Mille Lacs is hard to beat when it comes to a fishery that provides endless opportunities to catch multiple species and is of quality size too. “Minnesota Gold”, better known as walleye is undoubtedly the hot topic of controversial discussions when it comes to slot size and numbers, but let’s not forget about why we got into the wonderful sport of fishing, to begin with. Set the hook on a Mille Lacs lake walleye and surely you will be reminded what the sport is truly all about! I was fortunate enough to exercise my privilege to fish Mille Lacs lake over the past few weeks – this is what I found:
Walleyes were caught in depths of 12 to 28 feet of water on the first and second breaks, but most of my time was devoted to fishing the mud flats that had very distinctive structural characteristics and transitions. 22 to 27 feet of water seemed to be the most consistent and productive depth range. Most often, the ledges I was fishing were only a four -or five-foot difference in depth. Keeping my bait higher off the bottom 2-5 feet up gave me the chance to walleye off in the distance to see my bait, hunt it down, and take a bite. If I had kept my bait closer to the bottom, a school of walleye could have cruised right past without seeing my bait. Set lines tipped with a sucker minnow also produced fish. Again, hanging my bait between 3-4 feet from the bottom allowed cruising walleyes to see and grab that bait.
Whether it be jigging or on a set line, big props to Northland Fishing Tackle’s new jig called the Glo-Shot® Jig as I believe it was a huge part of my success on the ice. The glow of the illuminated jig added visibility of my bait to the surrounding walleye during the cloud-covered days. Yes, they glowed all day and all night!
Garrett Haglin
Northland Fishing Tackle Pro Staff