Mille Lacs fishing pressure

This article is in the Star Tribune today. Obviously there is a lot more people fishing (and catching) this spring on the big lake.

https://www.startribune.com/mille-lacs-sees-a-crush-lots-of-anglers-lots-of-walleyes-on-the-line/571355432/

Already justifying the fall closure

All the lakes around here have been pounded hard!

Fishing pressure has been off the charts in east central Minnesota all season. The landings at the popular lakes are full before the bait shops open on Saturdays.
A friend of mine operates a local bait shop and he’s been more busy this year than ever. Even hours after “closing” time he can’t leave because the fisherman just keep coming.
This season he’s had multiple people return their recently purchased bait because they drove around the area and couldn’t find a boat landing with room for another vehicle.
I’ve heard stories of trucks and trailers parking on the roads near the landings and getting expensive parking tickets at a couple different lakes.
It’s truly been a crazy season. I’ve been getting to landings between 430-5 to beat the rush and it’s still busier than normal at those times. I’ve been contemplating becoming a nocturnal walleye fisherman for the rest of the summer.
I truly believe that this amount of pressure can’t be sustained on many lakes without lowering bag limits.

My observations so far would be consistent with what was said in the article.

It did seem to be a lot more boats out than in past years, stacked up on areas offshore and an almost continual parade of bass boats right out front in the shallows.

This past week I have seen almost no boats out there at all. One or two at most since last Saturday. N Garrison access was empty all week too.

I’m sure the strong south wind had a lot to do with it, but I’d usually see some out there braving it. I’d be curious if the masses of boats were all on the east/south side all this past week.

This beautiful crisp morning I am seeing the return of many here on the NW side, but what surprises me is there are large clusters of boats out on the flats. Numbers that I would associate with a tournament although I’m not aware of any tourney on this Friday.

Anyway, beautiful weekend on tap…come on up and #dothelake

Good points Grubson and Andy. The article also takes note of how skinny the fish were going into last winter which is probably a big reason why the walleye bite out there has been so bonkers. Skinny fish are hungry fish. More anglers means more fish caught.

Hopefully this does not translate into an early fall closure.

Hawthorne is booked every day on a guided bass trip until August…no wonder the pressure on those smallmouth is off the charts!

But all of the resorts and businesses said years ago that no one will come if they can’t keep fish and bass fishermen are few and far between

Hopefully this puts some money into these resorts and some start fixing them up nice. Great area. Great fishing!

Also helps (or not) that people are staying close to home.

Growing up around the lake I have noticed a decrease in people fishing. I remember openers where you could walk from boat to boat across a reef. Same with huge groups strung out on the mud flats. For a few years recently the people slowed down and now it’s picking back up.