Mille lacs Guide service, Brad Hawthorne Outdoors

We headed out on Friday to find 3-5 inches in Isle bay and the same in Wokon Bay, while others had less than 3 inches, Twin bays had 1-3 depending on how far out in the bay you traveled. Not many people out yet, but I expect that to change once the main lake totally freezes up. The ice IS NOT consistent check as you go, you may walk 5 feet and find an inch of ice so if you go travel light, on foot, with freind and throwable life vest.  Most resorts are exited about the early start to this years ice fishing season, some even have ice house and plow trucks staged and ready to go.    

Cold temps over the last few weeks has had some wave spray freezing on the rock shore lines and some of the bays are getting a little ice crust around them, nothing fishable yet but we are cooling down nicely up here, so it won’t be long.  As soon as we got something to report I’ll have it up, I know a few of you are itching to get out for some of the early eye’s, perch and Crappies. Thanks for all the kind emails over the summer, I’ll keep doing my best this winter to you up to date on fishing and Ice conditions, until then….think ICE!

Well, it was hard undertaking but the boat is all winterized, cleaned out, and put in the garage for the winter…..sad deal but ice fishing is just around the corner so it’s not all bad. On a windy days some ice is starting to form on the rocks from the wave spray but no main lake ice yet, the bays have crusted up a little bit around the edges but nothing walkable or even close to fishable yet, just like every year it will be a mad rush as soon as we get some walkable ice.  

Die hard Musky guys are still out poking around for state record………Brrrrrrr,  we all know it’s swimming around out there, will someone hook it before ice up…..I hope so, but over all musky action has been slow though out the summer season, to much large forage? maybe,  but this is the time of year those deep fish come in shallow and offer up a good odds, good luck guys. 

I’ll be moving the reports and up-dates over on to the Ice fishing section, you can find up to date ice conditions and fishing reports thought the winter season there. I will be posting ice conditions  2-3 times a week at first so you fellow early ice guys have up to date info before you make the trip. 

We would like to Thank to all of our clients and sponsors for a great summer season we couldn’t have done it with out you, we will have the boat dropped back in the lake as soon as we are ice free up here casing spring Crappie and Perch . Thanks again and we will see you next summer…until then, think ICE!

What a great weekend to be out fishing. The wind stayed pretty dormant until Saturday, but died down on Sunday, typical fall weather. The deep Cork bite is still holding on, I doubt theses deep fish will move in this fall. When you find the fish in 28-32 foot the bait is never far behind…so why would they move, I wouldn’t if I was them.  

The shallow trolling bite is starting to pick up, it was a 50/50 split between fish caught out deep and shallow, although most of the fish caught shallow were “throw back” fish. Original Rapalas and Husky Jerks in natural colors caught all of our fish over the weekend. 1.75-2.0 MPH was the productive speed. 

The pike in the bays are still going strong as are the small perch, I talked to several people over the weekend who had incidental catches. Most people are targeting Musky or Walleye but who knows, next weekend I might have to go casting for some Mille Lacs Pike, with fish in the 40+inch class why not.

Safety reminder, navigation light are required, if your lights malfunction or burn out, go in, period. Don’t stay out in the dark without navigation lights. Also, when Back trolling, reversing your lights so other anglers can tell your intended direction is a common courtesy while night fishing. Be safe and remember to check your lights and carry a good flash light before heading out.  

WOW, what a weekend for weather, sun, rain, erratic wind, lighting, we had it all. The water temps have fallen into the mid 50’s and some perch have finally moved into the bays, bringing some Large Pike with them. For those of you that fish the full moon every year, that’s this week (14Th) Shallow trolling is still pretty spotty for some, hopefully that will change, some big fish are starting to smack cranks but the deep cork bite is still the most consistent, Leeches are getting expensive if you can find them but the good news is minnows work just as good this time of year and they won’t break the bank. The launch out of Fisherman’s Wharf has been on fish constistantly this fall so if you have put the boat away give them a call, Denis or Dale will get you on some fish. 

The weather is definitely conducive to fall, 65 degrees and sunny one day and cold rain the next. The water temps are still holding at 61 degrees as of Sunday but I have a feeling with the wind we had on Monday the lake dropped a few degrees. We are still fishing deep during the day, 28-32 feet and moving shallow at dusk.  Shallow rocks in 8-12ft  are still producing for some during the day but we still have numbers of fish out deep.
So don’t get stuck on the shallow rock bite if it’s not producing for you, we still have the deep bite. It still doesn’t matter were you go, deep or shallow the bait is everywhere, ciscoes, lake chubs, and perch. You don’t have to go far to find any of them. 

We definitely had colder temperatures,  water temp on Mille lacs drop nice and steady over the week, dropping 5 degrees in 5 days.  The full September Moon had fall trollers all over the lake. The North End weeds and South End rocks had the most fishing pressure. The bite for us was OK, I’d call it consistent, one here, one there, is was not a “barn burner” by any means but we did OK. Green weeds are EZ to find right now, and the fish are using them.  Most of the fish, except for one pike came from the weeds in 6-12 ft.  The deep water cork bite is still going on to, a few anglers and launch Captains are still venturing out and catching walleyes with a few perch mixed in, 28-31 ft seems to be the magic depth.  

For those of you looking for a new Mille Lacs web cam, here you go, http://millelacswebcam.com/  this camera has a great view. It looks North West from the South East side, with Hawkbill point on the far right side of the screen.   

We are finding walleyes from 28-32ft off some of the gravel bars but there is a good shallow rock bite going on as well. Rock piles in 5-12ft are holing fish you do need to move around to find them. Sometimes they are on top and sometimes off to one side or the other. Fish the whole reef before calling it quits. The same story as far as presentation goes, slip bobber and leech. The Water temp as of 9/7/08 was 66-67 degrees and falling. 

Boat traffic is starting to slow, I think some people have packed up for the season or have moved on the hunting thing. I did notice a few flocks of geese migrating south already and more and more loons starting to show up on Mille Lacs this is a sure sign of fall. It won’t be long now, get the line counters out and GPS tracks laid down before the fall bite is in full swing.

The Brown bass are on fire on Mille lacs, small cranks and in-line spinners are working great. Sunday we landed over 20 in 3 hours all in that 3-5 lb range. if you are thinking about coming up to Mille lacs for Small mouth, now is the time, don’t wait!The MTT Walleye anglers did well this past weekend, even with some weigh in changes, anglers still brought in nice bags. Congratulations goes out to Rick and Rob on a very respectable 4Th place finish, nice job guys.   

The walleyes seem to be picking up, are they finally munching down the bait population?….I hope so. Rock piles in 16-18 ft are producing, same story as before, leeches on plan hooks. The best bite is still from 5:00 to a little after dark. 

This fall should be interesting, everything so far is telling me we are in good shape. More and more slot fish are showing up, and after 2 months of constant bug hatches now behind us the fish will start to switch over to the minnow bite and  get in prime shape for the fall months. Get the shallow cranks out guys, it’s almost time.   

The deep water Cork bite is still producing fish, although the fish have slowed a up little bit in the last few weeks. You can still get into a few if you put you time in.
The best bite is happening from 8:30 PM to 1:00 AM, nothing special as far as the approach goes, just corks and plain lite wire hook with a big Leech.
The lake is full of bait, so you can run around the whole lake trolling trying to pick off an active fish or two or when see them on the sonar just stay on them until they decide to bite or mark the spot and come back to it at dusk with bobbers.
The crank bite is still hit and miss, overcast days are best, a little wind helps as well.
All in in all, the bite isn’t that bad seeing as it’s July on Mille Lacs.

Water temp: 73 degrees
Water color: Green tint

Small mouth Bass fishing has been spectacular, with the average size being 3-4 pounds with some 5-6 pounds mixed in. Tube jigs green or brown in color have been working very well. Some places worth noting for Brown bass are Big point, Shaw’s reef, and dock areas with Rock/Boulders.