Mille Lacs Fishing Reports

26.5 on a popper!

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Ripjiggen wrote:

You have been missing out then Captain.

No doubt I have!

brandmoney wrote:

26.5 on a popper!

Well isn’t that odd. Flat, calm, hot, and sunny. And a walter takes a topwater.

He must have been hanging out with dumb bass too long.

I fished the Big Pond 3 times in June. There were a lot of boats at the accesses and on the flats so they weren’t bass fisherman. Maybe in the last month the pressure has gone down with the increased heat. Heck the last time I was there the water temp maxed at 67.5.
18-20 is a good slot. 80% of my fish were 18-22.

Last three times I have been on the mud I was the only one on the flat. Then again I tend to avoid flats with boats all over them. July traffic has been slow.

How was the bite in July, Ripjiggen?

Solid…slower obviously than June but still good. Lots of forage however in some places.

Any recent reports? I plan on going this week.

I watch this guys report pretty regularly. Covers muskie, walleye, and smallmouth fishing. Pretty thorough with his reports too.

Was out Saturday morning for the Take a Vet Fishing guide trip but couldn’t get out of Wahkon Bay. Made the mistake of relying on the wind forecast and it was way off. Should have had the boat trailered and went to the North side. No fish but did note the water temp was 64.7 which I verified with a couple other boats as it was a 10+ degree drop from earlier in the week. Went out last night for an hour to the gravel and picked up a couple, water temp was 67.4.

Water temp on north end was 70-72 all weekend. It was 78 last weekend up there.

Haven’t been to Mille Lacs for quite some time. Thinking about going up for a day or 2. Looking for suggestions on a place to stay overnight in the Garrison area. Thanks for any suggestions.

Twin Pines would work. Its been at least a decade since I have been there though.

Anyone know if the Garrison Inn & Suites is still open behind McDonalds? Their website says temporarily closed.

Beyond Twin Pines I am honestly not even sure if there is lodging anywhere else there now. The nearest hotel would be in Deerwood.

Also, just in case anyone needs a reminder, the bag limit for walleye goes to TWO on Friday.

I am also planning on hitting the lake Saturday. Anyone care to share if I need to run out to the flats or is there still some fish biting closer to shore.

The gravel has been better for me, I plan on the run to the mud but stop at the gravel and don’t leave. Also have found walleyes while targeting smallies on the deeper rocks. While it has slowed down some there are fish all over.

Lodging – more choices on the south/east side than the west (Garrison).
Twin Pines- have not stayed there but its a cool, old school type.

John Rasmussen wrote:

I am also planning on hitting the lake Saturday. Anyone care to share if I need to run out to the flats or is there still some fish biting closer to shore.

There’s fish close to shore year around. August is a great time on the rocks. Crayfish is the main food source. You’ll find walleyes and smallmouth together in many areas.
The weedlines on the west side hold fish year around too.

Thanks guys. I fish it a lot in the winter but not as much during the summer. You guys pulling crawlers this time of year?

I’m using the last of my jumbo leeches (cant find anymore) but yes to crawlers. Also pulling lead and flicker shads

empty_stringer wrote:

I’m using the last of my jumbo leeches (cant find anymore) but yes to crawlers. Also pulling lead and flicker shads

Thanks. I will pack the lead then too.

This report is from Tuesday.

Went to Mille Lacs and worked a couple flats. Marked plenty of fish on the two I fished. Had a nice fish one right away (riggin’ with leech) and dropped it. No more bites on that flat. They would come up and look at the jig/leech on slip bobber rig. Moved to the neighboring flat and caught the fish in the pic. A fat 15 1/2. and good fight. No more bites on riggin’, slip bobber or trolling a Salmo Hornet over their heads with lead core. Bug hatch was bad and getting worse as the water temp warmed. At least 5 different species. Maybe the fish were chowing on them. Still killing a few in the house since they got in one of my gear bags.
It was dead calm so shot over to 3 mile on the east shore. In one 200-300 foot stretch marked fish after fish. No bites on rigging’ with leech, slip bobber and leech, bottom bouncer/spinner and crawler or jiggin’ rap. Sometimes the fish win which has happened more times than not on that lake this year. A lot of fish but couldn’t get them to bite. If someone does let me know.
Saw many pelicans and some cormorants way off shore. There must be a lot of forage.

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I was out last Monday on the northeast side. I tried multiple tactics and different locations, but couldn’t figure it out. There was a huge bug hatch again. I also saw a lot of tullibees floating. I am guessing that when some of those fish are in the process of dying off, they are getting eaten up by the predator fish out there. I had a similar experience to netguy – no problem marking fish, but getting them to actually bite was almost impossible.

3-mile reef fish on graph. For this stretch mentioned above the graph was void of fish less than 10x for 200-300 feet.

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I took the dog swimming on the Northside beach last weekend- Lots of 14-16 inch Tullibees dead on shore, about 10 for every 20 feet of shoreline.

How’s harvest opener going? Launches busy? Bite going ok?
Now that people are cleaning fish are we indeed seeing juvenile tulibee in the stomachs? Juvenile perch? Got any stomach contents pics?
Anyone that’s been fishing the lake for a awhile, are the fish looking healthier than last year? How about compared to 2018 (I think that was the year they got razerback skinny) Any other note worthy observations?
Lots of questions I guess.

The couple we caught seemed pretty healthy and well fed. Did not get any in slot so did not get to take the knife to any. I launched at Liberty Beach and thought it could have been busier.

Were you pulling cranks? I am heading there tomorrow, and I think that is what I will try. I hate slip bobbering.

John Rasmussen wrote:

The couple we caught seemed pretty healthy and well fed. Did not get any in slot so did not get to take the knife to any. I launched at Liberty Beach and thought it could have been busier.

It was rough last Saturday and I should have ran to the north end and launched. We did not pull cranks even though that was the original plan. We were dragging Lindy’s most of the time, we did bobber up a little to. Nobody was really doing that great. The fish seemed to be full, there was a couple bug hatches from what I heard, hopefully this weekend is better, I don’t think I will make it up.

It was tough for us last Saturday afternoon/ evening. We did best trolling cranks on the rocks in 10-12ft. There seems to be a lot of food in the lake right now. There’s also a lot of birds taking advantage of that out there too. Gulls, loons, pelicans, and cormorants were all over the north and east sides.
We were checked by game wardens around 930pm Saturday night and our 1 keeper was the 3rd fish they had measured all day. We ended up getting 1 more so we ended the day with 2 in the well.