mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[BlackArrow1]

Lots of great fishing going on. Seeing lots of nice pics of good fish. Some best fishing of their lives comments. Maybe the tribe and the DNR can manage this fishery together? Kinda tough blaming the tribe now. Seems like its being managed well. Too many big fish. That's a DNR issue.

[icecrackheaven]

Fished yesterday (5/17) 7-9a out of Malmo. Windy. Caught one 13" on spinner rig with leech and a fast drift. Then 1p-5p out of Shah-bush-kung and as soon as the Twins won, the fish started biting. 14-20 ft of water drifting east to west at 1.2 mph. Yellow 1/8 jig and leech drifting landed a 26.5 and a 23. No slip sinker, 5 ft snell, red hook and leech landed a 27, 22 and 2-20" northern. Green jig with leech landed a 21.

[Stick in Mud]

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.

One of the interesting things about working on the launch boats is watching which colors work best from night to night. It's uncanny sometimes how big of a difference color can make. Most of the time it doesn't matter, but sometimes chartreuse will outfish white 10 to 1, or vice versa. Sometimes, one guy or gal will catch five or six fish to every one for everyone else, and then I gotta listen to whispers all night about what color he/she is using and if I can get my hands on another one of the same.

[Otts]

Fished the transition between two mile and three mile out in front of Hunters...26-28 feet of water. Caught 12 fish from 6-11. Moved to 7 mile and caught 11 fish from 11-3. Fish were on the bottom edge of the flat 29-32 feet of water. Leeches with green beads worked well and thr fish were aggressive today when they took the bait. There was a red Lund that seemed to be setting the hook all the time. Two keepers for the day and had a lot of fun fighting those big walleyes.

[Stick in Mud]

Great report, Otts. I found a ton of fish a few days ago off the tops of the flats and couldn't get a bite. Maybe I should've saved the gas by driving out to the big mid-lake flats.

[1eyeReD]

Fished 05/18/2012.

3 of us launched from The Red Door about 6:45 and braved the swells at a cautious pace bout 2.5 miles to the east and started in 18 ft of water immediately at the wind facing edge of an un-named bar we randomly picked from the lakemap on my GPS. 1st walleye in less than 2 minutes! From there, it was on like donkey kong and we had that first spot for a good 30 minutes to ourselves until more boats came out later that morning.

We Lindy rigged plain red VMC hooks and jumbo leeches on 7 ft leaders most of the day in various depths and over various types of structure. Sand during the morning from 16' to 21', to mudflats at mid-day in 23' to 26' to castin jigs & cranks on gravel/rock/sand transitions in less than 6' in the later afternoon. All spots produced fish. Larger walleyes came from the deep, of course, yet still produced box fish. Wind blown shorelines produced more consistent catches of keepers and even eyes that were too small to keep. Some hawg smallies were thrown in the mix, too.

The total tally for 3 guys was well over 30 eyes when we lost count from about 7:20 to 4:30ish with about an equal amount of keepers and fish that were within the 17" to 28" slot - and plenty of missed hooksets. All fish in the box were 15" to 16 1/2". Nothing over 28" but we did find an area that produced nothing but box fish at a pretty exciting pace when a particular lure was used and this was in shallow water - I mean really shallow.. So shallow, people hangin out in resort backyards on shore were probably wondering what the heck we were doin. We finally realized everyone on the boat was pretty sun-burnt and decided to head in and get some ice on our 3 man limit for the ride back to the cities. Fortunately, we got off in time as there was a nice storm system hovering on the south end.

All and all, a beautiful day on Lake Mille Lacs. The 4th and most epic trip I've ever had to this awesome fishery.

Few pics from the outing..

Yes, zebra mussel clumps. These guys were biting too! Indeed, a cause for concern.

Good luck to everyone heading out this coming Memorial Day Weekend and have a safe wonderful holiday!!

[fetch]

fish still active.. 3 guys roughly over 20 fish 6 hrs fishing... not like openerweekend bit still active

[tunrevir]

1eyeReD, cool pics and great report. Sounds like you guys had a good time on the water!

Tunrevir~

[311Hemi]

Back from a windy weekend of fishing in the NE corner. Lindy Rig and I got out Friday morning and boated 6 (3 box fish) rigging in 20' and then some storms blew in and we did not fish the evening due to lightning. Spent a good amount of time on the water Saturday and ended up boating 19 between the two of us...rigging, cranking, and slip bobbers. Most success Saturday was slip bobbers on a 14' hump w/leeches in the mid afternoon. Watched fish after fish get caught between the 3 boats that were anchored up on the hump we were fishing.....and guys rigging around us got some as well. We initially got a few pulling cranks over that same hump before we decided to throw out some bobbers. Largest fish for the weekend was 23" but we found a good mix of keepers as well. Overall it was a fun weekend and probably one of the best trips (numbers wise) I have had to the big pond.

[bassfshin24]

Nice fish everyone! Heading up for some smallies for opener this coming weekend. Anyone know what the water temp is looking like on the south end?

[Wayne J.]

Lots of wind. 2 guys 20 fish, 4 keepers,4 between 17"and 20", 12 over 20". 15 fish came of the mud on lindys. 5 off the gravel-rocks west side, green slime on the gravel-rocks. I think we would have done better with a little less wind and more boat control but I'll take 20 fish any day.

Wayne

[MidCoast]

The bite has been alright, but difficult to get keepers for a meal.

[MinnetonkaMan]

Great bite on Wednesday on the north end. Cuahgt twenty fish and kept our limit of keepers. Pulling lindy spinners on the north end sand breaks. TOO windy for the flats but marked fish just to hard to get down to them.

[ProCor]

Fished yesterday for most of the day - 7am-3:30pm on the northwestern part of the lake on a rock reef. Early in the morning the fish were scattered in the 11-18 FOW; as late morning came, it seemed as though the 14-17fow was the most productive. A good technique was first taking the time to first scan the water in different areas before fishing.

Leaches were the ticket..so much so that after we went through the first three dozen, another quick trip to the bait store was needed at 1:30pm for more.

There was a small lull period between 10:30ish-12:30, but nonetheless, some were still caught, but the marks on the graph became less and less.

Later in the day and early afternoon, we still saw fished caught on top of the reef where most boats were fishing, but we focused on the 17-27fow and it surely was productive. Having an HDS locator sure made those small undulations on the graph turn into fish on the downscan. I have to give the credit to the locator...I can see how many other units make some of these tight, bottom-huggers appear to just be more of the bottom than actual fish.

Red hook was also the key. Gamakatsu #6 hooks worked perfect. Water temps were 59.4 in the morning and by mid afternoon, it raised to 61.0. 5-6' snells and 0.50-0.75 mph was the ticket.

We ended up with three limits of fish and another 12 thrown back. I was surprised that we did not catch more pigs. I recall the biggest only being about 21.5". Not one of us caught a single perch.

NOTE: I was disappointed how some people will just cheat and steal. I trolled past one boat 5 times and watched two guys fish three lines. One rod was secretly placed on the bottom of the boat with about 2 feet of the rod sticking out past the side of the outboard motor. I watched how they caught one fish that way as well as catch two other fish, obviously over 17" and put them in the box. Finally, on one drift past them, I had to speak up and say something. Of course, I got a denial that they were fishing with a third line. However, it was funny on the subsequent drift, that the line was reeled up.

These are the "thugs" of the lake. They are the same people that will rip your depth finder off your boat and steal your gear at the launch if you are not looking. ...if they break the law on the water, they are breaking them elsewhere in life...For me, witnessing this is on the same page as catching someone stealing gear from my boat.

[John Mickish]

I have seen that too. Take a picture of them and see how they react sometime.

[fetch]

i highly doubt taking a fish over a slot would correlate that person to a thief of personal belongings..despite your observations a quick report and no politics..

bite tonight horrible! 4' rollers marked fish nothing would hit. 1 hook up 3 hrs of fishing.. can only get better. gonna give the lake a few days to get back to normal from these weather fronts..

good luck

[Red Miller]

ProCor, nice report! We are headed up Tuesday for a day trip. Looks like the wind will put us up there where you were. We did well last week on the east side also with the red hook being the star of the show.

One thing you have to keep in mind with the obvious violators is that band members have different rules for hook and line. Best to just dial up TIP and let the game warden figure it out.

[grizrunner]

I went out on the west side yesterday 6-9:30am. Nice 4-5'chop, few 6'ers mixed in. Managed 3 in 17-20' over hard gravel/rock bottom. 21"/(2)24". 6' rig plain red hook w/ leech. Lots of slime to deal with. Mostly controlled drift(well somewhat!)but tried a bobber in 10' for a short time no luck. Was a little tricky w/ one hand on the rod/one hand on the net/and one hand on the tiller(no partner yesterday). Had 6-8 boats nearby and didn't see one net. Water temp 58.5

[Buck_Hunter04]

Funny you say that. I watched 2 people leadcoring on the north end yesterday trolling 4 rods. Basically the same manner. Two rods in the holders outside and two on the floor straight out the back. Pretty obvious seeing leadcore hanging out the back of the boat.

Anyways, a buddy and I fished from 1-8 Saturday and caught 15 walleyes. 2 keepers, 1 throwback and the rest were way too big. biggest was 27 1/4. MY personal best. Then sunday we fished from 10-5 and caught another 19 walleyes. Mostly too big. We managed a limit for the both of us and had a dam good time. Everyone around us were catching quite a few as well. However, when the sun came out yesterday they became very tight lipped.

Oh yea, 3 neon green beads with a metalic black hook with leach and 8ft florocarbon leader outfished everything we tried. My personal favorite setup for Mille Lacs.

[MinnetonkaMan]

Another great day trip!!! Four people in the boat. Two adults and two kids under 12. Fished the north end breaks. Caught twenty walleyes from 930 am until 630 pm. Missed a ton more . Six for the box and the largest was caught by the 9 year old. Pulling lindy rig with a leech. The flat bite I heard is great!!!

[fetch]

if people are seeing xtra lines in the water doesnt that show a 1 line max is almost pointless.. if 1 person can control a boat and fish 4 lines have at it far as i care. a limit is a limit. people just want to catch fish. catching is by far more fun than fishing im sure there is no dispute about that. many states allow more than 1 line per person. pretty pointless "law" if you ask me. if your fishing multiple lines you better have a scissors and patience.!

im sure there are plent of fair chase and what have yous out there. a law is a law but common sense is not common!

[maxpower117]

if people are seeing xtra lines in the water doesnt that show a 1 line max is almost pointless.. if 1 person can control a boat and fish 4 lines have at it far as i care. a limit is a limit. people just want to catch fish. catching is by far more fun than fishing im sure there is no dispute about that. many states allow more than 1 line per person. pretty pointless "law" if you ask me. if your fishing multiple lines you better have a scissors and patience.!

im sure there are plent of fair chase and what have yous out there. a law is a law but common sense is not common!

We can't pick and choose which laws we want to obey just because we think we know better. Many anglers leave the lake without thier limits and allowing extra lines will most likely increase catch rates.

This would mean more fish caught and kept.

[Red Miller]

People going home with limits!?!?!? Nope...thats exactly what the DNR does not want to see. Thats why the law didnt pass. I will reserve further comment on the subject because most of it aint' good.

[fetch]

couldnt agree more

[walleyeking19]

If everyone is worried about people getting their limits, than just lower the limit per person.

[Stick in Mud]

As much as the one-line-per-person rule bothers me, back to the reports....

Went out late yesterday afternoon for two hours. Got three fish, and had three of them come unbuttoned on the way up. Spinners on the mud had 'em snapping.

Then I went out about 6:30 or 7:00. Had five fish in the first hour, and then struggled to find anything consistent after that. Moved probably five or six times, caught a fish in most of those places, and then nothing. Ended up getting 9 total with three nice keepers. All in all, it was a beautiful day/night on the water, though.

[maxpower117]

If everyone is worried about people getting their limits, than just lower the limit per person.

Do you support this?

[jay83196]

Not like the limits are that high to begin with...does wi do anything different as far as there fish management, it seems the two pole rule hasn't destroyed fishing in fact I would argue the fishing is comparable if not better...

[maxpower117]

Not like the limits are that high to begin with...does wi do anything different as far as there fish management, it seems the two pole rule hasn't destroyed fishing in fact I would argue the fishing is comparable if not better...

I'd respectfully disagree here. Considering the amount of pressure that Mille Lacs gets, an increased harvest would significantly affect the resource.

[jay83196]

I wasn't referring to Mille lacs specifically just our state in general. I'm not saying I'm for or against it I just wonder what other states do, I don't think our fishery in general is better for not allowing the two lines compared to states that do...so we don't have it in place but I see no advantage or payoff for it???