Smallie Nut

[fishrman]

Never fished the lake and have been thinking about coming up for a week. Any input as to where to stay close to the smallie action would be appreciated along with any fishing tips. I live in SE Iowa and we just don't have many smallies to chase down this way. I have several lakes on my list. Thinking early August. Maybe as early as next week! Thanks so much!

[Jim DaRosa]

Smallie Nut. If you have a love for catching large smallmouth then you have to put Mille Lacs on you "to do list" In my opinion ML is one of the top smb fisheries in the good ole USA. I say this after fishing all of the Great Lakes, Tenn River and some of the best smb lakes in the country. Some lakes are better than ML for the pre spawn and spawn, but for a year round fishery its the best in my book.

August is a good month, for we generally have stabile weather and hungry fish.

Gotta go fishing ...have a guide trip in 45 min.

[fishrman]

Smallie Nut. If you have a love for catching large smallmouth then you have to put Mille Lacs on you "to do list" In my opinion ML is one of the top smb fisheries in the good ole USA. I say this after fishing all of the Great Lakes, Tenn River and some of the best smb lakes in the country. Some lakes are better than ML for the pre spawn and spawn, but for a year round fishery its the best in my book.

August is a good month, for we generally have stabile weather and hungry fish.

Gotta go fishing ...have a guide trip in 45 min.

Thanks Jim! I have heard the south side of the lake has more smallie type structure than the rest of the lake but the south side is a big area! Is there an area you think I should concentrate on more than another? I know I will need to look for and find the structure but where would you recommend I start looking? Thanks for your tips!

[Mark Benson]

Thanks Jim! I have heard the south side of the lake has more smallie type structure than the rest of the lake but the south side is a big area! Is there an area you think I should concentrate on more than another? I know I will need to look for and find the structure but where would you recommend I start looking? Thanks for your tips!

fishrman:

Without stealing Jim's thunder, the first thing I would do is too consider hiring him for a half or full day. He will show you spots in the area that makes the most sense for ya during the time you are there...

I think we inadvertantly met Jim one day on the south end. We were musky fishing and on our way into Wahkon bay and had to skirt in between two rock bars and Jim was on the inside . I felt really bad, but didn't think there was really any way around it and tried to sneak by without creating any more disturbance than was necessary. The guide was very pleasant when we went by and hopefully didn't have to paint a smile on his face.

At any rate, in the two seasons we have fished ML, we walleye fished, musky fished and smallie fished... The smallies were by far the species that saved our trip the first season... We had better fishing for our preferred species the second trip, the walleyes and surprisingly the smallies were a little off the second year in comparison to the first, but the 'eyes were better and the 'skies... well were just 'skies.

Lastly, I think there are many quality spots to stay around the lake, including Hunter's Point, the Red Door, Fisher's, McQuoid's and more I can't think of right off the bat here... We stayed on the north side in a private home and either boated or trailered and landed on any of the sides. There is a lot of smallie habitat on any of the sides.

Though we were there in the later part of July and it wouldn't seem like there should be a major difference, I am going to let Jim answer that because depending on the year, it really could be...

Mark

[fishrman]

I may have to change my handle to smallienut, kind of like that!
Thanks for the input. Jim does seem like a class act. We have exchanged some emails and he is helping me gain my confidence to get that 21 incher in the boat!
I am, now, officially coming up this Saturday and looking forward to the ocean you guys call Mille Lacs!

[Jim DaRosa]

Fisherman/Smallie Nut. One other thing that I failed to point out....When your on the lake you will notice lots of bouys that mark rock reefs. As a general safety rule of thumb, don't run between two bouys. These reefs can ve very dangerous to self and equipment. The lake is up a 1 to 1.5 feet this year so its not as bad as previous years. Speaking of bouys...there are verticle striped black and white bouys on ML, these are warnings to "do not run between the b/w bouy and shore "sahllow water"

The ramps at Cove, Isle, Cedar Creek, Liberty Beach on the south and east sides are free. But there are lots of pay ramps in between. I often advise to keep your rig on the trailer overnight. In the morning check the weather and winds then choose a ramp on the calm side. Remember ML is a big pond and when the wind is blowing the "recieving end" of the lake can have pretty big swells.

good luck

[fishrman]

Thanks for the pointers on the buoys!! Especially the vertical striped ones! How do I know which 2 buoys not to go between? Lake I go to up in Wisconsin is notorious for leaving boaters without lower units so I am usually pretty cautious. Up there, they just don't have any buoys! If you happen to be going to fast and run into a rock pile, well, whoops!

[Mark Benson]

Also those buoys mark potentially good smallie spots...

Mark

[fishrman]

Getting closer to being ready. Picked up a LakeMaster chip today!
I will keep my eyes open for the buoys. Is there a particular depth that you have found them relating to the last few days?

[Jim DaRosa]

As Mark stated, the bouys not only mark the shallow rock reefs, they also can mark a good starting point for catching smb. Its kinda like connecting the dots..start at one bouy and fish to the next. This way you will learn that particular reef. As far as depth, this time of year you may get em on top of the reef or on the break..depends on the fishes mood.
good luck

[fishrman]

Got back last Saturday. Between the storms and having depth finder/gps problems, I only fished about 20 hours total. I poked around in the Isle area the first day, the north side of the lake the second day and closer to the SW corner of the lake the 3rd. I just could not get a pattern put together for them. Do you find during sunny skys they don't move up shallow till late in the day or early in the AM? I ran onto a couple that were fishing with slip bobbers trying to catch Walleyes in 25 feet of water and they were all disgusted because all they could catch were smallies! I was drooling all over watching them. They were using a leech and fishing a foot off the bottom.
I want to come back as I think my 6 pounder might be swimming around in there somewhere!
4 lb. 10 oz. is as big as I could catch. The bite was few and far between for me and I caught them from 4 feet to 14.5 feet. I never did fish any weeds and wondered if they may have been relating them. Ran out of time.

[Jim DaRosa]

Keep fishing 4 fun....
There is definitely a learning curve when fishing ML for the first few times.....and yes the walleye guys/gals catch their share on leaches and slip bobbers. I however am a artificial bait guy. I find the best time to fish for my stlye of fishing is bright sunlight blue sky days. This concentratates the bigger fish on the structure and ths sunlight allows you to sight fish the structure. Polarized sunglasses probally allows me and my clients to catch 80% plus of our fish by sight fishing, but they have to be the best polarization available....I firmly believe in Ocean Waves sunglasses, I've had other brand from very expensive to cheap one and some are good, BUT not even close to OceanWaves.

There are some smallies in the weeds and spinnerbaits, buz baits etc will catch em. One of the things to be sussessfull on ML is able to read lake conditions and whats going on with the food source. When the food source is plentyfull ie lake bug hatch, young or the year fry from the spawn etc, the bite definetly slows down and your approach to bait selection etc changes than when the forage gets scarce and the fish become more active a will chase your baits. Right now the fish are schooled on the rock reefs and like cattle will "graze" the reefs in search of food....you might find them on one spot of the reef today and tomorrow they may be hundreds of yards down the reef, and may be active and be catchable....so you have to be patient. They wont leave the reefs as long as there is cover, and a plentiful food source.

Remember...you wont catch em if you dont chase em!

[fishrman]

Thanks for the nice reply Jim!
I probably should try some Ocean Waves. I, too, believe in a good glass. I use Costas 99.9% of the time. With a little ripple on the water or some staining that has occurred because of the winds, it still makes it difficult to see down into. Are you fishing the calmest areas of the lake you can find?
Sure would like to get back up there sometime soon and tap your knowledge. Are you completely booked for this fall? Any suggestions on killer times to come up? I would think the smallie fishing should be improving day by day.