July Closure

The July closure is still in effect, correct? The resort I am at seemed like business as usual and nobody talking about it and I almost forgot about it myself.

Yes, its still in effect. Starts tonight at 12:01am. Bear in mind it ONLY applies to walleye fishing and no live bait is allowed except suckers bigger than 8 inches. You can still bass and muskie fish as you normally would.

What makes the Millacs Lake so high on the destination list for people?

I’ve been to the Brainerd area many of times. 5 hour drive for us. We’ve been there both summer and winter and spend a fair amount of time in that area. Fishing the Gull lake chains.

I’ve always been turned off to Millacs with all the regulations, and controversy that surrounds it.

Sounds like an awesome fishery, great places to stay?

It seems too political if you want to use live bait or keep fish?

mille lacs = catch rate and high numbers of skinny long fish. Its a close drive for all the citiots so there’s that. Brainerd area is BEA-utiful but its a trendy high dollar tourist area. I’d rather drive past it and hit UPRL and LOW. especially in October when all the deerhunters are in the woods.

riverruns wrote:

Sounds like an awesome fishery, great places to stay?

It seems too political if you want to use live bait or keep fish?

Eyeguy is right, at least at the moment. Its loaded with sizable walleyes that are skinny and underweight. They’re very hungry. I was with my parents in mid June out there and we landed 71 walleyes in about 6.5 hours between the three of us dragging live bait on lindy rigs. Its been like that most of the season, insanely good walleye bite.

Bass fishing is also quite good, but its tougher. Tons of pressure on those fish. Seemingly more every year. People coming up from Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri to target them.

Muskie fishing is tough too…but the fish in there are enormous. Which means you need to put a lot of time in to try and catch big foot. October/November seems to be prime when the tulibees are in shallow.

There’s a lot of regulations to follow on every species, plus closures, night bans, etc too. But the south shore is only 90 miles from the Twin Cities so its a day trip destination that people can take. Its so popular because of its proximity to the largest urban area in the state.

If you’re a meat hunter, this is probably not the lake for you. If you want the chance at a potential state record muskie or smallmouth bass, in addition to catching 50 walleyes a day, this is the lake for you.

I fished it 4 times in June. None of the fish I’ve caught were skinny but I didn’t get any fish over 25 inches. Not like 2006 or 2007, I think, when they were almost all skinny. I caught my PB then. It measured 30 1/4″ and weighed 7# 9 0z.

My observation is that the 24″ to 27″ fish have decent girth when compared to the 20″ to 22″ which seem to be built like Saugers.
Then it could be that the fish are mature females for the “longs” and males for the “shorts”.
18 to 20s? Maybe half a dozen I’ve seen come in.

riverruns wrote:

What makes the Millacs Lake so high on the destination list for people?

It’s because James Holst and IDO TV have filmed numerous episode’s at Mille Lacs, both ice fishing and open water. That’s the only reason.

As far as my observation on the skinny walleyes, I’ve yet to understand why in winter most all are thick and healthy compared to open water. Now (summer) you would have the greatest abundance of newly hatched forage and it would be at it’s lowest in winter.

Some have pointed out that the females are developing eggs then, but I have to believe some of the fish caught during winter are males too and most all caught are still thick and healthy.

Another Mille Lacs mystery I suppose.

Seems like all I caught this year were 17″-22″ and I thought they all were pretty healthy. Yes some didn’t look so great but the majority did. Granted I don’t know what they looked like 10 years ago and I’ve certainly seen the pics posted of skinny fish. Just hasn’t been my experience.

I thought the ‘skinny fish’ talking point was just a reason to give for why the DNR should allow fish to be kept.

riverruns wrote:

What makes the Millacs Lake so high on the destination list for people?

1) Big Water. There are only a handful of Big Water lakes in the state.

2) One of the few lakes where virtually every walleye tactic known to man is on the table at various points throughout the year.

If I have to explain it anymore than that, you probably wouldn’t understand anyway.

Can you night fish during July for muskie?

Born wrote:

Can you night fish during July for muskie?

Yes

Not till July 6th. According to signs posted.

Born wrote:

Not till July 6th. According to signs posted.

Muskie fishing can be done anytime during the open season, there is no prohibited time periods, even at night. If you intend to use suckers, they must be at least 8 inches long.

Night Closure:
Effective 10 p.m. on May 11 through 11:59 p.m. on November 30
From May 11 through June 5, no fishing for any species from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
From June 6 through November 30, no fishing from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. except for species and methods listed below:
Muskellunge and northern pike may be targeted with artificial lures longer than 8 inches or sucker minnows longer than 8 inches. While fishing during the night closure, you may not possess or target any species other than muskellunge or northern pike.

What is the Wr (relative weight) of the walleye in Mille Lacs?

By knowing this metric the walleye body condition can be compared to other lakes in MN and waters in other states.

Buffalo Fishhead

Buffalo Fishhead wrote:

What is the Wr (relative weight) of the walleye in Mille Lacs?

No doubt skinnier than most other bodies of water.

gimruis wrote:

No doubt skinnier than most other bodies of water.

Is there a way to find out the Wr? Fish survey reports, etc.?

Buffalo Fishhead

joneser wrote:

The bands are behind the closures. They are constantly pushing for the quota to be lowered. This is what causes the closures.

Actually this season, the winter anglers are the primary cause. There was more pressure and harvest out there than there has been in any of the past 30 seasons, according to the DNR counts. I’ve already expressed my disapproval with this policy about allowing ice guys to keep fish and then soft water guys having to tolerate a complete closure.

If there is the potential for a soft water closure, ice anglers definitely should not be allowed to harvest any fish. Its basically rewarding ice anglers at the expense of open water anglers.

riverruns wrote:

What makes the Millacs Lake so high on the destination list for people?

For me it’s the fact that I’ve caught my PB 21.5″ Smallmouth, 56″ Muskie and 38″ Northern (TMF caught a 44″ the same day) on it. Oh and I primarily fish it for walleye, which I would put it up against just about any lake in the world for numbers as well as numbers of 25″+ fish. Plus the fact it’s an hour and a half from the cities, makes it so accessible.

gimruis wrote:

Actually this season, the winter anglers are the primary cause.

I don’t feel like rehashing this debate again, but yes you are correct in a vacuum of just this year. However, the lake sustained 200k pounds or more (some years over 1 million pounds) of actual walleye harvest every year prior to Treaty management coming into play in 1999. Since then we had a diminishing slot until it’s basically been 7 years of CnR summer fishing with periodic shutdowns. Also, last year the DNR head of Fisheries Brad Parsons said he didn’t think the lake would need to close on August 15th, and the lake closed September 6th. There are only 2 people above him in the MN government, DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen or Governor Walz, so you tell me who made that decision. IMO Mille Lacs should never close, if they feel it needs to be CnR all summer/fall fine, but keep it open so ALL anglers can enjoy one of our best public resources.

BigWerm wrote:

I don’t feel like rehashing this debate again, but yes you are correct in a vacuum of just this year.

That’s fair no need to keep beating a dead horse.

BigWerm wrote:

Also, last year the DNR head of Fisheries Brad Parsons said he didn’t think the lake would need to close on August 15th, and the lake closed September 6th.

Ya I think there was a lot of flak for that one. That’s why they selected a planned closure this season instead of an abrupt one.

I think that the DNR should start charging a $20 daily fee to all of the visitors that come to the lake with half of those funds going to the reservation so they have enough funding to purchase more of the property around the lake.
🤔
I think its kind of funny that I haven’t seen any boat washing stations this year yet. Maybe Covid cleaned the lake up for us so they aren’t necessary anymore??

I think that a bypass should be constructed around the Rez and toll gates to get on tribal land.
Also opioid sensors.
Only 2 heroin stories in this weeks Messenger.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joneser wrote:</div>
The bands are behind the closures. They are constantly pushing for the quota to be lowered. This is what causes the closures.

Actually this season, the winter anglers are the primary cause. There was more pressure and harvest out there than there has been in any of the past 30 seasons, according to the DNR counts. I’ve already expressed my disapproval with this policy about allowing ice guys to keep fish and then soft water guys having to tolerate a complete closure.

If there is the potential for a soft water closure, ice anglers definitely should not be allowed to harvest any fish. Its basically rewarding ice anglers at the expense of open water anglers.

Never thought I would agree with you but I actually do. Make the regs year round to not have mid year closures. It is not the winter anglers however as easy as that is to point the finger it a systematic flaw. If you turn a blind eye to the reasons the tribe wants to restrict the angling on this public water you are just kidding yourself. Nets are not the problem at this point co management of different objections is. Mille lacs has NOT been managed for the fishery itself in quite sometime.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Never thought I would agree with you but I actually do. Make the regs year round to not have mid year closures.

I actually really don’t care that much about a walleye/live bait closure announced ahead of time to be honest. I don’t plan to fish out there in this heat anyways, for any species. I just despise the fact that one group of seasonal anglers gets preference over another. If it’s gonna be catch n release all season long, winter and summer, so be it. But don’t ease up on winter restrictions and tighten summer ones. It should be a level playing field for everyone.

I definitely don’t have any aspirations to make it happen. I mostly target smallmouth out there with artificial lures anyways, so again, the closure really has no bearing on what I’m trying to do. I also have no aspiration to be out there in this heat and my boat is not built to troll plus I generally think its a very boring way to fish (I know its effective, but I just don’t care for it). I have a fair number of relatives that almost exclusively walleye fish and most of it it on that lake so that’s my skin in the game. I should also mention that I don’t ice fish and neither do the relatives I speak of.

As for how easy and lucrative ice fishing is, I don’t disagree. For both a business owner and an angler. Its not hard to sit on a bucket or in a wheel house and watch satellite TV while you wait for a fish to take your bait on a rattle reel. Its also not nearly as much work operating the business for the very reasons you stated. That’s obvious.

I still don’t like how its being done from one season to another. You’ve explained it well, I understand it. I just don’t like it. The regs should be the same all season long. Not heavily favored during one and closed during another. They shouldn’t be liberalized in the winter and then ultra conservative during soft water. That’s just my 2 cents. Good luck trolling for pike. My PB pike actually came out of that lake about 15 years ago, a 42 incher.

I think you guys are being a little rough on the ice operators. The saying in the days of mom & pop resorts was, “You pay your bills in the summer, if you are going to make any money it has to happen in the winter.”
When “Big Daddy” died there was no coffee can of $$$ found. The kids are back working concrete & masonry, laying floors, running a restaurant, etc. The 4 ran the ice business this last winter.
Trucks get torn up. Gas is sucked up big time plowing. Propane tanks are stolen. Bridges need to be build. Trucks go thru the ice! Then you have drunken idiots driving on the ice like they are on 169. No thank you.

I am hoping this all changes in regards to winter versus summer. In another thread I had commented on the discussion during the last MLFAC/DNR meeting at which I asked the DNR to consider taking fall fishing into account when setting the plans for the up coming years. The DNR then asked the question to the folks like myself in the audience to raise their hand if fishing in the fall was a priority. Pretty much every hand in the audience was raised which I think surprised the DNR as I suspect they didn’t think this would be the response. They were then pretty much forced to comment that they would take fall fishing into consideration. I will be at the next MLFAC meeting also and will be following up on this. I also do not ice fish and don’t like the lake shut down in the summer while giving the winter folks a pass. Yes MLFAC has been behind the winter fishing support and I get this as they are looking out for their own back side. Interesting the owner of Hunter’s told me a couple of years ago they were having a record year, even with the mess there is on the lake.

My hope is that the July closure reduces the hooking mortality rate enough so we can have some sort of harvest the rest of the year.

We as anglers could help this by showing a little more restraint in our deeper water fishing.
Just because there is a good bite out in the deep mud, doesn’t mean we can’t catch fish in a shallower area.

There will be no harvest this open water season.