# How should I fish for Walleye at Mille Lacs at the opener?



## zornst (May 7, 2008)

My son and I have visited Mille Lacs several times over the last three years. We have always gone up and done some camping, and taken advantage of some of the launches offered there.

This year, I took the plunge and purchased my own boat.

My son and I are going to Mille Lacs for the opener. We will be launching out of Isle, and spending the whole weekend on the lake (with an occassional nap at the motel).

This is my first opener, and I have never fished Mille Lacs (or any lake in Minnesota for that matter) from my own boat.

When we took the launch services, they always anchored and used leeches and slip bobbers (we always went in July or August). They usually fished in about 30 feet of water.

It is supposed to be cold, rainy, and potentially windy this weekend.

Does anyone have any good advice for us for this weekend? Should we be fishing shallow, or deeper water? Should we be using live bait (leeches or minnows), or other? Should we be anchored or trolling? During this time of year, is there a better time of day to be fishing?

I really want my son to have the time of his life. So any good advice and tips would be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of tackle, so I just want to make sure I rig up correctly to get the best results.

Thanks to any of you that can contribute, and have a great opener.

Zornst


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## Bustin Lips (Mar 16, 2008)

to be honest, I wouldn't bother.


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Find a different lake. That's my advice. Mille Lacs is always a nightmare during opener. I believe you can walk from Onamia to Garrison jumping boat to boat and not get wet. It's a zoo out there. I'd avoid it. Of course I always do avoid it.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

> Find a different lake


That right there is some good advice! I would find a smaller lake and you will probably catch more fish (warmer water), and have a better time.
If you do I would use a slow presentation. Your typical MN rig. Lindy with a minnow.


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## tsharpe (May 8, 2008)

Why is everyone so sour on one of the best walleye fisheries in the state. Expect some traffic at the access and be patient. I'd recomend fishing the north sand using lindy rigs and leeches. Use a 8ft+ snell with a red or purple hook. You can experiment with floats and spinners to see what is working. With the cold water temperature I'm guessing the fish will be shallower than usual and in the 6-10ft depth range. Last year we caught most of our fish in 12ft. The best time to fish is going to be daybreak and sunset because of the low light conditions and shallow fish. They'll also hug the windblow shore seeking warmer water temperatures. The forecast is for an easterly wind so the west shore will probably hold more active fish following the windblown baitfish. I sure you and your boys will have a great time. Good Luck!
Since you've never owned a boat before I'm guessing you might want to try launching it a few times to get the hang of it. A boat trailer can have a mind of its own if you don't know what your doing. It's tougher when there are 20 boats waitng in line to launch. Just a thought and have fun.


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## Chris Schulz (Sep 7, 2004)

zornst said:


> My son and I have visited Mille Lacs several times over the last three years. We have always gone up and done some camping, and taken advantage of some of the launches offered there.
> 
> This year, I took the plunge and purchased my own boat.
> 
> ...


I'm with the other posts above. If this is your first opener in your own boat I would try fishing a smaller lake that is not as packed as Milly. If you are willing to brave the crowds and boat traffic, make sure you have a compass or GPS for navigation(it's easy to lose your way or hit a submerged rock pile without the correct navigation tools). I have gotten lost in some deep fog before and now won't ever go out without one of the two. As for fishing, it can really depend. On opener we have done well from depths of 6-25 FOW all depending on temperature and fish activity. I usually drift with snells in 10-25 feet of water over sand or gravel. With the water being as cold as it is Run LONG snells(by snells I mean lindy rigs) I don't hesitate to run 10 footers. Also a drift sock or back trolling can be keys to success. Really slow your presentation down, sometimes next to no movement works best. We usually run leeches but have crawlers and minnows on stand by if the leeches aren't the ticket. Bobber fishing on shallow rock piles(5-18FOW) can also produce some big numbers.

Number one thing I will tell you is to have patients at the landing. There will be a TON of people trying to get in and out as fast as they can.

I hope this helps you if you do plan on fishing "The Pond" it is an amazing walleye fishery. Good luck and be safe!


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## bulkdriverlp (Apr 21, 2008)

doesnt sound like a good place for a beginner. people can get pretty anal at the launch. like somebody else said id practice launching quite a bit before you go where its busy.what kind of boat is it? rowboat style?


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Dont let people dishearten you. Mille lacs will have a ton of boats on it and there will be spots jam packed with boats. But if you cant find a spot with plenty of room to yourself that probably means you need to start exploring more then just the known community spots that everyone and their uncle know about. Right out from Isle there is plenty of solid early season shallow structure. We catch them 4-15' in the shallow weed/rock structure and sometimes we'll venture out to 17-22' this early on some of the closer to shore gravel/rock structure. I lindy rig with a leech is your friend on mille lacs. Slip bobbers should work as well.


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Zornst, so I'm curious. DId you follow prudent advice and avoid Mille Lacs or did you go and fight the crowds? I heard the fishing sucked on Mille Lacs anyhow. I just laughed. We hammered 'em.


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## striped1 (Aug 17, 2005)

gill net would have best. when in Rome...


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## Bustin Lips (Mar 16, 2008)

hey zornst, were we right or what?


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## zornst (May 7, 2008)

I greatly appreciate the information - especially from the gentleman that gave some tips of where to fish and what to use.

We did go to Mille Lacs. Getting the boat in and out of the lake was no problem. I also rented a slip at McQuoids - so didn't have to deal with putting in and out a bunch of times. We used the public launch in Isle, and didn't really find the lines that bad.

We did get skunked - was too fricking cold. However, the number of boats on the lake wasn't a problem for us. The cold was - especially on Sunday when it was cold and windy.

I got a new Alumacraft Trophy 185 - so it was plenty big enough to handle the wind. And I did get a GPS depth finder - which I found invaluable, especially for all the shallow areas we came across. I was very surprised to see so many places where the water was only 2 to 3 feet deep. Saved my prop!!!

We are going to take another cut at Mille Lacs in the next couple weeks. Was curious if anyone has any recommendations for Lakes closer to the Twin Cities that has Walleye...

Ruger1 - where did you end up going?

Take care and happy fishing...

Zornst


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## Chris Schulz (Sep 7, 2004)

Congrats on your first journey on "The Pond". 8-14 FOW of water worked best for us on opener. fish may be a little deeper as the water warms up the next couple of weeks.


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

Zornst, we were up on the Rainy River. We boated over 60 walleye in about 6 hours of fishing. It was a cold, wet, and windy weekend. However everyone had fun. The fire was always going and the kids had each other to play with and fish to catch and eat. So all in all it was a good weekend.

I hear a lot of lakes North of Mille Lacs produced nice numbers of fish and nice fish. I'm still getting reports of the Brainerd and Mille Lacs area being a bust. Not sure what's going on down there. I guess Winnie is really producing fish right now. Probably taking the girlfriend up there tonight.

I have a buddy who's dad is a guide on Mille Lacs. My buddy talked to his dad and then came with us opening weekend. That's all the info I needed regarding Mille Lacs.

Good luck next time out.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

yep, it was definately slow. My uncle has had a lot of guide trips since opener and none have been up to par yet. My old man caught 6 out there last saturday morning before it got nasty.

He said he almost sunk his 19' Yar Craft it was so bad. He claimed 50 mph winds and 9 ft' waved. Coming in with the wind he was coming down a roller and ended up spearing the back end of another wave. After taking on a ton of water he hit the gas to get the boat/bow back up and going so all of the water rushed to the back of the boat knee deep so the back end lowered. The wave he had just came down on rolled over the back of the boat and he thought he was screwed. Sounded pretty scary. This is a guy who has fished the lake in nasty stuff for over 25 years and most of them have been in smaller 17' boats.


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## ruger1 (Aug 16, 2006)

So Winnie was somewhat productive last night. Boated some nice fish, all were in the protected slot though. Of course I don't need to bring fish home, I can catch 22" walleye all day long.

Unfortunately the girlfriend only caught perch. I was disappointed in that. I've caught so many fish in my life. I enjoy it, but I would much rather have others experience it. I'm sure she missed some fish though, they were biting lite last night. Oh well, perhaps tonight.


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