First timer

Hi Guys,
I will be coming up to fish Mille Lacs the last week of May. I’ve never been on the lake before and was wondering if anyone would share some tactics for walleye and smallmouth this time of the year? I normally fish Winnebago and Green bay in WI. so accustomed to big water. I’m assuming the eyes will be post spawn and bass will be pre spawn? Really would prefer not to troll. I’m thinking jigs and plastics and maybe some jerk baits if they’re shallower? Strictly catch and release. Staying in Isle but willing to travel if needed.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum Jon. Depends on the spring…. but very likely fish will still be shallow last week of May. You can pitch jigs and plastics on and off the rock piles. Also evenings are good with a slip bobber and leech. Lindy rigging likely a good day time option slightly on the deeper side, again depending on cloud cover and waves. Should be good, have fun.

Welcome to IDO – Like lindyrig said a lot will depend on the spring we have. The bass most likely will be in all three stages at that time of the year. Some will be Pre spawn, Others post spawn , and some will be full on spawning. The spawning period on Mille lacs takes place over a rather long period of time. You cant go wrong with a Jerk bait on shallow gravel or rocks – I have had a lot of success on A bone colored Rapala shadow Rap. Plastics such as a Paddletails on a 1/8 Oz jig head work really well. I’m not much help on the Walleye. I do tend to catch a fair amount of them while chasing the spring bass on Mille lacs. Don’t discount the LM bass – Mille lacs has a good population of some nice sized fish. Pick any of the bays on the south end and just pound the banks and docks with weightless stick worms and swimjigs or spinnerbaits and you will catch them. often you will catch SM mixed in with them as well.

lindyrig79 wrote:

Welcome to the forum Jon. Depends on the spring…. but very likely fish will still be shallow last week of May. You can pitch jigs and plastics on and off the rock piles. Also evenings are good with a slip bobber and leech. Lindy rigging likely a good day time option slightly on the deeper side, again depending on cloud cover and waves. Should be good, have fun.

x2 on those tactics, I’d also add dragging jig and plastic and power corking (there’s a bunch of good videos by IDO and the Lindner’s doing that on the Pond).
That is one of my favorite times of year to fish the Big Pond. Pay close attention to the wind forecast, generally speaking you can add 5-10 mph to whatever their prediction is, and then trailer to the upwind side of the lake to fish on days with a 10+mph prediction. Good news is there are fish everywhere!

Thanks for all the info, much appreciated! Any recommendations for bait shops in the area?

Definitely check back the middle of May for an update, things could change fast that time of year. The south and east side are full of shallow rocks and can be on fire that time of year.

Portside in Isle will have just about anything you need bait wise.

Hope you got a big boat, it gets rough out there.

He fishes Winnebago and Green Bay he will be fine. Like stated rigging jigging bobbers and casting cranks will all be working by then. Check back in closer to your trip or send me a PM before you leave and I should have some areas to try to get you started.

I’m not sure fishing will be open the last week in May. I have a suspicion why but can’t state it here.

If it’s open you will have a good time.

Thanks for the info guys. Hopefully we’ll still be able to come with everything going on, but who knows?
We should be ok on the boat size,bringing my brothers new Skeeter 2060.

fishthumper wrote:

I have had a lot of success on A bone colored Rapala shadow Rap.

^^^ This. For Walleyes on rocky breaks. My one trip up there in June last year which with last years late spring and what looks to be an early one this year should be about the same timing. South end, just East from Father Hennipen and across from there. That Bone shadow rap and White Moxi paddle tail kept the walleyes very busy. Strange thing was I was looking for bass and never saw one. This was the longest of the day at 28”. I dubbed her Olive Oil before releasing her.

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this will be my fourth year of going the third week in June. we absolutely slaughtered bass and walleye in 10-15 ft with ned rigs. lots of fun. maybe a few more bass but we caught eyes up to 28″ on them.

OK, less then a week away! Can’t wait to get up there. Anybody been out lately?

Jon Rupprecht wrote:

OK, less then a week away! Can’t wait to get up there. Anybody been out lately?

Been pretty limited on my water time with the weather and various projects going on but…

Reports have been good overall. It has been spotty IMO, for example Mon and Tues this week seemed a little slow probably due to high pressure after the big front and also got post spawn funk going on a little bit too. We did OK on leeches and slip bobbers in 15 ft near sunset. Also picked some up in 12 ft just off a rock pile and then again trolling cranks in 10-12 ft near sunset.

Lots of different methods are producing though, and it should get better in the next week or two I think

Don’t want to limit your excitement but the SM fishing for us yesterday was almost a total Bust. The water temps in the morning was under 50 and it only got to around 52 in the late afternoon. I’m sure those cooler water temps are not helping the SM bite right now. I did hear of a good bite on the NW side on Jig and shinners. Mostly eyes but a few SM mixed in. Better have lots of bait. A jig and swimbait will also work. Good luck and hope the bite turns on in time for your trip

I was out yesterday and did ok on SM. Wasn’t targeting them but had a few take my live bait rigs in 15-20 FOW. Best was a 20.75in
I was in the NW part of the lake fishing rocks.

Just wanted to thank everybody for the help. We should be on the lake around 10 tomorrow morning through Sat. I’ll let you know how we do.

Hey Jon,

Was just out over the weekend on the north end and it was steady. Fish were still on the first break for us. I expected them to be moving deeper by now but another boat was telling us they were getting them in as little as 12 feet. We did witness that boat pull in a 26.5 incher and according to them they boated two 28s the night before.

We threw spot tail shinners and leeches at them and honestly the leech outperformed the shinner, but I don’t think it matters what you throw at them. We caught them on spinner rigs, bobbers, jigs…it didn’t really matter. If you have kids along you can’t beat the bobber method over shallow rocks or breaks.

I have no idea how anybody did, but there were a ton of boats out of Garrison, I’m guessing on the flats. Talk to the baitshops for the most up to date info.

Sorry i didn’t see this earlier. For walleyes leeches way out performed shiners my last two trips to mille lacs. Rigging or slip bobbers they liked the leech much better. I had beautiful shiners but my leeches caught many more fish. Also the fish seems to bite in bunches all three trips i have been up there this year, more so than other years. Like 45 minutes of non-stop crazy action and then an hour of quiet. Then the process repeats itself. No changes in weather, wind, or clouds to attribute it to.