Anybody Been to the Mudflats?

Seems a little early…. but some of the calm sunny days has me thinking of going out there.

I haven’t but I think I’ll be out there on Saturday. I used to go the first day the night ban came off so you could leave shore before 6:00 am. I think it was the first Saturday in June. Always had decent fishing.

I haven’t been out there yet but I’m sure some guys are.
I’d bet there are plenty of fish to be caught out there too.
I caught two tagged fish a couple years ago that traveled great distances pretty quickly shortly after spawning. They can and do go across the lake, from west shoreline to east shoreline in a weeks time.
If there is food out there on the mud, there is fish out there.

Maybe….

I hit a close flat last Saturday after the sand bite was slow, and did pretty well. Nothing big averaged about 19″

My parents have been out there for 2 weeks already. That’s where the biggest walleyes in the lake reside. It’s a haul in rough waves, but they have a Warrior 2090. My Mother got a 29 incher out there 8 days ago.

gimruis wrote:

My parents have been out there for 2 weeks already. That’s where the biggest walleyes in the lake reside. It’s a haul in rough waves, but they have a Warrior 2090. My Mother got a 29 incher out there 8 days ago.

Good to know. It’s funny what 6 yrs of strict catch n’ release will do to a guy. Getting kinda bored with the 20” fish in-shore.

I hit a flat last Wednesday. Did well pulling spinners with leeches and shiners. Fish were scattered between the top edge at 24 and bottom at 30.
DT

We just spent 3 days out there. All of our big fish came off the flats. Marked a lot of pods out there, but was tough to get them to bite. There’s a huge bug hatch going on out there

I made it out to the flats for a quick trip with my kids. Fun to get out there, and we had steady action for an hour, but no big fish. We were slip bobbering on the edge.

Wanted to Lindy rig but ended up being easier to have 4 lines going with slip bobbers with the kids and the wife.

There has been an MTT tournament the past two weekends out of Hunters Point and the “converted” weights are close to 40 pounds on 5 fish each day. They are all out on the mud flats looking for the biggest fish they can find. Have to imagine there were 4 footers out there yesterday with that stiff wind. And I think most of them lindy rig, pull spinners, or use lead core.

I was on the flats on Saturday. Started power corkin’ and had one bite that I didn’t see quickly enough and it dropped it. After I saw 4 or 5 boats catch fish lindy rigging I switched to that with a leech. Ended up catching 14 fish, the biggest were a 23″ and a 24″. All others Were 18″-21″. The were definitely hungry. Glad I was using circle hooks.
I saw one tournament boat out there. A 21 foot Triton with a 350 hp Merc on it. They were lindy rigging and caught a fish that they didn’t take a picture of. They slid off the flat and must have marked a pod of fish at the base of the flat. They spot locked there for close to 2 hours until I left. They slip bobbered and caught at least one picture fish that I saw.

Took my son over out of Rocky Reef 6/4. Most all of the boats were heading out to the flats, and the guys at the resort said the fish were out there.
We had decided we were gonna try for smallies and hit them in transition, post-spawn. Fished 7-15′ rocks and didnt get any, but my son did get 2 eye’s in 8 foot on tube jigs, a 19.5 and a PB 26″. That made his day, so it was way worth the drive over.

Fished the MTT tournament this weekend. Except for a couple hours Sunday, we were out on mud flats all day. Plenty of fish out there. The winning teams didn’t fish the mud, but there are nice fish out there as well. My Dad has a 28” on Friday.

One thing to note is the fish really seem to be on the move out there. Our friends graphed a flat at 10AM and didn’t see much so they moved on. We pulled in at 11 and it was loaded. Fantastic fishing for 2 hours including 3 over 25”. Then it slowed so I had to go looking and there weren’t nearly the numbers, but we found a good school about 400 yards down that we grabbed a few out of as well as several other boats.a half hour later and we never could locate the fish again on the flat so we moved on.

AIM is out there Sunday.

Just an FYI… the fish are spooking in 25′-30′ of water. If people think they can drive right over them like years ago they will have a tough time. Even using an electric will spook them.

I agree with Fife I got better and more fish no where near the flats.

What are u guys using to lindy rig on mud? Are you actually lindy rigging or using bottom bouncers? What speed are you running? Just trying to learn. We usually pull spinners on bouncers because of depth out there

Joe Scegura wrote:

Just an FYI… the fish are spooking in 25′-30′ of water. If people think they can drive right over them like years ago they will have a tough time. Even using an electric will spook them.

Yes I have been noticing this too. Still finding fish in just about every depth. Been trying to fish away from any boats. Couple boats move in on me and the fish will move.

Craig Sery wrote:

What are u guys using to lindy rig on mud? Are you actually lindy rigging or using bottom bouncers? What speed are you running? Just trying to learn. We usually pull spinners on bouncers because of depth out there

I’m no where near any expert advice, however I think you ought not be using bottom bouncers out on the mud.

Lindy rig, sure…if you keep it up off the mud like 6″ to maybe 2 foot max.

Bottom bouncers drag over rock, but you never want those dragging through the mud ahead of your bait.

I dunno, I will defer to Joe a very experienced guide and Dan (Fife) an experienced and winning tournament angler to give more (better) advice.

I tried.

My boat ran (3) 2 oz bottom bouncers with spinners and did great. I didn’t have a way to get them down any other way. I went about 1 mph with my bow mount. Leeches and shiners. Granted this was a few weeks ago so shiners may be done. We caught almost every fish we marked. I would see it on the bow, and as we drove over them my buddies would see it at the stern and then they would hit.
DT

I should add that my buddy, who had never used bouncers and always had too much line out caught the most fish.
DT

My folks fish out there a lot in their Warrior 2090. Big waves don’t stop them. They primarily use three tactics: lindy rigs with leeches, spinners/bottom bouncers, and lead core. The lead core is more of a mid-summer tactic when the water really heats up. They all work but right now I’d opt for the lindy rigs or spinners until the water temp reaches 70 degrees.

I was using a lindy rig and leech going 0.5-0.7 back trolling and keeping the sinker off the bottom. Started out with an 8 foot leader but after retying several times due to line getting nicked up by teeth it was down to 6. Didn’t matter to the fish.

Right now it seems like you can catch some fish on any walleye presentation which is great for anglers.

I generally rig with a 3/8 or 1/2 oz weight on the flats. Egg sinkers, rock runners, and pencil weights are all options. I am usually holding mine just off bottom, but there are a number of anglers that pull a pencil weight right along the bottom with great success. Yep, mud trail and all. Last Friday I had 2 high school kids in the boat-one tied up a 12’ leader and the other a 6’ leader. They both drug a 1/2 oz Lindy no-snag sinker along and the longer leader outfished the other 2 to 1. The lesser still caught a dozen fish so he had a great time, but a minor adjustment could have helped him catch more.

Spinners I run a 2 ounce weight at .8-1.2 mph. Again I hold it right off bottom, but the best spinner fisherman I know on the lake has his a mile behind the boat. I joke that he’s fishing a whole other flat when I fish with him.

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Fife wrote:

I am usually holding mine just off bottom, but there are a number of anglers that pull a pencil weight right along the bottom with great success. Yep, mud trail and all.

Well…color me dumb again. This is why I’ll forever be the walleye student.

Back before I knew any better (and evidently still don’t know any better) I’d drag weights through the mud and wondered why I never got any bites even though I was marking fish.

Speaking with a life long guide there, he laughed when I described my approach. He said always keep your weight just above and out of the mud.

Following that advice, I started catching immediately. Made perfect sense to me.

So the lesson here, don’t take lessons from students like me.

Thanks netguy and fife. Exactly what I was wondering. FWIW , we talked to a group that fished sand on NE corner Saturday and did really well

I haven’t fished past the shoreline breaks yet. Lots of fish shallow all the way to shore. The fish don’t seem to be boat shy as plenty of bites are right at the boat. Followers turn into biters with a pause near the boat. Great fun to watch the eyes eat boat side. I would say fishing is pretty normal for mille lacs early June.

Fishing walleyes is all about making adjustments. Some days the stirred up mud will not bother them and other days it might. Knowing all the different variables to tweak is half the battle.

Agree with Fife. I always use a 10-12ft leader rigging on Mille Lacs. Depending on conditions and how clear it is I have even gone longer on flat calm sunny days to get further away from boat. It just makes netting a fish that much harder when you get longer than 12 foot. I have caught fish rigging pulling blades corking and on crankbaits. On minnows leeches and crawlers. All in the last two weeks. On the mud flats yes and many other spots as well. I will probably be done with minnows until fall now. Best part about mille lacs right now is like stated above is many different tactics are working and you can experiment more and gain confidence in tactics you are not as comfortable with.

So if you see a guy out there throwing shiver minnows or rippin raps out on the mudflats and wondering what the heck is that guy doing. It is probably me trying to hone another technique that is out of my comfort zone.

Well said ripjiggen! I know it’s a big no-no out there on mud, but when bite slowed down mid day , I tried a #9 jigging rap to try and get a reaction bite…didn’t work

It’s nice to have a conversation about fishing where people share information. Good post.

There was a boat jig-rapping on Saturday and I saw them catch 3 or 4.

As was stated above, if I was out to have fun and catch numbers I would have been using a jig and a minnow or plastic last weekend. I love it when the line jumps and you feel them crack it. We just didn’t have that bite going, so we opted for a little slower bite on the mudflats with more big fish in the mix. But it was won shallow on jigs and minnows, so I still have more to learn.