Trolling / Big Pike

Any of you guys dedicated big Pike guys on Mille Lacs? Do you do any open basin trolling or just stick to the bays?

There’s a IDO video where they troll super Shad raps on Mille lacs and catch some nice pike ! I’m curious if anyone’s had any luck on pepin ? 2 times I’ve tried it on my way back to the ramp after trolling walleye I’ve come up empty handed . Granted my efforts were less than 3 hours combined .

We used to run downriggers all over out there(mud,gravel,no mans land)for walleye and caught a fair # of pike while doing it.Cant say I recall catching any monster pike,but would assume they are out there as well.

I used to catch sizable pike when I muskie fished out there years ago. I haven’t specifically muskie fished out there for a number of years now though. There just isn’t enough of them anymore and its like trying to find big foot. We caught them in the same areas we muskie fished. Weedlines, bays, and on rocks in the fall. My biggest was a 42 incher.

Lol,muskie rare as bigfoot?My buddy and couple if his friends had 6 muskies in their boat on muskie opener this year.I cant say I have ever fished them and can imagine they are not real easy to figure out but there has to be more than a few around to put 6 in the boat.

I’ve caught them on stick baits, both long lining and trolling plugs behind boards. Over 40″ is a beauty.
Many times I have had my 9’or so crawler harnesses get hit HARD and I have only a couple of feet of frayed mono left. Gators are the culprits.
As to muskie recruitment, I have a friend and neighbor who had a grandson catch a 20″ muskie this spring. There must be some natural reproduction going on.

matt wrote:

Lol,muskie rare as bigfoot?My buddy and couple if his friends had 6 muskies in their boat on muskie opener this year.I cant say I have ever fished them and can imagine they are not real easy to figure out but there has to be more than a few around to put 6 in the boat.

Look at the stocking records over the years. The data shows they have reduced stocking of muskies by an exponential amount in that lake. Considering you’ve never even tried fishing for one, seems fairly foolish to be commenting on how easy it is to catch one.

I have been on Mille Lacs for 10 years and I have never caught a muskie. Granted I never really target them but a few times each year we do troll the super Shad raps around and we have caught some nice pike. My son got a 40” last year and I got a 44” two years ago

matt wrote:

Lol,muskie rare as bigfoot?My buddy and couple if his friends had 6 muskies in their boat on muskie opener this year.I cant say I have ever fished them and can imagine they are not real easy to figure out but there has to be more than a few around to put 6 in the boat.

Yeah have them go back and repeat that now. Late ice out openers are one of the only times ML muskies are catchable in numbers. Every fish in the lake (and about 500 boats) are in the 3 south end bays. After the spawn they spread back out into the rest of the lake and it’s an extremely low density affair. Mille Lacs @ 130,000 acres is stocked with roughly the same number of muskies as Big Detroit @ 3,000 acres.

Seems foolish to say they are not many around because of stocking records and your lack of success.But I guess they got lucky and just happened to run int the only 6 muskies around.

tswoboda wrote:

Mille Lacs @ 130,000 acres is stocked with roughly the same number of muskies as Big Detroit @ 3,000 acres.

That was my point. Thank you. The numbers are not there anymore and the data indicates that. Obviously the size is there, no one would refute that considering it has both the official state record and the C & R state record. Muskie guys fish out there all season trying to catch one fish, literally.

matt wrote:

Seems foolish to say they are not many around because of stocking records and your lack of success.

Seems foolish to say it’s not low density when you’ve never fished for them

I only fce fished Mille Lacs. I did fish the Canadian side of Rainy for 25+ years. Friends from the Falls have a cabin walking distance from the Great Bear Store. I started going for smallies in early June but found big northerns were there.

After trolling miles of shoreline/islands I learned that any point/ridge coming off shore to deep water (50’+) had northerns on them. I found that if I marked a fish on the edge of one of these ridges in 25-35′ it would be a 35″+ fish. I got many around 40″, the biggest 45″. I could tick bottom at 30′ long lining a reef runner. Sometimes I would use a snap weight. Blue/chrome on a sunny day was the best.

If you are looking for only big ones find schools of ciscos in the open water and cast or troll. You will run into a muskie or two probably but that would be my plan of attack for big pike.

Enough about the Muskies. That’s not what Dutch cares about here.

I have never fished pike over the basins but over the last few years I have spent equal or more time fishing pike out there than walleyes – not a lot still – maybe two days each year (just 3-5 hour trips, not full days).

Have put three in the boat at 40” or better. Trolling break lines or casting at weeds is all I’ve done. I realize I’ve been pretty lucky but the big ones are in there. I think the longest one went 42.5”. Plenty of hammer handles and 30”+ fish mixed in as well. Oh and don’t forget about the incidental walleyes and smallies too.

One morning I caught two 40” caliber fish, lost two of equal or greater length, and had two ‘follow’ to the boat that were the same size range.

So yeah. They’re in there. Just go fishing. Keep it simple.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

No where did I ever comment on how easy it was to catch one..They are no where near rare as bigfoot when a friend boated 6 is all I said.Dont get too bent outa shape over it,no way anyone knows how many are there maybe only those 6

But how many bigfoots (bigfeet??) are really out there? No way anyone knows.

It’s just a common trope but hey thanks for letting us all know not to get bent outta shape!