Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Guide
Garrison lakes area has so many quality lakes to choose from, sometimes it is difficult to decide which one to fish. You can’t go wrong with Mille Lacs lake. Todd Andrist is your go to Mille Lacs lake fishing guide. Call for Giant Muskie and Small Mouth Bass Fishing action. We can arrange to meet at the lake access, or pick up at your hotel, resort, or dock.
Mille Lacs Lake Fishing Guide Data
The Mille Lacs Lake game fish community is primarily composed of walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, muskellunge, tullibee, and smallmouth bass. Other game fish include largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed and black crappie. Common minnow species include spottail shiner and mimic shiner. Invasive animal species include common carp, zebra mussel, Chinese mystery-snail, banded mystery-snail, and spiny water flea. Curlyleaf pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil are well established in the lake.
Creel Survey
Fishing effort for the 2013-2014 winter season was 732,500 angler-hours (ang-hrs), almost 60% below average. Only trace levels of angling pressure (700 ang-hrs) were observed once walleye season closed in late February. Ice fishing pressure was severely curtailed by poor ice conditions that prevented anglers from freely accessing major portions of the lake until mid-January. Ice angling pressure was further impacted by some of the lowest harvest rates ever observed for both walleye and yellow perch.
Open water 2014 fishing effort was 597,500 ang-hrs, which is also approximately 60% below average and the lowest observed. Open water night effort was the lowest observed, mainly due to an extended night closure that was in place through late July. Open water day pressure was low throughout all periods of the summer; likely due to low walleye catch rates and restrictive regulations.
Walleye harvest, for the entire season, was the lowest observed at 11,000 lbs. Total kill, which includes hooking mortality, was 23,650 lbs. Anglers released an additional 210,750 lb of walleye. Most of the harvested walleye came from the 2006 through 2008 year classes.
Anglers harvested 16,500 lb of northern pike, the highest observed since 1999. The increase in northern pike harvest was likely due to liberalized regulations that began in the summer. An additional 45,000 lb of northern pike were released. Total kill for pike was 18,800 lb.
Yellow perch harvest was extremely low at 3,100 lb, and tullibee harvest was similarly low at 1,700 lb. Anglers caught 81,000 smallmouth bass in 2014, which was the highest ever observed for Mille Lacs Lake. Approximately 3,850 smallmouth were harvested under the newly liberalized 6 fish bag, with only one over 18 inches, regulation.