Worth fishing for Smallmouth right now?

Anyone been out targeting smallies lately? I’ve never fished Mille Lacs in my own boat, but I’m thinking about giving it a try this Saturday if I can work out the logistics. I’d love to catch some smallmouth, but not sure if this is a good time of the year to try that.

I’m coming from the NE suburbs, and don’t know the lake well, so I’d like to focus on just a small portion of the lake if possible. Of course, the wind will likely dictate what area that is or whether I even try it to begin with.

Any tips or suggestions? I’m looking at a map on Navionics and there’s just tons of ‘shallow’ spots in that whole area and a bunch of ‘special purpose or general buoy’ markers that I’m guessing are just marking shallow areas or rocks. Is there a better way to identify rocky spots/reefs to target(apart from the huge mega obvious ones like Shaw’s Reef)? If you draw a line from Izaty’s NNE to Long point, I’m basically looking at the area inside of that(again, depending on the wind).

And if whatever I try totally sucks I’d probably just troll around for northern, so if anyone has tips on that I’d love to hear it as well.

I can promise you this, if I end up fishing there this weekend I will post a full report, which is likely to be filled with boat or trailer blunders and a healthy portion of embarrassing moments.

Phil, it has gotten tougher with this heat wave out there (so has the walleye fishing). The fish have moved off to some deeper water, whereas in June they were shallow. Try a tube, wacky rig, or drop shot. I’ve never had great luck targeting them after the 4th of July but I’m sure it can still be done. Make sure you make long casts and avoid spooking the fish out of the area.

Wind is not likely to be a factor this weekend, barring a storm front

I would think smallies would be tough this time of year and your first time on the lake.

Trolling around for pike could be good. Or hit the mud for walleyes

Hmmm, maybe I will postpone my maiden voyage on Mille Lacs until the fall in that case. I don’t mind going out and not catching much, but throw ~4 hours of driving on top of that and it’s a little less enjoyable.

I will start thinking of alternative options, thanks guys!

Phil they are still very catchable in the summer. Pulled in two 19″ this afternoon. If new to the lake here is my recommendation. Pick out a few humps with tops 5 to 12′. If windy and have spot lock place boat 50′ of hump with boat facing into wind. Then fish from back of boat and pitch back to the hump. Bounce Ned rig or tube off the rocks back to the boat. No boat control required and multiple people can fish from the back. Evening bobber fish for the bizzilion walleyes.

I wasn’t at the lake July 13th weekend, but I was back this last weekend and the bite is still pretty good for smallies. They are still hammering the crawfish, so casting a lipless or shallow diving crank up on the shallow rocks or trolling them is still working well. I haven’t been throwing tubes or neds just because I haven’t had to yet, but I am sure that is working as well.

As far a spots, if you meant Big Point, not long point, then spider island is a good spot along with doe island, pine island and hennepin island, but pretty much and rock hump that comes up to 3-5′ is going to be holding bass. They are all over the lake, really millions of them.

That’s an exaggeration to say the least…the most recent DNR population estimate of smallmouth bass in that lake is about 67,000 adults over 12 inches in length. That’s a far cry from “millions” based on simple math. Also, they are not all over the lake. You won’t find them out in the main basin on the mud flats, which constitutes a large area of the lake.

Well I didn’t manage to get out this weekend, I didn’t feel like driving through the rain on Saturday morning, so I slept in instead. I appreciate the help though, I will likely try to get up there in the next few weeks!

Don’t mean to hijack the thread but on a related note I’ll be up this weekend in unfamiliar territory. We’re staying way on the north end (Red Door Resort, I think) and it would be nice to get some fishing in. It’s a couples trip (not a fishing trip) so we rented a pontoon for the FWs, but maybe we could look foolish and drown some worms while we’re out there. Anyone know some near-shore places to try for either smallies or eyes if the wind cooperates?

I am not real familiar with the north end of the lake but apparently gimruis is an expert on the lake so I’ll let him give you direction.

On the north end, I would head to the north end mud flats this time of year. Sit on the edge, or at the base of the edge with slip bobbers and leeches if you want something simple.

FYI – we threw for smallies for a short time on one of the east side rock reefs I had been getting them on a few weeks ago. There wasn’t much on top in the shallows, at least on our short visit. So we headed out to the mud and got some nice big walleyes instead.

moustachesteve wrote:

Anyone know some near-shore places to try for either smallies or eyes if the wind cooperates?
born in the land of sky blue waters

Heading out to the lake from Red Door, you have sand to the left on the break and Myr Mar reefs to the right for rocks and if you go straight out a little further mud. Any of the three areas can be great depending on the time of year!

To follow up on gimruis comment on DNR estimation of 67,00 adults, myself and some other members of the Mille Smallmouth Alliance supported the DNR for two years to help come up with this number.

gimruis is right there are not a lot of SMB given the size of the lake. They are concentrated on the rocky areas. Take a look at the SMB you catch and pay attention to the number that have already been hooked. From my catches during those two years, 25% of the SMB I caught had already been hooked.

When the DNR relaxed the requirements to try to get folks to keep bass versus walleyes due to the walleye crash, this created the concern and why the promotion for the free the fighter campaign.

Well played, gonefishin. That number I previously stated was taken from the Brainerd Dispatch based on a population survey in 2018. In 2017, at the weigh in of the AOY tournament, a biologist told me that it takes a bass about 10 years to get to 20 inches/5 pounds this far north because of the shortened growing season. We could absolutely decimate their population in a short period of time if people started harvesting them regularly. Luckily, most bass anglers aren’t meat hunters, so the majority of them get released.

A couple of articles related to SMB population on Mille Lacs and info on the two year study I referred to.

New estimate shows healthy Mille Lacs smallmouth bass population

http://www.startribune.com/dnr-says-mille-lacs-smallmouth-population-healthy/480280233/

Note in the Star Tribune article that DNR states “In recent years, anglers have caught and released more than 125,000 bass,” with estimate of 67,000 total a lot of bass are being caught more than once.

10 years ago we never caught more than one or two smb a year, for the last 3-4 years you can’t troll any of the shallow rock piles for walleyes that we used to without catching smb all the time. By far way more smb than walleyes are being caught. I have zero data to argue your numbers, but I know a lot of people would argue the DNR’s population estimate for walleyes so I don’t have a lot of faith in these numbers either. Especially knowing how many smb I catch every single weekend.

Thanks for the tips Lindy and Werm

Sticker, I should come down and fish by you when I want to go for bass. It’s not that way over the majority of the lake (IMO), in fact the opposite. We’ve caught more walleye while targeting bass this year than bass.

Bass in danger? Bass population will be decimated? Yeah, I kinda don’t think so. I have never heard of this happening in my lifetime, anyplace. However bass overpopulation is something I hear all the time. The way some anglers covet bass will do more harm to them then the anglers who eat a few will.

Sticker if you are catching more SMB while fishing for walleyes please share your secrets with me. For me I am pretty close to 50/50 SMB/walleyes this year when using plastics for SMB. Past years always a few walleyes mixed in but this year a lot of the 18″ walleyes.

I want to echo what Sticker has posted. Still getting a lot of SMB on the east side big point area. Just think the bite will be getting better into August. Don’t consider myself a bass guy, but if you troll cranks in the rocks, you will be getting plenty of bites.

Still working on getting better at drop shots and wacky rigs. Keep going back to tube jigs. If it aint broke as they say…..

Also productive is power corking the deeper small rock humps and piles you run across between BP and 3 mile. Literally 100’s of spots to check out there. Humps that top off at 20-25ish lots of deep SMB there now.

-J.

lindyrig79 wrote:

FYI – we threw for smallies for a short time on one of the east side rock reefs I had been getting them on a few weeks ago. There wasn’t much on top in the shallows, at least on our short visit. So we headed out to the mud and got some nice big <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes instead.

I had the same experience last weekend. The walleyes are too much fun. And for whatever reason they were pulling drag like smallies.

We tried two spots for bass with only one to show for our efforts. Switched to walleyes and had an awesome afternoon. I have no doubt the SMB were biting in spots I didn’t fish, though!

Oh, and just about every time I fish bass I catch walleyes along with them. Even on Ned rigs!

gonefishin wrote:

Sticker if you are catching more SMB while fishing for walleyes please share your secrets with me. For me I am pretty close to 50/50 SMB/walleyes this year when using plastics for SMB. Past years always a few walleyes mixed in but this year a lot of the 18″ walleyes.

Simple, pulling cranks that look like crawfish over rocks in 12′ or less, although like Jon said I have been getting them in as much as 20-22′ lately. 20 to 1 smb to walleyes last weekend and that’s not exaggerating, I will keep track closely this weekend.

I’ve been catching more walleyes than bass this season. These walleyes will hit anything, even the stuff you wouldn’t expect them to: dropshot, heavy 3/4oz tubes, etc. Toss some Ned rigs or paddletail swimbaits and its walleye city. Early in the season when the bass and walleye were evenly mixed together on the shallow rocks, I couldn’t keep the walleye off.

I don’t think the bass population will get decimated anytime soon, numbers-wise. However, I could see the average size getting smaller as the older ones die from hooking mortality from being repeatedly caught. I think that’s already happening as compared to 5-10 years ago.

I saw two idiots a few weeks ago during the heat wave livewell two big bass until sunset so they could get a “hero shot” holding both fish with arms as far out from their bodies as possible with a sunset in the background. They passed them back and forth and both got some pics in. One idiot dropped one of the fish twice. Fish were out of the water for many minutes. Shockingly, they left a floater in the lake after the photoshoot was done. I motored over to it after they left. It was about a 5.5 pounder.

I saw pretty much that same thing happen a couple of years ago. A guy with two teenage boys pulled 4 big bass out of their live well for hero shots. I motored over and gave them an earful. They moved a little ways away and then pulled even a couple of others from their live well. Two of the four didn’t make it. I have been fishing the last couple of days. It seems the SMB are struggling upon release in this hot weather, more than normal. Need to horse them in, release boat side with out using landing net.

I never quite understood how people could take a photo of 2 big bass at the same time and then claim they were released. I always thought they caught a double. I see now how it’s being done. They’re sticking em in the live well for a while until they feel like releasing them. I could definitely see a higher chance of mortality after this. The livewell water has to be warmer than urine right now.

Gonefishin’ I don’t think I could of let that one go either without giving them an earful. I thought the entire point of CPR was to quickly get fish back into the water to catch another day. One of my favorite fish pics in the last few years was a true double that my Dad and I caught. Also we weren’t worried about a pretty sunset either, our interest was letting them swim off.

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doubles like that are a lot of fun. Who helps who?

I also don’t understand how the quides and others who posts their pictures of holding doubles do it unless they truly have double. Otherwise they are clearly breaking the law.

“All smallmouth and largemouth bass between 17 and 21 inches must be immediately released. Anglers may keep only one bass over 21 inches.”

A question for those that might know. One member on here commented on how to catch the females on beds. Catch the pesky male first and place in the live well and then go after the female. Once the female is caught then release the male. Does anyone know the reqs on this? Legal or in my view just not very bass friendly?

gonefishin wrote:

doubles like that are a lot of fun. Who helps who?

I also don’t understand how the quides and others who posts their pictures of holding doubles do it unless they truly have double. Otherwise they are clearly breaking the law.

“All smallmouth and largemouth bass between 17 and 21 inches must be immediately released. Anglers may keep only one bass over 21 inches.”

A question for those that might know. One member on here commented on how to catch the females on beds. Catch the pesky male first and place in the live well and then go after the female. Once the female is caught then release the male. Does anyone know the reqs on this? Legal or in my view just not very bass friendly?

Possibly the males, being smaller would not qualify for the rule due to being under the 17 inch mark? Otherwise it’d be like every other regulation we have hear and that some people just don’t care.