Should the walleye population be in question? Fished the last 3 nights with zero, thats zero walleyes. People say their out deep eating? Don't get that. I'm a younger guy with the old-timer view of fishing in 10 ft. I rarely see the depths of 12 ft. I caught walleyes in the dead of summer trolling raps in 7-10 ft of water. Between two of us we averaged about 4-5 keepers a day (many hours in the morning and night). I remind you..... the dead of summer, and their was still plenty of forage. I couldn't wait for fall fishing. Thought limits would come easy. Why are numerous boatsreporting zero fish? The fall nets with no fish (we'll see if they catch any this fall, but again you say the fish are deep? still not understanding that)? Should this add up?

Plus- Full moon in the middle of Oct?

Something is not right-IMO

Walleye fishing was good for me in May. That was the last time I fished for them. I have been fishing muskies since it opened in June. I will tell you based on how many walleyes I caught in May that there can not be a shortage of walleyes in the lake. Unless, for some reason I just happened to be on a hot spot and got lucky, but I doubt it. Fishing has been really slow for muskies this year as well. Also, don't forget the pike. I'm not even seeing many pike out there this year. The fish are scattered. There are a few up shallow, a few out deep, and a few in between. There is no pattern. When the baitfish are everywhere there is no reason for fish to relate to structural elements that on a normal year we look for to hold fish. When you have scattered fish and then also factor in the fact that there is an unlimited amount of food for them to eat, why would they care to eat an artificial lure (rapala) cruising by? Your best bet would be to use livebait and bobber fish for walleyes right now. Everyone says they won't do it because they like to troll raps, well sometimes you got to do something different to put fish in the boat. I know there are some launches that are catching some fish. Nothing is set in stone, if it was, what fun would that be?

I can not assume, so I must ask; did you read this?
Baitfish Bonanza

Tullibee? Really, Tullibee??? I thought Tullibee were near all time lows in Mille Lacs a year or two ago. And now their everywhere? How does this happen? The perch I can believe, but the perch have been abundant all year. Usually the walleyes are extremely active this time of year. Putting on the feedbag for the long winter. I believe the DNR has no clue how many walleyes are left in the lake. Their nets can't catch any, fishermen can't catch any, and the indians didn't even make their quota. They can't catch them with cheating nets? Isn't that why they net the lake? So they know how well the population is doing? Now they don't catch any in the nets, and they claim the fish are all out deap?? Huh? The nets are designed to estimate the population, right? When they can't net the walleyes, they come up with excuses about where all the walleyes went. I'm not saying the walleyes are gone, but I believe the population is near half (if not less) of what the DNR believes the population is.

D hanson,
They hit the artificial raps, because the lure imitates a wounded or bleeding fish. An easy meal for the walleye. We should be catching a couple to throw back, at a minimum.

Tullibee? HAHA, now thats funny! What's the excuse going to be next year?

the only reason the population would be half is because of all the people fishing the pond, and all the tournaments held during the summer when the water is so warm. The indians do such a small % of damage to this resource compared to what we do during the summer. Come on people, you can't pull a walleye from 20 feet plus water during the summer and expect it to survive, but people continue to do it. It is so sad to see all the dead walleye floating in the lake during the summer and yet we complain about the indians netting a few fish. All the fish you kill during the summer could be the one's laying the eggs next spring. They have got to stop tournaments on this lake in order to protect it. Go up to mille lacs 2 days after a tournament and look at all the dead walleye, the indians should be mad at us!! If you can't refrain from fishing the pond during the dog days of summer then you should seek help, there is no better time to fish the pond than spring, and fall when the waters cold and the fish survive when released. We are the biggest threat to this lake and we need to make changes to help it.

Maybe the muskies ate them all?

mille lacs is fine. and always will be, their either bitin' or there not, its not a big deal... thats how good anglers become very good anglers, and not every fish u pull from 20 foot dies in the dog days, fish dying off is natural, its the system man... just like us..

Let's not get carried away fellas. It's a big lake. Our group just got back this morning and had, I'd say, our second best full moon trip ever. We got into some 25 to 28" HOGS every night but the first.

Maybe guys on this site are keeping secrets and only the ones that didn't catch fish are posting to complain. I'm not from the area so I don't care. I'll tell it how it is.

I'm headed to Cabelas tomorrow to get restocked on husky jerk-baits and pray it's going to be warm enough in November...

"Blue & Crome, beyond Thunderdome"

hehehe thats funny but I shouldnt laugh. I have heard some resorters complaining about the muskies.

I have talked to several people who fished other lakes last weekend and didnt get squat. Could be turnover. The fish seem to disappear during turnover.

The nets I have seen the DNR use are attached to floats and only go so deep. Maybe they have a different style for deep water...I dont know.

The only good net is NO NET!

this week and weekend should be the week to go i would think if it stays clear, with that full moon and clear skies it is very helpful, the water temps are going down quite steep, i would say if they dont go this weekend i dont think they will go for a long time maybe not till deer season, but who knows, its sucha weird year up there in the late summer they could go hard for a day and a half and the people up there would capatalize. thats usually how mille lacs is haha. one n' done.

brdhunter, obviously you are upset because you didn't catch any fish, your not the only one, but these are facts that there is a ton of bait fish in the lake right now. If you don't believe this, look at the walleyes that do get caught now compared to those of 4 or 5 years ago during "low" forage times (and outstanding fishing), the builds are completly differnt.

Tulibee pulled off a good hatch/survival because of the cool summer, again, another fact. The walleye are eating young of the year baitfish, hatched this spring, making the forage base even larger.

When we were up there, we to pounded away on the shallow structure and didn't do well. But to ignore the deep water bite that was going on is just ignorant on your part, if you don't want to do what is catching fish, then don't complain.

Why would the DNR inflate numbers of fish in the lake? They have no interest in there being more pressure out there than there already is? Answer me that question.

I'm hearing a few decent reports from the last couple of days, hopefully the bite is turning on now.

What are people seeing with there camera on a string?

i was up there a while ago and hand my camera down a loooot and saw noooothing, real good structure. marked a few spots on the flats and such for winter haha

Knock it to 'em Dave.