If You're Cranking, You're Spanking Big Fish

For the first time in weeks, the guides are in near consensus: it's pretty slow fishing Mille Lacs except if you are crank baiting. Sure, you can get fish, but it's been hard work for most of our guides. With that said, it's a pretty short report this week as some guides haven't even been out on the water. All are pointing to the October full moon as the next big bite on Mille Lacs.


Mike Lofte caught this 21.25 inch smallmouth with a 14.5 inch girth on September 5th and released it. The photo is posted here and will be in Silver Medal Position on Trophy's Wall of Fame on the Make It Mille Lacs.com fishing page. To see the medalists, just click on the Trophy's Ad on the fishing page. We are taking your photos now to update our standings. We need your first name, last initial, length of fish, date caught. If you are a medalist, we will need a phone number to contact you for the season-ending rewards. Send to info@makeitmillelacs.com.

Here is what our Guides had to say:

• Gene Miller Guide Service, 320-684-2886. The muskies continue to have a severe case of lockjaw. I did not hear of anyone catching a muskie this week. I will only be on the water briefly this coming week as my guide trips are winding down. I need to get cameras in the woods and start scouting. Good luck fishing! Gene

• Tim Ajax, TANDT Guide Service, 320-224-1731. Tim had a huge week and was on the water alot from the last report. He has had success getting 23-27 inch hogs on each trip out. His numbers: 14 last Wednesday, 8 Thursday, 8 Friday, 7 Saturday. "Everything is a hog and all our customers caught their personal best but no 28s." Tim said the mud flats aren't producing fish yet but mid-lake gravel was good in 26-28 feet of water. He pulled two hogs on crawlers and spinners Friday. Tim fished Muskie Sunday and moved fished but didn't boat any. He moved 8 fish between 9-13 feet of water on edges of weed beds. He has trips available this weekend.

• Jeff Hanson Guide Service,763-477-8553. The report is not good this week. Fishing was really slow late this week and last weekend. Walleyes are in the shallows, they just refused to bite lately. Good news is that the night bite has to be good w/the next full moon, and the perch are due to get hot any day. There are some small perch up in the bays already but the big jumbos haven't shown up yet. I haven't been muskie fishing myself, but I've heard it's been pretty this last few days which is really unusual for right now. That has to change, the fall is always awesome for those things...

• Mike Christensen, Hunter Winfield's, 320-266-0397. Mike wasn't on the water last week. He was enjoying a six-day hunt of a lifetime, nailing 407 geese and ducks with three buddies in a trip to Saskatchewan, Canada. Mike has hunted waterfowl all over the United States. "This was easy," he said, showing me a picture of the 164 birds the group nailed in the first two days. He blasted 17 boxes on of 3-inch No. 2s through his Browning 12-gauge BPS shotgun on the trip. Mike is back in action on the water this week.

• Dereke Voge Charters, 612-390-5045. Things are tough right now for all bobber operations. Dereke had his boat out once over last weekend. He said trolling might be the way to go. Perch fishing is picking up but they are small. Anchoring catching any numbers of fish in one spot isn't working right now. Dereke has a full boat Saturday morning. He has a launch going out Saturday from 1-5 with six spots open. With demand, Dereke will schedule a Saturday evening launch. The launch service is open through October 20th.

Full Moon Bite Tough

Gene Miller Guide Service, 320-684-2886. This past weekend was very nasty fishing and I decided to watch football instead of fish. I received a phone call from Kelly Wendlendt who told me his 68 yr old mom Sharon has been trying for many, many years and had never caught a muskie. She would fish 12 hours straight in nasty weather without success. She simply refused to give up. I took her muskie fishing on Sept 15th 2008 and she landed her trophy 30 minutes into the trip. Her excitement is unmatched by anyone I have ever witnessed. Congratulations to a great lady. I look forward to a great fall with tulibees moving to the shallows. The muskie report I am hearing is they have a severe case of lockjaw. Never,ever. ever give up! Gene Miller

Tim Ajax, TANDT Guide Service, 320-224-1731. It was slow all over for Muskie last weekend, according to Tim. He fished in the rain but found the bobber bite in 6-10 feet of water was picking up for walleye slot fish. Walleye bite was slower than expected due to high water temps (63 degrees). The bite was better in 25-30 feet of water on leeches for walleye. Tim calls this fishing transition time as he was marking fish on 5-mile when he called in this report Wednesday while crank baiting. Some eastern shore launches are reporting decent results in the later evening.

Jeff Hanson Guide Service,763-377-8553. Walleyes were tougher this weekend. They are still all shallow and on shoreline reefs. Just that the day bite is slowing. Some guys are getting some on shallow running crankbaits in 6-8'. I used slip-bobbers like normal and that worked too. We are running about 12-15 fish on a good day and 5-10 on a slow day. Still getting a few smallies mixed in w/ the walleyes. The perch are starting to show up in the bays. Only smaller ones as of yet. The big ones should start showing up any day.

Mike Christensen, Hunter Winfield's, 320-266-0397. Mike is having some great success on a bird hunting trip in Canada. With two days left his group has knocked down 160 birds. His fishing report will return next week.

Dereke Voge Charters, 612-390-5045. Fishing is spotty at best right now. Best time for catching fish this week has varied on three separate trips. Bites has been split between leeches and crawlers on Dereke's trips. This could be the weekend that things start to turn around and should be better on the launches, he said. Dereke has used more small jigs than hooks. He said glo white has been working for colors. Potential open boat Friday night.

Quiet now -- Full Moon This Weekend

Guides reported a windy weekend with generally slower overall fishing. Fishing pressure is down as well. But wait, there's going to be a FULL MOON this weekend!

Dereke Voge Charters, 612-390-5045 He took a boat of Isle Bell and Onamia Lady Loons out Tuesday morning. They got walleyes in seven feet of water today and caught a nice 19-inch smallmouth. Fishing Saturday night was better in same place with more walleye action. Bite is better as it gets later beyond sunset. Isle Bay is where he has done well. Leeches and Crawlers both are working on the launch. Yellow jig heads with Black and Orange Combination have been good. Dereke has an opening on Friday evening and possibly Saturday morning but needs a six person minimum to go out.

Mike Christensen, Hunter Winfield's, 320-266-0397. Pretty much the same story with fish in shallow rocks in day and evening. Best bite is on blue and white and orange and black 1/32 ounce jigs. Mike thinks the perch bite will be in the Isle and other bay areas as of next week or weekend. Deeper water slip bobbering has been productive in the evenings. Contact Mike for a guided trip as he has a couple openings this weekend.

Jeff Hanson Guide Service,763-377-8553. Walleyes are still being caught during the day in 4-12' using slip bobbers and leeches. The best days are consistent weather w/ a moderate wind. The cold mornings are a little slow w/ action picking up after the sun warms things up a little. Calm days are tougher. The night bite should be picking up everyday this week w/ the peak full moon this weekend. Look for walleyes in 5-10' on reef-tops. Using bright colored #5 Shad Raps trolled 60-80' back will work, also slip-bobbers and leeches.
Perch are still being caught in 15-20' during the day, some are showing up shallower. Within 2 weeks they should be thick in the south bays and will be caught using small jigs tipped w/ leeches or crappie minnows.
Smallmouths are being caught regularly right along w/ the walleyes. If you want to fish specifically for them, focus on the edges of the reef tops where they break into, 8-10' and use a bright colored crankbait or spinnerbait.

Gene Miller Guide Service, 320-684-2886. Weather patterns really slowed the muskie bite the past week. I am only boating about 1 muskie each day. I did not see any muskies over 50 inches this week. The bite will remain slow until the weather changes. This weekend the bite should improve and hopefully the bigger muskies will start to bite.

Tim Ajax, TANDT Guide Service, 320-224-1731. Had a nice guide trip last Friday evening, nailing some big walleye while crank baiting in 17 feet of water. Had fish of 24 and 26 inches with the latter weighing 6.5-7.0 pounds. Tim is trolling with bigger crank baits to keep the perch off. He said the shallow rocks are producing on leeches with slip bobbers for both small walleye and smallmouth during the day. Generally, the walleyes here were too small to keep on his trips. He is ready for the Full Moon Weekend. Call for a trip setup.

Fishing Bite: A Mixed Bag

A calm has descended on Lake Mille Lacs after a spate of windy, choppy days that kept most anglers off the Big Pond. The weather change appears complete, which guides say makes for some decent chances to get back on fish. Here is what guides that report for Make It Mille Lacs are saying. (Links to their sites are to the right).


Tim Ajax, TANDT Guide Service: Boated a 50-inch Muskie last Tuesday at 5 pm (picture shown). Before the weekend weather nightmare, Tim was also pulling crank baits and getting nice numbers of 19-24 inch walleye at mid-day and later afternoons. With planer boards, he and his customers had fish on in his first five minutes. Was seeing Muskie in the 2-8 foot range and tossing Big Bucktails with quick retrieves. The cut you see in this photo might have been a prop as this baby may have been previously boated and released. Tim released this fish to fight another day. Tim said his father-son combo saw a pair of monster Muskies, which came right up boat-side, following misses doing figure eights by boat with a father-son combo.

Mike Christensen, Hunter Winfield's: Mike continues to get fish on slip bobbers with leeches and crawlers on the shallow rocks. He also had success with reef runners in about 20 feet in Isle Bay. Had several limits in four hours in a couple guide trips as the heavy weekend winds didn't hamper the southern as much as other parts of the lake. Mike said big perch are starting to show up. They are a "stitch" deeper in 6-10 feet. His group caught 6-8 nice keepers. Mike also got onto some big northern, nailing a 40-incher on sucker minnow. Most northerns he's seeing are in the 28-32 range. Muskie fishing has been tough, as all have agreed over the weekend.

Dereke Voge, Charter Launch operator, Hunter Winfields: Dereke had a couple nice early weekend outings. He said he was one of only two charter boats he saw on the water in his neck of the woods this weekend. He agreed with the perch assessment as his group caught 15 jumbos along with small numbers of slot walleye. Staying just off rock piles and casting up to edge was his key.

Gene Miller, Gene Miller Guide Service, Castaways: The muskies metabolism has not risen yet. The bite is running about 2 to 3 weeks behind other years. We are able to catch one here and there but it is slow. Labor Day weekend was like a hurricane on the north shore and I cancelled trips for safety reasons. It was so rough we could not stand to fight fish. We have unstable weather today and I am hoping to catch muskies today. Never,ever,ever, give up!

Jeff Hanson, Jeff Hanson Guide Service: Walleyes are still biting good on the days w/ a moderate chop on the water. Some days are better than others depending on the weather. Days with a steady wind and stable conditions especially for 2 or more consecutive days are the best. Depths of 5'-15' are best using slip-bobbers and leeches. With the next full moon in about 2 weeks, expect the night-bite to start on the shallow shoreline reefs.
We've been catching smallmouths right along with the walleyes.
Muskies are going pretty good now, reef tops and also deep cabbage on all parts of the lake have fish and they are feeding more and more every week. The perch should be showing up in Isle and Wahkon bays in about 3 weeks.