One of the best ever??

With the unreal ice conditions, people everywhere, and good bite… Is this one of the best winters on Mille Lacs in recent memory?
I’ve never seen so many people in the 12 plus years Ive been up there in the winter. Granted people were worried if there would even be a season this year in December and January with all the snow for early ice. But now Resorts have great roads to every single mudflat on the lake. South end road systems are extensive as well. You can take a diesel truck and a tandem wheel house all the way to middle of the lake (don’t remember that happening)… People are catching keepers with regularity (don’t remember that happening). Standing room only Saturday morning in Malmo Market. Lines at the pumps(don’t remember that happening). Its just good to see.

We caught 594″ of walleye last weekend, and Ive never done that well in February before. Caught and released 4 “keepers”. Usually it dies off in February pretty hard, but it seems like the bite will stay hot right on through the end of the season this year. Condition of the fish seems to be better than usual as well. Lots of sagging bellies on the big fish.

Agree one of the best in recent memory? Surely you would have to admit there has been way more people fishing.

You may have a point on February being better than normal. But I remind you that December and January were not very good for travel on that lake (or many others).

Generally, a strong winter bite is an indication that there will also be a strong open water bite come spring.

that’s music to us soft water guys. hope it holds true. we’ve been spending a week up there every summer since 2016. fishing just gets better every year.

sktrwx2200 wrote:

We caught 594″ of walleye last weekend, and Ive never done that well in February before.

That sounds like a huge number but if you had a 17” average you’re only talking 35 fish. Assuming you had 4 guys that’s only 8-9 fish per guy. That’s better than I did a couple weeks ago and pretty good altogether but that number of total inches is very deceiving.

Regardless of whats happening to the north on RED, whether the people choose to go ML or were forced there… they still were/are there; helping an economy that had some rough years recently. I have seen alot of similar situations where the bite dies hard and fast when the influx of people like that. But that’s not the case so far at least.

Biggill- I am not bragging about a career outing. More so just happy for the area, and just saying that for February on ML.. fish can still be had, in good numbers. We only had 3 guys, and didn’t fish outside, didn’t try terribly hard, and didn’t even jig. So bringing that amount of fish in 48 hours through a 20ft fish house floor in FEBRUARY is, I THINK, better than usual.

Ever ? Nope. Late 80’s early 90’s, you could go out and catch your limit, in a permanent shack, 3 miles from shore. This was pre-netting of course and a slot was in its infancy.

One thing to take into account. Driving wasn’t possible on the lake until the 2nd weekend of January. It’s great if the numbers are there now but it probably averages out. Fishing has been good but again the fisherman weren’t there early.
DT

It’s been incredibly slow for me and my buddies prob 7 shacks the last 3 weeks. Fished north end flats/ first break/ sand flats been all over. It’s been 5-10 fish fri evening- Sunday afternoon. Just 2 to 3 fish a day. Talking in the bar with all the skid house owners been hearing the same thing. What’s been working for you? We’re tried tops transitions bottoms out in no man’s land…. it’s just been incredibly tough since that warm up 3 weeks ago

Is definitely the travel conditions on mille why it’s so packed this year winni, leech lake and surrounding lakes are horrible from what i hear. Snowmobile traffic only slush like crazy

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>sktrwx2200 wrote:</div>
We caught 594″ of <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye last weekend, and Ive never done that well in February before.

That sounds like a huge number but if you had a 17” average you’re only talking 35 fish. Assuming you had 4 guys that’s only 8-9 fish per guy. That’s better than I did a couple weeks ago and pretty good altogether but that number of total inches is very deceiving.

…says the guy that’s “assuming!”

Lighten up bud. No need to over analyze everything. Maybe it was just two of them. Maybe three maybe ten. Regardless, he said it was HIS best FEB fishing ever. Not yours and not the guy who was fishing in the late‘80’s early 90’s. Give it a rest.

Smackem33 I’m not sure what to tell you but you and your group of buddies and you are either greenhorns or doing something wrong!! I’m fishing north end also as almost always for last 40 + years out of barnacles and if your not catching at least 20-30 walleyes a weekend out of a house of 2 guys something very wrong sorry to say even after the warm up 3 weeks ago and past years I’ve had 30-84 walleye weekends in Feb. The lake is in great shape I miss the jumbo perch tullibee and even eelpout fishing we used to have!!! I don’t agree with the slot size thou too many plump female great egg layers allowed to keep once again our DNR is wrong about a lot of things or should I say there governing body we all know who that is and it’s sooo sad!!!

Smackem33 I’m not sure what to tell you but you and your group of buddies and you are either greenhorns or doing something wrong! I’m fishing north end also as almost always for last 40 + years out of barnacles and if your not catching at least 20-30 walleyes a weekend out of a house of 2 guys something very wrong sorry to say even after the warm up 3 weeks ago and past years I’ve had 30-84 walleye weekends in Feb. The lake is in great shape I miss the jumbo perch tullibee and even eelpout fishing we used to have! I don’t agree with the slot size thou too many plump female great egg layers allowed to keep once again our DNR is wrong about a lot of things or should I say there governing body we all know who that is and it’s so sad!

big_g wrote:

Ever ? Nope. Late 80’s early 90’s, you could go out and catch your limit, in a permanent shack, 3 miles from shore. This was pre-netting of course and a slot was in its infancy.

Well if the regulations from the late 80’s early 90’s were in place today, I think sktrwx2200 and his group would have had their limit with plenty of throwbacks…what was it back then? A limit of 6?

I don’t see your point.

FWIW, I have found it has been always hit or miss, no matter when. For many it can be slow…a couple fish here and there but somewhere, someone or some group hits the big time. I see and hear about it all the time and have experienced it first hand myself.

sktrwx2200…glad to hear you had a great time out there and nice to have you report positive experience and witnessing in the face of mostly controversial drama that typically poops out from too much Mille Lacs political perversion.

Smackem33 wrote:

It’s been incredibly slow for me and my buddies prob 7 shacks the last 3 weeks.

This could be your problem as well.. If you have 100yds between ya, then I wouldn’t consider that the problem, but, IMHO I’ve seen how the wheel house guys stack up on each other & wonder why they don’t catch many fish. Just my 2 cents.

Walleyepro20 wrote:

Smackem33 I’m not sure what to tell you but you and your group of buddies and you are either greenhorns or doing something wrong!! I’m fishing north end also as almost always for last 40 + years out of barnacles and if your not catching at least 20-30 walleyes a weekend out of a house of 2 guys something very wrong sorry to say even after the warm up 3 weeks ago and past years I’ve had 30-84 <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye weekends in Feb. The lake is in great shape I miss the jumbo perch tullibee and even eelpout fishing we used to have!!! I don’t agree with the slot size thou too many plump female great egg layers allowed to keep once again our DNR is wrong about a lot of things or should I say there governing body we all know who that is and it’s sooo sad!!!

84….. Ok…..

Edit:
But I do agree with missing the old days of jumbo perch!

I’ve been fishing the lake since the mid 90’s, owned a skid house 15 years now. Definitely nothing special to me this year. lots of fish in the 18-22″ range and no other species to speak of on mid-lake structure. The tullibee bite is pretty good, but they are all big and that fishery is about to collapse right along with the perch. I enjoyed perch fishing more than walleye, hitting a school of jumbos and pulling up a half dozen slobs in a few minutes was just awesome. Those days are long gone, probably won’t return in my fishing lifetime. 10 years ago the lake was full of 26-28″ fish, that was a blast! One year I got 12 over 28″ just myself. The population of large pike is way down because of the harpooners as well, I used to get several large pike per winter season, haven’t had one in three years now. I keep a pretty detailed journal of my fishing and numbers are average for me this year about 12 walleye per trip in my skid house. Treaty management has ruined a large portion of the fishery with more to come unfortunately….

Oldstar u must be a green horn also only 12 fish lol. That’s been the word ive heard from my group of friends and a bunch of co workers that go fishing pretty much every weekend all over the lake. I am still waiting on you walleyepro what’s your secrets?? You fishing in a hard shack or snowmobile run and gunning?

Smackem33 wrote:

Oldstar u must be a green horn also only 12 fish lol. That’s been the word ive heard from my group of friends and a bunch of co workers that go fishing pretty much every weekend all over the lake. I am still waiting on you walleyepro what’s your secrets?? You fishing in a hard shack or snowmobile run and gunning?

Ask them for photos and you’ll get your answers! LOL

You can definately hit a hot spot and pound 30 in a weekend, but its not common. I don’t count the walleye I catch running around during the day. I’m just talking about shack numbers. Sitting in a house and pounding 30 eyes in a weekend is a rarity, but can certainly happen. 84 out of a shack in Feb. might be a bit of a stretch!!!lol

sktrwx2200 wrote:

So bringing that amount of fish in 48 hours through a 20ft fish house floor in FEBRUARY is, I THINK, better than usual.

You are correct. It is.

Oldstar wrote:

10 years ago the lake was full of 26-28″ fish, that was a blast! One year I got 12 over 28″ just myself. The population of large pike is way down because of the harpooners as well, I used to get several large pike per winter season, haven’t had one in three years now.

There’s still a large population of those fish in the lake. Actually, too many according to the DNR. Most recent pike study there says that 34% of the pike are over 30 inches too. Which, in my opinion, is better off than most of the lakes in this entire state. The muskies and smallmouth seem to be doing pretty well too. I do agree that the jumbo perch are basically gone now though.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
Ever ? Nope. Late 80’s early 90’s, you could go out and catch your limit, in a permanent shack, 3 miles from shore. This was pre-netting of course and a slot was in its infancy.

Well if the regulations from the late 80’s early 90’s were in place today, I think sktrwx2200 and his group would have had their limit with plenty of throwbacks…what was it back then? A limit of 6?

I don’t see your point.

FWIW, I have found it has been always hit or miss, no matter when. For many it can be slow…a couple fish here and there but somewhere, someone or some group hits the big time. I see and hear about it all the time and have experienced it first hand myself.

sktrwx2200…glad to hear you had a great time out there and nice to have you report positive experience and witnessing in the face of mostly controversial drama that typically poops out from too much Mille Lacs political perversion.

My point, was my opinion. Back in 1988, there were no Ice Castles, there were a few King Crows around, but not many. There was not a need for Ice Roads, 6 lanes wide, criss crossing the lake like today, There was barely this thing called a Vexilar FL8. You went to a permanent shack, that was plopped down, cause it was a good spot last year and you fished. You could catch a limit of 6 fish in hours, not days or over a weekend. Don’t read too far into my thoughts, they are harmless. Times were better to me back then.

But…but…but…I agree it’s a great time to fish the lake, and this summer is looking even better, hopefully it will stay open…

One of the funniest things about the Mille Lacs culture is how quickly a bunch of people will jump in to say that no, the fishing isn’t as good as you think. It’s not so good. It could be better. LOL

john23 wrote:

One of the funniest things about the Mille Lacs culture is how quickly a bunch of people will jump in to say that no, the fishing isn’t as good as you think. It’s not so good. It could be better. LOL

I know. “It’s not as good as it was 30 years ago”…yeah, was probably even better then that 60 years ago. Heck, 90 years ago I heard you could walk across the lake stepping on walleye backs.

It’s an amazing lake with an amazing bite! Go have fun.

ClownColor wrote:

It’s an amazing lake with an amazing bite! Go have fun.

That it is, and that I do!

Those were the days my friends…we thought they’d never end

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And to those who have the gall to say deer hunting was so much better in the 50’s… the nerve !!! Everybody gets a trophy here !

BigWerm wrote:

hopefully it will stay open…

I’m still wondering why people are allowed to harvest fish in the winter when there is a possibility it may have to close early around Labor Day. That makes almost no sense to me. If the goal is to keep it open, take a more conservative approach. It really isn’t fair to allow the ice anglers to actually harvest fish and then the soft water guys can’t even target them in the fall. Can anyone offer some reason as to why its done like this?

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
hopefully it will stay open…

I’m still wondering why people are allowed to harvest fish in the winter when there is a possibility it may have to close early around Labor Day. That makes almost no sense to me. If the goal is to keep it open, take a more conservative approach. It really isn’t fair to allow the ice anglers to actually harvest fish and then the soft water guys can’t even target them in the fall. Can anyone offer some reason as to why its done like this?

Money would be my guess.

The ice fishing business is huge compared to the much smaller fall boat fishing group.

Economics drives it.
Resorts make their profit from hardwater.
Many of the soft water people are day trippers who launch at public accesses and thus very little $$ is spent.

I loved the photos of the “Old Days”. I looked for a dateline but I know it had to be from the mid 60s. Why? All Seasons resort in Wahkon was Hanks Resort prior to it being bought by a relative.