I occasionally hear of people catching them, whether by accident or on purpose. I’ve even heard of some really big slabs in the spring time before official opener. Where do people target them? The shallow backwater areas that warm up the quickest? Like in Isle Bay area?
Yes, you always hear about Isle Bay for the mythical crappies. They are in there, but good luck finding them. If you do, I’m sure they would be some dandys.
There’s a boat harbor/rv park just east of Izatys. Where the boat harbor is adjacent to the highway the crappie fishing can be super good at times. We had friends that had the trailer and boat there and I caught many crappies standing on their dock tossing jigs/plastics well after the spawn. Caught some nice walleyes doing the same.
I’ve heard the rumors too and tried to chase them a couple springs, but ZERO luck. Maybe I just suck, but in over 25 years I have never seen a crappie come out of that lake.
Yes, they are in there although rarely ever seen in the main basin. I do know they show up in harbors around the lake during spring spawn. Where they go after that, who knows. 
The largest predictable location seems to be Isle Bay where most are caught through the ice, like this time of year (NOW).
Below is a pic from Chapman’s FB page from a week ago…
MLCrappies.jpg
I get them in a channel that my neighbor has cabin on the west side. I store my boat there in the winter, and when I go to pick it I fish off the dock and get the thickest 15″ range crappies you have ever seen. But not large numbers.
There’s a boat harbor/rv park just east of Izatys. Where the boat harbor is adjacent to the highway the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie fishing can be super good at times. We had friends that had the trailer and boat there and I caught many crappies standing on their dock tossing jigs/plastics well after the spawn. Caught some nice walleyes doing the same.
It is called Mille Lacs Island Resort. We sold our cabin there a few years back. In the 10 years there I did ok in the channel and all were at least 14″. The best time is as soon as the ice is out. It was usually before the water was even on at the resort. Because there was no water most people had not even opened up there cabins yet so there were not many people around.
Exactly, just as the channels open!
There’s a boat harbor/rv park just east of Izatys. Where the boat harbor is adjacent to the highway the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie fishing can be super good at times. We had friends that had the trailer and boat there and I caught many crappies standing on their dock tossing jigs/plastics well after the spawn. Caught some nice walleyes doing the same.
It is called Mille Lacs Island Resort. We sold our cabin there a few years back. In the 10 years there I did ok in the channel. All of them were 14″ or bigger. Best time is as soon as the ice is out. Usually before the water is even on at the resort. Most people had not even opened up there cabins yet so there were not many people around.
I’ve caught crappies out of boat channels on the West side and in Isle Bay and in Wahkon out front of the town park. Just 8-11″ fish. I’ve never caught a famed Mille Lacs giant. Haven’t fished for them in years.
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