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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 :)

    • monstermoose78
      As long as the birds don’t fly I am good. I can catch fish through the ice fairly well. 
    • MarkB
      My cousin and I just returned from beautiful Lake Vermilion after 4.5 days of the most spectacular walleye fishing you could ever hope for. Usually our mutual friend joins us but his father passed away and he had to opt out. We arrived late Saturday afternoon and packed things up after our morning outing Wednesday. We stopped at Cabelas on the way up and found them to be sold out of pike suckers. While they had them, they were charging 99 cents each! We then stopped at Harris bait shop and found a help yourself situation that was also out of pike suckers. They sold them while available for 6 for $6! We eventually found them locally for the same price as last year. During our stay, we used pike suckers, rainbow mix, and crawlers. The walleyes hit them all but, I believe, the rainbow mix caught the most, the crawlers were almost as productive, and the pike suckers produced the biggest fish.  We caught them in depths ranging from 13' to 27'. They were in the rocks and in the mud depending on the time of day. We caught walleyes all day every day with 5 o'clock PM to ~7 o'clock PM being optimum for quantity. The weather was absolutely HORRIBLE with high winds and non-stop rain early in the trip. Boat control was very difficult and I struggled to keep our speed around that .4mph to .6mph. Hits were fast and furious but the hit to catch ratio was at best 5 or more hits to one catch . We stuck with the 1oz bottom bouncers, 3 red beads, and a size 2 hook for the big suckers. I found a shorter 3' leader to be most effective. We caught 153 walleyes on our trip and I would bet we had at least 5 times that many hits!. Now, with all that said, we don't feed line to walleyes to help avoid gut hooks and that certainly gives rise to a poor hook-up ratio. We ate fish twice and brought home our limits. Everything else went back. The walleyes ranged in size from ~13" to 26". We caught lots of slot fish and fair numbers of 15"-19" fish. In addition, we caught 10 smallmouth and only one jumbo. Our really big fish were never landed. My cousin had a true giant walleye laying on top of the water right beside the boat and grabbed her by the base of the tail in an attempt to scoop her into the boat. She was having none of that and with a major flop, snapped the leader. We didn't use a net because I forgot it at the dock. Getting old is a bitch. I had two different walleyes(I'm sure) hooked on Tuesday that came off directly below the boat. Both fish I thought were snags when they hit. Anyone who thinks walleyes don't fight have never caught a truly big one. Both fish ran off several yards of line while fighting to get free. Eventually they both succeeded. I would hesitate to say how big I think my cousins fish was that he had beside the boat, but, my wife and I have caught some really big walleyes in Lake Vermilion and I know what a big walleye looks like. That walleye was absolutely enormous.  We've decided to bring my cousin's two sons back up for a short trip a little later on. Hopefully, the walleyes will still be in a feeding frenzy. Lastly, I usually like to include pictures with my posts. I have a big problem this time, I got a new phone and I know nothing about transferring the pictures. That will be remedied when we come back up. In the meantime....... Good Fishing, MarkB🙂
    • leech~~
      I don't think Moose needs my help, he seems to do pretty well with the ice fishing and grouse hunting by the pictures! 👌
    • smurfy
      looks to me like your gonna need to be on the ice ALOT to get them all checked out!!!!!!!👍🙄 mayhaps Leech could help ya out!!!!   at least he wouldnt be "accidently" locking any more threads!!!!!!🤗🤣🥴
    • monstermoose78
      I got some cool jigs this year this a picture from Slab Bait Shop. The 2nd to last photo is one of my jig boxes with them in it. The last photo has some Macula jigs and if your eyes are getting old these are awesome to tie!! I won the auction for the last photo so I got all of the plastics and jigs.
    • leech~~
      I was shocked to see I was the one that locked it out.  I think I was just made a mod around then, so yeah just clicking buttons!   
    • Rivergroup
    • slipperybob
      Blame it on the big fat left finger for clicking on lock. 😄 Or maybe just wanting a new 23-24 season thread?  
    • Wakemupwalleye
      Haven’t fished crappie this time of year. I’m on the west end this weekend and would love some tips. Thanks!
    • smurfy
      quit hanging out at a certain public access by Remer!!!!!!!🤗🤣   i'll be headed up in about 12 days!!!!!!!!
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