Mille Lacs Update 6/22

[Paul Schlagel]

Considering it's still June, and Mille Lacs is super hit-or-miss in June, there's been pretty good action lately. The past few days there was good action in the usual early-season weed spots. The size of the fish has been small to medium, by Mille Lacs standards anyway. The whoppers are probably still out to sea. The weed growth is looking good and the water temps are now 68-70 which is pretty darn good considering how cold it was when the season started. The hot weather this week will help warm things even more. Hopefully with the warming water temps and warm weather Mille Lacs will really fire up on schedule this year, not two or three weeks late like last year. Time will tell - until then, keep your fingers crossed for warm weather.

[Paul Schlagel]

One more thing to add. The water clarity varies widely right now. There's been a lot of rain in the last week and the visibility is down in some areas to about 2-3 feet. In some areas the water is a bit green from algae growth. Yet, in lots of areas the water is really clear.

[Jim]

Can you share what's working?

[Paul Schlagel]

The biggest producers so far have been small baits, especially the 6" Slammer worked with a jerk-pause or twitching retrieve, and the 6" Shimmy Shad. The is the second year now that I've done better during the month of June by down-sizing. Last year was cold at the musky opener and colder than normal for June and I did better with small stuff. This year started out cold but it's warmed up nicely since. Still, the smaller baits are outproducing the bigger stuff. Clients and I have caught muskies on bigger baits, including Mo Joes (Live Action Lures), 12" Shimmy Shads, Bulldawgs - but the small stuff has been the way to go on most days.

The water is getting warm and the weeds are looking good. The start of the summer pattern should be just around the corner. When that happens I'll be using less small baits and more regular stuff. In the meantime, we'll keep using the small stuff in my boat and throwing a little of everything until the fish show a preference. Every day can be different.