Mille Lacs Musky/Smallmouth

I am making the trip up Thursday after work to fish the sunset period, and all day Friday, before driving home Fri night. With a 4 hour one way trip, it would be awesome to atleast make it to the right portion of the lake. Over the years I’ve experiemced and read a ton on the walleyes, but my interest is in the skis and smallies. Which quarter of the lake would you recommend for skis in evening and morning with smallies a good portion of the day.

Anymore info is greatly appreciated (e.g. stage of the smallmouth, techs) but not expected. Thanks in advance for your willingness to provide another angler with an opportunity.

I can’t comment on the “skis” too much but I fished Mille Lacs for SMB last weekend and it was pretty good for this angler. A few key points on SMB I can offer:

1. Watch the wind and try to fish accordingly (example, fish the West side with a West wind).

2. The SE side of the lake near Isle has the most SMB habitat with all its rock piles so you may want to start there. The DNR is nice enough to mark the rock reefs with bouy markers. The North and West side also has great SMB habitat and might also be an option if the winds allow fishing there.

3. Mille Lacs SMB can be targeted using an array of lures/presentation but plastics are my favorites; try a 3 1/2″ green tube or watermelon senkos fished wacky style.

4. Another thing I have noticed is they seem to bite the best in the middle of the day (noon to 5pm). You may have to experiement with depths but 5 to 8 FOW may be a good starting place.

I am sure others can also give additional feedback or comments.

Good Luck.