Smallmouth Bass, Mille Lacs Lake MN

I headed to my “home” water, Mille Lacs Lake, to chase its world-class smallmouth bass for the first time this year. As I looked ahead on my schedule I thought this might be my only trip to the “pond” in the month of June. Joining me on this trip was a great friend, Bret, who is an avid walleye fisherman. While Bret does not fish specifically for bass often, he does enjoy catching anything that swims

Bret and I started the day throwing 3 to 4 inch tubes rigged on 1/8 ounce jigs. I thought that the smallies would not want to chase a lure with the water temps in the low 60’s. Boy was I wrong. Early in the day the fish seemed to want the lures moving, slow yet steady. We swam the tubes over shallow rocks, ranging in size from pebbles to softballs, sometimes bigger. Bret caught the first four bass, which were between 16-19 inches. As the boat drifted over a slightly deeper depression, Bret once again set the hook, this time a muskie rocketed to the surface and decided to show its size and strength by tail-walking across the top of the water. A brief battle and Bret gets her boatside. After three feeble attempts by me to land her, the line finally broke I estimate that this fish was in low 40’s and around 20 pounds. I am really thinking that I need to start carrying a bigger net; this is the third ski to make it to my boat this year — two muskies while chasing smallies and one while chasing walleyes.

We traveled up and down one side of the lake in search of a nice school of bass but never found it, so we decided to load the boat and trailer to the other side of the lake. After a short truck ride, we started in an area that has held early June smallmouth for me in the past. Almost immediately we I started a seeing smallies, not bedding fish, but ones that were holding to a certain object whether it was a rock, stick, or weed clump. These fish would spook as the boat drifted by, but would come right back to “their “ area which would cover an 2-3 foot diameter circle next to “their” structure. If you sent your lure to this area you got bite; if your lure was outside of this area you did not. It was that simple.

Shallow water sight fishing is a blast. Watching how fish react to you, the boat, and your presentation can teach you a lot if you pay attention to the little details. These small details can mean the difference between fishing and catching. We cover a ton of water looking for these fish but that is part of the game this time of year. The smallmouth spawn is in full swing so please leave the bedding fish alone as there are areas to fish without taking these incredible fish off of their beds. The future of this world class fishery depends on it.

Good Luck,

Ron