mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[ThndrDkl]

IMO, Looks like the north and east side of the lake still have some thinner ice. just fyi

[gregg52]

The season seems to be getting shorter every year up there. Im sure glad I got rid of my skid house several years ago.

I think its that global warming thing...lol

Buts it true I remember fishing over there and the guy Ifished with said usally by the 3rd week in dec we were driving to the flats. he owned a resort on the west side

and we use to pound them out there many yrs being one of the first ones out there Ofcourse back then we were snot nosing it no big wheel houses

and we could keep 6 fish one being over 20

AAAAHHHHHHHH the good ole days huh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chris63]

Two keepers,congrats!Any pictures,what were they hitting?c63

[pushbutton]

Made it out again for a little bit. Went out a little further today into 20 ish feet off Hawkbill and still pretty slow. Found ice up to 9 inches though. Would think that picture of the lake above in "darker blue" actually shows the areas with less snow cover, so north and east looks like the best ice outside of the southern bays. Forgot my tackle on shore and too lazy to walk back, so pre rigged tungsten and frostys were the hot bait today Only got one pike, more dink perch, and one slob in shallow. Out further was marking fish but not much doing. One in the upper teens and more small perch. From my two trips so far sure does not look like a forage shortage Lake is setting up, but still will be active for awhile, when temps warm up, some cracks will as well, be carefull! Here is a pic from the other day. There was a bazillion little perch below me and she grabs a crappie minnow, maybe the skinny fish are lazy as well or possibly not too smart

[Bigg Al]

One thing I noticed after the Saturday trip, the females were stuffed full of bait fish, and the males were empty.

[DLD24]

Me and the GF are heading down to Appledoorns today to stay in a suite and I'm planning on going out in the morning Thursday and Friday any tips on what area the fish might be located??? I went out of red door last weekend and we set up in 20fow and didn't have much luck...Also if anyone is looking for a fishing partner either of those mornings let me know...Thanks for any tips..

[pushbutton]

First off would ask Paul, he is a super nice and knowledgable guy about the lake. Other that that there is no real secret.....find and inside turn on a break or piece of structure, follow a point out, work a break shallower or deeper depending on time of day or cloud cover, might be tough to find right now but transition lines are good, weedlines or pockets.Maybe Roach or Hawthorne are banging them, but all in all a pretty slow start for me, and from what I gather, others as well; granted am fishing memories and either my memory is not so good, the fish are not there, or not active due to a whole host of variables such as forage, barometric pressure, cold fronts......and who knows what else.....it certainly is not fishing pressure. Have not made it out to any mid lake structure, and if you have safe access, would give that a shot, but really so not think that would have been the ticket the last week either. Kind of feels like a late Jan bite rigjt now and about the only thing you can do is drill a bunch of holes on some type of fishy area and keep moving till you find active fish.

[gregg52]

fishy area...lol thats a new line

but a good one...lol

[DLD24]

Thanks pushbutton...I was planning on drilling from 15ft out to about 21 all down the break line since,I'll be walking out...hopefully I'll have,a good report tomorrow

[shakojdub1425]

Anybody been pulling sleepers out yet in the bays around garrison? They usually do by now with 4wheelers. lmk thanks

[Bigg Al]

14 inches on Wahkon Bay today.

[willyfahey]

Hunters Point pulled almost all of their rentals out but they are only allowing ATV traffic for now.

[bassfshin24]

How has the perch bite been up there lately? I've heard a lot of people are getting dinky sized ones in the bays but how about the main lake. Anybody get into any jumbos yet? I'm heading up today after work and will be headed out on the NE side of the lake. Wondering what depths and structure I should be looking at. Any information would be awesome!

[Stick in Mud]

Went out last afternoon around 2:30. Fished one of my favorite spots in 14 ft of water off just off a reef. Caught ZERO fish. I'll give it another try tonight, though.

[bassfshin24]

Ouch! Maybe I'll just hit up a smaller lake for some slabs haha.

[M1dwestF1sh]

I was out the last couple days and found 11" everywhere we went. The mud worked the best for us in 28-34' of water. Nothing was on the flat they were off the edge. The morning and day bite was good the night bite really never happened. Most fish were over 25" and a couple at 27" but we still got close to our limit.

[Stick in Mud]

Good to hear you got them, Midwest. I was seriously considering heading out to the flats, but....that's a long walk.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Ya that would be a very long walk. I would try some edges of structure close to shore too. We fished some gravel on the east and did good closer to night.

[Stick in Mud]

After Secret Spot #1 didn't pan out last night, I thought I'd hit up Secret Spot #2. Pulled the house out with a borrowed four-wheeler, returned the wheeler, and then walked ALL the way out there. Finally drilled holes around 2:00, had my first walleye on by 2:30, and ended up bringing seven through the ice. Lost two fish, too. After a skunk yesterday, I'd share some pics, but I forgot my phone in the fishhouse, so they'll have to wait 'til mornin.

All in all, a bit of redemption after a very dispiriting yesterday.

[aanderud]

Nice work carmike. Good to see the work pay off a bit. Here's hoping that secret spot #2 continues to pay off long enough until you can get your truck out there to move again

[bassfshin24]

How deep we're ya in spot #2 carmike?

[Stick in Mud]

Well, I trudged my way back out there last night and caught a few more before going to bed at 2:30 a.m. or so. Caught one on the rattle reel at 5:30 and another at 6:30, so it was a short night.

After the fish at 6:30 this morning, I caught NOTHING all day. I did miss a couple, though, the last one being around 6:00 this evening. I don't know what happened to the fish, but I marked very, very few today....I hope they come back, or it'll be an even longer walk to Secret Spot #3.

[minniwinni91]

My Dad and Cousin were out off a flat friday in about 32ft got 8 fish all to big the smallest being 20in and the largest being 25in. From what it sounds like the mud is the way to go right now. A group of guys from work went out the day before Christmas off Garrison reef and ended up with 7 keepers out of 8 fish. Then again there was 4 of them out for 7 hours.

[lispeej]

Are folks driving out to their spots yet? Or is it just atv and sleds for now?

[Walnut18]

Yep drove a 1/2 ton out of Appledorns this weekend.

[monstermoose78]

I would take a wheeler or sled because most of the guides on the lake are saying there is areas with less ice. I sure would suck to hit one of those spots. Better to be safe then sorry. Plus all the others driving to fast on the lake will weaken the ice.

[Stick in Mud]

Well, after striking out on Saturday during "prime time," my dad joined me up here at about 6:00 p.m. or so. Got out to the fishhouse and had our best over-night fishing ever. Ended up catching 14 fish from about 6:30 until 3:30 a.m. (plus we missed three or five), when I got so sick of getting up (my dad, after catching one, refused to get out of bed) that I didn't put the lines back down. I did wake up at 6:30 to put another line down, and we then proceeded to catch fish from about 6:32 until 9:00 a.m. or so, when it was time to head in for some food. Biggest fish came in the middle of the night....I am looking a bit haggard by then. If I had held the fish out a bit farther, and had my dad take the pic looking up at me, it would've looked the superfat 27.5'' fish that it is.

On Sunday we slept most of the day (well, I did). I woke up for "prime time" and got one fish. Picked up six more overnight, including one very hungry one that broke off one of our Gem-n-Eyes, turned around, and three seconds later hit the other one. The fish didn't have the bobber down for more than a few seconds both times.

Good thing I didn't walk all the way out to Secret Spot #3.

[Stick in Mud]

How deep we're ya in spot #2 carmike?

Sorry for not seeing this earlier....Secret Spot #2 is in a whoppin' 10 ft.

[Stick in Mud]

Another good night...but not as good as a few nights ago. A buddy came up, and we left Secret Spot #2 for a bit to do some exploring. Fished a spot that was completely devoid of fish; I don't know where the fish are during the prime time bite, but it hasn't been shallow. Lots of guys I've talked to have seen very, very few fish on the flashers. I'll be putzing around on the flats as soon as it's safe to do so.

Got back to Secret Spot #2 around dark, put down some set lines, and caught a double before we could even get our jackets off. Maybe we shouldn't have left?!?

Caught another four or five overnight and one this morning before heading in for breakfast.

[BradB]

After the big freeze last night and tonight, I have to believe that we can't be long from trucks and big houses. I called Macs on Friday and they weren't letting vehicles or bigger houses out yet (mine is a 10 x 20). I'm sure hoping to get out ASAP. Are any other resorts letting trucks out and pulling big permanents?