mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[BrdHunter01]

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.

Hopefully they moved to our side of the lake where the bite has been just terrible so far this year!

[Stick in Mud]

I wonder if it has something to do with the wind...thus far, any wind at all has been a huge help with the bite. Flat calm = much tougher going. With the wind out of the east or the south for the last, what, week now, we might've had it a bit easier up here than those on the south or east sides. I dunno. I do know that the one variable that's been consistent is distance from the boat; whether it's a rig, jig, or bobber, the farther from the boat, the better.

Have you tried bass fishing?

[Trotslot]

With the wind coming from the North tomorrow, do you think the South end might fair better? This is the first time on Mille Lacs for open water fishing, so any tips would be much appreciated. I have spent my time mostly on Red and LOW during ice. Thank you.

[Stick in Mud]

I hesitate to use the word "always" to describe anything, but I'd say that--all things being equal--you're (almost) always better fishing the windy side of the lake (unless it's so windy that you can't fish "normally").

[BlackArrow1]

Just asking for some general feedback. Heading down next Thursday through Saturday. Usually fish the mud first weekend of June. Will the fish be ready for the mud bite by then? This year everything seems so delayed.

[Sifty]

Sounds to me that I would find some rock/gravel and do some bobber fishing or get some shiners and hit the sand on the north end.

[ANYFISH2]

Fished Thursday-Saturday. Did a lot of jumping around on the east side.

We did best anchored up on big point in 11ft bobbering, and on the NE sand rigging in 13ft in morning and 21ft in the afternoon.

22 fish caught 5 keepers and almost a 50/50 split on leeches and shiners.

[Stick in Mud]

Ah, I forgot to put up my report from the weekend....

Saturday I spent working the launches. The morning trip got 27, the afternoon got 6. Yup, that's 6 fish, for 31 people, in 4 hours. That cold front hit, the wind picked up, and the fish quit biting. I went out in the boat with Stick in Mud the Elder that night and caught a few trolling and a few on bobbers.

[mthunter]

Fished the mud on Sunday and did just fine, not stacked up like they have been previous years at this time but there are fish out there.

[RalphieV]

Anyone fishing the west side? Seguchie, myr mar...ect? Heading up tomorrow for the weekend.

[willyfahey]

I fished all day Sunday with the kids. We bobber fished leeches in 24+ fow and caught 17 fish with only one keeper. There were many misses by the ones who didn't want help setting the hook. I went out Sunday evening to do some rigging and netted another 5 fish.

[iFishStu]

Willie, were you fishing out on the flats or near the rock piles? I am going up to the north end with some out of state relatives tomorrow for a few days and would like to have some ideas as to where to start. No need to disclose secret locations, just general information. Appreciated.

[greenbackslayer]

My uncle was up fishing the north end near malmo. Tried everything the best was the mudflats out near malmo. Drifting Shiners out produced everything he tried. He got all his keepers too. Once it god later in the afternoon he drifted and bobbered agate reef and rocks and got some too. But got them pretty darn good out on the mud flats. He said he tried and got absoultely NOTHING shallow so you might want to stay away from that. Or try it real early or late. Good luck

[willyfahey]

Willie, were you fishing out on the flats or near the rock piles? I am going up to the north end with some out of state relatives tomorrow for a few days and would like to have some ideas as to where to start. No need to disclose secret locations, just general information. Appreciated.

It's going to depend on the weather. Sunday was calm and sunny so I fished deep. I fished the mud and deep rocks. Since the weather is looking to stay cool, you'll want to bring shiners and leeches. Just remember the water is crystal clear, any abrupt movement and noise will spook these fish. The best bite has been the morning so getting out at 6:00am will increase your chances, too.

[iFishStu]

Thanks for the info guys. Looking forward to some good fishing and maybe even some nicer weather. We plan on taking both shiners and leeches when we go out.

[Red Miller]

Must be tough going out there. Havent seen the board this quiet since April. Last time up was the week after opener. Bouncing around the snow cone cocktail off of Malmo. Still managed about 5 in the box for the weekend. Headed up Saturday for the day...probably the east side somewhere.

btw..leeches worked just fine. No need to worry about shiners.

[Stick in Mud]

Quiet board = bad bite OR good bite (with people too smart to post about it).

Honestly, I think the quiet board is due NOT to the quality of the bite (which is quite good), but to the lack of folks out fishing.

[willyfahey]

Honestly, I think the quiet board is due NOT to the quality of the bite (which is quite good), but to the lack of folks out fishing.

You got that right. The fishing pressure is the lightest I've seen for as long as I can remember; closest maybe was the 14-16" slot year. It's nice for us fisherman, though, there's nobody around to boat in when you catch a fish. It's real easy to stay on the fish with no crowd around. But, it's getting tough for some of the businesses.

[PeteA34]

Fished North end of Mille Lacs Sunday-Tuesday with mixed results. Sunday was fairly calm and to no surprise a little slow. Monday and Tuesday were much better. Even with the decent wind, the walleyes seemed to be deeper. We anchored outside of the rocks in 18 ft or so and had a decent bite with slip bobbers and leeches/shiners. When it got real windy we tried shallower, but no luck. All in all it we had a great time, but with 5 guys fishing for 3 days, we only managed one fish we could keep. We did not catch any small fish either, so that is a little worrisome. Most fish were 21-24", with a few 26" fish. Also caught a few smallies around 16" or so and a fat 33" northern.

[Stick in Mud]

Rough night for the Stick in Mud boat...caught five fish, three unders and two overs. The unders were pretty small (less than 14'') and the overs weren't much over 21''.

It was flat calm, which is....less than ideal...for the shallow bite. We tried everywhere from 8 to 32 feet--rocks, mud, emergent weeds, rock/mud transitions, sand--but the bite was a stinker for us.

I hope somebody did better than we did!

[John Mickish]

I fished Friday as part of the Trolling for Troops event. We spent the day on the north east side of the lake. Lots of fish to be caught but we got the most in the 12'-14' sand bottom with weeds just coming up. Stand up jigs (I use Fin-Tech but other stand up jigs will work) and shiners worked best for us, but a Moxie plastic took the biggest (27.5"). The man that caught that fish has a prosthetic leg and had never been on Mille Lacs before. To see him catch that fish was a truly humbling experience for me. I am just glad I got to be part of it.

The fish are there, you just need to find what they want.

[Stick in Mud]

After last night's disappointment, tonight was a bit better....but not much. Didn't get out until 8 pm, and ended up putting nine in the boat. I got out-fished by the Old Man, which is always humbling, but the one I caught (yes, he caught 8 of them) was a keeper. It is still swimming, along with the other eight--five of which were too small, and three of which were too big.

Let's call it an early Father's Day present.

Hot baits were jointed shad raps on planer boards and bobbers right at 9:30 on shallow rocks.

[Stcloudangler]

Nice work mnfishingguy. That gives me a smile on the face. Yesterday we boated 9 fish, I was outfished 5-4 by the old man. One keeper 18 1/2, nice fillets. 2 unders, 6 overs, biggest 23 1/2. Perfect weather yesterday, sometimes even too calm but great day on the big pond. Wish I wasn't so busy and could go more.

[tfin]

Went out saturday morning and checked out a few flats(marked 0 fish) and then headed to a point on the west side. Boated 5 fish with a few misses before the bite totally died around 10am. Missed a few as well but there was a good mix of year classes. 17.75, 20, 22,22,24. water was 56 degrees. We pulled leeches on 8' snells. The bite was in 25 fow. Looking forward to the next trip out when the flats should be going too.

[Mutt]

Well I'm heading up tomorrow night for the ceremonial night ban lift, gonna try the ol slip bobber leech technique since I will have the GF with and I can watch 2 bobbers while she chatter boxes. Should be nice weather, maybe to calm but still gonna try agates reef and see if some keepers want to come up a little at night. If u think I'm crazy let me know please. Mutt

[1eyeReD]

Took the wife & nephews up to N. end yesterday. Started out about 7:30 and fished all day til bout 4pm. Was a lil slow in our boat but enough action to keep us not bored. Boated 12 or 13 eyes with half as many misses and some pig smallmouth.. 2 keepers the rest were overs with 1 under. We tried the sand near malmo first with not much luck then headed back over to the mud and started picking up eyes on rigged leeches and shiners. For lunch we anchored up on a small irregular shaped flat where we marked fish and watched slip bobbers while we ate sandwiches. No bobbers sunk so I decided to cast a gulp minnow on a 1/8 oz jig head and bounce it back to the boat. Landed two heavy 25" back to back then it got quiet. Finished the day landing several more on the flats and I landed one last 24" eye as we were pursuing smallmouth in shallow. Coolest thing I seen in a long time while fishing: a wolf pack of walleyes following the one on the end of my line.. And man that water is clear!! Saw a few groups of walleye scatter as we floated over.

[Stick in Mud]

gonna try the ol slip bobber leech technique since I will have the GF with and I can watch 2 bobbers while she chatter boxes.

I understand.

I usually try trolling, though....that noisy two-stroke kind of drowns her out.

[iFishStu]

Fished Wednesday afternoon through Saturday evening out of the Red Door. Had the best luck on the edges of the flats, 24-30 FOW. Leeches had a slight edge over minnows using bottom bouncers and plain colored hooks. Sizes ranged from 17-26", most were 22-24", with 7 slot fish for the trip. It wasn't a fast and furious bite but caught 5-15 fish every day between three of us in the boat. Definately did better when there was a chop vs. the dead calm Friday and Saturday AM. Had our best luck when we could slip-drift along the edge of a flat away from the crowds. That was Saturday late afternoon into the evening. Nobody around us out on the flats in the middle of the lake for a least a mile in any direction in areas that are usually crawling with boats. Everybody just left for whatever reason. Don't know why but thanks for some solitude on a normally busy weekend.

[eyeguy 54]

bobber fished and trolled the gravel bar from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. 2 eyes at 24 inches. 4 young smallies. slow but it was a great night to be out.

[Mutt]

Well like I said, went fishing Monday night with the GF and she caught her personal best 25in right next to Father Henn by the bouys, leech and bobber. Got a late start this morning but managed to catch my personal best 27in, all in all well worth the trip. Graveyard is packing up during the evening and yes there are bugs.