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2020 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports


Rick

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anybody know the biggest walleye caught on mille lacs? biggest walleye swimming in the lake right now?

There's a 31 incher that weighed 10 lbs 3 oz on a certified scale in my basement, which was caught by my dad in 2001. This was late June, post spawn and skinny. I'm guessing that same fish in October would have been 11+, if not 12 lbs, after beefing up on tulibees.

I'm sure there are bigger but I've not personally seen one. The tight slots on that lake tend to make anything over 28 vulnerable to being kept.

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went out this am @ sunrise, attempting fishing on south side for 10 minutes and gave up with my son in boat, too much waves to feel any sense of control or be safe, will have to try my new lead core gear a different time

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, and I haven't been out for a while now. I'm waiting until the water temps get into the lower 60s/upper 50s before I head out again...the fishing in the Miss is too good to waste time pulling lead for one fish an hour. smile

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Went out last night for a little September full moon late-night trolling. Left the dock around 7:30 and was off the water by 1 a.m. In roughly five hours of fishing, I caught two fish. I tried just about everything...super shallow, rocks, sand, deep weedlines, shallow weedlines, transition areas, gravel, etc. etc.

I did see a few boats out...I sure hope they did better than I did.

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anybody having any luck? im coming up in a week Walleye,muskie and smallies fishing any luck? where start for walleye shallows, flats?

thanks

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The lack of response sums up the fishing right now, not much is going on, some people are getting fish at night 10-14 ft. I talked to a resort owner yesterday and he told me that they have not seen anyone in the fish cleaning house since labor day, he also told me that all of the guides are fishing other lakes.

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Saturday night managed 9 fish 14"-22" in about 4 hours (8:00-midnight). Anderson's Reef, 8-16 feet, mostly on Perch deep shad raps #7 + #9, a couple on blue/white.

Had some fun playing with our buoys / markers. Replaced glow sticks with $2 Ray-O-Vac flashlights from Menards. Really bright and easy to spot from a mile, or more.

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Wow, nicely done. That's the best report I've heard of anyone....a lot of guys spent the ENTIRE weekend without catching a walleye. eek

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So it goes. I was going to up fishing all weekend, too, but between the crazy wind and bathtub water temps, I figure I'll find someplace else to fish. smile

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So it looks like the water temps *might* be in the 50's for good...so things might be looking up. smile

Now we just need the wind to stop blowing 30+ mph every single day.

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Thanks for the updates Stick. Kept me from coming down last weekend. Plan on being down there the weekend of the 19th. Water temp should be ok by then. Gonna pull on the east side. Asking for a little bit of info to eliminate regions. What depths should we pull for active fish in your opinion? After dark till say midnight.

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There are folks on here better suited to answer that question, but in my experience, I've found it better to move around until you find them. Don't fish the same depth for too long if you're not contacting fish.

Last year in October my most productive depth was about 10', give or take a foot, but some nights they were deep off the reefs in 14-16, and other nights they were up shallow in just a few feet of water.

Change lures and depths often until you find a few, and then dial them in from there.

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Went out of isle bay this morning started fishing a little after 8. Put on the old faithful sr7 firetiger and started trolling by father Hennepin park didn't see much so I went to the otherside of the bay and picked up a 22" and a 14" walleye did that for a bit and got a bunch of perch most were around 7" no keepers by any means but maybe some jumbos will be around in a couple years. I anchored up for a bit and pitched jigs with fatheads and caught some perch but no other walleyes. I caught most of the fish before noon and left around 2pm nothing spectacular but it was good to get up there again.

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Any info helps Stick. Thanks for your input. We'll be targeting the rock regions probably in those 17-10 ft range. Any past reports on north sand for night crank bite October?

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Yeah stay home! Spent 3 days only 2 fish earlier this week. Trolled, lindy rigged, trolled lead core and casted all depths on north shore. Dead sea! Need colder weather maybe.

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There are a bunch of old reports on here, including some I wrote last year. I don't know how many pages you'll have to go back to find them, but there ought to be a few years' worth of info there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well last night was a struggle....Did the usual (fished EVERYWHERE and tried EVERYTHING) and only connected with a handful of fish. They seemed to be bumping or slapping at the lure, as the ones we caught were hooked outside the mouth, and others got off on the way to the boat or never hooked up at all.

In four hours, we only netted two and lost a half dozen or so.

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Fished yesterday up there 6 hours, weeds, rocks, inside edge outside edge, only got two fish. Tried jigs and shiners on various rocks for nothing. Casted plastics in the weeds got one with some bumping or short striking the lure and not getting hooked. Trolled after dark on the west side and only got one in the inside edge, nothing one the outside. Windy as hell and raining.

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Jay,

My guess is, you are probably better off heading for Fleetfarm and picking up some goodies for deer hunting.

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Yeah I agree, either people are sand baggin to save the fish for themselves or its pretty bad fishing not worth the cost of bait!

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My report is more or less the same as Jeff13's. Lots of moving around, lots of changing lures, lots of depths...and not many fish. The ones I'm catching are HEALTHY, but for my money, I think I'm going to head elsewhere for a while.

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