mille lacs 2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[going4it]

The lake is skimmed right now w dead bugs and cotton. Still a great day on the water

[Stick in Mud]

I ended up working the launch last night...I think we ended up getting 80 or so between 13 guys.

After getting in and cleaning fish, I headed out trolling about 12:30 a.m. Fished for two hours with only a rock bass to show for it. First real fish came at about 2:30, and as soon as the eastern sky began to show the slightest light, it was fast and furious until about 4:30. Putzed around for another 30 minutes or so before coming in and getting a few hours of sleep.

#whydoIdothistomyself

[minniwinni91]

So from what i can gather over the last week there is still no rhyme or reason to the walleyes. Seems like everyone is having luck everywhere shallow, deep, rocks, and mud, also seems like everyone has there own pattern. It will be interesting to see how this season shakes out with the ultra clear water.

[Stick in Mud]

You are correct....the fish are pretty much everywhere (I saw a guy catch one in three or four feet of water yesterday), though from what I've heard/experienced, it's hard to find large concentrations of them. The bugs (fish flies) are now getting pretty thick at night, so I'm hoping that'll get the fish moving away from shoreline structure and out to transitions and mud.

Speaking of mud, I putzed around yesterday for a bit and did mark a few fish as well as some big bug hatches. I only caught one fish, though. On the way in, I stopped on some rocks and caught more smallies than I could shake an Ugly Stick at. With the flat calm day yesterday, it was easy to see fish, but they were spooky. I ended up catching most of mine throwing topwaters. Fun.

I also went out for more late-night trolling. I caught more smallmouth than I did walleyes, and I think I got seven or eight 'eyes.

[Sifty]

Headed up in the moring for a couple of days.

First trip of the year so I'm hoping to have a good report when we get back.

If you see a 1850 green sport fish with three guys in it give a wave or stop to say hi

Sifty

[monstermoose78]

went out on a launch for a bach party and it was from 2-6pm not prime time in any means. This on Saturday. We caught 6 walleyes and 2 perch. Biggest walleye was 27 inches and we got 2 keeper walleyes and 24,22, and 15. Perch were 13inches and 9 inches. Leeches on jig heads seemed to be better than plain hooks. We did not go out to far from the resort but other launchs were catching some fish.

[Sifty]

Spent Sat. and Sunday fishing here is our report.

Got to Appledorns at 8:30 am and Paul had us in the water by 9 headed out to do some walleye fishing but with the lake being dead calm we decided to go pick on some smallies the fish seemed to be just starting to get on the beds and where attive in 4 to 12 feet of water. For us a jig and yellow twister tail was the ticket it did'nt seem to matter what the jig head color was but the yellow tail was key.

After a few hours of catching smallmouth and the radom walleye in 6 feet of water we headed out to the blue jug.

Wow can you say bug hatch,I think we counted seven different types of bugs out there after a hour and a half it and not fish we called it. Seemed the only thing we found was the bug hatch.

We headed in to the resort and had a couple of beers and took alittle nap.

After we woke up we headed out to do a little bobber fishing we got set up in 14 feet and waited for the magic hour. We got a total of 4 walleyes one box fish one under and 2 overs also ended up with a rock bass. Not the best night but it was good to be out.

Sunday morning came early with a nice wind we headed out to 3 mile but ended up alittle short after a problem with the motor as we drifted and fished waiting on a freind to come help us out we came across a small hump and started to get bites on shinners. This spot was a area that went from 24 to 29 feet and was about the size of a small house but the big fish where there.

We fished till noon and then headed in.

It was nice to be on the water again and a special Fathers day with my son.

If you have a chance and are looking for a great place to stay check out Appledorns we had a great time and the rooms are top notch.

[largemarge]

lets call this flat the OOG flat..

Shiners were better here.

The Blue Duck has nice accomodations too.

[Zaraspooks]

Fished the Big Lake on Sunday along with a couple buddies. Didn't appear to be much wind on our drive up so we were a little concerned. Once we arrived at the Garrison access, we found a decent chop on the lake and also a bug hatch. Headed out to a couple flats and never marked or saw a fish caught. Tried the tops, sides and off the edge. Headed in an found fish closer to shore. Magic depth seemed to be about 14 feet. Caught numerous fish with the largest being just over 28". Was able to keep 2 nice take home fish. Best luck was on a lindy with an 8ft snell. Leeches and shiners worked equally well.

Wanted to try some smallies but the walleye bite was too good to leave. Also came home with a pretty good sunburn but it was worth it.

[Sifty]

lets call this flat the OOG flat..

Shiners were better here.

The Blue Duck has nice accomodations too.

Thats right I forgot we named it

[RIPN LIPS]

We fished yesterday for the first time this season and boated 3-21" eyes and 2 decent northerns. It took a while to dial it in but from looking at other boats the leader length was key. 10ft or longer with leeches and crawlers. 24-26 ft seemed to be the depth of choice on the gravel. I also watched a guy power corking with the wife and 2 little ones and they boated more fish than anyone around us including an area guide and the launch. fyi there was a fish fly hatch also. Good luck.

[Iceman73]

Was up Friday evening through Sunday morning. Hit the water on Friday around 6:30 out of Fisher's. Probably the least amount of boats I have seen on the lake on a nice evening ever. Headed south to Agate and then Fisher's reef between 15 and 20 feet and caught 5 fish over about 4 hours. 1 slot fish, 1 that was only 16 inches, a 23, a 24 and a 29 incher. Saturday slept in and hit the lake around 10:30 and fished Fisher's reef and then some deeper water straight out from Hunter's Point and caught a decent number of fish. All between 22 and 26 inches except for one just under 20. There were a lot more boats on the lake on Saturday than Friday. All the fish were caught on slip bobbers, and yellow or green angle jigs and jumbo leeches.

We spent the weekend in a cabin at Fisher's. We've stayed there a few times and aside from having the best access on the lake, Suzy and her husband are great people.

[Iceman73]

The bugs were pretty heavy as mentioned in previous posts. We drove over to Barnacle's around 11 on Saturday night and it was literally like it was snowing bugs. The car was pretty nasty come Sunday morning.

[jay83196]

Went out on deep gravel on northeast side today 33-20' nothing no waves no fish lots of bugs. Water temp 62 shoulda hit the mud maybe or went shallow but figured no wind try deep.

[53orbigger]

In-Laws purchased a place on Wahkon Bay this spring. I'm looking for any direction anyone can provide with regards to smallmouth in or around Wahkon Bay. I fished weeds/rock/sand in depths from 3-12' last Saturday without one smallmouth. What depths or structure should I be focusing on this time of year? While it was nice catching a few 25+" walleyes they aren't nearly as fun to catch as smallmouth. I did notice with the water as clear as it is that there seemed to be a lot of walleyes up a lot shallower than I would have expected especially with the lack of wind and sun on Saturday. I probably saw more than a dozen walleyes up to about 30" just laying on the bottom in less than 10' of water.

Thanks

53orbigger

[jjz]

Right now the smallies are spawning. try 5 ft or less range with good brown polarized shades especially around bullrushes. Very easy to spot beds and that means other smallies are in the area too. Senkos, leeches, topwaters, tubes, curly tails, swimbaits, jerkbaits can all work. Just let the fish tell you what is best.

good luck

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, the bass are pretty visible if the wind is down and you've got sunglasses. My last foray out was even easier; the fish were swirling bugs (I assume...maybe minnows?) up on the surface. I just cast cranks/tubes/senkos until I saw a swirl, kicked the trolling motor up to full bore, and then threw a topwater to them. If they're not up on top, just cruise around until you see them, or troll crankbaits anywhere on the lake after dark.

[53orbigger]

Thanks guys. I will try a bit shallower this weekend.

53orbiger

[city slicker]

Fished Friday 10-4:30 with my son and his friend, we found active fish on a lot of different flats. They where on the edges some at the bottom some at the top and some in between! Rigging leaches, long snells, and slick sticks worked for me. We end up with a 17 walleyes, 26.5" for the largest, and 13" for the shortest as well as a nice burn!city

[Stick in Mud]

It was a decent weekend for the Stick in Mud boat. I headed out around midnight on on Friday after the storms passed; the fish were definitely biting, and I had about 10 or 12 in less than two hours, including my first of the year over the 28'' mark.

Sadly, the trolling pattern that's been incredibly productive all spring completely disappeared on Saturday night. After catching a few on bobbers on relatively shallow rocks (12 feet or so), we headed out around 10:30 to pull some cranks. I had two others with me in the boat and was fairly confident I'd be able to put them on fish, but it was not to be. After two hours of fighting a stiff east breeze and very thick fog, we hadn't caught a fish--or even had a bite. Tried everywhere from 4 to 16 feet, over gravel, sand, rocks, and weeds. Tried just about every crankbait in the box (sure is nice to have three rods to experiment with for a change), and nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. We didn't even catch a smallie.

[Redlineracer12]

We made it up Friday about 7PM, got to fish for about a half hour (one fish) before we saw lightning on the west side of the lake. Buzzed in and watched a movie. Saturday AM we went out and slip bobbered in 22' and caught our 3 person limit by 10AM. 6 keepers out of probably 20 fish, including a few 13-16" fish. Largest was around 25". Went in and cleaned fish, grabbed lunch, and tried for smallies for a couple hours on a rock reef, but it was pretty slow. Caught 1, watched another boat catch one, otherwise nothing. Hoping it picks up in the next week or two once the spawning is over with.

[elusivecrappiecatcher]

Went out yesterday after the rain movied through. Got on the lake about 11:30am and as we were going out a familiar face went slow by us going into the Mcqoids river/boat launch area. Saw Tony Dungy in the passanger seat of a new Ranger bass boat.

As we got on the lake I wondered where the heck they were fishing with that boat other than the bays. She was a little rough yesterday. Not the worst I have ever seen, but I wouldn't want to be out in a bass boat.

Got 2 walleyes a 25.25 and a 22.5. Wind was beating us up so we went back into the bay and had a blast. Caught some smallmouth, lots or pike and one giant dogfish. Fun to sight fish up by shore. The pike were on crazy chasing anything that went by them.

[DREZLER]

Fished a couple of times last weekend- pulled a lot of spinners with little to show for it- maybe like 5 or 6 fish. It doesnt seem like spinners are really going yet for some reason.

Got into em corking with leeches saturday night on Schultz flat up on top of the south end- there was 2 other boats there that were also doing well.

[ripnlips99]

Hey guys couple buddys and i plan on heading up thursday night to fish friday and the wknd probably going to launch the boat out of Garrison by pike point i had good luck last fall out of that area real shallow im sure the fish are starting to spread out a bit. Anyway from that area any info would be great whats working/lure/bait and what kind of depth and bottom you guys been finding the eyes. Thanks and have a great day on the water god bless !

[Wayne J.]

Don't go to the flats it took me all day to catch 30. Leeches on plain hook with green bead or crawler spinner rig.

14 on leeches 16 on crawlers.

Wayne

[ribsey_77]

Fish Wed 9am-5pm. Nothing on crawlers, leeches out fished em13-2. The flat just north of the casino access. On the far eastern tip of the cut they were stacked up all along the drop and base.

[iFishStu]

Fished 7:30AM to 8:00PM on Wednesday. Slip bobbers, leeches, colored hooks in 26-28 FOW. Caught fish on the deep gravel, on the flats, just about anywhere we tried. 26 fish for 3 people w/5 box fish, 12"-26". The only place we didn't catch fish is when a couple of launches barged through some prime structure and scattered any active fish in the area.

[Kettle]

I'll be heading out this sunday for the day, will report back. Was up last week and hit the gravel, man the fish are hungry, I landed a 26'' eye with 3 other hooks in its mouth, nice to see that people are cutting the line if it's too deep that and the fact that catch mortality hasn't killed that fish.

Kettle

[firefish_12]

When u are talking about deep gravel

What part of the lake are u talking and about how deep?

Looking to bring my wife and lil kids up for the first time and would like to show a good time

Thanks for any help

[Kettle]

Fished the flats today, 71 degree water temp, dozen fish, 11/12 came on leaches and lindys, 1 came on a crawler harnes. 29.5'' eye caught in 32 feet, largest one of my life and a half inch away from a replica being made, she swims again!

Kettle