Mille Lacs Fishing Report

I just returned from the Pure Fishing Ice Summit on Mille Lacs out of McQuoids resort.  For those that are wondering what an Ice Summit is, well, I kind of was wondering the same thing as I headed up to McQuoids on Sunday.  The Pure Fishing Ice Summit was a chance for those at Pure Fishing to get together with some of their Pro Staffers to discuss product development and improvement as well as a chance for the pro staffers to meet each other and do some fishing together.  As always, with these events you always hope the fish bite and the opportunity for some good photos presents.  As it turned out both the fish and Mother Nature decided to cooperate to make this event a great time for all.

Despite what you have heard about the bad ice conditions on Mille Lacs, which do exist on parts of the lake, the ice in the South East Corner is very good for the most part.  I was able to drive my vehicle on the ice and pull my 20 ft wheel house as long as I stuck to the roads Kevin McQuoid had staked on the lake.  Kevin has roads hitting much of the good structure on the SE corner and the fishing is actually pretty darn good if you ask me.

We started the first night set up on a Rock hump that topped out at 18 ft. Kevin suggested we set up on top with the full moon because the fish may bite all night, and for the most part they did.  We caught a quite a few small walleye in that 10-12 inch range that and a couple in the protected slot we did not keep but a bunch of nice jumbo perch found their way into the bucket.  The fishing was pretty good for the evening bite and then seemed to kick in a 1 AM again.  We took a break around 7 PM when we headed over to meet up with the rest of the group from Pure Fishing that was using Kevin's Sleeper houses.  As it turned out, one of the sleeper houses had already caught a 29 inch walleye when we arrived.

On day two we decided to pull our houses into shallow water near McQuoids resort to try to catch some big perch.  The perch bite was very good but you had to weed through some smaller fish in order to get the larger keeper size fish.  We were fishing shallow enough to site fish so that always makes it fun, especially when you see fish in the 12-13 inch range.  The  two biggest perch of the weekend were 12.5 inches and 13 inches.  These were true giants and some of the guys were also sent home with a nice meal of eater size fish.

Both Mark Courts and myself had our DreamShak's on the ice to stay mobile but the groups fishing out of Kevin McQuoids sleeper houses actually did just as good without having to move.  There were quite a few walleye in that 24-29 inch range caught by people staying in Kevin's houses with the shallow water (Less than 10 ft) being just as good as the deeper water (17-22ft).  Despite spending much of the day targeting perch in shallow water, we were able to pick up a few walleye also in these same spots.  Mark Courts and Jason Przekurat actually really got into the big walleye after I headed for home and had a great full moon night bite.

It was great to spend a couple days on the ice with some of the guys I usually fish against, as well as my tour travel partners, Kevein McQuoid, Jason Przekurat and Mark Courts.  I can promise you there was no shortage of laughing and joking around and overall fun had by all.  Thanks again to Pure Fishing for putting this event on.  Not that I need a reason to go up and fish Mille Lacs, but it was great to see some old friends and meet some new ones.  Big Thanks to Kevin  McQuoid for his hospitality and putting us on the perch and walleye.  If you are looking for safe ice and good fishing give McQuiods a call at (320) 676-8709 or email them at macs@macstwinbay.com