Mille Lacs report 9/17

[Paul Schlagel]

The conditions and the fishing have been great. We've had the longest period of stable weather of the whole year and it has really, really made a difference.

Conditions are warm, stable, calm, and clear. The water is in the 70-72 range in most areas. Of course it varies depending on the location and time of day. The weather has been stable and really calm (for Mille Lacs, anyway). The water clarity is the clearest it's been all year. The smooth conditions and clear water have really helped spotting the follows. Boy, what a difference those follows make. Seeing fish sure helps everyone stay focused and it sure helps when the fishing are giving up their location, as they've been doing with great frequency lately. The near-term forcast is for more mild, calm weather with only a mild front coming this weekend. Nice.

Fishing is very good right now, both in terms of fish caught and the numbers of follows. Just in the past four days guests and I have boated 51", 50 1/2" 49", 48" 44", and 42". There have been many, many more opportunites, but it's tough to say how many more could have been caught with better figure -8s, more time on the water, etc. Anyway, long story short, fishing is pretty good.

I'm still "sampling" every day out this time of year. See the previous update for a discussion on sampling. Even though I've been sampling a little of everything (shallow rock, deep rock, weeds, sand, etc.) every day out, the shallow rocks have generally been the most productive most of the time. Fish the shallow parts of the reefs and don't forget about shallow shoreline rock spots. There's always exceptions though, like two days ago when we saw nothing on shallow rock but the couple weed spots we hit were loaded with muskies, really loaded. So, run around and sample and find out where they're at. I know that doesn't narrow it down much, but that's the way it is this time of year.

You can't catch them from the couch, that's for sure.

[Paul Schlagel]

Oh, I'll answer the next two questions which are likely to follow:

Question: What presentations are working?
Answer:
Topwaters, shallow swimbaits and burning 8" Fireballs on the shallow rock. Mo Joes, Bulldawgs, and slow-rolling spinnerbaits have worked on the deep rock spots. Spinnerbaits, 11" Fireball, plastics and topwater have worked in the weeds.

Question: Specific spots?
Answer:
Sam, you know I won't tell you that, so why do you keep asking?

[Jim]

Good post. Thanks.

I was thinking of those questions too