Trolling open water mille lacs

Haven’t heard any reports, anyone tried it this year? Thinking of going up and see what happens.

I was up on sunday and tried a little of everything. I had one big fish on that got off, and nothing else all day. Brutal for me. The one bite came on a hornet near a flat but off the break line.

Tough year, darn perch.

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/anglers-avoiding-mille-lacs-in-record-numbers/

Link button didn’t work.

tomr wrote:

Haven’t heard any reports, anyone tried it this year? Thinking of going up and see what happens.

Tom,

The last time I was able to make it up to Mille Lacs was in early June and we caught fish in the basin but it was still a little too early. In talking with friends up there they are averaging about 1-2 fish per hour trolling the edges of flats/open basin which is definitely on the slow side but the fish they are getting are very fat and healthy which is great news. Bigger baits (Taildancers, Thundersticks) seem to be working better than smaller baits (Shad Raps, Hornets) as these fish are filling up on smaller baitfish and don’t seem to want to waste their energy on a small meal right now.

The other good news is that the reason I haven’t been back to Mille Lacs nearly enough this summer is that we are in the process of selling our house South of the river and moving back to the North side of town… Which means I’ll be much closer to Mille Lacs by the middle of August!

Will

Was up there Friday and Saturday last weekend trolled out at 9 mile, it was definitely slow for me!!

thanks for the replies! Going up this weekend and will let you know if I have any success.

tom

Good to hear Will. Welcome back to the north side. What city are you moving to?

@MalmoMafioso

Will Roseberg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tomr wrote:</div>
Haven’t heard any reports, anyone tried it this year? Thinking of going up and see what happens.

Tom,

The last time I was able to make it up to Mille Lacs was in early June and we caught fish in the basin but it was still a little too early. In talking with friends up there they are averaging about 1-2 fish per hour trolling the edges of flats/open basin which is definitely on the slow side but the fish they are getting are very fat and healthy which is great news. Bigger baits (Taildancers, Thundersticks) seem to be working better than smaller baits (Shad Raps, Hornets) as these fish are filling up on smaller baitfish and don’t seem to want to waste their energy on a small meal right now.

The other good news is that the reason I haven’t been back to Mille Lacs nearly enough this summer is that we are in the process of selling our house South of the river and moving back to the North side of town… Which means I’ll be much closer to Mille Lacs by the middle of August!

Will

wow Will, you need to get your butt out there..

side question for will, do you normally just long line braid on mille lacs in the basin or use leadcore?

andy bice wrote:

ou need to get your butt out there..

side question for will, do you normally just long line braid on mille lacs in the basin or use leadcore?

Its all in the new IDO summer mag article on the home page. Great piece of reading and you will get all the info needed.

wow Will, you need to get your butt out there..

side question for will, do you normally just long line braid on mille lacs in the basin or use leadcore?
[/quote]

Whoever said that a person should move every few years had no idea what they’re talking about!

To answer your question, yes I fish leadcore almost as much as I do braid in the basin. On windy days I actually prefer leadcore because there is a little bit of sag in the line that acts like a shock absorber to help keep your lure from surging with the waves. Given the chance to have 4 people in my boat I’m going to start out running 2 each long-line on boards and leadcore directly off the side of the boat.

biggill wrote:

Good to hear Will. Welcome back to the north side. What city are you moving to?

@MalmoMafioso

We’re moving up to Hanover Matt.