Mille lacs lake!! I and a few other Iowans loaded up the gear, and headed to the big pond this weekend. We caught the bite on saturday that was the best I have experienced yet…
Friday morning was my first morning fishing on the lake. As D-man stated in his report- this was really a test on the cold weather gear. First problem, my four-wheeler carb froze up and would not run very well. Then, problems with the hitches, and towing shacks. It seemed like the cold weather problems would not stop. But they did and we finally made it out on the ice. After drilling 20-30 holes, my bibs had gained an extra ten pounds in water that immediately froze to them. We were marking fish all over the place, but no presentation, color, bait, would work for us. I was about ready to pack up and go home. But we all made it through the day, and only iced a few smaller walleyes. Half of our crew just ended up sleeping in their shacks. I tried all day to get something going, but was unable to do so.
On to Saturday!!! Being more prepared, and ready for the weather. I decided to stick to my gut feeling and go where I knew there was fish from the day before. My hope was, that this day, we could get them to go. And we did!!!
The first photo is of Eric Moe, and his biggest walleye of his life. This fish went 28" on the judge, and was the fattest 28" fish I have personally witnessed. I was jealous to say the least. It was a true trophy fish coming through the ice, for his first time on the big lake.
Congrats on a beauty Eric!! These guys had a big fish pot going between them, and earlier Kirk Moe iced a 26", that we thought would win the pot, but Eric had other plans.
This third fish, we did not get a ruler on, but it was a beauty Craig!! It was good to fish with you again!
Craig’s fish was caught on Sunday- Sunday for me was also a tough bite, with no fish but a few small walleyes being caught. I also fished with Matt Grow, Calvin Svihel, and Bob Carlson- it was great to see and fish with you guys again!! Thanks for putting up with the "Iowegians"!!
Back to Saturday and technique- I don’t know how many nice 17-19" fish I caught on saturday. I am guessing around 20- The frustrating part for Saturday, was the amount of fish that I hooked, and lost. I was ready twice to snap my rod over my knee, after loosing two big fish. After talking with Scott, I think we narrowed it down to setting the hook too early.
Technique- After drilling 100 hundred holes all over the mud, I began to only target suspended fish, sometimes 4-5 feet off the bottom. I found that the fish "on the bottom" were not going to bite, no matter what I tried. So, I only spent time in holes that had fish suspended, and literally each of those fish bit within seconds of the spoon being in front of them. I was using a 1/8 perch colored go-devil, with a minnow head. Moving hole to hole was key for me saturday. For me to do this, I had to set up my shack, with sunflower going on high. I would bait up and rig in the shack, and then go outside and hole hop- after 10-15 minutes, I would have to switch rods, because the entire rod and reel setup would be froze. I would put the frozen rod in the shack and get a fresh one. This was the only way I was able to feel fish bite, and have a good drags on my reels.
Sunday night, we took all of our eater fish over to Hunters…and man was it good!! Thanks George!!
If you guys going out on the lake, I would highly recommend going out of Hunters, great food, up to date fish information, ice conditions, and EXCELLENT service!!
We’ll see everybody at the GTG!!!
Good luck- stay safe and see you on the hard water!!
Nice fish Moe brothers sounds like a awesome weekend
Here is one more picture of Eric’s fish…
Check out that belly…
Thanks for making this week go even slower than it already is
Seriously though, you guys got into some seriously nice fish
Congratulations on your best report ever!!! I know you all had some tuff fishing a lot of the time this weekend, but the hard work and persistence payed off big time. Too bad Trevor got there when the last nice fish was being released
can’t wait to give it a shot in 3.5 days.
Way to go and awesome report you Iowegians!
Nice report!
Nice eyes boys. Yes, that is a big belly, but probably won’t be the biggest belly we see this weekend!!
On a fish it might be, but I mean at Hunter’s Bar later!! 
Nice report Luke, the more I read these Millelacs reports the more of an itch I get to get up there this weekend…
Great report Luke!!
Sounds like the weather should be a little better for the GTG! Sure hope we can have a good consistant bite for the weekend!
Great Report
Looks like fun…..
Nice fish! Bringing fish that size in on the small rod would’ve been a blast! I can’t wait to get back out on the pond again
Great Post Guys–
Nice to see some Iowans making it up to the pond. What a great fishery those guys have in MN. Great fish Eric, now let’s see you catch one like that this spring in Iowa. You guys really need to “catch” the fall trolling bite up there, it’s a blast. See you on open water. OUT…Captain Anchor
Great report Luke, Those were some nice fish.I wish we would have had some of those on sat on the mud, but the eaters were sure fun to catch. All our fish came on frostie and rattle spoons. Sunday morning we fished the south end and caught a couple eyes and some jumbos. My brother had a hefty 26 1/2″ eye and lost another. All the eyes came on shiners under a bobber. we couldnt get anything on spoons, just the jumbos. It was nice meeting you and Matt.
Wallster ><((((>
Great report Luke! Few days left until we attack those eyes again.
Nice Eyes Luke.
Suspended about 4-5 feet off the bottom of the mud is exactly where I was hitting em last time I was out on the mud. Anybody have any reasoning why they are more active off the bottom, than on it ? I know there were fish on the bottom, but they were not biting.
big g
Great report Luke, your mobility definitely got you more fish than we caught Saturday.
cheers 
See ya at the GTG.
Good luck
GTG is what exactly??
what is the access fees for roads on mille lacs ??? i have never fish there in the winter
“GTG” is the IDA GetToGether at Hunter’s this weekend..promises to be a BIG time…..Think I heard it was going to be 150 guys (and gals) strong this year….
23 hours & counting before we are on the road headed to the big pond…………Jim
Interesting, my pops, brother, and I are headed up on Saturday thru Tuesday! Should prove to be a fun time when we get off the ice @ the resort! Renting a cabin from them…see ya there!!
Great report Luke. I look forward to finally meeting you this weekend. I am with AmWatson. Thanks for making the clock here at work move even slower than it already is. I CAN”T WAIT. Love2Fish.
Great report Luke couldn’t have said it better myself…
on our way up we had a trailer tire go down and ended up pulling into town around 2am. A big thanks to Dman for puting us up for a few hrs before we heded headed out in the cold.
With the tire behind us we set out to catch some fish..
Thats just what we did..
Luke we had a blast fishing with you Matt and Calvin. Now that I have ice fever I am looking forward to our next trip up to the pond…
P.S. How do you get pics off of a cell phone. Hooked it up to the computer and can’t get a read on it?
Luke with a healthy 19″er.
The suspended fish will always be the most active. They seem to be the most agressive. There could be many factors as to why they will leave the comfort of the bottom. Food source, light and mood I think are the main factors. These fish also seem to suspend alone so competition could also be a factor.
Road pass for the day is $10…
Great Report and Nice Fish…how thick is the ice off of Hunters Point? We are wanting to go out this evening…
Sorry impeblz- I didn’t see this until just now. I am sure if you went out of hunters, George told you the skinny-
How did you do?
NICE FISH !
nice fish!
wish i coulda done that good in the summer when iwas up there for the eyes 
i droped you an email