Cranking Mille Lacs Lake

The diversity of Lake Mille Lacs continues to amaze me. Over the past 2 weekends I have spent a lot of time on Mille Lacs fishing tournaments, pre fishing for upcoming tournaments, and fishing with co-workers. From gale for winds of a week ago and severe cold fronts to calming waters and bright sunny skies Mille Lacs lake walleyes continue to eat. One consistent item on the menu for these walleyes has been crank baits. From shallow running shad raps to deep diving tail dancers trolled in shallow cabbage weed edges to deep contour breaks. This is the diversity that Mille Lacs Lake offers.

Jake Hayes and I fished the Full Throttle tournament out Mac’s Twin Bay on July 27th; this was the gale force winds and cold front conditions that brought decreasing water temps and tough walleye fishing. We chose to fish the windblown shallow weed/rock combo the SE corner of the lake has to offer. Basic plan was to long line #5 or #7 Yellow Perch Shad Raps, very similar to fall trolling at night. 60-70 feet of line on the line counter trolled at 1.3-1.6mph was best. Slow speeds were key as the dropping water temps and increasing wind. The walleyes, pike, and smallies were all using this week/rock transition area as ambush points for young of the year perch and our yellow perch shad raps matched the hatch perfectly. We weighed 3 fish in the 18-20 inch slot for 7.22lbs and a first place finish.

This past weekend was a scouting weekend for an upcoming tourney so not a lot of catching was done, but more so eliminating water. This weekend was a big fish weekend; I had 2 fish over 28” yesterday along with a few others at the 27” mark. Basic leadcore setup that has been talked about so much this summer, 3-3.5 colors of suffix 832 advance lead core, 30’ 10lb fluorocarbon leader attached to your favorite crank going 2.0-2.3mph. This setup caught the big fish mentioned above as well as a few jumbo perch, walleyes in the 15-17” range, as well as the mid 20” fish. We focused on sharp contour breaks found on Lakemaster chip, whether it was mud, sand, or gravel it didn’t matter as long as they were sharp breaks. Crankbaits on this pattern were jointed #5 shad raps, #7 shad raps, #5 storm smash shads and the new Arashi Shad 5 by Storm. As the lake laid flat calm yesterday I even took a page out of Brad Juaire’s reports and trolled a bright flashing Purple clown flash Tail Dancer #11 behind a planer board, this presentation also produced.

Whether you are a weekend warrior or walleye tournament junkie, Lake Mille Lacs truly offers up one the best fisheries in the state. Many different ways to catch Mille Lacs Lake walleyes, this is the diversity that keeps me coming back. The current slot does throw a curve ball for any angler looking for a meal or the perfect tournament bag, but at the end of the day you will have smiles from the walleyes being caught. Check out the smiles in the photos!