@bassfshin24 and I snuck up to Mille Lacs for 2 days of fishing recently. We were targeting Walleye near shallow structure in the low light hours and bumping out a bit deeper during mid-day. The first day was slow for us but we found more action on Day 2 including my 2nd biggest Walleye through the ice. I also caught my first tagged Walleye! Pay attention for my slip and fall...
My buddy Tony (@bassfshin24) and I hit the road after Christmas to go and chase some Walleyes on Mille Lacs Lake. We had plans to fish shallow structure during the low light hours and then head out to deeper structure during the day using an ATV. Day 1 the temps had warmed up some from the recent negative temps but we were surprised to find a very slow bite. The slow day was topped off by some ATV problems which left us scratching our heads on what to do for Day 2. As it turned out our options were minimal so we decided to pull out on the lake by hand to some shallow structure. It was -15 when we hit the lake but we were greeted by a bunch of hungry Walleye!
My first foray into tv land. Grant invited me to co-host an early ice episode on Mille Lacs last week. We showed up like any weekend warrior with no intel and proceeded to try to figure the lake out.
This is just the teaser. The full episode will air in January and then be available on Superior Angling's YouTube channel.
Give it a share/like if you enjoy it. Thanks in advance!
I drove by pleasant lake tonight near Rockville and it was about 90% open, With this wind and rain coming I'm sure many will be ice free by the end of this weekend again. Anyone else seeing any lakes open up?
Got on the west side yesterday from 10 till 3. Smallmouth were snapping in 15 - 17 FOW on green tubes with red flakes. Three 20 inch plus footballs. 20 fish total. Two came up barfing out crawfish. Had two incidental google eyes 14 and 15 inches. All the fish were extremely fat and well fed. Great day on the water, very few boats. Shout out to Terry's, great place to launch and close to the action!
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.
The DNR has announced quotas for the ice fishing season, regulations coming forth soon.
http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/10/19/mille-lacs-winter-harvest-cap-set-ice-fishing-regulation-decision-by-end-of-month/#more-17141
#AsExpected
I might be able to make a run or two if needed with my truck. Hopefully we don't get dumped on and get a few warm sunny days to get this stuff to settle a bit.
I agree. Was thinking about doing this. My issue is that it's customer service. What if it wasn't that easy of a fix and customer service was this way. Haven't had these issues with shimano or pflueger for half the price.
Some pockets of slush on the east end. Only came upon one spot that covered a large area, most were small spots. Walking on the lake was not to bad, snow is light and fluffy. I didn’t see anything that would stop me, but not sure how far of a trek you have.
How is the snowpack and slush looking these days? I'm looking to walk into my place on the west end one of these weekends but don't want to make the trek in knee-deep powder or thigh-deep slush!
That would be a lot of work to get done in three months, assuming that they can even get a GC to line up all of the subs. October sounds more realistic. Looks like I'll have to find other ways to support the local businesses in town. I might have to send Mrs. SkunkedAgain and Miss SkunkedAgain to the girl store a few times with a wad of cash.
As soon as humanely possible. We have a seasonal cabin that we use year-round, an no road access. Therefore like PSU, we are bound by the ice-out to determine our first open water trip. If I had road access, it would likely be determined by other factors such as snow on the driveway, etc.
If you have plumbing pipes, that is another concern. We haul in our water so I don't have to worry about pipes bursting. About six years ago, I did hook up my lake pump at opener at left it filled with water. When I came back for Memorial Day, the iron housing had cracked due to water freezing.
My general advice is to not avoid the in-between times. They are often the best. Less people are around, you get to see the land and the lake change, when the ice goes out you get to see eagles and other scavengers pick up all the floating winter-kill fish, green starts popping up everywhere, etc. It's a fun time to be in the woods and around the lake. Canoeing through ice or boating through black ice is always a hoot as well!