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Posts: 443
Location: Duluth, MN | 8 hours. Threw every bait we own. Nothing...not 1 fish not 1 follow...nothing. They said west wind turning NW....bah...it was WSW and big rollers and it never switched. Stayed out till 11:00 figuring maybe after dark we would see something. NOPE!!!. And then i hit a deer on the way back about 10 miles out of Mille Lacs and drove 80 miles with 1 headlight!!! I'm taking a break. |
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Posts: 897
| Sounds about right! Sucks about the deer! I've heard nothing good about that lake this year other than the weeds in the South Bays... |
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Posts: 785
| Wow, when it rains it pours 
I've only fished the lake one day this year (4th of July), spent the morning on the SW side and the evening on the SE side fishing about every bay and rock reef I could think of. Ended the day seeing two in the morning (41 and a 45 being my best guess), and two again in the evening both being smaller mid 30" class fish.
May sound like a good day compared to yours but all fish were super lazy looking and ultimatly un-exciting (but fun none the less). Spent the next two days on smaller water. I'll be back up again July 18th-20th so hopefully the weeds look better and the fish are hungry.
Oh speeking of weeds how'd they look on the north end? I haven't made it up that way yet. Over the 4th they weren't very good looking yet in Vineland, not bad in all the bays on the SE side though. |
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Posts: 256
| It maybe wasn't just Mille Lacs yesterday. I fished a north metro lake for 7 hours and we moved one small muskie. We did catch five 30+ northerns though. But the spots I was consistantly seeing fish on were empty. |
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Posts: 443
Location: Duluth, MN | The weeds are there but not very thick growth yet. Gonna be a couple more weeks before i would say it was like last year at this time. |
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Location: Twin Cities | I have fished Mille Lacs twice this year. 3 weeks ago for 2 days, saw LOTS of fish, no biters and only 1 that even looked interested to bite.
Went back up for the 4th at a friends cabin, fished 30+ hours and only saw 1 muskie. Night, day and everything on both sides. Tried LOTS of different spots and structure similar to musky-skunk. Talked to a lot of people who didn't see anything either. |
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| Mille Lacs is slow... I know some VERY good fisherman that are going days and days without putting a fish in the boat.. Weeds are not growning normal and fish are not in normal areas and there is not a consistant pattern... If you are heading to the pond, good luck and remember there is a reason this lake is called "the lake of broken dreams." |
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Posts: 31
Location: sauk rapids, mn | In normal years, the north end does not heat up until mid to late july. We all know this year is far from normal. So, could we be talking early to mid august before the north end gets going? |
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Posts: 4
| Ive hit up the big mille about 5 times this year.. You name it, ive thrown it! Few follows but no takers... The weeds are way behind, not even showing on the breaks by Wealthwood. Found a some cabbage out of garrison last weekend. Its been slow! |
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Posts: 177
Location: Cohasset, MN | I hit the north end for a few hours back on 6/23. Saw 7 small fish - only one might have broke 30 inches. One of the fish brought 2 walleyes with him. That's one of many things that makes fishing great ! |
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| We fished from 7/11 - 7/14 and lost a 40 Friday within the first 1/2 hour then the wind blew 20-40 mph friday afternoon - sunday afternoon. Tried to fish out of the wind but that was even hard. We saw 1 45 incher monday sunning itself in the woods on the southend. And that was it! The weeds on the southend and inside Big Point are good, Vineland they are spotty, Garrison even worse, and Weatherwood has almost no weeds on the break. They have also had 5 weeks of mayfly hatches so they are eveywhere, which makes for a fun ride back at night. Good luck if you go and bring sun screen! |
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| I fished Mille Lacs the last two days. We trolled ten miles on the north end tuesday night over cabbage and had nothing. We threw everything know to man and only raised two fish. |
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Posts: 454
| Here come the bad mille lacs reports........LETS GO!  |
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| Are the pontoon trollers out there yet? I love those guys.......... |
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| Are the pontoon trollers out there yet? I love those guys..........
Yes they are. Just remember that one of them averages well over a hundred muskies a year since the mid 90's. |
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| One of them may average over 100 muskies a year, if its the same one I'm thinking, he also kills plenty of muskies a year |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | Fishing from a pontoon? Man, put a big couch on the back and cast for a while then troll then cast a while longer. Drink a few beers while the old lady drives you around the lake. Sounds like fishing heaven. Not in 4-5 foot rollers though! My Doritos come up then  |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | how does he kill the muskies |
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| By letting clueless clients keep anything thats legal. Not to mention the guy in mind has reeled many a musky in without stopping trolling and usually nets them and lifts them into the pontoon so they can flop around on the floor. He did this for years, whether he has changed in the last couple years, I dont know. |
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| He hasn't changed and he is not going to change!!! By the way, if he truly is averaging over a 100 fish per year, how many of those fish are snagged? Dragging crankbaits through the sand at 3-5 mph and hooking lethargic fish in the backs is not what I would consider a "caught" fish.
A few years back a teenage girl caught a 55" fish from the pontoon and the "guide" suggested that she keep the fish because "it had been through its life cycle." This was quoted in the Outdoor News.
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| asteffes,
Come on over and see for yourself, things are slow this year for everyone, only a handful of big fish have been caught.. Believe me, people just can not wait to tell everyone on the internet about each fish they catch and where they caught it, so as soon as they start going you'll hear all about it!!
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Posts: 734
Location: Watertown, MN | Cylced throught the north end run on sunday. Saw 3 boats from weathwood to malmo, I do not think the fish are going, I did noticed the break line had a mix of weed. Did get one saturday, but no hurry to head back.
Troyz |
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Posts: 148
Location: Northwest Wi. | I was out Sat, Sun and mon. on the S/East side did not see any thing untill monday...Tried it all,,Day/ Night..Rocks/ Weeds,,Still pretty slow.. Lots of Balls of Minnows in the weedlines.. Weeds look good. |
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Posts: 454
| Guest-
That was my point exactly. No one is going to come on here and talk about all the success there having whether that is now, in a week, or in a month. Yes, I know things have been tough up there this year compared to other years, but I also know of quite a bit of success too
And yes, I have been there.......... |
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Mille Lacs north end kicked my butt yesterday!!