Don’t tell anyone, but there is a pretty good mud bite going on the Mille Lacs Lake mud flats! The reports have been coming the last week of some nice numbers being caught on flats such as the Boot, Fishers and 8 mile.
Yesterday Tom Fellegy (Puddlepounder) and your’s truly met up to spend some time on the ice. We fished the break on the westside of Fishers flat in the 27-30 ft. We managed to get in on an afternoon flurry of around 40+ fish between the two of us.
These walleye are running on the small size at 8-14 inches. Tom and I both had our best luck with a minnow head on a JB Weasel jigging spoon. You had to watch the Vexilar for the fish and coax them in to bite. We failed to hook a few I think due to the size of these fish.
We had a visit from the local warden that reported some fisherman having caught fish and other’s not. He also commented on the size of the fish. These young walleye are our future fish on Mille Lacs! I hope that our fellow fisherman don’t go and fill their buckets with these little guy’s. It has been a blast catching them though……..
sorry no photo’s with this report, I just have a hard time taking pictures of a 12 inch walleye….
The 2001 year class is huge, but please take it easy on them. We have been keeping quiet about this bite but with all recent “hype” about the bite on the mud it won’t take long until there are 1000’s of houses out there.
Remember, when you are catching fish that are all the same size and few are slighly bigger, those are usually your females from the same year class. Please take that into account when you are deciding what to keep. There are plenty of fish between 15-20 inches if you put your time in.
Good luck and be safe, the ice is still inconsistant out to the mud.
Your are so right Scott, on another note Puddlepouder was at Portside this week when the Outdoor News called. Well everyone will be reading about the mud bite after this weeks addition comes out..he over heard the called in report: “best it’s been in years”
I have also talked with some folks that have been on this bite for the past week or so. They also have been able to find some bigger fish. As in all fishing….You need to spend the time!
I want to give everyone one more reason to throw those little ones back besides they are the future-They are an eating machine!! The balance of the lake is leaning towards bait fish right now which everyone noticed the last few years. The 2001 year class is now big enough to eat some of those perch and that is a good thing for the balance of the lake.
Scott, That’s a great point to make……the perch follage is huge in Mille Lacs. In the shallow rock reef areas you can view ton’s of the small perch with the underwater cameras. These small walleye will grow very quickly the next 12-24 month’s and we will have some very bright fishing in the years ahead!!!
i had a good time yesterday with bobber, also got to meet mike w and his buddy. the fish really turned on in the afternoon. there just is no size to them. going out again tomorrow. i talked to the gamewarden this evening, he said he went from garrison to the boot and fishing did slow down today.
Mike W. and his buddy Richard from Mora called me again this noon. They were on their way back to Mille Lacs in search of some walleye……hopefully they will report back on how thier luck was!
Yes we made it back out again today. Fishing was very slow for us. Plenty of walleyes to watch on the camera and flasher but they where just not bitting on what we showed them. Glad we had the camera with. It was fun to watch all those walleyes down there. Even tho we couldnt get one to bite it is still neat to see 6 walleyes in one shot with the camera.
Thanks again for the help out there Bob
We’re moving our house out to the west end of Sloppy Joes out from Brandts. Anybody have thoughts on this? For those seeing fish (perch and walleye) where are they suspended? Had no luck last weekend in close to shore. One jumbo perch but that’s it. Help!
We saw a few perch off the edge of the flat in 29′. Did not see any come buy on top of the flat. Just eyes and ellpout there.
Thanks Mike. We’re kind of at a loss at this point and I’m taking a few guys up who only get out once per year so it would be nice to land a few nice walleyes or a bucket of perch like the old days.
Try four mile.
Was out on 8 mile on Sunday. Bite was very slow with the cold weather. Ended up with one limit for 2 guy’s, and released 5 fish. One 23″ & one 25.5″(biggest ever thru the ice) both were tagged fish, curious what the DNR has to say about these fish. At one time I had 7 walleyes on the camera, best shot since I owned it. It took an aggresive jig to get them to bite. Hope to get back up there soon.
Welcome to IDA, and also thanks for the fishing report from 8 mile flats! Which side of the flat did you fish? I have heard some reports of some bigger perch coming from 8 mile….happen to see any?
We fished the upper NE side of the flat, not a soul in sight. Most people are staying on the south end where the roads lead to. I saw 6 Jumbos on my camera but they just nosed the bait, couldn’t get them to take it in. One of the times I was jigging hard trying to get them to react and then a 14″ Walleye came from out of nowhere and hit my jig(those perch just scattered). That was neat to watch. We had been fishing the rock’s on the south end of the lake, and wasn’t doing to bad down there(No perch though). I am looking forward to the perch bite in Febuary and March, the few I saw were easy 10″ Jumbo’s. I hope to make it back soon now that the weather is warming up again, that -18 wasn’t fun.
Has anybody been up to the mud flat’s since the cold weather. I am planning a trip for Sunday, just curious how it has been.
I have heard that the hot bite has slowed a little. Still fish to be caught………I’ve been busy with non-fishing stuff (bad)……….need to get back on the ice soon!
Am hoping to get set up over on the West side, just south of Garrison this next week, avoiding the crowds. Any advice on areas/structure to look closer at? Long drive from central WI and it’s been 3 years since I’ve been able to get back to the big lake. Would enjoy getting into some of those 10-11″ male perch. Thanking you in advance
Another question: Are the flats on the west side relatively accessible using a 4-wheeler right now?
Right now you have to bee carefull in a 4 wheel truck, bring the shovel! There is some areas with less snow…..and others with big drifts.
Thank you sir. I was going to bring a 4×4 4-wheeler, if in fact I could get around using it. No snowmobile here unfortunately.
Hit the mud flats yesterday – eastern edge of 9 mile. Will share coordinates if anyone is interested. Fished just off the edge of a 28′ flat with an awesome break to 36′. Active fish were at 36′. Couple of eyes, but mostly hog perch. Iced one jumbo that was 13-14″. Total of 8 keepers. Lost a number of other nice fish. Lots of 7-8″ ones.
Discovered that later in the day, a swedish pimple with a couple of waxies, induced more strikes that a pimple with a minnow. I wonder how that technique would do early morning when they have the feed-bag strapped on. Tipped the pimples with whole, dorsal hooked crappie minnows instead of the normal fathead heads. 1″ pimple with the blue reflective tape was the hotty.
Perch hit pretty consistently from the time we dropped jigs down (8:00am), to the time we left (3:30pm).
Thanks for the invite. Guess it must have been lost in the mail.
See ya at the banquet.
Thanks for the report on the jumbo perch!!!! The perch contests are coming soon. I best get out to 9 mile and spend some time searching that area a bit. Did you spend any time with a camera? just wondering how many fatty’s might have been hanging around?
Thanks again…….
About winter of 1984-85 I went out onto 9 Mile with a bunch of the guys from Marv Koep’s old bait shop (his shop mgr, etc). It was just after the walleye season closed. We were using “Swish Rods” or dead rods with bare hook and minnow. We caught some really beautiful perch in that 11-14″ range. We were fishing an edge and I couldn’t begin to tell you which side of the flat that it was. If I had to guess, it was the east edge.
I’ve never been able to get back out there and would give my left teste to do it one more time…
The jumbo perch did’nt show up for me last season till late Febuary. I caught some nice perch even into April.
Nice Sumo’s Bob.
Can a person travel off the plowed roads reasonably with a 4-wheeler or not?
i have been out the past few days. we were in a truck, saw some wheelers with chains on them, they were moving kind of slow in the deep snow. prople are using them. getting around in a truck was ok, had to back-up choose a different path a few times. in my opinion, wheelers are out, use a snowmobile or pick-up truck. any more snow and the pick-ups will only be good on the roads, so watch the weather before you come…..tom f
Hey Bob-
No camera’s – those are for sissy’s
There was a house up on top of the flat – 40 yards away – that had a camera and they saw some biggun’s coming through, but they hadn’t caught any before we left. I’m sure the camera gave the angler’s away – perch aren’t stupid, they travel in “schools”
Finke-
I’m deferring our trip to March/April, when I can get you on bigger fish
ej
Game on!!
So you fished next to my 8X8 fishouse it’s been there for six weeks we have caught a lot of walleyes 9 to 13-1/2 inchers, have not caught jumbo yet I’v been told big perch numbers are way down but there are some good classes coming up.
Feel free to use the house it’s open if Jeff show’s up tell him Goody said it’s okay.
We ripped the runners off on the way out Plus I am sure were froze in somehow we manage to get it off every year.
The Eye action is going to be steady right to the end of the season Suggichi and 8 mile are doing real well right now.