Fishings Tough!

[Guest]

Hi Guys!
I know everybody is wondering about the ice and fishing reports, so I thought I would share our experience. My buddy and I went out of Lybacks Thursday. We fished early morning until after dark. We caught two nice perch, four little perch, one repectable walleye and three tiny walleyes.

We were checked by an individual who was conducting a creel survey, and he said he had been checking people all over the lake and the action was terrible. We had more fish than anybody he had talked to! We punched holes all over; Popes point, Banana reef, Graveyard and multiple breaks. Small fish are everywhere in a multitude of dephs, so you are consistantly marking fish, but most seem to small even to take a waxie. No doubt the walleyes are having a eating frenzy on the young abundance of Perch.
Ice seemed very good on the South side with 8 inches common, and we had no trouble traveling with a four wheeler and our Otter, but would be very cautious about heading farther out in the lake, because we have heard of wheelers going down on sketchy ice.
I'm interested if anyone has had any early ice experience on the north side, and how far have you been able to travel with ATV? Sorry for the Poor report, but its an honest one.

[Guest]

I have too agree that its pretty horse chit.
I saw fish every five minutes coming through and I bet 1 outa 10 bit. Even the angel eye couldn't pull me outta that slump

[Guest]

Well I guess it should bode well for the perch fishery in the future, but I think that slot is even going to be more brutal. Its one thing if your catching numbers of fish to be able to squeeze one in the slot, but under the current conditions I don't know. Don't get me wrong the fishing isn't doomed, but I hope the DNR is calculating this into those equations, because it works both ways baby. When the fishing is hot the slot gets tightened, so when the fishing is tough shouldn't the slot get loosened?

[only-eyes]

i was out on garison reef from working depths from 25ft-8ft. 6:30am-7:00pm, caught one 12" and one 28" released. only saw one other eye on the aqua view. nothing for perch in the area. the vexlar was lit pretty good around dark, but only those two takers. both fish on fathead and red #6 gomatshu

[Guest]

Thats a long day for only two fish, but congrats on the 28 incher! one can only hope the action picks up as we are able to move around to our honey holes.

[Guest]

Fished from 6 - 6 today and never pulled a single eye!! caught 3 perch and thats it, covered alot of ground on the wheelers and everywhere you fish you mark a ton of fish but no takers. For our group we had a 10" and a few dinks. Dammit i hope things pick up soon, cuz it makes for some long **** days when its like this.

remember to: "CROSS THEIR EYES"

[Guest]

I have not been up to Mille Lacs yet this year but from I am hearing on these posts It doesn't sound very promising when I do. It sounds like a complete 180 from this summer. Is anyone finding any fish??

[Guest]

finding them is easy,.....getting them to bite is the problem. Lotso lookers, I tried everything i know. Nothin got em going the few times I've been up there.

[Grabs]

I have to agree, the fish are every where! I bet we didn't go two minutes all day long without seeing at least one fish on the screen, be it a perch, walleye, or tullibee.

We were seeing just what every one has described, lost of some YOY perch and walleyes, TONS!! And lots of lookers and no takers. We also saw the larget walleye ever on the camera, no telling how big it was for sure, but that thing really got my heart racing as it eyed-up my Angel Eye Jr.

My roommate did manage a 27" today and I did catch a 2.5" walleye also. I was really surprised, that guy must have been really hungry or he just wanted to play. We also caught one 11" perch. I have a feeling that things will pick up near the middle of Jan, until then I guess one or two per weekend will have to do.

The ice seems to be really good. The shore lines along the SW corner can be rough in spots with any where from 16"-20" of old and new ice. After you get out past the rough old ice, I have heard there is 8"-10" of solid clear ice. Many drove ATVs all the way out to Spirit. Very few permanents out yet, warmth I assumed kept people away this weekend. Should be really busy next weekend though I would suspect.

[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 12-15-2002).]

[bigeyes]

Thanks for the reports guys, I have not been up there ice fishing yet. I had a feeling that things were going to be very slow, it has really been a slow bite on the lake since the perch hatch this summer and even the fall bite was mostly slow. I would guess that the walleye fishing will be slow for some time probably through the spawn maybe longer. A little bit of a change from last winter, when you could catch them on about anything and almost every fish you saw would bite. For guys who have been getting a couple, how is this size are they still pretty fat like this fall? Also is anybody getting in some good perch action? There are still lots of nice perch around. Good Luck.

[MJR]

We went up Friday - Sunday caught 7 walleye and 2 perch 6 walleye were 4inches and the other was 13. Saw Walleye and perch constantly with the underwater camera but did not see any fish over a foot long. Fished out of Macs in 15 feet. Moved around Hawkbill reef all day Sat for 2 nice perch. Probably fished out of 60 difft holes.

[DanB]

We had the same results as everyone else. Fished two days on some historically dependable breaks on the SE side. Fish would come in every few minutes but bites were few to be had. I did switch to a fat boy and a waxie to catch a couple to figure out what they were - small perch. We kept on the move and covered a lot of water (for walking anyway). Hope to get up again this week.

Dan

[Flatlander]

Fished out of Dickies all day Sat. Too nice a day not to be fishing somewhere. Fished from 11' on the rocks(big rocks), out to 18' of sand. Marked 13 fish on the vexilar from 6:30 AM, to 7PM. Caught 11 perch, all but one over 10 inches. Drilled about 30 holes, and fished them all multiple times. Didn't catch any walters, but every half hour or so when a perch would come through, you could get them to bite. Talked to a few people closer to Dickies, and they were catching a few small perch. Didn't see anyone out by Hennepin Island yet, but I would venture a guess that you could pull some decent perch from the shallow side. I was on 11 good inches, so it won't be long until we're driving out.

[jeff127]

fished hawkbill reef out from Macs on sun. Brought home 20 10+" perch. Drilled alot of holes and kept hole hopping for the best action. 22ft with scattered rocks was favorable for the bigger ones. Every hole had plenty of fish in it----though if nothing hit within a minute I would move to a different hole. Caught a few eyes also and as usual, too big and too small to keep.

jeff127

[Guest]

Nice job on the perch Jeff! thats the best I've heard yet. Over time, I figured that the best way to catch fish on Mille lacs is to keep moving. SPend a half day drilling and th other half looking. My most successful days come about by hole jumping all day. Sittin on your bucket, in hte warmth isn't gonna get you anything. Somebody asks about fatness,..... The fish i caught 2 weeks ago were pigs. Big ol bellies!

[jeff127]

Bigguns1---Hole hoppin is definately the way to go---I go nuts sitting too long when I'm fishing perch. The fish I brought home were fat---healthier looking than the ones I've caught in the last few years.

Markmik1----Hawkbill reef is out through Twin Bays---its out a ways(I had a wheeler) 1.2 miles to be exact but a few guys I talked to did alright on the shoreline break in the bay---easy walking distance from the access.

goood luck
jeff

[Guest]

Sounds like things aren't too bad. I don't have an ATV or snowmobile. Are the majority walking out and how far are we talking i.e. hawkbill. Thanks.