Flats Report

[Quimby]

Went out yesterday for about 3 hours caught 4 keepers, lost two, released one bigger. Had trouble getting out with ice heaves. Couldn't get over the heave outside the garrison access. Ended up going to terry's they have planks for the ATV over one heave. Ice conditions were not great as second heave had no crossing planks and we also crossed two areas that had low ice with water on top. I would say there was about 9-10 inches of good clear ice in most areas but this is not consistent. And now there is quite a bit of snow as well. Fishing was pretty good on seven mile during the day getting a couple fish an hour all afternoon. Be safe. Q

[jltimm]

Thanks for the report Quimby!In other words getting out to the flats was a little "uneasy"?Wonder what it's like from the east side?

[minnesotatuff]

i was planning on meeting two friends on the east side today in the early afternoon... they left mpls at 4:00ish this morning and werent fishing until 9:00 or later. when he called at about 10:00 they had a 15-1/2" and a couple smaller. it sounded like a mille lacs icefishing adventure with crossing the pressure ridges... i havent heard anymore.

regards,

minnesotatuff

[minnesotatuff]

just heard from my fishing buddy...he just got back to mpls about 7:00 with his limit of walleyes. the guy with him only got one keeper walleye and perch. they also got an ellpout :-) they didnt want to chance to ridges in the dark on the way back and stopped fishing at 3:30. my buddy did say it was starting to pick up then. they made it back safe and john has a fresh walleye dinner tonight! mille lacs is a big lake! its ALWAYS an adventure and thats one of the things i love about it.

best regards,

minnesotatuff

[willie]

minnesotatuff, Where did you buddy go out of? Any idea on how far out he was getting and what he was using. Heading up tomr night to fish sunday. Any info would be great thanks

Willie ><((((>

[minnesotatuff]

willie,

im not sure where they went out from but they were fishing on boot flat from the top edge to the bottom. they caught some on just shiners and some with jigs and fathead heads.

minnesotatuff

[seekingwalleye]

was out on the west today from 6 am until 8 pm.. picked up alot of walleye in the afternoon... between three guys, caught 18-20 walleye..got our limit.. caught a 24. Also reeled in 5 eel pout.. best fishing was from 3:30 until 7:00

[willie]

seekingwalleye, What type of structure were you fishing? How deep and what baits were working the best.

thanks

willie ><((((>

[seekingwalleye]

We were fishing break lines in 20-30 ft.. believe or not.. all our fish came from 28 ft on shiners and plain hooks. The 24" came in 32 ft on a tip up. We marked fish all day.. I'd say we missed twice as many fish as we caught...

[willie]

seekingwalleyes, where did you access the lake? 4 wheeler or sled? How much ice?

thanks

Willie ><((((>

[seekingwalleye]

we went on from the public access by the casino.. and we took a sled and a 4 wheeler.. there was 12 inches of ice.. 2 miles out.. saw a full size 4 door truck going right across the middle of the lake.. not sure if thats what I would do...

[RonZ]

9:00am: Son and I went out of eastside near big point. Drove a snowmobile out to 9-mile mud.Caught 5 walleye and 2 pouts. 1:30pm: Moved in to near 3-mile rocks caught more walleye. Caught 1 monster walleye around 5pm. Most were between 14-17". A great day on the ice. Between 3:30-4:30pm the walleye were biting as fast as you could get your jig down there. Had 1 break off and 2 biggies that got away. You could see them a long ways down under the ice.

[caster]

Dec. 19th - Fished 7 mile. This was my first time ice fishing the lake. Two of us snowmobiled from Garrison and found the ice to be very safe. 12"-14" on the flat with full sized trucks driving out. About 6-10 perm. shacks in place. Ice heaves not a problem from Garrison using an ATV or snowmobile. We caught 15-20 walleyes and 1 pout. Largest walleye was 19.5", with all in the keeper range. Spoons with minnow heads caught all the walleyes. We bought shiners and only caught the eel pout. We stayed until 6:00 pm. The bite really slowed after 5:00 pm.

We appreciate the information provided here, so I hope this helps.

[rosspj59]

Great report caster! I'm gonna get up there some time and give it a try on one of the flats too. I mainly fish in the fall up there and have only tried ice fishing there once. Sounds like the bite is going pretty well this year.

[Fish_Off]

Which spoons (brand, size, color) are catching the walleyes?

[eyes54]

Caster, where do people drive out of garrison. Never fished that side in the winter.

thanks

[willie]

Fish Off, I was out there on sunday and did really good on Lindy rattle spoons. Perch, gold, and glow seem to be the better colors. As for size, I like to use the smaller to medium sized spoons.

Willie ><((((>

[long caster]

Any info on Myr Mar roads? Was hoping to go out of there on x-mas day? Hoping to have some company out there, anybody else going?

[fish hawk kris]

If the ice is good, my bro and I might zoom over around noon. We'll be coming from somewhere on the east side. Probably big point area, the easement access off state hwy.18, hoping to get new lakemaster maps and some tight structure loaded in the new garmin (present to myself!). My eagle explorer bit the dust on LOTW last jan. I don't recommend using the suction cup gps mount on a snowmobile widshield, even if it it a 4" RAM brand mount. As I suspected, that week of thaw last winter made a 25 mile motocross track to garden island! We broke alot of gear that day, and at least a six pack of my case of refreshments!

Wondering though if a guy should head back to shoreline reef or gravel for the late afternoon/eve. bite? Did that last year and lost a monster, thanks to transducer panic.

Thanks

[LovenLifeGuy]

I fished the boot yesterday morning and did ok. First hole I fished I pulled two fish around 22 inches out of in a matter of couple minutes. It slowed after that but I did manage to catch 5 or so keepers. The late morning and afternoon I spent looking for perch with a minimal catch. I hit the very northern finger of the blue jug for the night bite and did a lot of hole jumping. From about 3:30 - 4:15 the fishing was steady. Caught many fish! None of the fish were over 18 inches but also none of the fish were too small to keep. No, monsters but I did end up with four good eaters for the pan.

The weather was perfect and the ice conditions were good. I used the four wheeler but others were driving out. Most holes I drilled I found 12 or more inches but for whatever reason on the blue jug I drilled at least three holes that had 9 or less inches of ice. Lets be safe and have fun cathing all the great eater fish this lake is putting out!

LovenLifeGuy

[fishingmikey]

do any of the resorts on the north side have roads plowed to any of the flats? going up on friday and wondering if i can drive out on north side with f150. Also any reports from 8 mile or on the breaks in front of red door or barnacles??

[cybermuskie]

A friend of my was out on the "northern flats" today. He told me there was 10 inches of ice. Now if it were me, I wouldn't be driving my truck out there! No fish is worth going through IMO.

BE SAFE!

[Fish2catch10]

Heard there was about 40 houses out on the 7-mile already, thats to bad, not that big of a flat, and just getting pounded. The Bite could be over soon out there if there are that many people out there.

[caster]

Eyes54, we parked at the public launch across from the McDonald's.

[Flick]

I was up Tues eve-Thurs morn. We did pretty good, two of us got 20 fish. 13 under 20" and 7 over with a 24,25,26.5,27.25. Only caught two over 20 on the flats, the rest came off shallow rock. We took a sled out but people were driving all over. There's a heave in between the Boot and the Jug and I dont know if I'd chance it with a pickup but getting accross it with a sled is no problem.

-And to people throwing eelpout on the ice and leaving them, start throwing them back in the water. Do you have any clue how much forage they eat? Every one you throw on the ice is making another meal for a walleye, and in turn another red band on the Vex that just wont seal the deal!

[cybermuskie]

Hey Flick, how thick was the ice???

That might be good to know before there is a bunch of people expecting to have 'safe' ice. I am not doggin' ya, butI live father north than the big lake and there's only about 9 1/2 up here, and these are smaller lakes.

[WalleyeWeasel]

"And to people throwing eelpout on the ice and leaving them, start throwing them back in the water. Do you have any clue how much forage they eat? Every one you throw on the ice is making another meal for a walleye, and in turn another red band on the Vex that just wont seal the deal!"

MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE TO ME !!!!!!!!!

[koochiching]

Post by long caster:

Quote:

---

Any info on Myr Mar roads? Was hoping to go out of there on x-mas day? Hoping to have some company out there, anybody else going?

---

I was out yesterday afternoon, drove my car out from the primitive access about a mile north of the Myr Mar Marina. Pretty sloppy at the point where you go out onto the ice... not unsafe, just sloppy from the snowmelt and the ruts caused by ATVs and trucks... The fog was so thick you couldn't see more than 100 yards in any direction...

Once on the ice, no problems... good ice 10" to 12" thick, no pressure ridges (yet), no snow drifts, but really wet from all the melted snow...

Fished at two locations about a quarter mile from shore... couldn't really tell because of the fog... but nearby fishermen said we were on some of the rockpiles... saw a few fish caught, but I didn't get any bites. About 3:30 I moved again, about 3/4 of a mile further out, deliberately driving through snow patches so I'd have a trail back into the landing... visibility was never more than 100 yards.

Think I was on the southern edge of East Myr Mar reef, in 17 feet of water. Set up two bobber rigs, using large rainbows on a plain hook... Bite started about 4:30, lasted about an hour. Ended up with a jumbo perch and two 'eyes in the pail. Returned two 'eyes over 22", lost about 3 more, probably because my minnows were too big for the hooks I was using... Bite stopped about 5:30, maybe sooner...

Followed my tracks back through the fog to the access, which was really sloppy by that time. A friendly trucker on the access road blocked traffic, and I revved up my Taurus and bulled my way through the rutted area.

Great day, met some really nice local people from the Aitkin County side of the lake... Posting the details, because this is the type of report I'd like to see when I visit this forum...

kooch

[minnesotatuff]

thanks for the post kooch,

i will post a report as soon as i get a trip in. was supposed to go today but missed the window of opportunity...too much going on.

i did call liberty beach. theyre not letting anything more than 4 wheelers & snowmobiles out. agate bay is letting 4x4 trucks out but they dont have roads to the flats...didnt ask about 5 mile & 3 mile...

sorry its so little.

regards,

minnesotatuff

[LoveToFish]

Was out on the flats yesterday. Its true you couldn't see much more that 100 yards. I went out of Twin Pine with a 4 wheeler. They have a road out to 8 mile and are letting trucks out. I thought I would get away from the crowd and go all the way out to 9 mile. When I got there it was a small city. I tried to fish it for a while but when some guy thought it would be a good idea to do doughnut with his sled for 15 min. on top of the flat in the middle of everyone I figured it was time to move. Went to 7 mile. Fished from 4:45PM to 7:00PM with 3 eyes 12, 14, 18 and two pout. So it was a little slow for me. Good luck to you.