Mille Lacs Smallies right now

[fishuhalik]

Just wondering where you guys would start looking right now? New to the big pond, going with my cousin on thursday. If you don't mind sharing specific bays/presentations I'd appreciate it, it's a big lake and if you just say "fish the shallow rocks" I might burn a little bit of gas!

[Juan Grande]

Fishuhalik,

Like you said, I think they should be on the shallow rock piles right now. Kind of depends on what they're feeding on, but if there's crayfish around then the smallies will be close by. I think east or SE shore probably has the most rock piles. Give Flamingo reef (north of Hunter's point) a try and work your way down the eastern shoreline towards Isle bay. The water is high enough that you can probably move up onto the rock piles instead of staying out on the perimeter, but check your depths first. Look for the biggest boulders you can find and if the fish are in there they will usually cluster around boulders.

If they're feeding on crayfish then just use anything that resembles that. Bring some live bait with (leeches and crawlers) in case they're finicky and you can just fish those under a bobber.

Make sure to bring your polarized glasses too, because if they're in shallow you'll see them pretty easily. Even if they dart off as you approach you'll know they're hanging there and you can come back later and make long casts. If they're not spooky they'll stay in the area even as you troll around.

[bassfshin24]

I would suggest the same. Isle bay has a lot of different rock piles. I was out there this past weekend. Fishing was slow for us but we did get into a few...biggest went 4.57lbs and a few others around the 3.5lb range. We were catching them on sweet beavers in 3-5ft. Didnt see any fish really shallow and could not get anything to commit to topwater. Like Juan said focus on finding the bigger boulders...most of our fish came off of the rock piles with the bigger boulders on them. Good luck...its a fun lake if you can find them!

[RumRiverRat]

E or SE side.

Fish the rock piles with the biggest rocks like the others have said.

Swim a 3" to 5" Chartreuse Grub on an 1/8 oz jig head over the rocks.

When you see a Dark Football shaped object come up behind the lure, hold on and watch your bait get murdered.

Husky jerk-baits, DT4's and DT6's will produce as well.

[Juan Grande]

Rum,

What size husky jerk-baits do you use? Do you just straight retrieve them or jerk them? Would X-Raps work just as well?

[Juan Grande]

Pat Burch (Mille Lacs Guide) posted this in the Mille Lacs forum.

"The smallies are biting well in 7-8 feet of water just of the tops of the rock piles."

If you're not seeing them on top them pull off a bit deeper and give it a try.

[RumRiverRat]

Rum,

What size husky jerk-baits do you use? Do you just straight retrieve them or jerk them? Would X-Raps work just as well?

8's 10's will throw a 12 if the fish are really aggressive.

If the fish are active a fast retrieve with aggressive jerk-baits seems to be the ticket.

Something I am going to try on Smallies, should work on most lakes/rivers,

If you notice the fish following a crankbait like the DT4 or 6 to the boat and swiping at the bait at the last moment, throw a Husky Jerk and just before you get it to the boat stop and let the bait suspend, after the pause give it a hard jerk and hold on usually the fish will absolutely hammer the bait.

[fishuhalik]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Hopefully this weather doesn't turn 'em off too bad, looks like it's gonna be stable for the next couple of days so that should help. My cousin is more into the eyes but I have a feeling once he tangles w/ a few of the fabeled big pond smallies he's gonna change his mind real quick!

[fishuhalik]

One other question, is it usually an all-day bite in the shallows like that? Usually it seems that those kind of areas are good for an hour or two in the morning/evening

[RumRiverRat]

I would fish the tops in the low light period and then move deeper as the sun gets higher.

You might find the fish suspended over the break at the same depth as the top of the rock piles, bars, reefs etc....

If they are deep you can usually call them up from deep water with a spinnerbait that is cast to the tops of the rock piles and then retrieved over the break.

I have caught fish at high noon on a cloudless day on the tops of the rock piles too.

[Cecil]

On Mille Lacs it could be an all day bite up top

[fishuhalik]

By deep are you talking the 7-8' that the guide juan was talking about, or deeper? It seems that most of the luck i've had on non-river smallies in the middle of the day has been 12'+

[Griggs]

What are you guys using for top water? I typically with a Skitter Prop for calm water and Skitter Prop for a little bit more wind. But I'm just getting started with smallies..

[Juan Grande]

I usually try poppers, buzz baits and spooks when the water is calm, but I haven't had much luck with topwater smallies.

[fishuhalik]

Well, fishing was terrible. We only went after smallies for a couple hours, had one nice one follow on a fluke, one small northern hit a jerkbait. Walleye fishing wasn't much better, just got one nice one about 19"

[Juan Grande]

Sorry fish, that sucks. Smallies are so fickle, you can go up there with a game plan and a lot of the time they don't cooperate.

[RumRiverRat]

Fishing was Decent today with Juan Grande and his buddy.

Put some real Pigs in the boat.

Dragging grubs over rocks in 3 to 6 feet of water was the ticket.

The fish wanted nothing fast moving.

They were feeding on Crawdads, caught a Big Largemouth that had crawdad parts coming out of his rear end.

[Nilsfisher]

Here is Rat and I with a double catch and Juan with a nice Toad.

[RumRiverRat]

The fish that Juan is holding with both hands in the post above on the tape.

[fishuhalik]

Thanks, rub it in guys!!

Nice work, I'm gonna have to get up there again one of these days. One bad trip won't keep me away!

[RumRiverRat]

Not to rub it in at all.

We almost had a bad day until we figured out what they wanted.

If you want a "guide" my email is in my signature.