mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Kettle]

Went out on Wed tried the day various places with various presentations just a massive smallie on pure accident, it looked like a football. Once 7pm hit we started boating eyes in the 15-17' range pulling SR7's, no keepers but my friend I brought with had never fished walleyes so it was fun for him to boat some fish in the 25 inch range. Good luck fishing.

Kettle

[Stick in Mud]

Funny, Kettle, I pulled a host of shad raps on Wednesday and couldn't buy a bite on them (though I did get a few casting them during the day)...got 'em pretty good on stickbaits, though. Go figure.

Went out last night in the gales and caught....nothing. Couldn't keep the boat on track. Couldn't keep a consistent speed. Couldn't (or wouldn't) fish anything farther than 30 ft from shore. Heck, I got sick of holding the rod (no gloves, cold hands) and put it in the rod holder....the wind was so nuts that it took me a few times before I realize the bend in the rod wasn't a fish.

[Stick in Mud]

Went out last night, had lines in the water by 8:25 and first fish at 8:28 was hooked so deep it was just about gut hooked. Second fish in about the same spot at 8:40, also just crushed it. Figured I was in for a good night....

Trolled around for over two hours without getting a sniff. Fished all over and with just about everything in the box. Went through a host of shad raps, husky jerks, rogues, flat raps, thundersticks, and even a hornet trolling out a little deeper. Nothing. Tried slowing way down and speeding way up, too.

Right before 11:00, just about ready to call it quits, I caught a 27''. Got three more before midnight, all pigs, and then trolled around until almost two with nothing to show for it. Finally went in when my hands got so cold I couldn't hold the rod or work the crosslock snap to change cranks.

So six fish in a bit over six hours. A bit frustrating to be so dialed in and then so far off base. But it was nice to have the lake all to myself.

[Stick in Mud]

Got another eight last night....trolled for an hour before I found what appeared to be the one lure they'd actually bite on: a big dark perch flat rap. Got four in forty minutes, then stayed in the area and picked up a few stragglers. This fall trolling thing can be kind of fun.

[mww24]

me and a buddy went friday nite. We got 5 fish all over 24". Buddy and I fished same color and size lures with same depth ratings. Same line and distance out. He caught 4 I caught one. Mine was a rapala his was some ancient bait that had more wobble to it than mine. Crazy how a little wobble can put them in the boat. Got all of our fish in a 200 foot area weed to rock transisition. We just kept making the same run. Attracted a few other boats that started trying to run us off. I hate that about mille lacs. If you haven't moved in an hour you always got a boat or two that comes and fishes right on you. Hoping to get out a few more times before the ice comes.

[Rick]

Thank you for the Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports.

I'm jealous.

[pushbutton]

Its not just Mille Lacs, but does make you scratch your head a little harder with 206.9999 square miles of other water to fish.......

[mww24]

Ya pushbutton. Its every lake. but like you say theres so much productive water to fish. Why fish the 200 foot stretch that I've got producing. I never saw another boat go near where I was fishing until i ran it a few times. Nothing like the Bent rod fishing pattern. We actually tried to fish the east side because we knew with the wind we would have it to ourselves and the two days of constant blowing could have turned them on. Got about 100 yards out. turned back. Waves were just to big friday to be fishable on the eastside

[Stick in Mud]

For what it's worth, the bobber bite is still going very very strong on ML....one launch got 65 fish last night, quite a few of which were actually keepers. And they were STILL fishing deep (30 ft) well off the reefs.

[hart0670]

Went out on a 12:00 - 4:00 pm launch Saturday afternoon with Fisherman's Warf. We had about 20 guys fishing, caught 10, missed about 10 or so more that were legit misses. Biggest was just under 27" and caught 3 eaters. Not a bad afternoon, as I understand those bites have been tough lately. The big launch boat we were on was great as well - I'd highly recommend it.

We fished in 33 FOW. Another launch from the same service fished in closer to 20 FOW and only caught 3 fish.

[Stick in Mud]

Went out last night from about 9:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. Caught for fish in the first 50 minutes, including one nice double. Wind picked up, snow/rain started falling, and the bite seemed to shut off. We only got two more between 10:00 and midnight....no idea where they went, and we tried just about everything--shallow, deep, weeds, rocks, sands, fast, slow, etc. Very frustrating to find them immediately and then get one fish per hour for two hours.

Thankfully, we were able to get two fish at the end of the night casting crankbaits around shore (as we were heading in to shore, we noticed a bunch of glowing eyeballs in a foot (or less) of water)...guess maybe that's where the walleyes went.

[bassfshin24]

What did you have for water temps last night? Im guessing they are in the mid 40's. Im heading up this weekend for some smallie action. Well Im not sure if I should say action haha...the 21° night tonight might just shut them down for the weekend.

[Stick in Mud]

Um, I honestly didn't even notice the water temps.

[bassfshin24]

Haha...I just looked on Appledorns website and it looks like water temps are around 46°.

[Stick in Mud]

Went out last night for some bobbering and trolling. Didn't get up to the lake until right before sunset, so we only bobber fished for about twenty minutes before heading back in to get dressed, make some coffee, and head back out.

Trolling was slow for the first two hours, then we popped five of them in very short order, including one slob that was 29'' and fat. The gf got to reel that one in.

Pic's not the best....no flash on the camera.

[Borch]

Nice fish!

Wife and Irolled until 9 last night and ended up with one just before heading in. I hit the lake again for 2 hours before heading home and put 6 in the boat. All over 20" with the biggest being 28". All on a 3" gulp minnoow on a jig. Missed a couple as well.

[hanson]

You were up at Mille Lacs last night (Saturday) Borch?

I was up on the NW side... 2 of us managed 7... all fish between 20-26".

May have done a bit better if that launch hadn't seen us pull 2 back to back

off the same spot and move in and anchor right where we caught them. I understand

but that was cheap, find your own dang fish.

Lazer Craw Rogue was the ticket.

[Borch]

Yeah, we were on the SE side staying at Father Hennipen in the camper.

Daytime bite seemed to better than last night but it was more crowded.

[PerchJerker]

Fished on Fri and Sat nites, trolling cranks. The wind on Fri night kept us out of some spots we wanted to fish but Sat night was really nice and we could fish whereever we wanted. Overall we did not have very good fishing. We had a really nice flurry of activity each night, but outside of those flurries the bites were few and far between. We had 1 fish under 20", and a couple that were pushing 28", everything else was mid-20's.

[awkwardjim]

Thinking of coming up on thursday... forecast says cold, windy & rainy out of the west. ALSO bringing the wifey. I can usually handle the nastiness for the day ,but not too sure about her--- does anyone know if there are any launches still going out, or would recommend an alternative to try to get some fishing in while staying as warm & dry as possible??? thx

[Stick in Mud]

The last I heard, the launch out of Myr Mar had a trip going out Thursday. Call to confirm, of course, as some might have cancelled because of the weather. And it's on the northwest side of the lake, so at least the waves wouldn't be nuts.

[awkwardjim]

thx Carmike! I called myr mar & got set up for thursday,,, they told me the trip would be pending incase the weather is too nasty. SO im crossing my fingers

[Stick in Mud]

No worries, awkward.

Well, I had my best night of the year last night (when fishing alone, anyways)....got ten fish in a little over three hours fishing a fairly non-descript chunk of reef. The bite was amazingly consistent this time out; no mega-flurries of fish, no long stretches without a bite.

And the fish were pretty localized....every time I got a 100 yards or so away from my spot, I'd stop catching fish. Turn around and run back through, and I'd catch another one. Plus, I only had to change lures about 15 times to figure out which one they wanted.

Funny, I didn't catch many big ones--biggest was only 24''. I also didn't catch any skinny ones; every fish was a football.

And with the wind kicking up, I casted from shore for a bit and picked up this one.

[Musky Buck]

Saw a lot of rigs last night on Mille Lacs, 18 trucks and trailers at the Isle ramp, likely a lot quieter today lol.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, it was pretty busy out there...but it was amazingly warm and there wasn't any wind until later in the evening. Most of the guys thinned out pretty quickly up by me. I did overhear one boat say they only managed to catch one (big) fish, so maybe that's why.

[Stick in Mud]

Fished last night until 6:00 a.m. Went out with my dad for two hours looking for some eaters....ended up keeping five, all caught on plain hooks and leeches. The old man isn't much for trolling, but on the way in we tossed the stickbaits out the back and picked up two in short order. Dropped him off on shore and I put on the hipboots and did some wading. Got five throwing a perch-colored SSR. Bite slowed down so I went back out trolling around 1:30 and caught twenty five trolling in 8 to 10 feet.

It was an AMAZING night, and after struggling to find a consistent bite all fall, it sure was nice to have them dialed in. I did talk to a guy this morning who was out last night and only got a couple...it's nice to not get outfished for a change.

Pics are of fish caught wading/fishing from shore. The middle one was a pig, but I didn't take the time to measure it.

[Stick in Mud]

Slower night last night...a buddy and I got twelve fish in 4 hours, though we ended up having nine come unglued. Not sure why we struggled to get them in the boat.

Fish were once again very particular in their tastes...only got fish on one particular lure, in one size, in one color. Nothing else got hit. And they were in a very particular spot...if I was a little too deep or a little too shallow, we also didn't get a bite. I also had to be trolling downwind around 1.8 mph...any faster, or into the wind, and nothing would bite.

I did a bit of wading last night, too, but I didn't get anything but lots and lots and lots and lots of weeds.

[BlackArrow1]

Liking all this success! Lots of good fish. Glad the fishing is good for many. I like seeing that the Mille Lacs fishery is thriving.

[FLAG!!]

Ventured out (aka got my butt kicked by the wind/waves!) solo in my 71 Lund yesterday from 7am til noonish. Hit the garrison side as the winds were out of the e/ne. Ended up with 11, including only one keeper, two 27+s and everywhere in between. Got one jigging, one on a crank, and the rest on shiners under slip bobbers. 12/13 feet seemed to be the ticket, whether I was outside weed line or in the rocks.

One interesting observation I made was that the fish had no interest in the shiner when back hooked and loved it when mouth hooked out the gill. Figured they may like it back hooked better similar to tip up fishing. Any thoughts?

[JustHooked01]

The brother in-law and I were out last night from 7pm to 1am, we picked up 12 fish, with 3 in the 26+ range and only 2 under 20. From 7-9 we tried shallow with nothing, then switched tactics from 9-1.

We were fishing sharp breaks using Deep Shad Raps and Berkley Flicker Shad. Both perch and white shad seemed to work equally well. Most fish were in 12-14 feet right where the sharp break happens. Kinda zig-zagged between 10 and 20 feet. Sand bottoms produced the larger fish while rocks produced more fish. We guessed the cold front would drive'em deep for a day or two.

Coming off we talked to another group that spent their evening in shallow water trolling long lines with #11 Floating Raps. They picked up 9 fish from 6 pm to 1 am.

So I guess the fish are wherever you find'em. Good luck!