A first-light run on Minnesota's legendary big-water walleye lake.
Mille Lacs is the lake that separates Minnesota walleye anglers from the rest. Vast, windswept, and big-water wild, it is the state's second-largest lake and a legendary walleye factory — and it does not give up its fish to anyone who sleeps in.
Reading the Mud
In early summer, the walleye relate to the mud flats in the middle of the lake — 20 to 28 feet of water over soft bottom. A live-bait rig with a leech or a fathead minnow, slow-trolled along the edge of the mud, is the classic Mille Lacs presentation. Watch your electronics for the fish suspending just off the bottom.
“Mille Lacs doesn't care how good you think you are. She cares how early you got up.”
By mid-morning the wind usually decides your day. A gentle chop turns the fish on; a flat-calm lake sends them deep and makes them finicky. Bring a drift sock, plenty of leeches, and the patience to work one flat until the graph lights up. When it does, it is some of the best walleye fishing in the lower 48.
