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Member
Posts: 714
| Well, I’m back home for a couple days and am taking a minute to offer a report of the fishing on Mille Lacs for everyone.
The shallow water bite is still the way to go if you want to catch fish this year. Some people are having limited success trolling cranks on suspended fish out in the middle of nowhere, but not enough success to justify the time and effort in my opinion. As many of you already know, we have an over abundance of perch, and other forage in the lake again this year, which has made finding a hungry fish next to impossible to do. That is the primary reason I have focused my energy on the shallow water areas this year, as well as last. This last week, I had 9 walleye clients and every one of them went home with their limits. All told for the week, we landed 47 slots in my boat, as well as 17 that were over the 22” slot limit, with 3 in the 27”-28”+ range. The perch are very thick out in the deeper areas of the lake, but have not been up in the shallows since early in the year when the young of the year (hatchlings) moved off the shorelines in search of food, as well as (bugs) which predominately hatch on the soft bottom (mud) which is nowhere near those rock s and gravel areas I have been having my success on. As the waters cool now going into the fall those perch will start showing up more in the shallows, and our daily bags will contain more and more perch as the season winds down. Time will only tell what effect this colder than usual summer will have on the fall bite. As of a couple days ago the surface temp at midday was only 70.5*, and that was down 4 degrees from a week earlier, which was the highest I had seen this year.
I’ve been working on some color patterns (choices) this year and have come up with some theories that are holding pretty true as the season goes on. It’s amazing how quickly a walleye’s choice preference can change with light diffusion by either/or wind, and cloud cover. I’m not going to go into great detail on these things at this time, but will in time, share this with you. For several years one of my most consistent colors was a crayfish pattern, but both this year, and last, with the high abundance of perch in the lake, it has done little if anything, and I mean fewer than 6 fish this whole season!!
As for other fish, the muskies are still following more than biting, with the best bite just in front of a storm, or at night when we have low barometric pressure, and high humidity. Weeds are producing most of the fish, but we are seeing a lot of fish on the shallow rocks.
The smallies are starting to come out of a little deeper water. There are still times when you can get them off the tops of the reefs in less than 4 ft., but more are now coming off the deeper edges in about 6-9 ft. Usually by this time of the season, the water is warmer than it is now and they are really aggressive and can be taken casting crank baits, but with the cooler temps, they are still coming almost entirely on plastics, with a few coming on topwaters on those few days when the conditions are just right. The other day only 1 of the fish we caught, we even saw before the bite, which is not a common thing on Mille Lacs.
Well, I guess I’ve rambled on long enough, but I do that when I’m talking fishing!!
Good fishing everyone, be safe on the water!  | |
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Member
Posts: 363
Location: Kaukauna WI | Jack
Have you every tried using flies on Millac's? | |
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Member
Posts: 83
Location: Isle MN. | I have and they tend to work right before the main hatch or right after. I have used them on several other lakes that don't have flies and they work well there too just using them like a rig. I have some little kids in my town tie them up for me on a number 6 long shank hook. They get a kick out of making them up and I get a bigger one using them!!!  | |
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Member
Posts: 580
Location: Green Bay, WI | Good to hear from you Jack! | |
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Member
Posts: 714
| irishwebs - 8/12/2004 4:56 AM
Jack
Have you every tried using flies on Millac's?
Mike,
As Chris said, there is a small time that the use of flies is applicable, and then with somewhat limited success. Our biggest problem is the HUGE number of perch in the system. One tap from a perch and a leech is no good for walleye fishing, they stiffen up and pretty much quit swimming, and crawlers just get hammered non-stop by them. The key to putting fish in the boat now is to find those areas that have few,if any perch, but that are still holding walleyes. So far, those areas are usually less than 10 ft. and occasionally, as deep as 17ft., but not often. | |
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Member
Posts: 363
Location: Kaukauna WI |
Reason I ask is I got into tieing flyes myself this last year and when I been to millacs I always either lindy. bobber or Lead Cored for eyes.
So was in my mind think will this work or not I thank you and Chris for the information | |
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Member
Posts: 83
Location: Isle MN. | Webs,
That is what these sites are for!!! Sharing valuable info!!! I just hope no one thinks flies are a "top secret" and gets mad at me!!!! HAHA 
Jack,
I'll be getting up to Mille Lacs in 10 days or so. We'll have to try and get lunch one day!! | |
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Checking in from Mille Lacs!!