Fall smallies are starting to bite!

[swampbuck]

Was going to deer hunt tonight but decided to go and fish (not many days left) Glad I did Largemouths were tough, but the smallies where on fire in 3-5 feet!!

Love this time of year

[bassnbucks]

I had good luck today with largemouth, throwing spinnerbaits. Cranks were getting hammered by northerns. They were still hitting the spinnerbaits but at least I was getting some bass too!! Time to go bow hunting in the morning.

[thatoneguy]

Good to hear the smallies are going - looking forward to chasing them on Friday!

[Presco]

I'll be chasing smallies in the Deerwood/Crosby area this weekend including a day on Mille Lacs. Hopefully the wind cooperates.

[palisade1kid]

Tube jigs have been a hot bait on Mille Lacs.The pits are putting out pretty good too. Been CPR'ing some 18's there.

[TonkaBass]

Fall smallies get me all worked up! I can't wait to sneek out and stick some piggies!

[Juan Grande]

I know they school up in the fall, but will smallies (specifically Mille Lacs smallies) move up on the shallow rocks as the water temp drops?

[thatoneguy]

The guys had a great time, John - thanks a ton for working that out with us! Let me know when then smallies get going down there and we can chase em again. If you ever want to kill an afternoon up on Leech, just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to take you out here.

[Craigums]

Juan, I took my little boat out on mille lacs on saturday cause it wasnt very windy. we fished a few rock piles and didnt see anything

[Presco]

Craigums and others, we were on Mille Lacs on Sunday AM. Cold and windy early, water temps were about 55. We expected a good day with the sun popping out early. We picked up a 21" about 8:00 am and then nothing until about noon. Caught about 10 in depths ranging from 4' up to 8'. Decent size actually with a few over 18. Good times. I might try one more time this year, but kept hearing how the fish never seemed to come shallow this fall. They are obviously still there, but not in numbers.

FYI, I posted a pic of the 21" in the bass pictures.

[kt]

Smallies were going nuts this past weekend. Picked up over a hundred between 3 of us from 8:30 - 2:00 on sunday. Had four triples and at least 15-20 doubles. Found them hanging just off the edge of some shallower 6-10 foot hard bottom humps/points that transitioned to weeds. They are really starting to feed up, most fish were coughing up perch. Two biggest were just over 19 inches and thick, with lots of healthy 17-18.5 inchers.

[bucketmouth64]

I was on Mille Lacs on Sunday too. Went out of Cove Bay around 1pm then eastward ending in Wahkon Bay. Only caught 2 smallies which was disappointing. Threw a lot of different things see what they were hitting on. Is the lake going thru turnover? Water seemed pretty dingy. Didn't see any swimming around reefs/shallows or didn't have any follow ups. Caught both on tubes next to the boat. My personal best was caught 21.5".

[blakjack23]

Mille lacs has been dingy since I was up there 3 or 4 weeks ago and maybe before that. Dingy water doesn't mean the lake turned over though. Lakes get dingy when the water temp drops and the weeds die, but that doesn't mean the lake turned over, usually lake turnover is later than everyone thinks.

[RK]

Hiya -

Mille Lacs is one of the unusual lakes that doesn't stratify, and so doesn't 'turn over' in fall.

Dingy water can also be caused by the water getting higher. The lakes up by my cabin - even the ones that are usually very clear - were really dingy a little while ago because the water levels rose. Don't know if that's the story on Mille Lacs, or just weed die off, which can sure dirty things up, but it's a possibility given the rainfall we've had recently.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Cecil]

Mille lacs also dirtys up quite a bit from constant heavy wind direction. Which, this time of year with north winds happens a lot on the south end.