Places to Swim on Mille Lacs

I’m taking the kids fishing on Sunday. I’m planning to take a break at some point and let them swim for a while. I’ll launch out of Terry’s and likely be fishing the west side of the lake. Does anyone have recommendations for a shallow sandy spot to anchor the boat and swim on the west side? I’m just starting to learn the lake. I know there is lots of shallow sand on the north and northeast areas of the lake, but I’m hoping to avoid a long run in case the wind kicks up. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

If you actually want to beach the boat, wigwam bay has sand lined shoreline as well as the shoreline in St Alban’s bay and from garrison to the harbor bar is all sand lined shore. Have seen boats beached along those shorelines most weekends.

If you want to anchor out and swim, most of those bays are fairly shallow. Stay on the first break line and its mostly sand type bottom through there. Just to the left of terry’s i have seen boats anchored etc in the bay swimming etc.

Thanks! That’s very helpful.

Mille Lacs is a hotbed for zebra mussels, which are very sharp. I’d recommend water shoes for the kids so they don’t slide up their feet.

Slice* not slide. The zebras are terrible on mille lacs, seen lots of people

Thanks for the heads up! I’m sure we’ll pull up plenty of zebs while fishing, I wouldn’t have thought of that while swimming.

Fyi: If you’re in a Sandy area there will be no zebra mussels.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Fyi: If you’re in a Sandy area there will be no zebra mussels.

This is false. I’ve swam in many sandy areas that one way or another still had zebras that would cut us.

Deuces wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
Fyi: If you’re in a Sandy area there will be no zebra mussels.

This is false. I’ve swam in many sandy areas that one way or another still had zebras that would cut us.

Not on Mille Lacs. Joe is right. I swim with my kids on various beaches all summer long.

There are other good reasons to have footwear there. Broken glass, old rusted beer cans, those dead snail shells to mention a few.

-J.

I’m glad you and your families have had good luck. We’ve been cut on the SE end at some places. Just relaying my experiences.

I’d be more concerned with swimmers itch than anything else in the shallow water. Waterfowl feces in the water = swimmers itch. Some people aren’t bothered & others are miserable.
We anchor out in 12′ deep water.

Deuces wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
Fyi: If you’re in a Sandy area there will be no zebra mussels.

This is false. I’ve swam in many sandy areas that one way or another still had zebras that would cut us.

Like Jon said there may be other reasons to wear Footwear but like I said it won’t be zebra mussels. If you have sand and rocks, sand and gravel, then yes you will have zebra mussels. If it’s straight sand-bottom no you will not have zebra mussels.

I agree with Joe. Straight sand the only place Zebs can survive is on structures, boat hoists, docks, etc. Sand is slightly shifting from wave action so no where on the bottom to colonize.

The north east corner is all sand by the park, you can walk out aways before it gets deep.

Thanks everyone!

We will load up a cooler and boat up to the Hogsback / North End Sand from Wahkon BUT if there has been a big bug hatch it might be the grossest area on the lake with a SE wind.

We have a place on the north end in the sand. Although they are much less present in the sand, there are still zebra mussels in the sand to cut your feet.

That is totally bizarre. Not to argue, but we’ve never had a single zebra mussel in the sand in 7 yrs of roaming all over the north end.

Alex Fox wrote:

We have a place on the north end in the sand. Although they are much less present in the sand, there are still zebra mussels in the sand to cut your feet.

Ok I wasn’t going to respond to this but the only way a zeb will be in the sand is if its attached to something that doesn’t move.

Other than docks and lifts they live on weeds, sticks and rocks… anything solid. They can not and will not attach to sand. Its physically and boilogically impossible.

Sorry your post turned into a debate Brewer but there’s right and wrong and I’d rather people know the truth. Have fun swimming! We were swimming tonight and it was a top 10 night. So nice out!

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Alex Fox wrote:

We have a place on the north end in the sand. Although they are much less present in the sand, there are still zebra mussels in the sand to cut your feet.

Is it possible they’re native clams and/or snails? I’ve seen plenty of snail shells washed up on certain beaches and shorelines.

Can’t say I’ve seen zebra mussels in sand but then I wasn’t looking to differentiate shell species.

Either way, always wear some kind of water shoe when walking in the lake.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Sorry your post turned into a debate Brewer

Just goes to show you can’t post anything about Mille Lacs without it ending in an argument But in all honesty, I found the information on zebra mussels interesting. I have picked some up fishing in the sand, but it’s never just one like it is sometimes when fishing rocks. It’s always a clump of them attached to something else – usually fishing line or sticks, which makes sense given the comments above.

Had a great day on the lake. We had to change plans as the wind was blowing much harder than originally forecast. The kids weren’t having much fun getting tossed around out on the mud flats. So we found ourselves up on the north shore, where sand was easy to find. We wore water shoes and were zebra mussel free.

The fishing was a little slower than I had hoped, but that was partially due to trying to control the boat in the wind while entertaining a 3 and 4 year old. Did anyone else have any luck over the weekend? We picked up two on the flats and two more in the sand. 3 on crawlers, 1 on a leech.

Hopefully next weekend we’ll be out on the west side of the lake and can try swimming over there.

It was slow for me sunday. We went out of Terrys and hit the flats. All over 8 mile, 7 mile, seguchie. Fishing was slow, all fish were tight to the bottom. Wind and waves made for difficult conditions. Ended up with 3 fish. 2 of which came back to back. We then had to head in of course. Always fun. Nobody around out there Sunday. Saw a total of maybe 3 different boats all day.

So no zebs can get pushed into the sand say by 4 foot rollers, Large ice sheets or a boat anchor knocks them loose from the rocks and drift to the sand? They may not start out in the sand but they are there. I get them om my lindy hook once in a while.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Ok I wasn’t going to respond to this but the only way a zeb will be in the sand is if its attached to something that doesn’t move.

Other than docks and lifts they live on weeds, sticks and rocks… anything solid. They can not and will not attach to sand. Its physically and boilogically impossible.

Sorry your post turned into a debate Brewer but there’s right and wrong and I’d rather people know the truth. Have fun swimming! We were swimming tonight and it was a top 10 night. So nice out!