ups and downs of Mille Lacs living

In the next year or two, my dad is going to be retiring and looking to buy a cabin in the garrison/ aitkin general area. We have looked at a lot of properties and are figuring out what exactly he wants and what he can afford. We have always avoided Mille lacs for the reason that it is just a big round basin, and the water is always rougher there than on neighboring smaller lakes. If people that have places or insight on living on Mille lacs could share their experiences and what they see as ups and downs it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I’ve lived on the big lake for an entire lifetime…feel free to call anytime if you have questions or concerns. Cell Number below.

With 1 fish Walleye limits you should be able to find some great deals on property up there.

Maybe the values would eventually go up when and if the Walleye restrictions loosen up

Unlike me, avoid buying in the three townships on the south end of the lake that the band is claiming as part of their reservation. There is no telling what may happen in the future.

Taxes are better over in the Malmo area. I forget which county that is, but that’s what I’ve been told.

bullcans wrote:

With 1 fish Walleye limits you should be able to find some great deals on property up there.

Maybe the values would eventually go up when and if the Walleye restrictions loosen up

Don’t kid yourself. They aren’t making anymore shoreline in the near future. It’s like all the doom & gloom predicted for Minnetonka when it became infested with Milfoil. See any property values dropping there?

There are two hospitals in the area, onamia and Crosby. Cove bay where I live, is well protected from the wind. There is alot of waterskiing, jet skiing, canoeing, paddle boating and such. Walleyes are the draw here on mille lacs, bu there is a very good panfish population with good size, the smallmouth bass fishing is very good also. It does get rough when the wind blows, but people go elsewhere because of that. I like it when the wind blows, less boats and the fish bite can turn on. It is only 1.5 hours from the northern suburbs of the cities. There are two state parks, one on the lake and one within a mile, that provide year round activities. Even with all the controversy here, places are selling, when the price is right.

It’s most definatly a buyers market, so take your time and don’t be afraid to low ball on an offer. My mother just purchased a piece of property in cove and plans to start building this spring.

Taxes are half as much in Aitkin Co. Than Mille Lacs Co. There is a lot of pleasure boating that goes on than I ever thought.

Lots of public land to roam in the area.

Brainerd is not real far from Garrison for shopping, theaters and other stuff.

The nice thing about the south side is that there are more bays to hide from the wind.

Just a few thought that come to mind.

Mille Lacs County is very strict with their ordinances around the lake than is Aitkin County… the line splits the lake West to East. Although away from the lake in Mille Lacs County, you can have a landfill for a yard and they don’t care….

Mille Lacs is a great area for the outdoorsman. Lots of public hunting ground for deer and grouse. You have good walleye fishing on Mille Lacs(you still can go out and get walleye just not a keeper all the time). The small lakes in the area especially near the north part of the lake are full of walleye(farm island lake) and there are some smaller musky lakes in the area as well. I lived there for a couple years and my grand father has lived up there for 35 years. I live in the Leech Lake area now just because it is a little less developed.

Hi, I have only had a place on ML for two years but do have a few thoughts. Like your dad I was looking to retirement on a lake. Because our kids are in the cities, we wanted to be close enough they could come up for a weekend. So drew a circle around the twin cites with a 2 hour drive max. Then thought I needed to be on a large body of water or would get bored. So these two requirements narrowed us down to ML.
But fishing ML and knowing the waves I decided 1st a large boat was required. So purchased at 620. Guess what the 620 took water over the windshield trolling last year, wife took it well. That was after the boat never came off the lift for the first 4 days of the 4th weekend. That was after the wind had dropped at bit on the 5th day and I was going crazy wasting away most of 1 week vacation.
My advice, if he is patient and can wait out the wind, then maybe okay. However if he is like me and dreams of walking out to the end of the dock every morning and heading out for a few hours ML is not the lake. Also as he gets older he might not want to fight the waves. Consider the size of his boat.
As mentioned Atkins County taxes are half of ML.
In the two years there has been at least a dozen requests for variances in the bay we are in on the East Side. You will get a notice and have a choice in weigh in. All have been granted by ML and some that they grant are unbelievable.
If I could do it again, so far I would choose a smaller lake. When I wanted to fish ML, I could pull the boat.

Good points…. less wind issues on the west and north side for sure.