First Ice Mille Lacs Walleyes

Well the Ice Fishing season has officially began for 2011-2012 ice season, this year like usual I find Mille Lacs lake to be my first ice destination. Not a common first ice lake to begin the season, however the shallow bays looked to be holding solid good clear ice and the fall walleye bite was fantastic which means those fish have not gone too far from those locations. Those shallow rock reefs with some deeper water nearby are a perfect place to start the ice season.

Like mentioned earlier the ice was shaping up nicely in most bays this season on Mille Lacs. I found a consistent 5-6” of good ice almost everywhere we drilled a hole. The ice was smooth which made ice cleats a must, and kept our mobility light. Shallow water walleye fishing on gin clear ice, with ice cleats doesn’t allow a guy to take the run and gun approach as spooking walleyes is very easy just moving a few feet away. With mobility down, we were forced to call these walleyes to us.

A mid day start allowed us to fish just off the targeted structure as the high skies were keeping these walleyes roaming off the structure in search for an easy meal. The slender spoon from Custom Jigs & Spins was an easy target for walleyes today; they cannot resist the flutter of this spoon. Its fun to watch the reaction of a walleye from the slender spoon once identified on the MarCum, they turn from neutral to aggressive in a hurry. This often times results in violent strikes and instant drag pulling from these Mille Lacs walleyes.

It wasn’t lights out day fishing but it was a successful first ice adventure. An ice fisherman does have to learn to respect the ice that we travel. At any given time with no snow cover these ice sheets are going to expand and contract as temps change throughout the day. We found an active crack that was a sight to see; from about noon until 2pm this sheet of ice was expanding. This sheet of ice was about 6” thick and at least a good ½ mile by ½ mile sheet. It expanded about 6 feet in those 2 hours! This is another reason to make sure to check with a resort, pay the access fee of 10 bucks and get an idea of what the ice is doing and avoid any potential hazard areas.

We have started the ice season with some great ice and by the way things look it should continue, however please still use caution and remember no fish is worth it.

Until next time…..hope to see you on the ice.