mille lacs 2016 Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Reports

[Stick in Mud]

It's shaping up to be a very good year on the Big Pond....Lots of people are catching lots of fish.  Let's start a new thread to share some tips, tricks, and photos.  

The talk I'm hearing is that there are lots of fish out deep, but most of them are shorties.  Fewer fish up shallow, but a better chance at catching some bigger ones.  So shallow I went.  Plus, pulling a 100 lb. sled and auger made the decision a little easier, too. 

I set up Stick in Mud the Elder in Secret Spot #3 in about 7 ft of water.  I hole hopped outside in depths ranging from 7 to 14 ft. It took us maybe 10 minutes to get our first fish, and throughout the next two hours we ended up catching six more.  Nothing crazy like the reports/photos I'm seeing/hearing from others, but we got two keepers and one big girl.  My buddy caught 16 last night--and sent me a photo of every single one of them--but only one of them was over 18''.  Of our seven, two were about 19'' and the big one was about 25'', give or take a bit.   

It's time to get out on the ice.

 

 

[IceHawk]

Nice eye and great report stick good to see the big pond putting out a few fish.

[Stick in Mud]

Last night the bite was even better for me...It was the first time I can remember where I honestly lost count of how many walleyes I caught. It was somewhere around 13 or 14. Everyone else I talked to had similar reports.  I also got two very nice jumbo perch as a bonus. 

I'll be giving it another go tonight before having to head home.  

Either way, there are about 8'' of ice out from Myr Mar.  There are wheelhouses out and even a few larger skid houses.  Wheelers are going everywhere.  I'm still walking out because I'm a coward, but next weekend we'll have the four-wheeler up and the shack out. 

[Weathertite]

Nice report and thanks for the info. Good Luck Fishing !!!

[leech~~]

Nice fish and report. I so want Mille Lacs to come back that I can almost cry!

[Stick in Mud]

I fished until about 5:00 p.m. tonight...packed up and headed home because I had my keeper and needed to get on the road.

Everyone is catching fish.  I don't think it matters much where you are...Just so long as you're by some piece of structure, you should get bit.  I got nine tonight and left right at primetime.  I'm doing nothing special, just fishing shallow rocks with deep water nearby. And I can't remember seeing fish this aggressive on the flasher. 

Alas, I have bills to pay, so I won't be up again until next weekend.

 

[leech~~]

6 hours ago, Stick in Mud said:

I fished until about 5:00 p.m. tonight...packed up and headed home because I had my keeper and needed to get on the road.

Everyone is catching fish.  I don't think it matters much where you are...Just so long as you're by some piece of structure, you should get bit.  I got nine tonight and left right at primetime.  I'm doing nothing special, just fishing shallow rocks with deep water nearby. And I can't remember seeing fish this aggressive on the flasher. 

Alas, I have bills to pay, so I won't be up again until next weekend.

 

Is anyone getting any Jumbo's out there any more? It seemed like the Perch went away with the Walleyes a few years ago, and they always kept us company during the day.

[Stick in Mud]

Yep, there are a few perch around.  They're getting more of them on the sand breaks up by Red Door, though.  

[Sculpin]

There are also some nice perch being caught on deep transitions along the south and east side. Just find that area where it goes from sand/rock/rubble to soft bottom. That is oftentimes deep 20's to 30 ft.

[mnguy152]

whats the hot bait up there this year? going in few weeks might have to stock up

[fishingsfinest]

Headed up tomorrow to spend the day chasing fish.  I have a few ideas as to where I would want to give it go, but am very limited as to where I can get to since no vehicle traffic is allowed as of yet (as far as I know of at least) so we will be walking out.  Thinking about the west side, Garrison and south towards Wigwam, walking out from some access.  Anyone care to share, via PM if necessary as to some hints or secrets that will help eliminate the massive amounts of fishable structure?  Probably getting to the lake roughly at 6:30 am.  It is going to be a cold one!

Thanks.

[addict]

Drive small car from public access.   Be smart tho

[Stick in Mud]

The fish I saw last week Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were very, very aggressive.  I didn't have any Darters or other super-aggressive baits, but I'm pretty certain they would've worked.  I was using jigging spoons with a minnow head....and the color didn't matter.  I had a silver one, a gold one, and a perch one.  All caught fish.  On Wednesday my dad had a red/pink one on, and that worked, too.

I'd walk out of either Garrison and fish the reef and transition lines, Myr Mar, or even the Red Door. There's plenty of structure near shore at either location.  At least before this cold front, where guys were fishing didn't seem to matter.  I caught all mine in 7 ft, but guys I chatted with in the bar were catching them as deep as 32 ft at the base of the flats as well as the deep and mid-depth rocks.

Good luck out there, and let us know how you do.

[Weathertite]

If anyone would care to share , What would the typical size of the perch be ?

Thanks for your time !!

Mike

[Stick in Mud]

I got one that was almost 12'' and one that was 10''.   I read a report online of guys getting them between 9 and 13'', fishing much deeper than I am, though.

[Weathertite]

Thank you for the helpful information Stick in Mud.  Hope your fishing is fantastic and that you stay safe.

Mike

[fishingsfinest]

Spent yesterday on the Big Pond. We got bait at Lundeen's right at 6:00 as he opened shop.  So nice to have a shop open that early!  Drove to Garrison public launch and walked out from there.  Found a spot we like right in that 14'-16' depth on some rocks.  We fished that spot until about 12:15 with our last fish caught at about 11:30.  We caught 9 Walleyes on that spot in the morning, all roughly 11"-15" and no big fish.  Packed up and moved to Myr Mar around 2:00 after a break and were fishing by 2:30.  We set up a touch shallower this time, right at 13'-14'.  There was a pretty active crack that we didn't mess with that kept us from getting to the West Reef where we wanted to go.  Caught another 5 Walleyes and a couple small perch and a bonus 11" Jumbo on that spot.  Didn't catch a single walleye in what I thought was prime time (4:00-5:30), a few lookers and a swing and a miss on what felt like a better fish in that time.  Last walleye caught was just before 4:00, our biggest of the day at 16".  Fun day out there, those little eyes were still a ton of fun to catch.  Not a single fish on a set line or tip-up, everything on spoons jigging and most fish that were marked, especially closer to lower light periods we got to bite and were aggressive.

[mjk]

Went out off of Garrison this afternoon for Pike.  Ice certainly was NOT what I expected.  I drove out in my car, after seeing several 1/2 ton pickups out.

Drilled 6 holes throughout the afternoon, 4 were 8" at best, 2 were 10".  Please be careful.  I can't believe those trucks were out there.....

[[email protected]]

13 hours ago, mjk said:

Went out off of Garrison this afternoon for Pike.  Ice certainly was NOT what I expected.  I drove out in my car, after seeing several 1/2 ton pickups out.

Drilled 6 holes throughout the afternoon, 4 were 8" at best, 2 were 10".  Please be careful.  I can't believe those trucks were out there.....

How far out or where did u find 8" all the reports I hear is 11 16 inches with 16 being closer to shore on the rough ice. Saying 1/2 tons are good to go but I'm taking the wheeler out when I venture out there tomorrow in the frigid cold yay me....must be dumb. Any fish still biting tho??

Edited January 15, 2016 by [email protected]
Poorly worded

[Walleychaser]

Hey Tite,  Went out earlier in the week from the south side and had a ton of perch but mostly in the 6"-9" range with a few larger ones. Only had a couple walleye and none in the slot. A really nice walleye came in to smile at the camera but would'nt take the spoon. I am hoping to get back up there this weekend but the temp might be a bit tough to handle. I will post results if I make it.

[jigginjim]

Walleychaser, where did you go out from? Wife wants to try out the new wheelhouse. Hoping we can get a few perch.

[mjk]

4 hours ago, [email protected] said:

How far out or where did u find 8" all the reports I hear is 11 16 inches with 16 being closer to shore on the rough ice. Saying 1/2 tons are good to go but I'm taking the wheeler out when I venture out there tomorrow in the frigid cold yay me....must be dumb. Any fish still biting tho??

Off of the ramp, I went out about 300-400 yards to the North. Stuck in the 10-12' range.  If you see the Cell Tower, I was perhaps 75 yards 'south' (or towards the ramp) from that, before the cluster of shacks.  The holes were within about a 75-100 yard radius.

 

They were not driving on Cove yesterday, nor Vineland bay.  Still UTV/ATV traffic, as far as I saw.  Plenty of trucks parked in the lot at Cove.

 

 

[Walleychaser]

Hey Jiggin, Sorry for the late response. We went out of Lyback's and were able to get to Spider Island. They had a good sized crack that stopped you from getting out further but that should be no problem now with the cold snap. I did'nt make it up this weekend so can't give you a better update. Lyback's was great pointing out where you were safe to go and had four roads started so you might want to check with them. Good Luck!

[Eaglenation]

Fished out of Appledorns yesterday from Noon until 9:00 this morning. It hurt to go outside and do anything but they kept the rental nice and toasty. We're set up in 12-13 feet of water just east of doe island. Not much happening. Caught 2 walleye about 11-12 inches and one perch yesterday. Rattle reels never went off overnight. Had a real short flurry with a few misses and one 17.5" inch this morning. 

[jigginjim]

 Went out of Lyback's they did point out area where we could go with wheel house and truck. got blanked, I maybe going back with my flip over just to spot hop, if nothing is going here near Buffalo.

Edited January 20, 2016 by jigginjim

[fishing4life]

On 1/18/2016 at 0:01 PM, Eaglenation said:

Fished out of Appledorns yesterday from Noon until 9:00 this morning. It hurt to go outside and do anything but they kept the rental nice and toasty. We're set up in 12-13 feet of water just east of doe island. Not much happening. Caught 2 walleye about 11-12 inches and one perch yesterday. Rattle reels never went off overnight. Had a real short flurry with a few misses and one 17.5" inch this morning. 

Eaglenation,

 

Did you drive out?  I'm thinking of taking my young son up and renting from Appledorns.  Were there others fishing around you? 

[pgunderson7]

Two of us fished on the West side of the lake 1/18- 1/19.  17.5 inches of ice in one spot and 12 inches just 100 yards away.  We used a 1 ton pickup pulling a single axle house and had no problem with the ice in either area.  Fishing was slower than it was most of my trips last year, the cold may have played a factor.  We caught 7 walleyes and 1 eel pout.  Had a large northern up to the hole and it broke the line.  We missed about 4 rattle reels.  Last year most of the fish were 11 to 14 inches with one per day over 24 inches.  This time all walleyes were at least 15 inches which we were happy about, one was 23.5 inches.  Still no keepers though.  Most of our action was between 7:30 and 9:00 am both days.  Never had a rattle overnight. Three fish were caught jigging a spoon.

[Stick in Mud]

Good job on the pout!!!

[fish_hunt_guy]

That's the first pout ive heard of or seen this year. I thought they were making a mini comeback the last couple years prior? Anyone else seen or heard of many being caught?

[cruel2]

Caught a pout on Monday, was surprised, it had been awhile.