Mille Lacs Update

[Lals]

R23, yeah you are right considering the number of big brown bass plus the large amount of habitat .... it really is an amazing smallmouth fishery. Like you mention, the weather could force some of the boats into bays....there is a reasonable chance for some strong winds during the tournament. It will be interesting!

[Craigums]

So, who's going to the pond this weekend? I plan on leaving the house around 6am, Probably fishing the East side

[thatoneguy]

I will be out there on Sunday

[bassfshin24]

I was up there on Friday. Got into them pretty good with Juan Grande. Our best 5 went 26lbs. 3 fish over 5lbs with Juan getting his PB at 5lbs 13oz. Water temps were around 57 and with the warm weekend I heard surface temps got up to 65. They still aren't in the fall pattern yet. A lot of fish we caught were scattered and in all depth ranges. Definitely was fun to hook into some monster bronzebacks. I have a trip planned up there the weekend of Oct 21. Hopefully they will be schooled up by then. 

[rascal23]

Got up to ML tues. and wed. We planned on fishing the east side, but even a 10 mph out of the WNW can look nasty from the launch mid oct.  So we went north to Myr Mar.  Good choice. Water was tamer, making boat control a lot easier.  Water temp was 53-54.

     Tues. was so so for smallies.   Got a few early on jerkbaits, then nothing. Then the walleyes kicked in. My buddy got his PB, a 27 incher, on a tube. They were all over swimbaits,  plus I got a 25" on a 1/2 ounce wobble head pitboss.  Smallies aren't the only fish eating crawdads.  15 or so walleyes with most over 20".    8 or so smallies - 19 1/2 being the biggest. We spent most of the time in 7 - 13 fow and also tried down to 22 fow where we graphed boulders or fish(the best you can without side scan) but nothing deep  The walleyes were all nice and healthy, all hooked in the snoot.

    Wed., back to Myr Mar. This time the smallies were on and jerkbaits ruled. Pink or orange x raps. Swimbaits got a few, as well as the pitboss fished fast on the bottom. My buddy had to take off by noon and by then we had about 15 smallies, best 5 over 19" with 2 sows that went 20 1/2, one of which was another PB for my buddy. I stayed, but much slower with one more 19 and a few more smaller ones. And only 2 walleyes all day.

  I used to think that it was better fishing later in the day in the fall cause of warming water temp, but no more. Our best SB bites came early. The walleyes bit all day in bright sun, so throw out all the rules and just go fish.

[rascal23]

bassfshin24,

  how did ML go?

[leech~~]

Not sure what was going on up there last Sat when I went by but most of the landings were pretty busy on the west side? 

[Duffman]

15 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

Not sure what was going on up there last Sat when I went by but most of the landings were pretty busy on the west side? 

Super nice calm fall day somewhat shortly after monster smallmouth tourney results within 2 hours drive of a major population base. 

Nope, no idea what was going on.

[bassfshin24]

50 minutes ago, rascal23 said:

bassfshin24,

  how did ML go?

Caught some decent fish but never dialed them in. 

 

Thursday I only got 5 in the boat and nothing over 4lbs. Caught about a dozen eyes though. I did loose one at the boat that I think was pushing 6lbs. It was one of those fish that was too fat to fight. Only head shakes. Had my net in hand and was reaching for it to net and the hook popped out. That one dropped me to my knees. 

 

Friday Todd S came out with me and it was a struggle the first 6 hours. We had one fish in the boat. We tried deep, shallow, and everything in between. Finally went back to one of my favorite shallow spots in the fall and got into them good. We probably caught 18-20 fish with biggest 5 going 26.15lbs. Todd S got big fish at 5lbs 10oz. I had 3 over 5 too. 

 

Saturday was one of those days that you love being on the water....weather wise haha. I just could not figure them out. I think I spent too much time in the shallow spot from the previous day. Should have just searched deep. Only ended up with 4 with two over 4lbs. 

[leech~~]

10 minutes ago, Duffman said:

Super nice calm fall day somewhat shortly after monster smallmouth tourney results within 2 hours drive of a major population base.

Nope, no idea what was going on.

 

I was thinking they were after the Smallys and that it must have been a tourney with all the boat traffic.

[thatoneguy]

I was out on Saturday as well, and boy was it tough. We stuck a couple of fish and missed a couple more right away in the morning, then ran to the access to pick up the third guy, and when we got back to the spot the fish were shut down.

We marked tons of fish all day but found very few biters. Still a heck of a nice day to be on the water, though!

[rascal23]

I thought that nice weather on Sat. would have really had them going shallow.     Bassfshin,  what was the water temp and the hot baits?

[bassfshin24]

Water temps that weekend were around 52. A buddy of mine was up there yesterday and said water temps were around 48. When we did get into the school of fish we were getting them on football head jigs. I couldn't buy a bite on a jerkbait which is strange to me. The fish I caught on Thursday were caught on a dropshot. Sounds like a lot of people right now are having success with paddle tail swimbaits. 

[smalliehunter]

I was there Thursday and Sunday.  Water was 49.2 on my graph.   I like fishing a jig, so I never even took another rod out of the locker.  Fish are stacked in flat areas with boulders in like 23-25ft off of steep breaks.  Ate a jig really good both days. Set the hook 19 times yesterday, 18 came in the boat, big 5 was 24.76.  going to try and make it back, but overtime around deer hunting is lame and I may not have a chance till middle of November..  

 

Oh yeah... to the 2 guys in the Skeeter.  Finding your own fishing spot, will make you better fisherman.  I promise.  

[bassfshin24]

51 minutes ago, smalliehunter said:

I was there Thursday and Sunday.  Water was 49.2 on my graph.   I like fishing a jig, so I never even took another rod out of the locker.  Fish are stacked in flat areas with boulders in like 23-25ft off of steep breaks.  Ate a jig really good both days. Set the hook 19 times yesterday, 18 came in the boat, big 5 was 24.76.  going to try and make it back, but overtime around deer hunting is lame and I may not have a chance till middle of November..  

 

Oh yeah... to the 2 guys in the Skeeter.  Finding your own fishing spot, will make you better fisherman.  I promise.  

Doesn't that just piss ya off. You do all the work to find the fish and someone just pulls up on ya. Happens all the time out there.