Thanks for the info guys! sounds like this may not be the summer for leadcore on mille lacs. I’ve only been on the lake once so feel like with leadcore i have a chance because i can cover a lot of water. without it, i’m not sure i would know where to start with slip bobbers.

Do the eyes move shallow this time of yr? We talking 8-12 or deeper? Thx!

wish i would have had an underwater camera with me

anyone have any ideas what all the large arcs i was seeing on the bottom in 22 foot just south of the red door were?

they weren’t interested in a shad rap.

forgot to mention, also pulled lead around the gravel down south (i think it was called 3 mile gravel), caught 1 northern, no walleyes. but the wind was minimal which might have hurt us down there. graphed plenty of fish.

ok, so we fished 2.5 days on mille lacs.

overall we caught ~30 walleye with 3 around 17 inches and 1 about 22 inches (photo below). all the others were small (like 10 inches). most of our eyes came in 27-30′ just northwest of hunters point (thanks Will!) saw a lot more arcs that wouldn’t bite. we caught a few eyes on schultz flat along with this 40 inch pike (photo below). we tried trolling the 8-14 foot break on the north end with now luck, we also tried chubs under a bobber but didn’t have much luck as the week line is not very defined… tried to find cabbage beds but couldn’t really find them. wonder if they are less developed this year with the late spring. graphed a ton of fish on the bottom at about 22 feet just north of the red door. couldn’t get them to bite, could these really just be eyes stacked up that weren’t biting? couldn’t believe how many fish there were on my graph. also attached this image of bait (are these bugs?) on schults flat, all kinds of ‘stuff’ on that flat, just not many fish biting. all the walleyes and the pike came on leadcore 120-150 feet out with #5 shad raps or #4 salmos. ventures out in the basin but didn’t see much. seemed like more action was on the flat. on a side note, the red door was great, can’t wait to come back. thanks guyus for all your help on ido over the past few weeks. definetly helped us out there.

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Also, is there a gas pump somewhere on north end so that i can leave boat on water? Thx!

Thanks guys, great info!

trophy, i’m headed there thursday, this is my first time on mille lacs. my plan is also to spend most of my time around the mud flats during the day. it sounds like the basin bite has gotten better the past few weeks, but i really have no idea what to expect. i plan to run taildancers and thundersticks 20-30′ feet down in 30-35 feet of water. i may also try to pull lead over the edges of the flats or over the top.

plan b is to do the same thing around the gravel. plan c is to troll shallower on the weedlines and rocks.

if plan a through c don’t produce i’ll probably just be drinking.

Thanks guys! I’ll give ut a try. I’m only up there for 2.5 days so i may not leave the water much!

On a side note, good luck finding eyes up there without a guide. The clear lakes (poke, deer, trout) can be tough especially during the day. I’ve been going up there for years and regularly get skunked tryingto find the walleyes.

The bass fishing atound grand rapids is great. I think u can go to most lakes up there and run into 3-5 pounders. To quote rodney dangerfield, up there they get no respect i tell ya. Walleye is king.

thanks sticker

Thanks guys! holstc, have you been focusing around the mud or gravel?

last post i’m referring to walleyes, not smallies

sticker, is that usually low light that you’re able to get um in that shallow of water?

sticker, good problem to have!

sticker wrote:

I am still getting a lot of smallies pulling cranks over the shallow rocks. I got 20 plus fish this last weekend with a perch colored crank trolled over the rocks in 6-10ft.

Sticker, do u every pickup any eyes doing this?

thanks sticker

do you guys ever try pulling cranks right on the mud or gravel breaks rather than out out in the basin?

only going to have 2.5 days up there this year (in 3 weeks) so trying to narrow down what my approach is going to be.

would you buys recommend trolling the basin off the mud flats or gravel?

thanks guys, sounds like you have to work hard for um right now

Will Roseberg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tomr wrote:</div>
Haven’t heard any reports, anyone tried it this year? Thinking of going up and see what happens.

Tom,

The last time I was able to make it up to Mille Lacs was in early June and we caught fish in the basin but it was still a little too early. In talking with friends up there they are averaging about 1-2 fish per hour trolling the edges of flats/open basin which is definitely on the slow side but the fish they are getting are very fat and healthy which is great news. Bigger baits (Taildancers, Thundersticks) seem to be working better than smaller baits (Shad Raps, Hornets) as these fish are filling up on smaller baitfish and don’t seem to want to waste their energy on a small meal right now.

The other good news is that the reason I haven’t been back to Mille Lacs nearly enough this summer is that we are in the process of selling our house South of the river and moving back to the North side of town… Which means I’ll be much closer to Mille Lacs by the middle of August!

Will

wow Will, you need to get your butt out there..

side question for will, do you normally just long line braid on mille lacs in the basin or use leadcore?

am I on the right track?

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=20759506&camp=CSE:GooglePLA:20759506:15695733:TACKLE&CAGPSPN=pla&CAWELAID=120138600000201510&catargetid=120138600000330066&cadevice=c

any advice on where to focus as far as rigging? edges of mud flats?

has anyone caught eyes rigging in august on mille lacs?

i realize there is no hard and fast rule, just through maybe based on your experience you could tell me about how much line will get me to 25 feet at 2mph with a TD 11. if there are too many variables, no worries, i can head out to the lake and figure out when i’m ticking bottom.

yea drew, i’ll be pulling lead.

so my question is:

how much line should i let out to get a TD 11 down to 20, 25 and 30 foot with a 30 foot braid leader at 2mph?

thanks guys, appreciate the great info!

do you guys know how long this bite lasts? Just got back from a trip last weekend so it may take a while before i talk my wife into being gone again

Quote:

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Whichever one you want!!
Seriously, any of the flats hold fish and the basin areas between them do also. Take a cruise and graph around until you see enough that look fishable and whip around, drop em in and relax.

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thanks pig hunter, so you’re saying if i locate mid lake flats with my lakemaster that top out at 30-35 feet and graph fish i can be successful? anything more to it than that?

thanks guys!