We caught one like that back in June or early July as well. I wonder why some sport this color? They sure are nice looking fish.

That’s where I differ. If I have a run in like that with any place taking MY money, I’d sooner launch in Lake Onamia with a canoe and have to paddle up river on to Mille Lacs than send more money that way.

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What stinks is that Terry has a very good access located in a good area on that side of the lake. That guy must have a spoon up his back side right along with his head.

Some of those resort owners just dont get it about customers coming up fishing. I would be taking a good look at my own business if I knew people where driving past my resort and deep harbor landing to use a run down, very shallow, no harbor, public landing with little to no amenities included with it.
Then there are other resorts that I would drive 10 miles past a free landing just to use there services.

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My thoughts exactly! I was outraged when I read those comments in the Outdoor News and I won’t have to be reminded to avoid that specific west side business. Oh, and if Terry owns the fish in Mille Lacs, does that mean I own the Mall of America?

I make all my own harnesses for spinners. There is a certain way to tie the hooks so you can put multiple ones on the same line. It would be too long to try to type in a post. You wrap the hook and feed line through the eye. I know there are demo’s available out on the internet. It seems like most guys use 10 lb or thicker line. I use 8 pound flourocarbon and it seems to work well. For Mille Lacs, I usually use 8-9 foot snells.

Oh, and for crawlers I usually just use two hooks, not three. I haven’t felt I have missed fish due to one less hook. I typically put a smaller hook on the lowest location. #8 low and #6 or sometimes #4 higher, spaced about 4 inches apart.

Nice to hear. I have been fishing the east side more than I ever have before this year.

I don’t think I have ever looked at anyone else’s face when I have released a fish.

I understand your point Chomps, and I’m sure you will not be alone in changing your plans. I think it somehow feels enlightening to a lot of Mille Lacs regulars to call everyone meat hogs. The fact is, the resort industry caters to a clientele demographic much more similar to you, than it does regulars who happen to often already have places to stay, eat, etc.

I personally fished Mille Lacs straight through 2002 where keepers were hard to find due to a similar keeper slot, and I’m sure I will be back over and over after the current slot changes. But for someone making the lake a vacation destination, I’m sure this is not good news.

In fishing, if someone keeps more fish than you, they are automatically a “meat hog” or “meat hunter”, if they keep less, they are either PETA or snobbish.

Mille Lacs is my favorite fishery. I love the average size and the numbers you can usually pull out of the lake. I agree it should be managed closely for the future. But, I haven’t evolved so far away from fishing’s original intention to not enjoy the occasional shore lunch fish fry either.

This is the second troll on the IDA Mille Lacs forum for the other site.

Hey Goodnewsbear,

I challenge you to go on that other site and recommend IDA. Since it is a new site, it might be nice to have some activity and a discussion point.

With the bite slowing, this might be good news. Fish below 20″ have been harder for the masses to find. Even given hooking mortality, the numbers over the last couple weeks and upcoming week will likely be much lower than the previous month

Okay, I had my first of millions of trips to Mille Lacs back in 1967, the year I was born. My Grandma and Grandpa sold their farm and retired to a place on Mille Lacs. By the time I was old enough to remember, everyone in my family called Mille Lacs the “Pond”. It didn’t feel cute and trendy when Richard Nixon was in office, and it still doesn’t now.

Back in the 70’s , nobody fished “no man’s land”. It was common to find a flat, and drift over it repeatedly. It was thought the best fishing was on the top or edges of the flats. If we strayed too far off, my Dad would say, “reel in, we are off into no-man’s-land now.”

I’ve got lots of memories and nostalgia about my early days on the pond and avoiding no-man’s-land. I choose to keep it that way.

I have caught one 30″ walleye on Mille Lacs, and that was back in ’01. There have been lots of 28’s, a few 29’s, and more 27’s than I can count.

I prefer fireline over mono for trolling. I use it on all my line counters. I like it for more easily feeling debris on the line, and I like its smaller diameter for getting the same baits deeper. I personally haven’t felt like I have lost fish due to the no-stretch factor… so that makes my personal choice easy… fireline.

That looks like a fun outing Shew.

Hey Kooty… have you been hitting Mille Lacs? I’ve been out there quite a bit this year and it has been a lot of fun. As you know I grew up a “west side” guy but I have finally been learning the SE side of the lake. I have to admit I found myself on one of my old flats last Sunday though. I think you and I fished the same one a couple years ago. Take it easy and maybe we’ll bump into each other at the ramp one of these days

I recommend the resort route… unless you are farther west towards Garrison (not sure about thos PA’s). Malmo and Wealthwood are pretty much un-usable.

Wealthwood… almost unusable; Malmo… ditto; Cedar Creek… ditto; Isle… better, but tricky; Casino… very tricky outside the protected harbor mouth; Red Door… I had good luck there but do agree it gets fairly shallow outside the harbor entrance. There are the ramps I have first-hand knowledge of.

I grew up fishing on Mille Lacs out of a little wooden boat powered by a 60’s vintage 10 horse Johnson. I have lots of memories of heading to shore on runs that took so long the fish on the stringer were dry to the touch by the time we got to the cabin. We didn’t spend a lot of time out on the flats with that boat so it seemed like a dream when we graduated up to a 16 foot lund with a snappy 25 horse. Then, we were really styling when my uncle showed up with his 16.5 footer with a 70 horse.

To make a long story short… you are fine. Just learn to make weather decisions sooner rather than later. Don’t head for shore when you have a storm on top of you. Instead, listen to the weather, VHS, etc. and head for shore with plenty of time before anything potentially dangerous could hit.

I read about this on a different site. I just about fell out of my chair when I read your post to find out it was YOU! I’m glad you are safe and I hope you are on the water again real soon. You will have a story to tell for years and years.

North Star Resort on the West side has a nice camp ground and boat launch.

Looking at the mean over the last four years, it looks like the lake has been running about a foot low over the last month.

Nice Job. Based on my recent experiences, I am not surprised at all. I agree, next week should be good and really, I think it will be okay right up to ice over.

Love the pictures. I have had my best results going 1.3-1.5 this time of year (but not always). I use a kicker motor unless the waves are calm enough, then I use the bow mount. In the fall, I am also more likely to work in pauses, where I come to a complete stop, and then start up again. As recently as Friday, I was catching the majority of my fish coming out of a dead stop pause.

I too have caught walleyes trolling faster after dark,in cold water. On those occasions, I tend to use yozuri suspending crystal minnows – they have a nice action with faster speeds. At 1.8 or lower, I use rogues or husky jerks. I like the movement of husky jerks at slower speeds.

I haven’t fished faster than 1.5 in my last two trips to Mille Lacs this fall… the walleyes haven’t given me a reason to speed up

This weekend is out for me but weather permitting, I may be up on the 18th or 19th.

How ironic was it that I threw out that comment on you letting the air out of my tires and then YOU get a flat? Amazing? I didn’t notice your rig… did you park near all that broken glass? That broken glass was there when I was up on the 21st. I launched out of that ramp a few years ago for opener (midnight) and had a flat trailer tire when we got back. In that case, there was a nice BOLT sticking out of the tire. With the bolt in there it created a slow leak. I didn’t have a spare at the time so we filled it up with air twice and ended up getting the tire fixed in Brainerd.

We launched about 7:30 Friday night and we pulled out around 1:30 AM. I was looking for you out there but it really was hard to see much of anything considering how dark it was. For all I know, we probably nearly ran into each other.

I did enjoy the beautiful weather. That made it extra fun.

Forgot to mention… I bet 75% of our fish came on pauses. We also ran the electric pretty much all night thanks to the calm seas. Everyone always cites clown as a great Mille Lacs crankbait color. For some reason Clown has been cruel to me in the past. I finally got that monkey off my back last night. We caught a lot of fish on Clown, but also glass/perch, and firetiger.

Arg! For some reason I managed to miss the radio question/post yesterday. For what good it will do now… yes, I have one. Dang.

Anyway… how’d folks do? We got into a mess of 14″-22″ fish. Enough to actually be selective and throw back everything bigger than 20″ or smaller than about 15.5. We did catch a handful of bigger fish, in the 24″-26″ range but nothing bigger than 26″. It was a fun night and we have a nice big fish fry in our future.

On a funny side note, it seems every time I have my brother-in-law in the boat, he manages to catch his obligatory slimer. We joked about it several times last night until, you guessed it, he brought in a 10.2 pounder to stink up the boat (as usual).

I didn’t expect to see many boats out there but the balmy calm weather must have enticed guys to give it a go. There was a decent number of boats on the lake.

Ha! Well done. I think it would take me a while to match those totals. I think the more questions that get answered, additional ones always seem to take their place. I have been going at the slower speeds. Your experiences will certainly spur me to mix in some faster passes.

Congrats on a great evening!

I will be out of the casino ramp as well but I never know where I am going to go until I get up there. Quite frankly, I often start where I don’t see any boats. I often do eventually join the parade on the weed line but usually do not start there. I may have to keep checking back at the ramp to make sure Kooty isn’t lurking in the shadows of my vehicle, letting the air out of the tires

The odd part is it is not only was a fluke, but now a fluke x2. It is funny you should say that because I myself am heading to Mille Lacs tonight. It is tough to beat the big pond on a relatively warm, calm night.

By having that happen twice in a row… can you imagine how much time I am going to waste on that spot over the upcoming years/decades/centuries?

Generations will pass, cringing as I blab on and on about “that time.”

I plan to launch out of the Casino but have no idea where I will go from there.