1/6/05 - 8 Mile fishin report!

[jltimm]

Went out to 8 mile today from Terry's boat harbor and only caught 3 little walleyes,1 perch and 1 pout.Paid $10 to get out and was not at all impressed with yet ANOTHER resort owner on Mille Lacs! $10 to take a partially plowed road, about halfway out, to where he made it sound so simple to just drive out and find Seguchie or 8 mile!Luckily I was prepared with my GPS and had the waypoints ahead of time.No help at all from him,just give me my $10 and get out of my resort!I'm starting to remember why I haven't fished the lake in 3-4 years!

[wackawalleye]

Twin pines is plowed al the way out with bridges when and where needed. 7.50 access. 10.00 with trailer mount.

[fishbouy]

well... i'll tell you what, i use or have used almost every resort on the lake. i access where i hear the fish are. i went out of rocky reef on the 4th, very cold, 1st time this year very nice people at rocky. if i had been more secure of what the ice conditions were i would have drove out further and i heard they hammered them. i agree some of the owners of the businesses up there are crabs, i think that's when you have to move on and they certianly aren't helping their situation with the economey when someone has a bad experience. i always wondered if they check these forums out???

[jltimm]

I would welcome them to check the forums out!Maybe they would show some consideration instead of just putting there hand out for the money,and not giving a rats if you have success or not.I know no one can guarantee anyone fish but at least try to point someone in the right direction,and be honest,don't sugarcoat the bite!I just like to state from my expierience and let people know so they don't have to waste there time or money on a greedy or careless person.If,and when I meet a nice resort owner on Mille Lacs,I will gladly post it so they get everyones business and reap the benefits!

[muskieman]

I went out of Hunter's Point today and caught over 50 walleyes maybe 60. George will help you out. The bite is unbelieveable! It was a secret for awhile but, looking at what took place today, I asked George if I could post it on the internet and he gave me the green light. Good luck!

[Benny]

Dean and Renae(sp?) run a great resort, my family has been staying there for the past 5 years now at least three or four times a summer.

I havn't been up there for the ice fishing though, but if you ask Dean he will give you the low down.

Those angle jigs he sells are great as well.

I plan on calling to see if he has an opening for a sleeper this year, want to get my daughter out for a night on the ice.She will love it and probably tell the whole school about the ice cracking at night.

Benny

[bailey27]

I myself am a big fan of Rocky Reef. It is the difference of a mom & pop resort running their own show, and a place with a bunch of disgruntled employees. The fishing has always been fair on the reef, some years better than others. However the owners always go out of their way to make you feel welcome and try to put you on fish.

I don't post this in the hopes of droves up people coming to mess up a good thing, but keep them in mind on your next trip out. They just built a bar and grill which serves up some nice burgers.

Sometimes it is hard to trust the info you get from people you don't know but to put it in perspective I will tell you a story from last year. Patty, one of the owners, let my friends and I go out early drivable ice with our trucks. She told us exactly where to go and where NOT to go. We caught fish and stayed top side. That night, a couple of guys did not want to pay the access fee so they took their 4 wheelers down shore to get out. In the morning we left my buddies ice house, drove in and stopped in to see Patty. She pointed down shore to a plastic sled sitting by itself on the ice. It was attached to a rope, which was attached to the 4 wheeler that was sitting on the bottom of the lake. Seems they drove where she told us NOT to and took a swim. No one was hurt thank God, but for a few dollars they could have prevented that from happening. It's not always just the access you are paying for, sometimes the info is much more valuable.

[muskiejoe]

muskieman, any tips on where to go? I am planning to take my once a year trip to Mille Lacs with my daughter tomorrow morning and would love for her to catch her first walleye. Thanks, Joe

[jltimm]

Just got back from mille Lacs.Went out of Hunters point and fished the flats from 1:00 PM-5:00 PM=1 walleye and 1 bite!It was a ZOO out there!!I've never seen that many houses on the flats in my life!WOW Just like Red Lake,except for the no fish part of it!

[Labby]

Well all of the action has shut the bite off out on the flats on Millacs, The fish cant take the amount of truck traffic and augers that have been going non stop out there, I talked with a Local guide today who said he was having 70 fish days on average but it all fell apart today, the lake looked like a freeway.

Sounds like the big bit of 05 is over maybe it will heat up during the week if the trafic settles down

Lab

[cybermuskie]

JT....I was with ya man! I went out of hunter also,but consider yourself lucky you only caught one in that length of time. I went from 7am to 6pm on Boot with only catching 1 small 'eye' We tried moving deeper and back again, but your right it was a zoo out there. I had such high hopes of getting into them for a change, only to have it crushed with the roar of augers! I could tell the brand of auger by days end! lol. What I could believe is how close some people would drive to my house. Tonight me and my friend were set up fairly close. The guy that drove by was 4 feet from the front door of my portable! I was a little hot. Ok enough of my rant! We had fun anyway and I hope the rest of you found some humor in your day too, after all, we paid money to go out...might as well enjoy it!

[swampbuck]

fished from 1:30 to 5:00 5 of us caught about 25 fish between 12 and 19 inches.

Set up on the edge of a large flat out that way and got off by ourselves. No suprise the fishing shut down on 8 mile, We had 5 trucks drive within 20 yards of our "camp" We where fishing outside moving between 20+ holes, They where all looking for fish on the ice! Unbelievable

[Benny]

OOOHHPPS,My bad!!!

I was thinking about Agate Bay, not Rocky Reef.Man was I on the wrong side of the water!

Although I have not used Rocky reef for quit some time I did stop and talk to Patty about a seasonal site there.

She was very nice to talk to about the resort and fishing, what kept me from getting site there was that they don't have over night slips for the boats.

Benny

[wheelierida]

Dude,

The fish on mille lacs are finickey. you can't blame the resort! for best luck yo have too set uo on the edge of the flat, not just where youre gps tells you to go. the bite on mille lacs has beem quite trickey fo 2 years.

BAN THE GILL NET! DON'T BLAME RESORTS!!!!

[jltimm]

Both times I was out I fished on the deep side of the flat,on the slope,and on the top.I drilled holes before I set up and found the drop off,and the top of the flat and fished accordingly.Still no luck.with all the traffic and noise,it didn't surprise me at all that the fish weren't cooperative.I also fished a flat with alot less people,so the fish might have a chance,and I wouldn't have to deal with some of the (Contact US Regarding This Word) that sometimes wreck your time on the ice!

[The Grebe]

Went out of Terrys yesterday and fished from about noon to 6:00, out on 8 mile. We set up away from the group, but lets face it, when there is that much activity in a given area, just "getting away from the group" is'nt a guarentee.

We started in deep water, off the edge of the flat, a few small Perch and a small wally, 12" er. We worked our way up to the slope in increments, by the time we got to 25 feet it was time to quit drilling and work with what you had.

The fellas next to us had the Aqua View down and the walleyes were comming through in large numbers, but they would'nt bite.

We managed 6 Walleyes for the day a couple of heavy misses and one broken line. Three on the dead stick, 3 on the jigging. It was a great trip, the Yeti and I laughed our butts off and we had a number of other anglers laughing along with us!

Hey, if any of you are reading this, the Yeti found the pipe! Hee, Hee, Hee! Thanks for the jump, we might have been screwed if not for you, the way the people were

bailing out around 6:00. Still don't know what happened?

[elvis1]

I've spent many a trip to Mile Lacs getting skunked. Finally this year we went out of Hunter's, talked to George and found the fish. This was a week ago at the start of the flats bite. Thought I'd toss a little bone to the fellow skunkers out there. First off, go spend $20.00 and get yourself a "reel bottom" map of the lake, the detail is amazing. We fished an inside turn of a flat near the boot in about 26' of water and limited out in about 3 hours. There was no one else around except the game warden who gave me a ticket for the extra lines we had. We saw many many walleyes on the camera. Without the camera we would not have caught the fish. I did not catch one fish after the light ran out on the camera. We usesd swedsh pimples with glow strips and minnow. My best advise? Get to know George.

[blacksheep]

extra lines?.

stay off the lake.

i got just under 60 on saturday, before 3 o'clock.

using one line.

[DRH1175]

We were out on 8 mile as well only about 4 housed in our area all spread out. Pretty quiet, 8 mile is over 2 miles long so no excuses Many points, breaks inside corners etc... You need to do a little work to catch fish. That is why it is called fishing. The two of us did manage to catch about 6 walleyes. With at least twice that many misses. Quite a bit of action actually. Did lose a couple big ones. I have to say from the time we got on the ice to when we left at 7:30pm there was constant fish on our flasher. But sometimes fish don't cooperate. Sometimes special techniques are what triggers bites. The differnce from a 60 fish day to a 6 fish day could be as little as that one certain jigging approach with what the fish want on one certain day. For instance a few years back me and my cousin were out on the boot. had holes withing 4 feet of eachother, and used the same blue and white jigging rap. I caught 10 3 to 10lb fish he caught nothing. Figure that one out.

[Guest]

We fished off of 8 mile yesterday as well. Set up a LONG ways away from anyone and had a very good bite right away, couldnt even keep your spoon near the bottom for a minute without getting hit. As soon as that front came in around 11, they shut off like someone threw a switch. Tried almost every color in the box and almost every bait.

They would just come up and look at your bait and sink back to the bottom. It was night and day difference within just a few minutes time. Once the snow started, they started hitting again on perch jigging raps tipped with a minnow head. We had to leave early, but I bet the bite would have been good again towards evening.

One other thing....thank goodness for GPS...we couldnt see more than 50 feet in that snow.

[gman2002]

tom if i was to write a report for 2 of us on sunday it would be identical to your post word for word!! kind of makes you wonder what your doing wrong when you would coax them up then they'd just slide back down. just would'nt hit. and you didn't miss anything , cuz it didn't get any better at sundown. but all in all i couldn't complain we caught around 30, missed 2 with some real weight and had my line snapped. also learned a lesson always lock in shore on your gps when you go off !! we got lucky yesterday and stumbled onto the road ain't that right mitty !

[Guest]

And...... make sure to have your "record plot trail" function on...there were places we zig zagged around pressure ridges when we could see that we would have been fubar going back without the plot trail.

Glad we diddnt stay then, had more fun watching the game anyways

[walleyes29]

Group of 6 went to "hotspot" on 8 mile yesterday. Easliy iced over 120 fish.

1. stay away from the crowds

2. Handheld gps with lakemaster reel bottom is a must!

3. change baits often

4. Stay moblie

5. Released 115 fish all under 14"

6. Have fun this lake is going to be awesome in a couple years.

[bigeyes]

The lake is already awsome! Just cause some people are not having great luck does not mean that the lake quality is poor or the fish are not biting. Funny thing is this is the same bite as last winter, but the few of us that fished it were able to keep it a secret. My what a difference a year makes.

[CorynTracySellHomes]

You are not a kidding there Big eyes!

One of my favorite spots I have never seen another soul on it, I was up Friday and there were a few trucks, and I guess on Saturday there were around 20 portables. Its amazing the difference.

Cory Frantzick

[Labby]

Spent all day and Sunday night on the boot fishing with 0 luck. I was marking fish but they would come for a look then slide back down. I thought the fish would start to hit in the snow but they didnt for me. It sounds like some did well, I had my portable along to and was going to go do some exploring but I got lazy and listene dtot eh game in the sleeper house instead, I guess I deserved the skunkin, I was the only place left on the boot after dark everyone else pulled out, Glad the snow stopped or I might still be there

Lab