bait flipping over which really does seem to interest the fish. Similar mud techniques are to use tungsten, slick jigs, and things like the Lindy toad. Again, you are banging the bottom and creating that cloud of debri and sound to attract the fish.

[wingnut38]

awesome report pushbutton!

[hart0670]

Thanks for the info! This gives me a good excuse to get back up there and give it these a try!

[jaay]

hey pushbutton those were great photos and catches. Btw in what area were you fishing for the tullibees? I mean do they hit anywhere and everywhere or is there like a tullibe hole? Much appreciated!

[Roosterslayer05]

here's a question maybe more for the lifelong anglers or those with environmental degrees: why is a shallow lake (30 ft isn't eye-popping deep esp when you consider Lacs has coldwater fish like eelpout and tullibee) like Mille Lacs more dominant in perch and walleye compared to say lakes in the metro that are more crappie and sunfish dominant? Or is it simply due to the fact that people do not target crappies in Mille Lacs and therefore it is not raved about. Other than the monstrous size of Mille Lacs , most other factors are constant yet perch and walleye fishery are much better than metro lakes of similar depth.

Bottom content, bottom content, bottom content. Mille Lacs produces more walleyes per year than all the fry and fingerlings stocked by the DNR in the entire state combined. Perfect spawning habitat for walleyes. Crappies like to spawn on hard bottom with reeds/fallen timber. Mille lacs has good spawning habitat for crappies but they get out competed by the immense number of walleyes. The other problem with Mille Lacs is that it doesn't have extensive weed beds that crappies need when they are younger to hide from predators e.g. walleye. Thats why there are more crappies in the southern bays because they have more extensive weed beds.

[pushbutton]

Btw in what area were you fishing for the tullibees? I mean do they hit anywhere and everywhere or is there like a tullibe hole? Much appreciated!

I was up on a north end feeding flat between Weimer/East and the shoreline break, it is not really a tullie holding area and they were just there eating along with the perch and walleyes. As I mentioned it was only a short period of time they were active and really don't know if and where they would school up and hold in that area. For the chance at larger numbers would try to find the deepest mid lake structure, areas that break into the mid 30's....7 mile, 8 mile, 9 mile, resort, backer, agates/fellgy's needle....too many to list on the western/northwestern end. On the southeastern side check out the areas around 3 mile or highway bar near Appledorns, and yes there is the infamous tullibee hole that lyback's road runs to. For all these areas start at the edge of some piece of structure and start drilling deeper until you find fish. Put on something flashy and jig aggressively. You will have no problem figuring out what type of fish you are marking, they come in fast and will start doing cartwheels, somersaults, and following your presentation up and down......

Oh, and welcome to HSO!

[DTro]

If you happen to have or can borrow an underwater camera it really shows how these can be effective when letting them hit the mud and a little twitch on the rod will send the chain and bait flipping over which really does seem to interest the fish.

Here's a vid we shot last year. Those tullies are crazy.

[leech~~]

Bottom content, bottom content, bottom content. Mille Lacs produces more walleyes per year than all the fry and fingerlings stocked by the DNR in the entire state combined. Perfect spawning habitat for walleyes. Crappies like to spawn on hard bottom with reeds/fallen timber. Mille lacs has good spawning habitat for crappies but they get out competed by the immense number of walleyes. The other problem with Mille Lacs is that it doesn't have extensive weed beds that crappies need when they are younger to hide from predators e.g. walleye. Thats why there are more crappies in the southern bays because they have more extensive weed beds.

Roosterslayer, I think you are right about that. Red lake is another good example of this as the Walleyes came back the Crappies went away.

[leech~~]

DTro it looked like you guys were having way to much fun! I really like the way tullies seem to fly up at the bait when watching the flasher. It reminds me a lot of Lake Trout. how far down-up did you have the cam set off the bottom?

[jaay]

Hey thanks alot for the info...very helpful... ...also thank you for welcoming me in HSO..

[Captain B.R.K]

Went out of Hunter's Point yesterday, several loops plowed for access towards Flamingo Reef and then 3-4 mile. Truck traffic still allowed, but getting off the plowed roads will be tricky. Was plenty wet on the roads with 50+ degrees yesterday and can't imagine what things will look like later in the week.

We basically worked on a nice sun burn yesterday Fishing was very tough. We worked 3 different areas, starting up by Flamingo and then worked our way down towards 4 mile. We ( 8 guys) ended up with a dozen perch. Pretty tough going. We stayed pretty mobile most of the morning. We wrapped it up early (3:00pm) and went in.

Good Luck!

[The Grebe]

We were up fishing yesterday for the last time this season....within a few days, it will probably be the swan song for most everyone!

There was still vehicle traffic yesterday, but the ice and the shorelines are going down hill fast. Some places you just can't get out because of the standing water, some places aren't letting vehicles out at all.

One place had a truck go through on the road and they got everyone in a vehicle off the ice.

The ice is different in different spots. I went all over on the wheeler cutting holes and I found some that was like 2 feet thick and some that was like 18 inches thick and mushy. There were also some pretty good sized drain holes where a vehicle would definately go through if they ran into em. All in all, after all the melting, I wouldn't drive my truck on it, I know that.

Wheeler traffic will probably be okay for a few days, but even that will be comming to a halt sooner then later with the temps we are supposed to have the remainder of this week. It's messy to, if you have a hole in the bottom of the sled, or you don't have a good cover for it, everything gets mushed and soaked....I found out that i have a hole in my sled and my cover needs some upgrading!

The fishing, well.....we got some perch, lots of small stuff and a handfull of keepers up to about 11 inches? We fished from 8 feet out to about 35 feet and it just didn't happen. We talked to alot of fishermen, even some that do recon for the resorts and they weren't doing any better. I'm sure someone got fish in numbers, but it wasn't us. We seen a few crappies caught.

Thats about it? Now it's twiddling the thumbs until open water.

[fish hawk kris]

Did everbody quit fishing altogether? Or are there still too many icebergs floating around.

FHK

[Biggerfish]

Dude...its closed unless your going for panfish?

[fish hawk kris]

Thanks Bro!!!!!

My boat has somehow been floating 3 times since iceout........................it's really amazing!

Are perch considered panfish?

My apologies,

FHK

[tfin]

FHK, Most people are pretty tight lipped about panfish spots so don't expect too much until may.

[wally243]

Can someone tell me why the night ban has not been lifted. I think I know why, but I just wanted to make sure. We can't keep anything anyway and the fish will be done spawning by opener so why wouldn't they lift it due to the reasoning not being valid this year. The season will be shortened by 2 -4 weeks this year as everyone knows the fish slow down in July and most sportsman choose to let them be instead of killing them.

Thanks

[pushbutton]

It helps prolong the season, as the fish are easier to catch early on, especially at night. By having the ban we will not exceed the state's quota as readily and quickly. If you want to fish for them shallow at night, you still can....just wait till the fall and have at it....it is a little bit colder though

[gregg52]

HMMMM i dunno bout it being much colder still gets pretty cool during that bann it goes off like the 10th or something

can get some pretty chilly nights up here yet

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, the night ban is annoying. The fish can be thick up shallow if you've got a nice wind coming in and you're willing to look for them. At least that's somewhere around June 15 or so. If I could test my theory before the night ban, I would. But alas. Life is so very rough for us Mille Lacs fishermen.

[kinn0159]

Any new reports after opener??

[holdurmouthright]

I was out for a bit on Sunday afternoon. Fished the north side near east myr mar reef. caught a big smally and three walleyes. one was just under 17", the others were over 18.5"

[Where's Walter?]

Got out on the east side on Tuesday night. Planned to so do some rigging but there were 4' rollers. Anchored up and pitched some bobbers. Managed ~12 Walters ranging from 15-26. Leech on a hook. Good Luck!

[pushbutton]

Carmike and I got out for a few hours last night. We were on the northwest side right around dusk. The evening started off pretty slow and from the looks around us seemed that most were in the same boat. Started out in the low twenties, marked some fish, but no takers. Moved up to the low/mid teens and fished a few different spots until finally getting on some. As usuall, all fishwere in the slot anywhere from 19-26 ish. Ended up really shallow the last 1/2 hour and got a flury of action from the smallies with an eyeball mixed in, but had to pack up and go at the 10 oclock witching hour. We put fish in the boat on leeches as well as plastics. Bobbers, pitching, green, pink, plain lead....whatever...key was to move until you found active fish. First time fishing with Carmike and I had a good time....seems we are both a tad bit competative. Think we were even on the walleyes and smallies. His walleyes were way bigger but I ended up with just a toad smallie. Pretty much a draw..... but dont know if you can count out of season fish..... did spank him on the party crappies though Good luck to all the next few days, looks like it is going to be rather windy out there! Here are a few pics of some of the biggers eyes that Carmike caught.......

[Stick in Mud]

FYI pushbutton: The pink jigs SUCKED on the launch this morning. Just letting ya know.

[pushbutton]

Next time we go out the only thing I will use is pink.......you'll see Might even try that thing called a bobber

[tfin]

Carmike and Pushbutton,

I use pink jigs all the time when slip bobbering during dusk and do great when on the fish. Never caught a one on em in daylight though. Nice looking fish you had there.