the pond question……. mille lacs

as I sit here trying to put together my game plan for muskie opener, can some of the walleye and smallie guys give us some lake updates???…. looking for water temps and weed conditions from around the lake.

thanks much guys

Water temps were in the 56-60 degree range on Monday. I’m not sure what the rain has done to it since then.

Low 60’s in the shallow water, eastside.

High 50’s in Vineland. Weed line about 12-14′. Good luck.

was the cabbage up? and if so how tall was it?

The cabbage here in cove bay is starting to come up nice. I can’t say for the rest of the lake, but I would guess it is about the same. On a side note, in 12 years living here on cove bay, this spring I haven’t seen nearly the numbers of fish I have seen in years past. Either they have found a better place to spawn, or the numbers are down. In years past, fish showed up when I was putting the dock in and we would see a half a dozen or so different fish daily while the spawn was going on. This year, there have only been two fish seen all spring. I have not seen any in the shallows while looking for panfish. Good luck on the opener and post a report.

thanks puddlepounder for the update, it is very disheartening that yo are not seeing the numbers in cove that you have had in years past. I sure hope it isn’t because of the spearing on mille lacs this past season. I doubt it but you never know…… I witnessed an alarming amount of muskies “accidently” speared this year up there via resorts reports, social media and in person!!!

in my opinion I just don’t see the need for it. I know its a controversial subject but what do ya do

thanks again for the update

I don’t think it is because of the spearing. The co’s watched it real close. Not that a few were not speared, I just don’t think it was that significant where it would make a difference. The numbers of fish I have seen has been going down the last 3 or 4 years. About 4 or 5 years ago, they released 3000 muskie fry at the cove bay landing, the cormorants were on top of them for 4 days straight. There was a article in the millelacs messenger and they figure that the birds ate them all. I did see the birds first hand and it all made sense after reading the article.

692fisherman wrote:

I witnessed an alarming amount of muskies “accidently” speared this year up there via resorts reports, social media and in person!!!

I know this was a big concern for the CO’s and Musky fisherman, I didn’t see or hear of any getting speared. I’m sure a few did, but likely not something the offending parties would publicize. Where did you see that?

If you seen it in person, it was reported ?

the one I witnessed was reported asap….. there were 2 over 50 that people tried to weigh as pike, at a resort on the west side (that I wont name) the last week of the game season,(that info came from the resort owner) and there was another 53 that was posted on facebook that was speared the weekend of the ducks unlimited contest……

I know its mother nature, with the birds eating the muskie fry but its seems like a huge waste of money…… wouldn’t it be easier on the fish to release them in smaller numbers over multiple days and in multiple locations??? just my 2 cents