Mille Lacs Ice Report

Between that pic and the images in the different web cams, it looks like the lake might be locked up…. Can anyone confirm? I have a buddy that lives in Isle and he said he has not looked at the lake.

Johnson Portside had a facebook video update yesterday from Chapmans. 8″ of ice in Isle bay and Chapman’s ventured out a mile from the bay and had 6″ of ice.

Woodshed wrote:

Looking at the cameras this morning, it appears capped over to me.

Might be this morning? Steve at Johnson’s Portside passed on some info from Chapman’s yesterday afternoon in a FB post/video. Once you get out a ways in Isle bay, you will start seeing open water. The southern bays (Isle, Cove and Wahkon) have a good 6 inches. So it was open about 12 hour ago….

-J.

So, how long until the north side is good to go. As in… sleepers on the ice at red door!

crappieguy wrote:

So, how long until the north side is good to go. As in… sleepers on the ice at red door!

Probably a little while, they posted today that the ice is not safe for foot traffic this weekend, and their access will remain closed this weekend.

Red Door said all locked up on the North end when I reserved my IDO shack today!

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crappieguy wrote:</div>
So, how long until the north side is good to go. As in… sleepers on the ice at red door!

Probably a little while, they posted today that the ice is not safe for foot traffic this weekend, and their access will remain closed this weekend.

So… like, 3 weeks maybe? Cuz you know… just might have a couple sleepers rented in 4 weeks!

So hard to read. Crazy how the south end ices up so much quicker

crappieguy wrote:

So… like, 3 weeks maybe?

Oh I’d say a lot sooner than that if it stay’s cold like it’s supposed to, 4 weeks we should be driving out!

crappieguy wrote:

So hard to read. Crazy how the south end ices up so much quicker

Really not that crazy, it’s just the bays are on the south side which will always ice over before the main basin.

So who made it out on the Big Pond this weekend? I’m pretty pumped to get up there asap.

went out Saturday morning on the North end, the fishing was slow but it was good to get out. I found 4.5″ on Saturday and 5-5.5″ sunday morning. I didn’t mark many fish and the ones we did were finicky. fished 10-22′ feet. biggest was 19.75″

not sure why but my pics are all messed up and one of the pics is not one of mine.

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the fish are looking healthy and fat

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Fishwater83 wrote:

the fish are looking healthy and fat

That can’t be. The DNR says they’re hungry due to low baitfish numbers. Hence the hot bite the past few years.

Anyone know how this snow is effecting the ice? Wet and heavy is no good.

A small amount of snow is a really good thing. If the ice is not protected by some snow cover it expands and contracts wildly resulting in many cracks and heaves. Specifically on very large lakes.

If you get to 10″+, you can get worried.

We went out of the public landing on the south side of Garrison on Monday. There was a solid 5-6 inches of ice about 150yds. There was a crack in the ice that looked a little sketchy but ended up being pretty easy to cross. However once on the other side of the crack there was a large area of 2-3 inches of ice before getting farther out and find 5-6 again. So needless to say things are a little spotty. It was so windy while we were fishing I don’t see the snow that fell having much if any affect on the ice getting thicker. After the next few cold nights I would guess there will be plenty of ATV’s out and about.

As for the Fishing….

I talked to Mac’s Twin bay this last weekend on their guess for ice, he said the spear shacks we’re going out yesterday, and sleepers should most likely be out by Xmas.
Reported 6-7″ by them, and around the point to their north was 3″ or so.

Great pics!

Planning on walking out from Garrison this Sunday to fish the first break. I’m guessing the ice should be good after a solid week of low temps. Anyone know of any issues that might stop me from getting out there? Also has there been much snow up there?

Got a pass from the wife to head up for the day this coming Saturday. Currently planning to hit one of the south bays as they seem to have the most ice at this point. Debating bringing the oversized UTV. Plan is to call Chapman’s tomorrow for a report and input on heavy UTV travel.

Shoot me a PM if you’re going to be up there and want to meet up. I’ve never fished ML in the winter so I’ll be “winging” it.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Planning on walking out from Garrison this Sunday to fish the first break. I’m guessing the ice should be good after a solid week of low temps. Anyone know of any issues that might stop me from getting out there? Also has there been much snow up there?

x2, got a pass to fish on Sunday and will be that same spot or over in Brainerd.

I’m heading back up Thursday night to fish the north end again Friday and Saturday. Hopefully wheeler traffic is possible, I’m itching to hit my early season spots that walking and ice didn’t permit last weekend.

Do people have a preference for south/west/east/north for mille lacs for either numbers or bigger fish? Or does it all fish about the same? I’m a first timer and plan to make a short trip both sunday and monday to hit the afternoon and dusk window. No wheeler so I’ll be walking out.

Carl S wrote:

Do people have a preference for south/west/east/north for mille lacs for either numbers or bigger fish?

Last winter I caught 26″ + fish on the north end, west side and southeast side. Numbers of fish can be had everywhere also imo, but in either case you need to work for them it’s not quite just pop a hole and wait for them to swim up it unfortunately

Carl S wrote:

Do people have a preference for south/west/east/north for mille lacs for either numbers or bigger fish? Or does it all fish about the same?

Like Bigwerm says, all sizes are on all sides and everywhere. Last winter I was talking to a resort owner who was telling me that the majority of that huge 2013 year class was staying out in the deep water way out in the main basin year round. I would trust he knew what he was talking about. His theory was that having not yet been of spawning age, they just didn’t come in and relate to the shallows all that much. Not to say they were never found shallow occasionally. This does seem to be the case as there have been actually more large walleye (20″+) caught in the shallows recently than the 2013 year class. One would expect that trend to change as the they mature. This is actually quite good for anglers now as you do not need to push farther out in the lake to find big fish as many are being caught currently in shallow near shore waters.

i have a sleeper booked from a private company do you think there will be safe enough ice by the 5 of jan thanks

Deke12 wrote:

i have a sleeper booked from a private company do you think there will be safe enough ice by the 5 of jan thanks

yes.

FYI most of the resorts are in mid-season mode on FB and updating their ice conditions regularly, I’ll try and summarize the one’s I’ve seen. First there is still a LOT of variability, so anywhere you go walk or be very careful on ATV/UTV’s. The south end bays are doing great and have 10″+, outside of the bay’s it falls off quickly tho to under 10″. Red Door has 7-8″ out to the first break and 6ish” on Weimer and Bombeck Flats and is advising machine traffic just to the first break and NOT to the flats. Garrison Sports reports 7″ of ice in Garrison bay, with a strip with 5″ near shore. Nitti’s just posted this morning are finding spots with only 3.5″ in spots and is not allowing any machine traffic this weekend. Good luck and look forward to some reports from this weekend, I’ll be up next week!

Great report BW, thanks.

Anyone make it out this past weekend? I’m heading up Friday and can’t wait!