I got out on ML for the first time this year. The wind was blowing a bit early and the rigging bite was very good while there were waves. Fish were on the top edge of the flats and on the break. As the wind died to nothing, so did the bite for me. I switched to leadcore and popped a 25″ right away. Couldn’t get another fish to go. I tried cranks, spinners and rigging.
Was out from 2:30-8. Nothing for the first two hours rigging with leech. Tried mud/gravel transition, not a bite. Went to flats and tried the same, nothing.
Turned the marine radio on and overheard a mortality rate survey. They were accompanying several boats fishing the flats that had to use different baits for the study. Ant one point the catch count was 41-leeches and 5-crawlers. Saw some of the boats participating pulling spinners so… monkey see monkey do.
Hooked up while setting the second line. Pulled spinners on the edges of the flats with crawlers and leeches. Catch rate was a perfect split between the two but leeches were the clear winner on size.
Was on the flats from about 1:30 to 9 pm. Pulled a rig and a leech the whole time and did ok. Edges seemed to be best for us. Had 1 24″ and the rest varied in size smaller than that.
I have finally found a few out on the flats, not much for numbers but bigger fish…21-25″ fish. My neighbor has been doing well, getting some good numbers and nice size. His wife got a 28″ this afternoon. More boats out the last couple days than I’ve seen the last couple years. They’re all here for the fireworks. 
Finally have seen some “floaters” now. Not good…but the DNR is now counting everything? 
My wife and I fished Saturday & Sunday …. this was only our second time ever on the lake. We tried cranks some but had no luck so we tried Lindy’s and leeches on the flats and had some success. I decide to try some spinners & crawlers on bouncers and seemed to do better with the right color combo. All in all we did ok I thought as we probably caught 70-80 fish between both days but 20+ of them were between 21-27in with about 10 of those over 24in. We would hit spots with no boats and pick up a few and move on. Had a great time and hopefully the bite continues because I’d like to come back up in a couple weeks.
All in all we did ok I thought as we probably caught 70-80 fish both days but 20+ of them were between 21-27in with about 10 of those over 24in.
You caught 70-80 walleye up to 27″ in 2 days and you think did ok? Can anyone find another place now that’s putting out those numbers and sizes? Even that rivals Canada destinations. I mean what’s going on here at Mille Lacs? 
Was out on Saturday from 6am-3pm. Was way more boats out than I thought there might be. Started the morning pulling cranks on the edges of flats and couldn’t get a nibble. Switched over to a mix of leech and crawler rigs and picked up a couple small fish. Finally moved up on the flats and every one switched to the same leech rig and pulled in two nice fat 26 inch fish and a fat 24. The boats around us were having more consistent luck. Talked to a number of people drifting past who also pulled bigger fish including a 28. All ice season it was a bunch of the little guys, so while not the active bite in our boat the quality was much better.
We did see at least two floaters of decent sized fish while we were out. Will be our first and only open water trip to the lake this year most likely. The action is nice, but just don’t personally want to up the chance of making floaters as it heats up.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joseph Krambeer wrote:</div>
All in all we did ok I thought as we probably caught 70-80 fish both days but 20+ of them were between 21-27in with about 10 of those over 24in.You caught 70-80 walleye up to 27″ in 2 days and you think did ok? Can anyone find another place now that’s putting out those numbers and sizes? Even that rivals Canada destinations. I mean what’s going on here at Mille Lacs?
Just to make sure you understood me correctly only 20 or so we’re above the low 20″ mark. My wife & I walleye fish alot so 35-40 fish a day is kinda a slow day…. last labor day weekend we boated and released 706 in 3.5 days in NE South Dakota…. mind you those were mostly 14-16 inches they were still fun to catch. The trip up there this weekend was great …. I didn’t mean to talk it down. We also caught enough other year classes or saw others catching them that there should be plenty more in the coming years. Looks like we may be running back up for this weekend and bringing the kids along so if you see a charcoal & silver Skeeter out there it’s probably me:-)
I want to say
something but I won’t.
Looks like we may be running back up for this weekend and bringing the kids along so if you see a charcoal & silver Skeeter out there it’s probably me:-)
Im going to be looking for a charcoal and silver skeeter to pull up and get educated on how to catch 70 fish. Look for me in a moroon and silver s skeeter. 
706……….
706……….
Dude, considering they slept and ate/pooped for 9 hours each day, and assuming they didn’t poo at all the last half day….that’s 706fish/57hrs of fishing average out to lil over 12 fish an hour, or a fish every 5 minutes.
Who doesn’t catch this many? 
I give credit for even keeping track.
Glad you said it. I wish I had that kind of fishing skills.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>brian_peterson wrote:</div>
706……….Dude, considering they slept and ate/pooped for 9 hours each day, and assuming they didn’t poo at all the last half day….that’s 706fish/57hrs of fishing average out to lil over 12 fish an hour, or a fish every 5 minutes.
Who doesn’t catch this many?
I give credit for even keeping track.
Obviously none of you have fished Bitter Lake in NE South Dakota, for the ones that have 100+ walleyes a day is a piece of cake when the bite is good! I had my wife and my 2 girls with me so we would run 6 lines w/slow death rigs and try to keep up. The second day we boated 275 and fished about 10-11hrs a day. The fishing on Mille Lacs has been great the short time I’ve been up there but I cannot get on a consistent smallmouth bite! Last weekend we pulled spinners & crawlers on 8-10ft Snell’s with mostly copper blade color variations seemed to do best for us.
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