Question for you mille lacs champs…

Fished Mille Lacs a bit last weekend and didn’t do all that great. managed a couple of walleyes and some smallies but certainly not the slug fest I’m hearing about for me. My question is this…everyone talks about fishing sand to gravel transitions and that being a place people are finding fish right now, without a camera to actually see the bottom, how exactly do you know when you’ve found one of these spots? Is it what you’re feeling with your rigging weight? Is it a difference you’re seeing on your graph (in which case maybe a “reading your graph” kind of seminar or video series would be a good thing for the site.) Or is it just local knowledge that people have picked up over the years?
Any thoughts from those seasoned Mille Lacs veterans?
thanks

For my boat it is mostly on the graph. I am no expert but the composition of the bottom being harder or softer gives a stronger or weaker return. Not always sure what I am looking at but when the color of the bottom changes when your speed was consistent, transition! I am sure more experienced members will chime in. Good luck!

Finding these transition areas without long hours of trolling can have more to do with years of experience. When you find them your rigging setup lets you know. Braids and a quality rod are a riggers best friend, although it can be tough to distinguish sand/gravel from sand/clam beds which can be equally awesome. A good depth finder setup properly will also show the line between soft/hard bottom which is not so obvious when dealing with hard sand and hard gravel.
When i fish a new area and have some info that’s not to specific as to location, i’ll start shallower than the target depth and rig towards deeper water and let my rigging setup tell me where the transition line is and go from there. Unlike underwater islands these areas usually are not on a map.
To get experience on mille lacs because its a water i visit probably twice a summer i would pick out one of the gravel bars that are on the map, because its a known location, and fish these areas learning the feel of the landscape.
If all else fails you can do what many many vacationers do, search for a landing net to flash and there’s your spot.

My graphs do 90 percent of my work. Years of experience have allowed me to compose a list of waypoints of transition areas.
I will say that no matter what the transition area is made of, I will not stop to fish if I am not seeing arcs.
A great rod will transmit bottom composition as well.

As for smallies, you will just need to jump in my boat for a quick lesson.

Ron

You can glean a lot of info off the Lakemaster chip. For instance, the north end “sand” has many transition areas. Most you can find by simply looking at the map and taking note of depth changes. Most of these areas are transition from sand to gravel to rock.

But yes, most of the time you can feel what the bottom content is by a good sensitive rod!

-J.

Generally you will find these areas in 20-30 feet. Your electronics will tell you alot if they are set right. It does take some time to mess with the adjustments of the sensitivity and colorline to get this set right. If you drop a regualr lindy sinker down though you can tell pretty fast. If you try to drag it in the rocks, you will get snagged instantly. If you’re in the sand, you can drag it on the bottom usually with no problem. In the gravel you might make it a minute or two before you get caught up. A wire pencil sinker is a good way to drag through these gravel areas and not get snagged, but still maintain bottom contact so you can feel for this transition. I was up this last weekend and also heard that the fish were biting in the gravel. I went to a handful of areas in the 20-30 foot range and drove around until I marked fish and then fished them. I guess the reason reports are so vague now is that people are realizing there are 100s of spots just like the traditional areas that people used to always fish. I drove through two large groups of boats on Saturday and never saw a fish caught and marked very few. I slid down the break another quarter mile, marked a few fish, dropped down, and fish on.

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You can glean a lot of info off the Lakemaster chip.

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Yes that is a great starting point, Jon

Also, I thought the title said chumps, not champs. Otherwise I would not have replied.

Ron

I wouldn’t be discouraged… With all of the weather last weekend fishing was slower than it has been. Still lots of fish, but we had to keep moving to find the active ones.

Just like everyone else has said it’s a multi-step process… Look for irregularities on your map, get to the spot and graph it to look for fish, and then fine-tune from there based on what you feel while fishing.

A couple tips that should help a lot… Start by fishign an area that you are very familiar with and (ie. find a rock pile that you already know where it is and where it ends) and watch your graph as you pull off of the rocks. This should give you an example of how your graph looks on a known transition. Then while you’re fishing unfamiliar water you’ll start to recongnize transitions when you see the same changes on your graph. The second tip that many people don’t utilize nearly enough is to be liberal with your waypoints when you’re on unfamiliar water. When trying to learn a new area I set a waypoint every time we catch a fish or sometimes even pass over fish, also mark as soon as you feel rocks with your bottom bouncer with a different type of waypoint, etc. After a little while you’ll see where the transitions are and what depth/bottom type the fish are relating to and the pattern should start to show itself

thanks guys, all great information.
sounds like rods and graphs are the key.
and Ron, I would take up on that offer any day of the week except sundays.
I did land a bunch of smallies on the south shore rocks near Isle on Xraps. First smallie I caught I thought I hooked a muskie and ended up being a 21+ incher that was pushing 4-5lb mark. A true giant in my book.
PM me if you’re looking for company or someone to split gas some time in the future.
micah

Here I thought you were asking for the Mille Lacs chomps!!!

Last weekend I would have spent time on the south end gravel bars or the mud – both a are producing fish very reliabliy right now. Use that graph to mark some fish prior to dropping your line and your success rate will increase dramatically! Also, there is still a good evening transition bite on the shallow rocks for slots with bobbers and leeches.

Have fun – it’s on up there right now!

-ted