A Place for All Seasons

This is the week that the weather finally turned for the better. We have had a little rain here and there but for the most part it has been sunny and warm, we are finally are able to break out the shorts and the suntan lotion on the boat. The water temps have finally gotten into the low 60′s across the lake and that means bug hatch time, which usually indicates the prime time for walleyes is just around the corner. Some of the small mouths have even started to finally spawn as well. We do have a chance for some storms this weekend but for the most part it should be an another busy beautiful weekend for fishing.

Walleyes continue to be very streaky down here in the South east corner of the lake but they are starting to go strong in that last hour of sunlight. Most anglers are finding there fish off of the deep edges of the rock piles in 28-30 feet of water during the day time. Most anglers that are finding fish during the day are lindy rigging leeches at a modest .5-.8 miles per hour, the color of the hook doesn’t seem to matter right now. If you can’t find them in this corner don’t be afraid to go out and try some of the smaller mid lake mud flats off of the edges, doing the same presentation. It seems to be better out on those flats if the wind is calm. During the low light hours anglers are finding their fish in 7-12 fow, using slip bobbers tipped with a leech, again we haven’t found one better color than the other. Setting your bobber rig closer to the bottom seems to be the ticket right now. The evening bite definately has picked up during the last week, we have also started to see more keeper walleyes come in. While your fishing walleyes start to look for the orange reward tags on them, if you get one its worth a free rapala when you turn the tag in. It is okay to cut the orange tag free, if you find a yellow one right down the number and keep that one attached to the fish. The reporting of those tags are very important research for the lake.

Smallmouth continue to impress, they seem to be on every shallow rock pile out there, and if you can’t find some walleyes during the day time hours, these guys will keep you busy until the low light hours. It is still important to stay off the top edge of the rock piles and make long casts because of the ultra clear water. Watermelon color tube jigs continue to put fish in the boat, but don’t be afraid to go out and use flukes, beaver tails or some x-raps to pick up some as well. The good bite should keep getting better as the water warms, so if you are looking for some 18″+ smallies nows the time to come up and fish.

Musky usually wait until the water warms but this year is definately different. There have been lots of accidental catches of 40″+ musky being caught by anglers targeting different species, and numerous reports of follow ups. Most people targeting the fish are seeing a lot of them, and catching their fair share as well. We have had some reports of a couple 50+” being caught in Isle, Wahkon and surrounding areas. They seem to be hungry and willing to snap at multiple presentations although the slower presentations seem to be the safe bet for time. Most of the weeds are starting to grow in around the bays, and this warmer weather should heat up the water as well as the musky.

Its a good time to be a fisherman right now on the lake, nice weather, and plenty of fish to go around. If you can’t get one species to go, try another, also don’t be afraid to try something new. As always be safe on the water and if you have any questions feel free to call, our in house guides Mike and Josh love to talk fishing, and love to give out advice. Good luck and hope to see you on the water.

Another busy week down at the resort, we have had a lot of guide trips and launch trips over the past week. We are a little cooler than last year at this time in fact I just heard on the news this morning that the whole state is going to have temps 12 degrees below normal, but normal for this time of year is in the upper 70′s low 80′s. Having this cooler weather in the 60′s makes it easier to sit out in a boat all day. It does look like we see the end of the cool weather by early next week and that should be a good thing to warm up the water a bit, right now it is sitting in the low 60′s in Isle bay and the main lake is varies from 52-55 degrees with some warmer spots near some of the shorelines. This cooler water is great to do some different fishing techniques and fish some different areas if you are a regular to the area.

With the cooler water temps, the Smallmouth are in their pre-spawn mode. That means all the fish are sitting in large schools waiting to go up to their favorite spawing site so they are easy to target right now. Our guides are finding most of their fish on the first breaks off of a rock pile 6-10 ft,  casting tube jigs, beaver tails and the occassional rattle trap. The best out of all of those options still is a tube jig. The best colors for your tube jigs are watermelon, peanut butter and jelly, olive green, or a brown/orange color combo. When you are casting your tubes it is best to follow the bottom contour with a slow retrieve back to your boat, and with the clear water make sure you have a good long cast. They should continue to stay active through the weekend and a couple of them may start to move shallower as they get closer to spawning. Just a friendly reminder that there is a protected slot on small mouth that is 17-20″ with 6 keepers, and only 1 can be over 20″. Please practice catch and release and if you are going to keep one make sure to do it in moderation, so that we can keep catching a lot of those 20+” fish.

Walleye fishing continues to be fair to good but is starting to pick up as the water has been warming up. It still continues to be primarily a minnow bite for us although, we did have some launch trips were all the fish bit on leeches or crawlers. Most of our guides are still finding their best action casting jigs tipped with minnows or 4″ plastic minnows in 12-15 ft. When you are fishing this shallow and with the water being so clear it is best to make long casts, and use the smallest jig possible. I have not seen a trend towards any particular color for your jig head. This method is a slower method to finding some fish but once you find them on  a rock pile you generally can keep casting to that same general location and pick up a few more. If you are having trouble finding some fish in shallower water or the sun is high and no wind, we have heard some really good reports coming in from the deeper water off of the Banana, the Graveyard and Hennipen Island in 25-30 feet of water using slipbobbers and casting jigs tipped with minnows. With the warmer weather on its way  we should expect the bite to get better as we start to reach that 60 degree water.

Overall fishing has been really good on the lake and it is great to see the resort full again. It is always fun to talk fishing with everyone and take some great people out on guide trips and launch trips. I am having trouble loading up some pics to this weeks post, but if you follow us on facebook, you can see some of the great catches from this past week, it has been a week of big fish! As always, feel free to call if you have more questions on fishing and be safe on all your outdoor adventures, we hope to see you on the water.

It is always nice to go outside and her the sounds of a loon in the morning as well as motor boats in the background racing to get to there early morning fishing spot. Those are what most people think of when they visit the Mille Lacs area. Yesterday, I got to use one of our new ATV’s that we have for rent and see how that crowd enjoys the north woods. Usually when I travel to a place north of here or go up north I usually have rods in hand and the canoe strapped to the top of the vehicle. That is how I tend to enjoy the outdoors its quiet, I can see lots of nature etc. As we left the parking lot and entered the Soo-line trail, you are almost immediately met with a wonderful view of Anderson swamp, which to some looks more like a tiny lake then a swamp, but the scenic over look is exceptional, no houses on the lake and not even one boat or canoe on its  almost pristine. We continued past the little lake and me being in the lead since I have had the opportunity to walk and snowmobile these trails decided to take on of the many off chutes of the Soo-line called the “the foxy”. This one way track twists and turns around through the deciduous landscape, which is full of my favorite early season flower the Trillium. There were hundreds of these flowers in the woods and since we are still in the early summer season you can see these big white flowers easily. We rode the little off chute stopping occasionally to see the flowers in the area and also look at some of the scenic landscape. We eventually made it back to the Soo-Line, and decided to go up to one of the more popular off chutes the Red Top loop. The Red Top is a lot wider of a trail but just as scenic, you ride through many different stages of woods, and get to see plantations of trees that were planted during the old CCC days in the early 1930′s. We continued through the trail that eventually loops you back to the Soo-Line and then back home, but it was a very scenic and relaxing way to get out and see some the area. You would be surprised at how much wildlife, and natural area you can see just on an hour long ride, the trails were a little dusty but with the upcoming forecast there should be plenty of mud to play in by this next weekend. If you are looking for a different way to explore the woods and or just cannot get out and paddle or hike anymore, think of renting an ATV and covering some ground that you otherwise might not get to see.

Walleye fishing continues to be fair-good for most anglers, it is a little tougher bite for some but if you are willing to get out and try some different techniques you can catch plenty of walleye right now. Many of our guides continue to use a jig in minnow attacking the 12-15 foot range during the day off of the rock piles, and moving shallower in cloudy or low light conditions. When they are fishing these spots they are moving slowly with their trolling motors and fan casting an area with 1/8-1/4 oz jigs, preferring the smaller jigs when the water is calm, there is no real prefrance on color at this time but using the right bait, like rainbow minnows, shiners or a 4″ gulp minnow seem to be the best bait to tip your jig with. We did  have our first really good reports come in from trolling crankbaits this weekend. Many anglers decided to put away the slip bobbers and go right to the trolling rods and there were some huge 28″+ fish caught on this method. Just like the jigging bite that crankbait bite is coming in that 12-15 foot range and anglers are using stick baits like smithwick rouges, Live Target smelt and Rapala Husky Jerks to target these fish, trolling at 1.5-2.0 mph. The slip bobber bite continues to be slow down on this corner of the lake but we are catching fish that way, you just have to keep moving and pitching your bobber, most of the fish caught on bobbers still prefer a minnow over a leech right now.

Smallmouth Bass season is upon us and surprisingly we had some very good reports come into the resort with a lot of large fish being caught. Right now we have not heard of one set way to catch them and have also had mixed reports on where they are located in the water column as some anglers find them in the shallows less then 3 ft. and some anglers finding them out to 15 ft. All we know is that they are pre-spawn and very aggressive right now to the point where if you find them you will catch them. They should continue to bite good trough the week with the warmer temps moving in and with that water warming. There should be some 6+ lb fish to be had this week!

As always we are busy with launch trips and guide trips this week, and we will try to post pictures to our facebook page as we catch some trophies, and we will continue to keep you up to date on the fishing as the week goes. If you are looking for a more up to date fishing report feel free to call and one of our in-house fishing guides would love to talk fishing with you. As always be safe on all your outdoor adventures and we hope to see you on the water.

Minnesota has been a flash flood for the last couple of days. We have had rain up here for the past four days now and it looks like we will have a nice sunny weekend in store for us. It is not going to be a really hot weekend as they are calling for temps in the low to mid 60′s but that is nice weather to sit out and fish all weekend. The walleye fishing remains good for those that are braving the rainy weather. The water temps are still in the low-mid 40′s, with some of the bays maybe reaching 50 on a sunny day so the bite remains relatively shallow for this time of year. Our guides are finding most of there fish while fan casting a 1/16-1/8 oz jig, tipped with a rainbow minnow or Berkley gulp split tailed minnow. The guides that are pitching these jigs are finding good numbers on the shallow rock reefs, points and shallower weedy bays, as some of the remnant weeds are holding some nice fish. If you are having trouble finding some fish casting jigs, slip bobbers in 7-10 feet of water during the last hour of fishing(8:45-9:45pm.) has been very good for our launch boats. Most of the fish on slip bobbers have come when they are tipped with half a night crawler, again covering water casting out the bobber and letting it sit for a few minutes and then reeling it in and casting to another spot to cover some ground has been working the best. Anglers also have been surprised in the amount of keepers they are finding those 18-20″ fish are really nice to keep right now.

Northern Pike on a side note tend to be on a feeding binge right now. Many anglers are finding lots of keeper pike and some nice trophies right in Isle bay and off of our docks behind the hotel on the river. It has been really fun for our guest to throw out a slip bobber right off of our docks and be catching good numbers of these fish. 

Smallmouth Bass open up this weekend and hopefully that sun warms up the water for them. They for sure will be in a pre-spawn mode, we have seen some of them on top of the reefs due to the extra clear water but they probably won’t be on their beds quite yet. They may be deeper then normal for this time of year, but that doesn’t mean you won’t catch any.

The ATV trails have been muddy, if you are an off roader this is you time to go play in the big muddy puddles on the trails. All of the trails in the area are open, and due to the rain they are nice and muddy. We are also proud to announce that we have brought back our ATV rentals this year, they will be available this weekend for rent so you can ride the trails in style on brand new Polaris Sportsman ATV’s. It should be an awesome weekend to get out and enjoy the trails with the warmer weather and the muddy conditions on the trails.

It should be awesome three day weekend for everybody, with nice weather and hopefully some nice walleyes on your lines. As always be safe while you are out on your outdoor adventures, and always feel free to get a live fishing report from one of our in-house guides on site. They love to talk fishing and are always there to give some pointers out. Hope to see you on the lake.

What an awesome week for weather and fishing so far, the ice has pretty much disappeared and the walleyes have been biting. The weekend weather is calling for some rain on Friday and then some nice warm sunny weather through the weekend. The ice should be gone and you should be able to go anywhere by boat by this weekend. Due to the late ice they do not have every rock pile and point marked, so please use caution while you are going out on the lake.

Walleye fishing has been good around the lake for the few anglers and guides that have gone out. The best method most of our guides are using is pitching a jig and minnow combination  in the bays and off of the rock reefs in 12-18 feet of water. This method is working throughout the day and you have to sort through your fish to find some keepers but there are quite a few keepers mixed in throughout the day. There are also some reports of anglers catching fish trolling shad raps in the shallows as well. Your best crankbaits if you choose to troll are #4 salmo hornets or #5 shad raps in Perch, Firetiger and blue/silver. The fishing should continue to be good and even get better as the water temps rise.

A friendly reminder that the smallmouth bass season is closed and that you must be off of the lake by 10pm. Please make sure that you are wearing your lifevest as well because of the cold water temps, it only takes minutes right now to get hypothermia if you do fall in. As always we will be running our open charter boat trips this weekend and our times are 8-12, 1-5 and 6-10 and if you are having a hard time finding the fish look into our guide service as well, we have plenty of openings for this weekend and our guides are excited to get out right now and catch a boat full of walleye. As always be safe on your outdoor adventures and if you have any other questions feel free to call us we love to talk about fishing.

It was a slow opener up here due to the ice this year, as most of us have seen the late ice did do some damage. The people that did get out in the open water parts of the lake did have success finding some nice walleye as well as some keepers. Most anglers that are getting out are using jigs tipped with minnows or tipped with a 3″ gulp minnow. They are either dragging jigs, or fan casting shorelines and where current dumps into the lake. We have heard some reports also that anglers were trolling crank baits during the low light hours and found a couple as well, but the jig bite will probably be your best bet for finding good numbers of fish. The walleye spawn should continue for the next few days so fishing should hopefully pick up by the weekend as well as with the warmer weather which hopefully means no more ice! Northern Pike continue to spawn and work their way up the feeder creeks and rivers, they have been very aggressive right now. If you are looking for a trophy this is the time for the Northern Pike, bobber fishing with a sucker seems to be the best method right now to land your gator. One friendly reminder the night fishing ban does go into affect tonight at 10 p.m.

Looking at the five day forecast it looks like we will have some phenomenal fishing days ahead, with one of the days being in the upper 80′s and hopefully that gets rid of our ice sheet that is currently covering the lake. The ice should be gone by this weekend and with that warmer weather it should heat up our water temps which should have the fishing turn on even more. For those of you coming up this week please be careful and watch the wind so that you do not get caught in the ice that still covers the lake, as well you should be wearing your life vest as the water temps are in the upper 30′s to low 40′s right now. Please be careful and as always we are here to answer any more questions you have to answer as well as guides on staff that can answer any of your fishing questions. Good luck this week and as always be safe on all your outdoor adventures.

Wow what a difference a year makes, last year we had our earliest ice out and this year we might shatter the old ice record of May 7th. We have seen the ice in the bays turn to that dark gray color, but the ice still has not melted around the shorelines yet the only spots that are open are where the small creeks enter and leave the lake. I don’t remember a time in my short life so far that the ice has been on the lake this long, let alone enough ice to go ice fishing in May! The crappies are biting in the bay I hear and they get better each day.

Even though the lake is frozen the Thaines river behind the hotel is wide open and the DNR has had some test nets out to see how many fish actually use the river to spawn. They have been finding a lot of Northern Pike right now in those nets. Usually the Northern Pike are the first to spawn in most lakes, they like to swim up these rivers and find some slack water to spawn in. Most of the Pike they are catching in their nets are on the big side, we have seen a lot of fish in that 35-42″ range, which are some true trophies. The Walleye generally start their run up the river about two weeks after the Northern Pike start, so they should be starting any day, it is always fun to walk the river at night and see all the big Walleyes fighting the current to their spawning site.

With the late ice-out and even a possibility of ice on opener we still could find Walleye spawning. Even with ice on the lake you could have some good fishing from shore or from a canoe in some of the little creeks and small open spots on the lake, especially in the low light hours. You may not catch a ton of big fish but you could find some nice eater fish during this time of year in those shallow water areas. I definitely will be donning a pair of waders opening day this year it is not very often that you can do this on lake Mille Lacs on opener but it could be a good year to wade the shore lines or a shallow creek casting a husky jerk or a jig with a minnow. Those areas were creeks come into the lake will have some warmer water as well as some aggressive spawning males in those areas which can make for great fishing. The night ban does not start until the 13th at 10pm, so getting some overnight time in these areas could be fun. Having ice on opener is not a bad thing we just have to think of other ways to fish the lake if that does happen this year. The bays could be the only big open water but, if we think outside the box a little and make do with what we have it still could be a great opening weekend for everybody and the nice thing about fishing these little creek areas, and shorelines is that you could be all by yourself. I hope everyone is getting geared up for opener and hopefully it will be a great kick start to another busy excellent fishing year. Be safe on all your outdoor adventures and we hope to see everyone on opening day.

Wow talk about extremes, last year we had out earliest Ice out on record, and this year might be the latest ice out on record. We still have 30+ inches of ice on the lake and with some warmer temps coming our way(60-70 degrees) for this weekend it might be a good time to go out in a t-shirt and do some crappie fishing. It has been a really good bite on the lake especially with this warm weather moving in it could be an awesome weekend to get out and do some late ice fishing. Along with the nice weather we are hoping that our snow melts so that we can continue to work on our on going charter boat projects, we just got our Ercoa back from Tramm’s and the Fire engine red railing really pops, you will be able to see us along ways out on the lake. We hope everyone can get out and do some outdoor activities this weekend with the warm weather, and maybe we will see you on the ice, be safe in all your outdoor adventures.

It is getting to be that time of year again around the resort, fixing little projects around the resort and finishing some of our bigger projects for some new additions this summer. Our biggest project from this winter will be the addition of a new 50′ charter boat. It will be loaded with Saint Croix fishing rods, Mercury 4-stroke engines and top of the line Lowrance electronics, and just like our other launch boats it will have a restroom and grill on it as well. Along with our new boat, we remodeled our Ercoa and have built new docks to go along with our awesome new boats. Along with all of our new boats we will also be bringing back ATV rentals, which give our guest another activity to do while they are in the area.

Fishing Report. Panfishing in Isle bay has been good and there are lot of people out there chasing the panfish. Vehicle traffic is limited to only  ATV or snowmobile, but since the bite is so close to shore most anglers are walking out to their fishing spot. Most of the bite is on very small tungsten jigs tipped with euro larvae or a minnow on a plain hook.  Make sure you get there early to get your spot in the morning.

It looks as if winter is trying to stage one more come back, and if you are caught inside during one of these little ice storms, it is always a great time to break out the open water tackle and start spooling new line and doing an inventory of your tackle for the summer. One of my favorite things to do during weather like this is to take out my fishing journal from years past and come up with a game plan for opening day. When I look back at those things, I try to guess and see what the water temps were, what the weather was like, and hopefully match it to what this year may be. My prediction is that it may be a late ice out which will probably mean cooler water then most openers it might be a good jig and minnow bite to start the season out. Anyway its fun to go through the open water stuff and dream of the trophy walleyes that may bite your line.

If you are still ice fishing good luck and be safe out on the ice, and for you bird watchers this is one of the greatest times to get out and see the spring phenomenon of migrating birds. I hope warm weather gets here soon.

Baseball season starts today and it seems surreal that it is due to the amount snow on the ground. We did lose a lot of snow this past weekend due to some rain and warmer weather. Today also marks the close of the Snowmobile trails. It was a great year for snowmobiling and thank you to all those that came up to the area to snowmobile and rent one of our snowmobiles. We are hoping next year will be just as great as this past season.

Fishing pressure continues to remain low. We have heard some reports of some crappies in Isle bay being caught along with some nice sunfish as well. The pan fishing should continue to get better as spring continues. Perch fishing has been slower than normal for this time of year. The best action has been on the first shoreline breaks in 20-25 fow. Travel on the lake is still safe but ATV and snowmobiles are the preferred method of travel right now due to the snow and slush on the lake.