mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[CaptainMusky]

Nice fish guys. That smallies is obese!

[amateurfishing]

Nice fish guys. That smallies is obese!

+1

[BartmanMN]

Good lord that smallie is a chunk.

[bassfshin24]

Yeah it was a beast. 5lbs 1oz

[mrklean]

Great looking fish guys

[gloomiseye]

Sweet fish!

[tori's dad]

Lets keep this post to fising reports.

[bassfshin24]

[northender]

Keep the reports coming

[BrdHunter01]

Back to fishing reports... It was a fairly slow "opening" (ice free) weekend for us on Mille Lacs. Didn't get out much due to late arrival Friday night and weather conditions Saturday/Sunday morning.

2 of us caught 4 fish. Three of which made the 18-20inch cut and came home with us. The other was to big. Very few boats out fishing.... Be interesting to see how many people make it up this weekend with the new slot and slow bite.

[greenbackslayer]

I think the slow bite you are talkingh about during opener is not a reflection on what the lake will be like for the rest of the year. There was barely any open water to fish and conditions couldnt have been worse. But I like probably many other fisherman who love Mille Lacs lake hope those people trying to fill there freezer stay away and continue to think the bite will be slow so stay at home or go somewhere else.

[Musky Buck]

greenback it must be kinda slow as a whole meaning I live in traffic to Mille Lacs city, since I moved here in 1996 I haven't seen this little boat/camper traffic heading to the big pond ever. It certainly could ramp up but wow it's been slow heading north on HWY 47, even 169 seemed a little slow on Friday night, very few boats being towed. Is it that ice out date, 2 fish limit, gas prices,harvest quota, weather or a combo of all of those things most likely. Really quiet like I'm unaware the season is open. Got a feeling plenty said kinda screw it till memorial weekend, we'll hit em hard then.

[BrdHunter01]

I think the slow bite you are talkingh about during opener is not a reflection on what the lake will be like for the rest of the year. There was barely any open water to fish and conditions couldnt have been worse. But I like probably many other fisherman who love Mille Lacs lake hope those people trying to fill there freezer stay away and continue to think the bite will be slow so stay at home or go somewhere else.

I didn't consider the 11th opening weekend for Mille Lacs, as most of the lake was covered in ice. I was referring to the most recent weekend May 17th-19th.

PS: Telling people to stay away because they want some fish to eat isn't right. As long as they are within legal size and limits they are free to fill the freezer.

[CaptainMusky]

I think we will start to see gas prices starting to play a role here as well. Its entirely possible that Mille Lacs gets MORE weekend traffic than before because those that would have gone much farther North may choose to stick closer due to the gas prices.

The lack of boats now is largely because of ice conditions over anything else I think.

[Stick in Mud]

It was definitely pretty empty up...I think on Friday night I counted three boats in the south Garrison access.

There were definitely a few boats in the "prime" areas, but nothing like previous years. I've never seen it this empty up there, and I hope for the resorts' sake that things pick up.

From what I've heard, the bite has actually been pretty good, especially if you get away from the traditional tactics, i.e. lindy rigging on the sand. Those pitching jigs with plastics and trolling are catching good numbers of fish....A friend of mine sent me 23 photos on Saturday night of different fish he caught.

[greenbackslayer]

It most definitely could be all of those things contributing to Mille Lacs not being fished. Gas, two fish limit, weather I think are most definitely why poeple arent fishing it right now. I dont think it is because of a slow bite or because numbers of walleye are down. People who know what they are doing are having great days with great numbers. But like I have been saying all along. Those people who wont come to Mille lacs because of a two fish limit will be missing out. Which is fine for me. Im not starving im just looking to have a bend in my rod and get some great pics. Good luck to all fisherman out there and stay safe.

[Faner50]

Fished ML last saturday on the south end. 3 boats is all we saw. Public access was empty at 10:00am. Fished 6-8 ft of water where rocks transitioned to sand. Anchored with bobbers. We purchased both leeches and fats. Supprising, the fats out fished the leeches. The fish bit all day. Females were spawned out and the males full of milt. The fish ran from 18 to 25 inches. Tried trolling cranks on the edges but we thought the water was too cold for the fish chase the cranks. Fun trip from Mpls but expensive due to gas prices for boat&truck. ((Where is the Govenor on gas prices?? Why isn't he kicking some "big oil" fanny ?)). Bouys were not in yet. Best of luck to ya'll

[Ole #1]

Anyone been up to Malmo Recently? Going to try that area tomorrow and wondering how it's going.

Thanks,

[Stick in Mud]

Slow night on the Pond for the Carmike boat. Got five in 2.5 hours. No keepers.

Four fish caught on bobbers, one trolling. We only found fish deep around transition areas between rock and mud. It took us seven moves before we found some fish....all the areas we tried shallow weren't any good for us.

[Stick in Mud]

I saw three boats pull out of their livewells full limits of fish...and that was before 3 p.m. The fish are biting if you got the cash for shiners and are willing to drag them behind jigs. Or cast them and jig them back. Or aggressively jig back jig-n-plastics.

The bite tonight was very good...caught them everywhere between 12 and 14 ft deep, on both minnows and leeches. Let's hope the wind keeps up.

[dustybaker]

A little role reversal for me this weekend! Im home with both kids while my wife is with her girlfreinds at a cabin on Mille Lacs! They fished yesterday evening and my wife had 3 Walleyes, a 19.5, a 20, and a 24. They were fishing slip bobbers in 10.5 feet, bait set half way down with leeches.

[amateurfishing]

went out of father Hennepin over the weekend, nobody bringing anything in around that area, DNR ops noted only time anyone brought anything in was at night, supposedly that bite is much better than morning (too cold?)

[eyechoholic]

Hit the north end sunday started with lindys shallow no luck. Then went over to a deep rock pile I had caught a few on before and anchored up in 23 feet off the pile a bit. I ended up catching 15 no keepers two 26", 17 3/4", 20 1/4" and the rest averaged 22". My buddy picked up four with two being keepers. Casting jigs as far out as possible and dragging them back and popping them off the bottom with minnows. All fish were caught from about 9am to 4pm. Super fun day definately my favorite way to catch walleyes.

[minniwinni91]

Was out saturday and sunday on the south end of the lake. saturday Went out during the day fished for norhterns and bass in the shallow weeds. Got some nice pike nothing over 8lbs but still a fun afternoon also picked up 4 Largies and a pair of smallies (all released) In the evening stuck around the south end and hit a favorite rock pile, fished on the break about 13ft and picked up a few nice over fish nothing under 22. Sunday went out in the after noon and trolled over the weeds in whakon there still only about 1.5ft tall, no success. Went out again in the evening to the same rock pile ended up with 3 25in fish and a few smaller nothing to keep though. All the walleyes were caught bobbered up with either a red hook and a glow bead or with a small peacock colored jig head tipped with leaches.

[Stick in Mud]

Our weekend was pretty good...the key for us was using shiners on a jig, as they outfished plastics by a wide margin. The only problem is that, at $8/dozen, it's not the cheapest way to fish. We found them everywhere from 10 to 20 ft deep on either sand or rocks.

The night bite has been reasonably consistent as well, though we've noticed that, in shallow water, it pays to cast as far as possible from the boat. Got ten last night with two in the slot, though both were released. Sunday was a bit better, but we didn't do anywhere near as well as the launch, which got 85 in four hours.

[DREZLER]

Was up all weekend and fished a few times- a total of maybe 8 hours.

Caught about 15 total- 5 keepers.

Fatheads or shiners took all of our fish.

If you don't want to spend all of that money on shiners try and find jumbo fatheads- I am sure it is the profile and size that the fish are really looking at.

We got our fish bobber fishing and pitching jigs.

[willyfahey]

The fishing was good for us. We were able to keep 5, all in the 19"+ range. Lemme tell ya, the bag fills quick with these fillets. Biggest fish was a 27.5" hog, weighing almost 8 lbs. Landed it with a 12" eelpout half way down its throat. I bucked the system and ran leeches in the regular areas. A medium leech worked just fine. So, where is everybody? Not that I mind not having to work through the crowds, but with the bite this good?

[Lip'em]

Was up on Saturday, launched out of Cove Bay. Ran slip bobbers over the rock piles in 8-12 ft of water. Moved a bunch of times before we finally found fish and then it was game on! 20+ eyes boated for two guys, averaging 23 inches. Nothing for the box but a blast nonetheless. One word: MINNOWS!

[Stick in Mud]

So, where is everybody? Not that I mind not having to work through the crowds, but with the bite this good?

Good question, and I've got no idea. I sure hope for the resorts' sake that things pick up; otherwise, it'll be a rough year for them.

[Stick in Mud]

The last two evenings have been a bit tougher than I'd like....last night, between three guys, we got three fish (missed five...embarrassingly). Tonight, fishing alone, I got five, but I moved probably ten times, and didn't catch more than one fish in each spot.

The daytime bite has tailed off for me, too. I'm catching some fish on the sand using leeches or shiners, but it's nothing like it was a few days ago. At least for me.