This past week saw me up on Mille Lacs lake with good friends Tom "Bluefleck" Donaldson and Wade "Jolly Ann Outdoor" Kuehl in pursuit of some of the monster smallies that call the big lake home. We ended up experiencing some incredible action on moster smallies… but it did take a little experimentation and searching before we got on fish. Take the time to read through this report and to watch the included videos for the "inside scoop" on this HOT bass bite!
When we first hit the lake we launched and headed straight for the south end of the lake. As the boat came off plane and drifted towards one of our favorite shallow rock reefs we noticed something unusual. Or at least a challenge we weren’t used to dealing with on Mille Lacs Lake… poor water clarity!
In areas where we could typically sight fish on the reefs in 5+ feet of water we were struggling to see the most shallow portions of the reefs, often in as little as 2.5′ of water. We had just arrived on the backside of several days of strong storms and strong winds out of the NW. These winds had pushed in quantities of floating vegetation and had really riled up the water in the shallow bays along the south shore.
And the bass weren’t all to thrilled about it either!
So a change was in order as the smallies on the south end of the lake just weren’t cooperating with us. For a half day’s fishing we put less than 6 smallies in the boat and the crew and I were starting to think about relocating to some spots along the western shoreline that had always treated us well in the past.
We decided to take a stab in the dark and run north along the eastern shoreline to see if we could locate clearer water. It didn’t take long, about the time we had made it to the Big Point area, and we found what wee were looking for… clear water that would allow us to site fish on the reefs and VERY aggressive smallies!
In this first video clip I’m landing on of our first fish after the move north along the eastern shore. It wasn’t one of our biggest fish of the trip by any means but it lead us to believe we were on the right track!
Looking for Clearer Water Results on Mille Lacs Lake – 9 Mb – Windows Media
And the further north we went the better the fishing was with shoreline rocks and reefs around Hunter’s Point kicking out outstanding numbers and average size with many fish in the 3.5 – 5 lb range.
One bait shined above all others during our stay – a 4" Team Supreme tube in Green Pumpkin with Red and Purple Fleck! We incorrectly call this pattern "christmas tree" in a couple of the videos but after cross-checking the Team Supreme website at Team Supreme Tackle we were on to our mistake! We fished dozens of tubes that were similar in color but that one tube, we believe the purple glitter was the difference-maker in the clear water, made all the difference.
Site Fishing a 20" Smallie on Mille Lacs Rock Reefs – 8 Mb – Windows Media
Once we had the general area narrowed down then we worked on refining our approach. As is typically the case these smallies were only holding tight to a small part of each reef, often amounting to a few key boulders, instead of spreading out across the entire structure. To shorten our search time we started throwing #3 and #4 Mepps spinners to eliminate any unproductive water and to quickly locate that critical first fish that would tip us off to the location of his or her buddies. Once that first fish was boated then we slowed down our presentations by fishing tubes on 1/8 ounce jigs. Since smallies are schooling fish we operated on the principal that were you find one you’ll find more and it payed off time and time again for us as one ultra-aggresive smallie would engulf our spinners and show us the way to the motherlode on a particular reef.
In this next video Tom shows us this approach in action.
Tom Highlights the Effectiveness of Search Lures – 3.8 Mb – Windows Media
In our final video Wade sticks one of his better bass of the trip… and Tom does everything in his power to try and keep this big bass out of the boat.
Some guys are just a LITTLE more nimble with the net. We gave Tom some slack since he was the resident "bass guy" in the boat on this trip so he usually just lips his bass and the whole net thing was a little foreign to him.
If you look REAL close you’ll see that Wade started holding his breath after the first close encounter with with net and didn’t take his next breath until the fish was swung over the gunnel… 
Wade and Tom Workin’ Together Like a Well-Oiled Machine! – 6.2 Mb – Windows Media
After it was all said and done at the end of our 3 day stay on the big lake we had done it all… reaffirmed standing friendships, overcome some obstacles to finding a good bite and enjoyed some exceptional weather along the way. The fact that we were able to share it with all of our friends here at IDA through this report makes it that much better!
For those interested in getting in on this spectacular bite, stop in to Hunter’s Point Resort on the east side of the lake and give George a shout. He’s got his fingers on the pulse of the lake and can point you in the right direction. Since all of our most productive reefs on this trip were within a mile or two north or south of his resort we might be driving past the public accesses on the south end more often in the future to check out the dynamite reefs and shorelines in this part of the lake more often!
I’ve also got a walleye report from Mille Lacs to put up so look for that tomorrow night. We’ve got some good video of some dandy eyes for that report as well!
Cool James – good to see you in action again. Glad you guys caught some smallies. The pix are amazing – not small fish up there are they??? Keep up the great work – liked the video!
Chuckles
SWEET!!
Awesome!! Well done!!
Why can I not right click and (open with)to chose the program I want to play it in?
Brian
Great report and the video is super.
need some more shoreline to know where you were fishing
Glad to see that you got into the sumo’s.
Ron
Right click is disabled on IDA.
nice work james and blue. gotta love those smallies up there. good work on the video as well. now i want to see you actually find a fish, stalk it, and get em to hit on camera!!!! ok no but seriously (insert anchor man) nicely done.
micah
No words are worthy enough. James and IDA, “You Just Raised the Bar.”
Note to self:
Don’t ever hire Blue as a net boy. He stinks! 
Did anyone tell Tom he had a net…not a gaff?
Now I know why JC is always cranky!
It looks good James! And what a great time on the water! I had a blast!!
Blue, Thanks for the supply of Team Supreme tubes and BFT jig heads. Go figure, they worked great on Clitherall too!
The net job…..
I haven’t seen it on video yet. Not sure I want to. If it looks as bad as I think it does, I may never live that down. Not my greatest performance by any means… 
I heard James say “the camera is rolling, do your best to look like an idiot…” 
I blame it on the the Tequila.
It looked like Wade had 2 giant Smallies on at once. I was trying to net the bigger, blurrier one.
At any rate, that’s not how I run a net.
Words can’t describe a report like that. The video is awesome and the report awesome. I do know that we might have to have some netting training at the GTG….
Great report, pictures and video
Did you feel that you had any ill effect of putting off the school when you where releasing the fish back? I have always felt that when I get on a school and throw them back that the school becomes less motivate to hit. I usually end up switching baits up but it seems like the school usually shuts down.
I might need to head up there
, I believe I know the spots you mentioned. 
I know what you are asking about Dan, I’ve seen it before but we rarely find that up there. At one point in our trip, we were anchored on a reef catching fish after fish for more than an hour. I almost wonder if those fish we catch swim back to the deeper water to regain themselves, then move back up to feed later. If that is the case, those caught fish won’t neccessarily affect the behavior of the school we are fishing.
Awesome videos guys!
Great report and the video is a nice addition. I have to get up there and chase some of those smallies soon.
Well said James! I’ll add this about Hunters Point. If any of you stop in there for dinner and they have the ribs and chicken special going, GET IT. You can tell from my gut in the video that I know my food, and those were some excellent ribs. Melts in your mouth. Don’t forget to ring the bell as you walk in.
Attaboy Blue! Blame it on the Tequila!
Yep, they have that at Hunters too. 
OOOOhhh yeah!
That looks like good times. Wish I had to time to hop in with you guys. Maybe next time.
Those fish up there pull like a semi-truck on roids!
Superb!!!
but I did today, 
and watched all 4, some more than once 
Thanks for sharing 
and I’ll be home on dailup 
The report was great, but the video… well I don’t turn off my music for much of anything,
What a trip it must have been
Now I can hardly wait for the walleye report,
dave
Great job guys – that was real high tech stuff.
Tom, don’t worry about the net job – Bret is used to that with me also. 
Great report and the video really adds an awesome touch.
Hey Blue, I will fish and be your netting pal anytime you want to take me up to Mille Lacs and catch some SUMO smallies like that!
Can’t wait to hit the water tomorrow AM. So, I should bring a couple Mepps along….
-J.
Great report James! It was nice meeting you guys!!! and sharing a great bite for an afternoon!! Now I know why you guys wernt using a net
I thought it was just a bass guy thing 
We spotted that school earlier that morning while heading to check another spot and there must have been 30-40 of them! The other spot we had luck at the fish were just about the same! You hit it on the nose with them using a special feature of the reef! If I knew it were you guys wendsday I may have tried to bribed off some of them tubes you were using 
Joe, It was nice to meet you and your lady. Did you guys ever get a ski to hit?
JJ, I think your secret is out!
Very nice report guys!
..even makes me want to go bass’en!
If tequila just makes you a bad net man…I can live with that…as long as it doesn’t make your cloths fall off.
BK, that is NOT a good image to go putin’ in my head.
Wade it was nice to meet you as well! I never had one it my line but thursday we got the boat running after we had seen you and hit the other reef we were fishing
where you guys had seen the other skis. Monica had one take a jumbo leach off the bobber. It was a high 40 inch fish and she could actually see it and was so amazed by the fish she never know it had here bobber crusing 5 ft behind it in front of the boat 
. She never stood a chance with the 6 lb test the battle lasted about as quick as it started 
It was pretty funny to watch!! I am still ribbin her for that one. I was pretty suprised it hit a leech. Let alone 10 feet away from the boat!!
James,
Nice post and I like the touch with the videoes.
For a Walleye guy, you sure looked like you were having fun.. Keep them coming.
Jack…
Awesome report. VERY well done.
Thanks, Bill
I really liked having the videos…I am a visual learner
Blue..now I know how NOT to net 