Mille Lacs Lake Ice Perch Report

Well finally I got to scratch the itch that has been bugging me for about 8 months. Being able to walk on water…..Typically I am not going to seek out Mille Lacs as my first ice destination; however any chance to fish mille lacs can yield trophy opportunities. Matt Grow and I had an afternoon to burn and jumbo perch were on the mind. The late open water season didn’t really yield a great “fall” bite, so I assumed those perch should still be in the typical fall locations.

Shallow weedy bays were the area to target today for two reasons; 1. Shallow protected bays to freeze faster and gain the necessary 4 plus inches of ice needed for this guy to walk out. 2. With the lake just locking up on Tuesday of the week prior, I figured that weeds were still going to be giving off good oxygen and ample hiding place for smaller bait fish/worms these perch would be feeding on. The perch were everywhere once we found 9 feet of water. So many in fact you bait would be falling and several were racing up to meet the jig. Unfortunately the sizes of these fish were not exactly the size we were after, but nonetheless the rods were bending.

The ice is starting to setup nicely in most protected bays; we were sitting on approximately 5 plus inches of ice. We did see only one other local fisherman who has had his eye on the lake every day as he drove his wheeler on the lake. Now we walked out only out about 1/3 of a mile and the wheeler was only a few hundred yards off shore. I would suspect a few calm nights and the main lake should start to freeze really nicely.

Please be cautious on any lake for the next couple of weeks. Ice is just forming on most lakes and is ever changing with the winds and temps as of late. If you have a chance to check with a local resort or bait shop that is also encouraged as they should have the most up to date lake info. It was a great feeling to be back on the ice and on the ice in November rocks!

Have a safe and enjoyable 2010-2011 ice season.