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Smallies - Mille Lacs Lake Smallmouth Bass Fishing


Turbodog

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Stopped by the pond for a few hours to see if we could catch a few perch, dropped our ultralight rigs in a random weedbed, and within 30 seconds my 10yo son's rod is doubled over with this 18+ incher (released)full-195-11891-imag0073.jpg

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Fun fishig right there. I was also on the north end pounding 17-20". Fish on almost within seconds of putting the bait down. I was using a leech on a plain hook right off the bottom using a modified 6' lindy rig set-up while anchored on some rocks...strange but very very effective.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Fished for smallies in SE corner of the lake today, launched out of Isle. Was hoping to get into some fish putting on the feedbag before winter - we got a slice of humble pie instead. Did not catch one smallie all day... Caught a musky and a big pike. Has anybody else been catching smallies since the colder weather? If so, would you mind sharing how you caught them? Don't need specific areas, just trying to learn something about catching them on mille lacs in the fall. We caught some nice smallmouth on a different lake just two days ago and couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong today. I was dumbfounded and left a little frustrated.

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Was on the lake Saturday with similar results. One smallie and 1 follow up. Tried for largies too with no luck. Launched out of cove bay and went as far as izaty's reef. Talked to another fisherman with same story. The only lure I didn't try was a tube.

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I was out Saturday as well. Drifted reefs off the east side of the lake throwing cranks in 7-13fow on top of the reefs. DT10s DT14s were best producers, crawfish, perch, shad colors worked best. Had to be ticking bottom with the cranks to get a bite. Also had some action lindy rigging redtails. Any minnow type bait should put a few fish in the boat. Ran into a few nice bonus eyes with the cranks too. wink

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Croix,

That can be the downside of Mille Lacs, if you catch them on a day when they're not on top of the rocks or the sides it can be tricky finding them. Sounds like baitchaser found them on deeper reefs. Smallies can be so fickle, one day they're all over and then next you can't find one to save your life.

If I can't find them I usually head to Isle Bay and throws spinners for pike and largemouth.

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Thanks for the info guys. Cranking deeper water was about the only thing we didn't try. On the drive home I had a gut feeling they were out deep and thought we should have tried some cranking out there. Tried cranking shallow with just about every other kind of lure with no results. Ended up going into Isle after some largemouth and got the skunk out of the boat catching one little one. Thanks again.

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Baitchaser, what kind of wind did you have? Were you burning the cranks or fishing them slow?

There was a light wind from the southeast. I'd say it was about 8-12mph. Reel hard till you start to feel the bait ticking bottom, then just reel fast enough to keep it on the bottom. If you feel the crank hit a nice sized rock, pause and let the bait rise a little. We caught a lot of fish on the pause. I wish I would have tried slow rolling a spinnerbait near the bottom too, I'll just have to wait till next time...

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