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*Its gettin old guys*


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Alright, so people say that the the bite for eyes on mille lacs is the best its been in like 12 years or something. Its a lot of fun but its gets old throwing back fish after fish after fish. The slot should be lengthened to 16.5 inches, Then I would go home with a limit everytime. It seems all people care about are those walleyes just cause they taste the best. So why not hit up some other fish that are equally challenging but yet a bit more exciting. I was up there today and had a blast catching them. A 18 inch small mouth fights harder than a 26 inch walleye. Anybody been after them this year?

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Great post!! I have been thinking about trying to catch some smallies, but I really don't have any idea on where to start. I have only fished for them on the Mississippi. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

The Southeast side of Mille lacs from Big Point to Cove contain many great smallie areas. If it has rocks and sand/rubble nearby, it very likely contains smallies. Don't be afraid to explore sand/rubble areas for rocks.

Depths can be from 1' to 8' of water. The 5" mega Tube jig in Pumpkin Seed can be very effective. You can find many in the 20" plus class in this area of the lake and they are a blast to catch.

Don't be afraid to run Lil' Rascal cranks past them as well as other soft plastics (Fish Candy) and Fingerlings.

To see more about this highly effective line-up Click here

Have fun going after those huge smallies, I know I have.

PS. As the water warms look for them a bit deeper in the same general areas and don't be afraid to toss Spinner Baits and Ghost Shad cranks.

PPS. These fish love to feed on the abundant rusty crayfish population.

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I was up there last week for the wave wackers. I talked to a kid that has a cabin on the south end. He said he'd been out for the smallies and really pounded them in the shallow rocks on tube jigs. Many nice ones.

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I am a proponent of the slot limit for this reason: The few ruin it for the many. For those of us that drive in for the day from the cities it becomes an expensive trip and taking some fish home to eat would be nice (even thought it then runs about $100 per pound).

Unfortunately, there are many people (not all) that either live on the lake, or are retired and fish daily, that can easily take advantage of the rules. How many times have you heard of a cabin owner on the lake catching their limit, dropping it off at the cabin, and going out for more? Too many.

Result: Supply of fish goes down again and we stop driving to Mille Lacs because the fishing sucks!!

If I could make one change I would say that the 1 over 28" should be reduced to 1 over 24". I have yet to go out this year and not catch at least a 24" walleye. Put one of those with a couple slots and you will have a meal. That's all anyone needs.

I feel for the resorts if they are hurting. But many people, including myself, are going to Mille Lacs more than ever. So is it true they are losing busines?? Dunno.

Finally, FISHING IS A SPORT, NOT A MEANS OF SURVIVAL. Walleye at the supermarket is a hell of a lot cheaper.

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nothin is a secret on mille lacs, so I'll tell my story. I went out isle, and headed north going in and out of the bays. My buddy and I were using great big salt tubes. He used craw and I used white. The white out did craw 2:1,(maybe it was technique tongue.gif) We did very well. We tried some beetle spins and road runners but didn't do as well. I noticed that they were mainly in light rush, or on the bottom of small drops in the shallow water. Don't be afraid to go inside the buoys. Sorry it takes me so long to post lately. Work is really slowing me down.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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