ice bite

I fish in South Dakota at lake Thompson alot in the winter and am planning a trip with friends to the big lake on January 9th, I am curious is Mille Lacs similiar to sd waters that most walleys are a late afternoon to night bite and what are the prime areas to start looking for them.

Any help would be appreciated.

I fish Mille Lacs a number of times in the winter as I live on the lake. My methods for seeking out old marble eyes is this: I like to target areas just off the rock reef breaks. The morning just at day light and for the first couple of hours are the best in the AM. Around sunset and the next couple hours are again the best evening times for me. If you spend the night on the lake, many times you will find that the big walleye will hit late in the night 11pm-1am or so!!! It’s great to here a rattle reel go in the middle of the night……..it might be a big walleye or a ellpout!!!!!!!!
My favorite presentation is a jigging spoon with a head of the minnow hooked on it. I like to jig one rod close to the bottom and fish another as a dead stick ( bobber and swimming minnow) I’ll catch 6 out of 10 fish jigging over the bobber rig.

Early January can be cold around these parts……bring all the gear for cold weather. It’s also a good time to start fishing Mille Lacs for perch. The perch can be found in some of the same areas and also in the deep basins off the mud flats in the middle of Mille Lacs.

Good luck and welcome to In-depth

Livebait, we have less wind on Mille Lacs, you will like that for sure. Other then that, you will usually get more big walleye on Mille Lacs then you do in SD. Sometimes this means very few eaters though. The fishing techinques are very similar. Sleeper houses are very popular on the lake.