mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Fuzzbient]

Found the fish scattered Yesterday afternoon. Hit a few out on the rocks in the evening, and this one on a transition close to shore up pretty shallow. Had the best luck pitching jigs rather than rigging. Fishing got easier after the winds let up.

[jiggineye]

Took the slim 16ft'er out on Saturday. Really good day to fish out there. Just me and the wife but sure put a hammer on the fish when found them. The wind was definitely blowing hard. Launched out of south end and went as far as Banana, thats when we really felt the rough waves, seemed to be blowing 20+ and took on some waves in the boat. I saw on a post that someone took their small boat out there to banana, were you in the tan colored boat?

Did mark fish but were unable to hook up with fish deep. We both caught in the double digits of fish, wife outfished me 3to1 fish. On the water at 7am and off at 3pm, they were still going strong but the wife couldn't take the waves anymore. Early morning fish liked lindy and once the sun was high up they chewed on the spinner rig with a leech. Everybody seemed to go out deep but we found consistent fish in 10-13ft rock/sand and pulled 3+ fish every drift, even a few doubles. No keepers, everything went 18"-27". Great fishery, I hope this rain won't throw them off too bad, might have to make another trip. For a small boat, a large windsock or two is a must. It calmed the boat in the wind and kept us right at .8-1mph. Thanks again to all the tips on the forum, wife now thinks walleyes are easy to find, yeah right?!

[walleyeking19]

Went up there with my dad and brother over the weekend. Fished the deep mud and did pretty well. We only fished for about 5 hours, but we managed 20 walleyes and one jumbo perch that measured at 13". No keeper walleyes though, they measured from 17.5" to 28" and we actually got two 28 inchers on the same drift. Fish were biting light, and we missed probably 8 or 10 more. All in all, it was a great day and I'll be back up there again soon hopefully!

[BrdHunter01]

Been the wrost year for keepers I can remember since the slot was 14-16"

Pretty sad. Way to many big fish. Even if the slot was 18" I think our boat has only caught a small handful in the 17-18 inch range.

We have usually had a few "limit" outings by now. The best we have come accross is 6 keepers for 2 of us one morning. And I got 3 keepers one morning by myself.

Somethings got to change IMO

[CaptainMusky]

I wouldnt be shocked if they change the slot to 20 to 28 this year. Not many keepers caught, but it is definitely fun catching those bigger fish. Makes you look like a hero out there. :-)

[tonkapat]

with chances of going over the quota for the year I would be shocked if the slot changed allowing keeping of bigger fish. My best guess is it may shrink more to try and stay under.

[CaptainMusky]

Fishing was great early last year too, but very few keepers. They increased the slot then.

This year there are fewer keepers so I think its a definite possibility.

[BrdHunter01]

Doubt they'll increase the slot. Front page of the outdoor news says Mille lace bite goes on. Anglers have taken about 100,000 lbs so far this season including winter fishing. If they raise the slot I would be very surprised.

[CaptainMusky]

Everyone knows the bite goes on, that is obvious. If you do not catch fish out there you are doing something seriously wrong. The issue is keeper size fish that translate to harvest numbers. Its at least a 10 to 1 ratio from my experience and most everyone I talked to. Granted "mortality" is figured into the annual harvest but I have no idea how they calculate that, but I do know there are few fish leaving the lake.

If they change the slot or not either way, the fishing is great for action and size and seeing the looks on my boys' face as they reeled in 24 and 25 inch fish was priceless.

[fetch]

pretty hard for smallefemale when females are full if spawn and get netted

[DREZLER]

Been the wrost year for keepers I can remember since the slot was 14-16"

Pretty sad. Way to many big fish. Even if the slot was 18" I think our boat has only caught a small handful in the 17-18 inch range.

We have usually had a few "limit" outings by now. The best we have come accross is 6 keepers for 2 of us one morning. And I got 3 keepers one morning by myself.

Somethings got to change IMO

"Way too many big fish????" Thats almost laughable.

If you can't appreciate going up there and wailing on 4 and 5 pound fish then maybe you shouldn't be fishing at all.

There is a few thousand other lakes you can go to in Minnesota to catch your beloved 14 inchers

[DREZLER]

In fact they should just shut down pool 2 in St Paul also since you can't keep any down there

[jay83196]

I agree, I don't get why if one can't bring home a pile of fish to eat its a negative trip....even if catching 4-5# pigs? Go to rainbow buy some fish and save the gas if you just want fish to eat!

[city slicker]

I think everyone feels entitled; the day of an American (most) being thankful for something is long gone. How in the hell can anyone complain about the fishing on Mille Lacs? How short of a memory people have, just a handful of years ago it was something to catch 10 walleyes. Now we can do that in an hour. Enjoy it while you can; because the good lord knows its not going to last forever. city

[BrdHunter01]

"Way too many big fish????" Thats almost laughable.

If you can't appreciate going up there and wailing on 4 and 5 pound fish then maybe you shouldn't be fishing at all.

There is a few thousand other lakes you can go to in Minnesota to catch your beloved 14 inchers

I've had a place on the lake for over 20 years so no I won't be moving to another lake. I'm up there every weekend and take work off to head up there during the week. This lake is becoming strickly a trophy lake.

Frankly it gets old catching 4-6 pounders over and over again. Is it fun? Of course. However, I actually enjoy catching a 16 incher I can put in the box over catching a 4-5 pounder that I've caught and released 30 times this year.

I shouldn't be fishing because I want some fish to put in the box? That's laughable!

[maxpower117]

Why dont we keep this thread to reports???

[CaptainMusky]

Reports are, walleyes are biting. Big ones. You will catch so many walleyes in the 20 to 25 inch range in a given day, your arms will fall off.

Bring a pound of leeches, a few dozen crawlers and go anywhere on the lake. Doesnt matter where, depth, etc.

That is the report and its 100% accurate. The bite is that good. But dont expect to bring much if any home.

[walleyeking19]

The last 3 times I've been up there, my group (me, my dad and brother) have caught about 90-100 fish total, and have only kept 4 of them. I am definitely not complaining cause I cant get fish that big on the lake i live on very easy.

[fetch]

not much of a report... caught a few tonight wind won the battle. the "native mob" which is painted in the casino acess porta shtrs must of drumed up a wind storm

[pushbutton]

Carmike and I did not let wind win and toughed it out on the northwest side with it's 3 plus foot waves for a few hours tonight. Actually, he toughed it out, I was piddling my pants a little. We put over a dozen fish in the boat in about 2 1/2 hours. Actually, he caught almost all of them by corking a leech on a 1/32 nd. I was being pigheaded and jigging. Got a ton of hits off of flyers and fat heads but the fish were not very aggressive and ended up just feeding them. Most of the fish came in 20 ft. but did not do much moving because of the wicked wind and waves. Tried the 10 ft ish range at the end of the night with only one fish to show for it.

[Jmnhunter]

went out on tuesday out of Garrison; caught 8 between 3 guys in 4.5 hours; not as amped up as everyone claims. fished between 22-31' caught fish in all depths; jigs with leeches, and crawlers, along with pulling crawler lindy rigs; did the best with the jigs/crawlers. 18-23" were the fish, still good fishing, best I've ever done on the dead sea!

[Stick in Mud]

Carmike and I did not let wind win and toughed it out on the northwest side with it's 3 plus foot waves for a few hours tonight. Actually, he toughed it out, I was piddling my pants a little. We put over a dozen fish in the boat in about 2 1/2 hours. Actually, he caught almost all of them by corking a leech on a 1/32 nd. I was being pigheaded and jigging. Got a ton of hits off of flyers and fat heads but the fish were not very aggressive and ended up just feeding them. Most of the fish came in 20 ft. but did not do much moving because of the wicked wind and waves. Tried the 10 ft ish range at the end of the night with only one fish to show for it.

Dude, we got TWO in shallow. Well, maybe one and a half, as mine wasn't more than 12''.

[pushbutton]

Sorry, had a hard time counting. Kept on getting distracted by Gordon Lightfoot"s song ...... The Wreck of The SS Carmike ........ in my head

[The Hammer]

I have never caught fish on Mille Lacs using jigs. The fish are very active for that to happen. I went out on Wed and fought the waves out on the flats. We bobber fished The Sliver flat and did good, as long as I could get the anchor to hold we caught fish. No keepers though. Always fun catching big ones. I still haven't caught a a keeper in 2 trips. Oh well.

[Stick in Mud]

Sorry, had a hard time counting. Kept on getting distracted by Gordon Lightfoot"s song ...... The Wreck of The SS Carmike ........ in my head

Well we made it in....with two of those amazing and impossible to catch keepers. We must be good fishermen.

[CaptainMusky]

It isnt a problem catching two keepers. All you have to do is sift through 20 big ones. Catching more than two keepers you are a super star.

[BrdHunter01]

Well we made it in....with two of those amazing and impossible to catch keepers. We must be good fishermen.

I don't think anyone said they were impossible to catch. Just not nearly as abundant as recent years....

[Stick in Mud]

Good point, brdhunter. On a side note, I went out last night and didn't catch one fish over 17''. Mostly dinks with two legit keepers (I suspect you and most of the guys catching all the big ones are fishing much deeper than I am). Strange night.

[BrdHunter01]

Yes this time of year you can get plenty of dinks in the shallows towards dusk. Still not much in the 14-17" range if you ask me...

side note: with no min slot I've watched people keep those 11-12 inchers.

[Ole #1]

I have never caught fish on Mille Lacs using jigs. The fish are very active for that to happen. I went out on Wed and fought the waves out on the flats. We bobber fished The Sliver flat and did good, as long as I could get the anchor to hold we caught fish. No keepers though. Always fun catching big ones. I still haven't caught a a keeper in 2 trips. Oh well.

I catch them with jigs all the time. Last Friday I couldn't get a bite on the slip bobber, but once I threw on a jig, I started getting into them good. Just verical jigging over the side of the boat. Our boat of 4 had much better luck using a jig and leech vs a slip bobber. This was while anchored.