Hotspotoutdoors

Now that I have a wheelhouse, I gladly pay the fee for access to the lake. I have gone out on some of the cities lakes and gotten really stuck trying to get to a spot busting drifts with a 4000lb fish house. I actually look for resorts that have a good plowed road to out of on the larger lakes. I use Appeldorns on Mille, Highbanks on Winnie, and Hillman's on Upper Red. Worth every penny.

That being said...I hope to have a fishing report to add in a few weeks when I go out on Mille Lacs for the first time this season with my brother in law.

I fish the East Side- Tough fishing this weekend. Drop off edge of the flats and stewart proved to be the best. Early morning. Jigging and lures didn't seem to work. Best bet was red hook with small minow and let swim free. Fish on camera and vexilar that didn't bite. Hoping that weather this week warms up and turns the bite on. Be prepared to drill a hundred holes to find fish. Good thing the ice is 20-21 inches thick.

I was....the bit was really dissapointing....marked alot of fish caught 1 10" walleye.....and thats it. I could get them to follow but no takers...the other people I was fishing with didn't do so good eather..one got skunked and the other got 3 keepers.....not so good for a whole of fishing.....

We got 1 eye and a few perch, 6 guys!

Its funny with this lake.....when its on its good.....but for some reason they wern't too hungry....I bet once the warm weather hits it will pick up....

Fished Sat 1-9 only for a few hours during the day. Went out of Garrison to 3 mile flat, basically got skunked (1 perch). Was marking some fish but couldn't get them to bite.

I made a mistake. What I called Stewarts is really Schultz's flat. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I was also informed that Barncle Flat turned some eye's.

Fished Friday and Saturday from the south east side. Caught a lot of small perch out in a basin area out of the perm, but not much over 6". Did manage one low 20" walleye out there. During the day we ventured out to the gravel. The bite was best right after sunrise and before sunset. We caught fish all day though as they seemed to come through in waves. Jigging spoons with a whole crappie minnow or head or small jigging rap with minnow head worked best. No luck on a deadsticked minnow or tipups. Needed to be aggressive to draw them in and then just quiver or raise to get the strike. Slide up and down the breakline if you are not marking fish. I probably ended up with about 30 eyes between the 2 days with 3 over 20" and most around 14" (released all but a couple for a meal). The big perch evaded us this trip for the most part. You can go offroad, but be careful not to stop in a big drift. My buddies made it over to 5 mile offroading from 4 mile gravel. Bite was the same over there.

headin up this weekend to appledoorns with 6 buddies. Rented a 8 hole 6 sleeper. this is the first time ice fishin mille lacs. would you recommend bring the portables to move around during the day or do they usually keep the perms on some good spots? most of the guys want to just stay in the house the whole time but i guess if the fish arent biting i wouldnt mind movin around.

IMO, You may be able to pick some fish off out of the rental, but go out and explore. A GPS with a lake chip is worth its weight in gold out there. Go find a piece of structure and keep drilling holes until you find them. If they shut down on ya, go drill some more. This can be the difference between a good weekend and a so-so weekend. By next weekend the roads should be plowed to most decent areas.

I'm going to be out of Appeldoorns this weekend as well. Even though we have a wheelhouse I plan on scouting around with the portables. If you have a wheeler and would like to team up I would be game. The more the merrier.

unfortunately we dont have a wheeler coming with us...im sure that would help out quite a bit...Not really gonna complain too bad if we dont catch too many fish...got a good group of guys coming up...should be a good time!!

Bassfshin - I can't speak to snow conditions ont he east side, or if they will change before you go, but we were able to drive off the plowed roads last saturday with very little issues with 4x4 trucks. If it warms up and some of it melts, it should be even easier, as long as we don't get anymore. Paul @ Appledorns seems to have knowledge of the conditions as good as anyone. A quick call to him before you leave and I'm sure he will help you out, especially if you are staying there. Despite the fact that all resorts do their absolute best to keep their houses on the fish, it never hurts to be mobile. That was the key for us last weekend.

bassfshin24,

We try to keep our rentals on good spots and we feel that is where they are now, but they are Sleeper houses which means we put them on spots where traditionally the bite is better in the evening and early morning.

I always tell people to bring the porties and get out and move around during the day. The ones that do, will always do better.

I made it out today for the first time on Mille Lacs ice in years. I fished about 0700-1300 on two different flats trying to find biting fish. I ended up off the edge in 32ft and almost non-stop fish below me. I ended up with about thirty walleyes and about twenty small perch. The largest walleye was 17 1/2 and most were 12-14". The bite was pretty light and most wanted something pretty small.

thanks for the info guys....paul im excited to finally get up there...ive heard only good things about appledoorns.

Does anyone wish to share some tips of techniques that have worked near Banana Reef? I am sharing a perm with some guys out there, but the area is new to me. When is the best bite? Which direction would one go during the day if the bite is slow in the perm? Is anyone catching fish in this area?

BANANA REEF-I was there in a sleeper over the weekend adn we go no walleyes a few jumbos and a couple dozen little perch. I did manage a 40 inch pike. We were in 12ft of water and no where near any structure.

HNTNBUX - nice report. When u hit em in 32 fow - were you jiggin or deadstickin to get them biting? Thx

what part of the lake were you fishing. coming up fri-sun fishing the se end. any info would be great.

Thanks Scott,

We are in 17 ft of water near the banana reef. I got mostly small perch and caught one 10 in' walleye the first day I was there and had another one on that was larger that came off.

I am almost thinking of fishing for northerns during the day and fish for walleyes during lowlight conditions only the next time up there. That would be awesome to catch a 40 incher! Bet that was a fight...How in the heck does one get something that powerful through an ice hole?

I can't say exactly where but one of the northern middle flats. Most of the fish came jigging small spoons that glow, demons, just above where the perch wanted to hang out about three to four feet off of the bottom.

Good luck I am going lake trout fishing this weekend and I don't know when I will be back.

BANANA REEF-I fought it for what seemed like 20 minutes. Getting it through the hole was quite the challenge. Good thing it bit down on my brothers hand so its mouth was closed and could squeeze through.

Nice pike. Is it still swimming or is it going on the wall?

WOW! WHAT A STORY... DID HE NEED STITCHES ON HIS HAND?