Mille Lacs Perch

[SportFishin']

I know this should be in the Mille Lacs forum but they seem to not be answering questions over there about the perch.

Was wondering if anyone has been on the Big Pond for Perch lately. Went up there for the Liberty Beach Perch Extravaganza and had a ball, but didn't catch a single perch. I was Cursed & Crowned the "Burbout King" for the day from all my buddies but landed 6 Burbout ranging from 4-6lbs boy what a fun time with a ultra-light stick.

Going to be heading up there Friday for a day trip and was wondering how the bite has been & where to start for the perch. Depths,Mud,Gravel,Jigs, & Ect. Would like to put some table fair in the pan for dinner & maybe hook into some Jumbos. I know the bite has been hit or miss lately but if anyone has some info or what bait shops to start out at in the AM on Friday for perch bites to point us in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Would really like to show the wife the Mille Lacs perch that she heard me talk of from our last trip up there.

Thanks in advance.

SportFishin'

[Grabs]

Skip it, and go to Winnie. The extra couple of hours (if you are coming from the Cities) to Winnie is well worth it. The perch bite on Mille Lacs has really been hit and miss all season. Many others are preaching the same thing I am. I even read a post on another page where some one who lives in Aitkin won't even drive the 15 minutes to Mille Lacs, instead he will make the nearly 2 hour drive to Winnie for perch. The perch on Winnie are abundant, biting and jumbo,..go get'em!

[hawgTime]

Listen to Grabs. Check out the Winnie forum and you will see what we're talking about.

mJay

[Guest]

Where and when (time of day) were you catching burbots?

[SportFishin']

Basshunter,

We were out for the Liberty Beach Perch contest back about two weeks ago on 2/23. We hit the lake at about 8am-1:30pm just on the south west side of 2 1/2 mile reef in about
24-28' of water right on either side of the pressure ridge. If you were to go out of Liberty go out 2.5-3 miles west on the odometer and follow the pressure ridge on the north side of it and you will come across were peolple were crossing it(it was marked with orange cones then.) go about 200 yards past the crossing and we were fishing right on either side of the ridge. If you have a "Hot Spots Map" we were right where the #15 is ,but up closer to the reef in 25'.

As for presentation I was using green glo teardrops & similar glo jigs in green colors about 2-6" off the bottom with a slip bobber jigging it aggressive every once & awhile tipped with a crappie or fathead minnow.

Hope this helps you out a little Basshunter.

I think we are going to head to Winnie instead on Fri. and go out of Judds in the AM. Thanks for the tip Grabs & Hawgtime should be a fun time after reading the post over on the Winnie Forum.

Hey Grabs or Hawgtime how many hours is the drive from the Twin Cities? Gotta let the wife know because of a T-Ball Coaches meeting on Sat. afternoon.

SportFishin'

[Grabs]

Nice choice man! It took us 3 1/2 hours from Hopkins, but we left early in the AM. Allow yourself 4 hours to be safe. We went up 169 to Grand Rapids and then took Hwy 2 west to Judds.

Let us know how you did, I am considering one more trip at the end of the month if we have enough ice still by then.