Mille Lacs First Ice Conditions

Tis the season and I couldn’t bear to stay home thinking about what may have happened on Mille Lacs. I spent the entire weekend scouting the lakes ice in order to see what ice will be available for the weekends to come. I did manage to fish a fraction of the time also. Friday I attempted to reach areas from the West side of the lake only to find a dangerous situation for someone to be in.

As I was saying, the ice on the east side of the lake is very unpredictable. The main sheets of ice have shifted many times during the first freeze from the strong north winds. It appears that the large shifts of ice sheared some of the main cracks and pulled the ice open which has left areas of very thin ice. I found several areas of 1.5 inches and made an easy decision to let the West side be and be patient for another good freeze before venturing out. Heading to the east I found great ice conditions and beautiful weather. In this scenario, I had to drop a line.

From the East side, I headed out of Hunter’s resort and was greeted with a steady 10 iches of ice in the bay. I felt confident and safe heading out 3 miles at which I was finding 9 inches of ice. I didn’t say a solid 9 inches though. This weekends warm weather had the ice expanding at an incredible rate. Many have heard the ice popping and snapping, which is usually a welcomed sound while below freezing temperatures. That was not the case on Saturday. The ice was very active in that it was shifting, snapping and heaving. There are a few mainline cracks that are active and need to be approached cautiously.

Alright, alright,….you’re wondering about the fish. I finally began a serious approach to finding some fish on Sunday mid day. I was in search of deep water from the start with access to a higher feeding ground. I did find just that and began my search starting on top and making swiss cheese ice on the way down the break. The fish were found from 24 to 31 feet of water. The biggest fish of the day was 18 inches. A meal of 14 to 18 inch fish was not hard to come by. This is completely acceptable for those pursuing slot fish. Regretfully I don’t have any big fish quite yet to share with you but that will come as I have more options on the ice. Places to fish were a bit limited because of breakers and cracks. Most importantly today was to keep moving. I was able to fish fast using go devil spoons. All fish were caught using these spoons. Agressive fish were rare today, but with a bit of coaxing Roger Koshiol and I managed under 20 fish, all under 18 inches. So tonight Roger has a happy frying pan. Good to fish with you Roger.
The fish are there and so is the ice. With a bit of help mother nature, we can hold the ice that is there. Grab the gear and go!