Lake Mille Lacs can amuse and confuses me, both sometimes at the same time. In this report, I will talk about smallmouth, walleyes and even muskie. This report will talk about two trips that were taken on consecutive Mondays with two different people, Darren and Dale, with great results on each trip.
Yesterday I spent the day with Darren, the fishing manager for Sportsman’s Warehouse in Woodbury. He has never been on Mille Lacs so he was pumped to get up and see it as will as fish for some of its sumo smallies. We arrived around 8am and were fishing by 8:15, five casts later Darren had his first “pond” smallie, a thick 17.5 incher. Not be be out fished in my boat, fishing my spots, on a lake that I am on at least ever other week, I got on the board with a stout 17 incher. The lures that we would be fishing with today is the same as most of my trips, 3 to 4 inch tubes on 1/8 to 1/4 ounce jigs fished with med, med-light rods and 6-8 pound test. Sometimes when you hook a smallie you can see other bass swimming along with it as it is coming to the boat, this is a good time to have the other angler throw out a lure in the general area of the hooked fish. Using this technique we hooked many doubles. The only problem with doing this is that we you are both fighting a fish nobody can get the net. Nice problem to have if you ask me. After moving a few times and picking of a fish or two from each reef that we went too. We never found the sumo smallmouth but we found a decent supply of fish to keep us entertained most of the day. The last reef that we went to Darren hooked a nice 18 inch smallie and a monster smallie tagged along side that dwarfed his fish but it would not take anything that I offered it. Just after that fish I saw a school of walleyes, about 10-15, in 4 feet of water about 2 feet down. These eyes were all over 22 inches and this is at 11:30 with a bright blue sky. I also have one other fish to tell you about but I will make you read the rest of the report first.
Last week I had the pleasure to share a day with an old friend, Dale. We have shared a boat a few times mostly chasing smallmouth either on the Mississippi or Mille Lacs. We started on the West side early in the morning and wanted to try a topwater bite. I have never got on a good topwater bite and this day was no exception. We threw poppers, chug bugs, buzzbaits, skitter pops, and zara spooks all with the same results. NOTHING.
I switched to a hidden weight spinnerbait, a small profile 1/2 ounce lure that can really be burned with no chance of rolling. This is a reaction bait as the fish have a second to either bite or not. After a dozen cast I got a 15 incher, not even camera worthy. The wind started to really howl, blowing right into the shoreline that we were fishing and it did not take long for us to decide to move. We put the boat back on the trailer and drive to the other side of the lake thinking that it would be calm. This is where I am confused. The wind was howling into the west shoreline and we get to the east shoreline and it is blowing into that shoreline also. This access is almost directly on the other side of the lake. I have no idea how that works but we decided to give it a chance and see how fishing was. It did not take long for us to find the fish that we wanted. Summer pattern smallie fishing, Big Boulder=Big Bass. We would pitch pumpkin color tubes into the shady side of the rocks and get bit. Dale landed so many fish right away, it had me doubting my presentation but with a minor fleck color change I was back in the game. Sometimes a small change in fleck color or a lighter jig weight can make or break a day so even if you have caught a fish or two try a small change and see if it helps, you can always change back to your original color. We caught bass ranging from 16 to 19 inches.
It was another great day on the water with friends.
Back to the trip yesterday, I hooked into the biggest fish that I have ever caught. A 47 inch muskie. It was caught on a 3.5 inch tube fishing for smallies.
I should be jumping up and down with excitement BUT I can’t. I fought the huge fish for far to long with the gear that I was using. No net big enough. The warm weather and the long fight really stressed the fish. I chased her down twice with the trolling motor. After a very quick picture she was right back in the water. I worked on getting her recovered and after a few minutes she tensed up and with a slow deliberate tail kick she slowly swam away and into the deep. I hope she makes it as I tried to do everything that I could for her. Thanks Darren For the help getting that girl in the boat.
More pictures to follow
Until next time,
Ron
Dale’s Fish
More of Dale
My turn
Just Smallies
Last one
Awesome report, pics and fish Ron!
awesome report, thanks again!
Great report Ron!
Nice looking fish Ron. Great work on the musky. Not a big musky fan here, but I am apprecitive of the respect you gave her. Nice work!
Nice report and pictures. Talk about getting multiple species in a big way!
It sounds like you did a great job handling that musky, Slider!
Steve, if you like smallies and walleyes you should love big muskies and pike! I’ve done a lot of research that tells me how they keep fish populations in balance, which has a strong impact on (improves) the quality of bass and walleye fishing!
I believe it…I just think they are on this earth to annoy me some days.
Most days I seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time up here on the river and they find me or I find them by accident. I have run into 10 muskies up here in the last week now. I respect the fish 100% though and its population management at its best. 
Nice report Ron!
Nice report Ron. I was fishing for walleyes on the pond last night (had to get off at 8pm with the storms) and all we saw were hundreds of floating tulibee’s.
Looking like a good day(s) on the water!
Darren has a big smile!
I don’t think they have ski’s like that in Idaho either!
Hey Slider,
getting back to the wind issue on Mille Lacs!! That lake makes its own wind in the mornings….typically in the early summer months when the water is warmer than the air the lake will just roll….it makes running from spot to spot very difficult cause you don’t have a constant pattern of waves, very irratic!!!!
This will go on until the air is once again warmer than the water!!! Which often times leads to the lake laying flat calm!!!
It can be a really rough morning then a flat pancake afternoon!!!
Sweet Report!!! Nice work with the muskie, nice to see you spending the time to make a true trophy survive, or at least lets hope so!!!!
Nice report Ron!
I wouldn’t loose any sleep on the ski! I’m willing to bet money she is just fine. Good job and taking the time to ensure she swam away healthy!
Great report Ron- Those are some real nice fish.
I often think I should be trying some smallie fishing up there. Have yet to really target them.
Reports like this get me thinking more about it.
Great report. I guess you just solved what has been my problem all year with muskies….its the 3 1/2 tube….
. Great looking fish, and as Gary said above I am sure that fish is just fine 
So how do you like fishing the pond out of that bass boat
I know one thing, if the river gets any lower I’m selling my boat and buying a champion and spending the rest of my life on Mille Lacs
Ron,
Nice report
Those pics are great
dave
Great report Ron!
Great report Ron
One week from today and we will hopefully have another great report 
I can’t hardly wait to try Mille Lac’s open water fishing for the first time 
Nice report and congrats on the biggest ever
good job w/ the release, too.
Great trip Ron and Report.
Great Muskie, Looks like your new Christmas Card Picture.
thanks,
Jack..
The wife is going to love that one, I will put that pic into a screen saver.
Ron
Nice report! The graphics on this computer are terrible, but that Muskie looks pretty neat. I am sure you have lost a few tubes to some Mille Lacs muskies, so it must have been nice to finally get back at them. By the way, I expect GPS coordinates for the spot with the walleyes cruising the shallows.
I have lost more sliders than tubes, most of the time its set the hook and come up empty but that only really happened like 3-4 times.
As for the cords, you know my number
Ron
As for the bad graphics that can only help my looks