Mille Lacs first timer

I just have a 16.5′ Deep-V Pikemaster. Not much of a match for rough water. Plus the wife is green as they come so I don’t want to terrify her on her first trip. Not to mention I’m not much of a fan of it either.

I am quite flexible and open to launching in other areas of the lake. I’m going there to catch fish. I actually plan to head to Cedar Creek Public Access and maybe cast some pumpkin tubes or drift some slip bobbers over the rocks in Twin Bays. If it’s not too busy with other boats. If that doesn’t work I planned to venture farther out to Hawkbill Reef, The Graveyard or Hennepin Island and explore that a little bit.

Another day I plan to venture out of Fisher’s Harbor and explore Agate Bay Reef, Flamingo and Lakeside and see what I can drum up.

Not sure where the main breaklines are that Will speaks of but I have the Tutt Map and maybe Daron can point me in the right direction. The problem is I’ve never seen changes in make up of the bottom on my graph before so I don’t know what to look for. I’ve never tried leadcore before and I’m itching to try it. Sounds like this would be a great place to try. I also have a wind sock. Someone I know said you can’t troll Mille Lacs without one. Got a 50″ so I’m itching to see how that works.

I don’t even know why I’m at work. I can’t focus right now for nothing. Tomorrow will take forever to end.

Dillon,

Dean or Suzy or Greg can point you to any of the spots I’ve mentioned.

The breakline that I was referring to is 3 miles out and it is actually the exact area that I learned to fish leadcore myself. All you do is head out straight out to a depth of 25′ and start trolling in either direction. You can either use 3.5 colors of lead and Shap Raps/Salmos/Flicker Shads or you could also just long line a Tail Dancer #9 or #11 back between 110-125′ or a Storm Deep Thunderstick 135’… I would start with perch/fire tiger colors for the small cranks and purples for the large ones.

Also if you head immediately out of the resort and go left there are number of smaller rock humps/piles in 8-15 FOW that will work well for finding smallies pitching jigs or trolling Rapalas. For starters I would actually just put on a couple shad raps and just start trolling all the way down to Agate reef and back once or twice to help you figure out where the piles are that you might want to come back and pitch on later. You will catch both walleyes and smallies especially in the mornings/evenings.

If you do the same but head to the right (North) from the resort you will find scattered weed beds and pike in 8-12′.

A couple other perfect spots for you and the wife to hit morning and evenings are Mile and 1/4 or Mile and a 1/2 rock reefs either trolling shad raps or with slip bobbers.

Will

Good luck first timers. I am heading up right now to get the fish warmed up for you

I’m planning on launching from either the Garrison, north Garrison or wealthwood ramps on the north if the wind is right. Any reason to avoid a particular ramp?

If the wind is from the south, I’ll launch from the south side, but prefer not to go all the way to Isle as my dad will be coming from Brainerd to meet us and don’t want him to drive too far. Any recommendations for south side ramps.

I’m not opposed to paying to launch from a resort anywhere on the lake either.

Lastly, any good bait shop recommendations (I’m coming from the cities)?

Prince bait in Milla CA is very good.

I can’t tell you a good ramp on south end. I keep my boat at the warf.

Dillon, you have a PM.

Dillion:

Good Luck!!! And Be Safe!!! It is a great body of water to fish…

Mark

walleyevision wrote:

I’m planning on launching from either the Garrison, north Garrison or wealthwood ramps on the north if the wind is right. Any reason to avoid a particular ramp?

If the wind is from the south, I’ll launch from the south side, but prefer not to go all the way to Isle as my dad will be coming from Brainerd to meet us and don’t want him to drive too far. Any recommendations for south side ramps.

I’m not opposed to paying to launch from a resort anywhere on the lake either.

Lastly, any good bait shop recommendations (I’m coming from the cities)?

If you’re looking to put in Garrison area, Tutt’s in Garrison is a full service bait and tackle right next to Mille Lacs Liquor…in case you need to stock up on any of that too.
North Garrison access is kinda squirrelly and unprotected so if you go out in calmer conditions and the wind picks up before you pull in, it could be challenging. About 1/4 mile away is Phil’s Myr Marina, cost you $10 but you’ll be putting in a protected harbor. Same for Red Door on the north end close to Wealthwood.

The shallow crank bite remains very strong. 6:25 am and I’ve already caught 5 eyes and 2 smallies. Did very well last night to. 6-10 FOW on the rocks.

sticker wrote:

The shallow crank bite remains very strong. 6:25 am and I’ve already caught 5 eyes and 2 smallies. Did very well last night to. 6-10 FOW on the rocks.

Just quit it….

I’ll be up later this evening fishing tomorrow.

Thanks for warming them up Sticker!!! Francis save some for the rest of us!!! Thanks for the best wishes Mark we’ll take all we can get.

I still have to work today… I’m convinced I’m not going to get anything done. LOL….

sticker wrote:

Dillon, you have a PM.

So do you Sticker.

Throwing a coffee tube now and that is working as well. Planning to run to the mud later and give the small is a break

19″ and just over 4lbs. What a fattie

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Man that’s a great Smallie Sticker!!!

Stop it Sticker you are killing me here.

I will be up there some day this summer with the coffee tubes

Alright guys… I’m heading there tomorrow morning. When I get back to work on Monday the 26th I’ll have a report. Hopefully with some pix.

Thanks a ton for all the insight for this lake. I hope I can put it to good use.

Dillon Sanders wrote:

When I get back to work on Monday the 26th I’ll have a report

Well dang it. I must be in the wrong business.

I’m super excited for tomorrow. The weather seems to be shaping up nicely for fishing the north side, with a predicted NW wind. I’m planning on launching out of Myr Mar and hitting the adjacent rocks first thing and then transitioning to the flats later in the morning.

I do have a question though. Are there any decent weed beds in that area? I wouldn’t mind coaxing some eyes from the weeds by casting swimbaits.

Personally, if I were going out I’d head straight to a mud flat. They seem to bite pretty well right away in the morning. Drag a leech on a lindy or a jig along the edge of the flat. You’ll need anywhere from 3/4 to 1 1/2 oz on the lindy. You’ll need anywhere from 1/2 to 5/8 oz on a jig.

Keep moving around until you find active fish. Some days you find them right away, others you need to move 3-5 times to find some that’ll bite. Work anywhere from the top edge of the flat to 100′ off the bottom edge of the flat. Sometimes they wander far off the flats. Focus on points, turns and steeper breaks.

Setup upwind and pick an edge that is parallel with the wind. Let the wind blow you down the edge. Boat position is everything, stay on the edge.

walleyevision wrote:

I’m super excited for tomorrow. The weather seems to be shaping up nicely for fishing the north side, with a predicted NW wind. I’m planning on launching out of Myr Mar and hitting the adjacent rocks first thing and then transitioning to the flats later in the morning.

I do have a question though. Are there any decent weed beds in that area? I wouldn’t mind coaxing some eyes from the weeds by casting swimbaits.

Myr Mar is a great place to put in, that’s where I always go out of, but I suppose that would be obvious since my place is right next door. Regardless, there is very good fishing right out of there. Right out of the harbor there are the east and west Myr Mar reefs, the west one being the better. You will see boats on it as well as bass anglers in the area. Further out is the big Myr Mar flat, always plenty of fish out there. Heading east and a little more to the north is Matton flat, east side of that flat tends to hold better concentrations of walleyes.

There weeds in the area closer to shore but Mille Lacs walleyes do not relate to weeds much at all compared to other lakes that are stocked. Mille Lacs walleyes are almost entirely naturally reproduced where is most all other lakes are populated with stocked fish. The evidence seems to support that stocked walleyes will be more likely to become weed fish and that natural walleyes tend to locate in other prime feeding areas. Not an absolute rule but would not spend much time searching for them in weeds when they will be stacked up out on the flats and actively feeding.
Good luck!

Had a great Sunday on the lake. We did indeed go out of Myr Mar and spent most of our time on Myr Mar flat. We caught about 40 walleyes and 10 smallies. Most of the walleyes came from drifting across the windward side of the flat. We didn’t catch many on the bottom of the flat. Most were taken on the top transition and on the top. We were pulling spinners behind bottom bouncers and the wind was pushing us anywhere between .75-1.1 mph. It worked out well.

We also spent some time on the Myr Mar reef (east), along with just about every bass fisherman on the lake I think. The wind was out of the NW, so I think that’s why they were concentrated there. This is where we caught all of our smallies and a few bonus walleyes, including the biggest (26.5) of the trip which was caught on a Ned Rig. The smallies/walleyes that we caught on the reef came out of 8-12 ft of water.

We trolled deep diving cranks in 22-28 ft, east of the reef and caught a couple of wallys that way too. It was really a great day all around. I thought we did pretty well for never having fished the lake. But I can’t take any credit, that goes to everyone that helped me out. Mille Lacs is just awesome. I can’t wait to fish it again, so many patterns going on at the same time, lots of fun!

Thanks again guys!

Glad you had a good time , but you have to take most of the credit. You put the time in and executed. I can sit here all day and type what is working for me, but that doesn’t put fish in the boat.

It is incredibly fun lake to fish right now. Like you said, so many different ways to catch fish and they are all working right now. Hopefully you can get back up there again soon

walleyevision wrote:

We did indeed go out of Myr Mar

Good choice there! She was a little choppy down on the lower east side Sunday. Glad top hear it all worked out for your crew.

-J.

I just want to thank everyone for the quality discussion! I’m heading up tomorrow for 5 days, it’s not my first trip to Mille Lacs but it will be my first time specifically targeting smallmouth before going after walleye.

I’m staying on the southwest side and plan to start early each morning on shallow rock reefs trolling cranks, pitching tubes and slip bobbers. Sliding deeper throughout the day with crankbaits and crawler harnesses. Ending each night slip bobbering with leeches on rock reefs.

Thanks again for all the great info.

Hey guys I’m back!!! Trip of a life time!!! Caught a total of 56 fish for the week. Ranging from a little 10″er to several 22″s, 24″s and a 25″er. I know it’s not a record breaker but the wind was not cooperating (at all). We did get out twice on calm smooth waters. Other than that we had to pick and choose when to be on and when not. I had fully restored my boat last year and wasn’t sure how it would perform on rough water. It did well. I had planned to launch all over the lake and try different places but with the wind the Launch Captain gave me coordinates to 3 places that produced fish so we stuck with them. Regardless we had a blast. Ate the Walleye at Castaways and we had a breakfast at Toucan’s.

Captain Gene Miller did not disappoint with his guide services. He was able to get 4 out of 5 of us some monster pikes. No Muskies. But for 4 people that have never caught a fish over 3 feet long it was the trip of a lifetime. I’ll be posting more on my thread about his services later.

Dillon Sanders wrote:

Ate the Walleye at Castaways and we had a breakfast at Toucan’s.

I too have had the walleye at Castaways and not bad, also like the salad bar with soup. There are many (particularly on FB) complaining about not being able to keep any walleyes on Mille Lacs and that they would never go there and all other kinds of bashing ’cause they can’t keep a meal. Personally I am more than happy to catch walleyes all day and then step into restaurant on the lake and enjoy a walleye dinner already prepared for me while a sip on a beer or two. But that’s me, not judging those that like to keep and eat what they catch.

Sounds like you had a good trip, the wind and weather can be a factor but you just have to accept that and make the most of it. BTW, did you try the “Experience” for breakfast at Toucan’s?

OMG Andy I did try the “Experience” That was a great meal.

The Prime Rib at Castaways was another great on.

I have to be honest let those nah sayers whine about not getting to keep fish. As long as I’m catching fish I’m having a blast. Kept or not.

Suzy one of the owners of Fisher’s said she thinks the DNR is conditioning everyone so that when they offer to allow one fish per day to be kept everyone will jump on it rather than hold out for a bigger limit.

I am however going to need a bigger boat if I’m going to fish bigger waters… Better start working on the honey for that. LOL…

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

I too have had the walleye at Castaways and not bad,

Eating walleye in a restaurant is only supporting other netting operations. Most often from a Canada lake or the Canada side of lake Erie. Personally, I’ll pass on supporting those operations.

-J.

Then what do you recommend to fix the problem Jon?