Complete Lake-Wide Fishing and Ice Update Report

Ice Fishing Mille Lacs provides an exclusive lake-wide update on ice conditions and ice fishing for December 20th, 2020. As ice conditions are still unpredictable and, in some cases, unsafe, please use your best judgment when venturing out right now on Mille Lacs Lake today and throughout the week.

Mille Lacs Lake Overview Report Update for December 20th, 2020

If you plan to head to Mille Lacs for an ice fishing trip, there is good news and bad news as of today.

The Bad News About Mille Lacs Ice Fishing

The bad news is due to a southeastern wind that picked up on 12/19/2020 during the day and evening, a 100′ wide crack has occurred running from almost Malmo, MN to Garrison, MN. 

Mille Lacs Lake Satellite Image Showing Large Crack on North End from Malmo to Garrison

Resort Ice Team crews and other local organizations had been working through yesterday afternoon, last evening, and even on Sunday the 20th to extract anglers who have found themselves on the wrong side of the enormous lake-wide crack. Minnesota and local search and rescue crews were dispatched on Saturday evening, but no word as to how many anglers were rescued by them.

So far, this lake-wide crack has caused at least one resort to shut down their lake access. The Red Door Resort, located on the North Shore of Mille Lacs, has closed its lake access until further notice due to the crack.

The Good News About Lake Mille Lacs Ice Fishing

As of now, all eastside and southern resorts have their lake access open to paying customers. Along with this, they report solid ice and an average of four inches up to eight inches within their bay areas. 

Lake Wide Mille Lacs Ice Fishing Bite

Mille Lacs Walleye Bite

No reports of twenty or more walleyes in one trip were told, but walleyes were undoubtedly caught. One to ten walleyes being caught during either the early morning or late afternoon have been reported, and the best places to target during these times are the deepest water an angler can get to while remaining on safe ice. Getting to ten feet of water or deeper adjacent to or along structure or a transition is a must to maximize your chances of catching multiple walleyes.

Given the thin, clear ice on Mille Lacs, plus high depth water clarity in the lake right now, along with anglers being forced to fish shallow due to ice thickness, the mid-day walleye bite is pretty much nonexistent. The mid-day to early afternoon walleye bite reports will not ramp up until Mille Lacs ice gets thicker and ice anglers can get out into deeper water.

Dead Sticking Early Ice With Pike or Small Sucker Minnow Works

Ice Fishing Mille Lacs has promoted this early ice walleye tactic for years and is still holding strong today. Our early ice walleye tip is to set up your deadstick (second ice fishing line) with a number eight glow hook and a pikeminnow or small sucker minnow. If you cannot find pike or small sucker minnows, this tactic works with a large rainbow, shinner, or the biggest fathead you can find. Pike and small sucker minnows work the best because they are hardy and stay alive longer, and provide the most distress minnow action out of all the other options. The goal is not necessarily to catch anything on your deadstick but to have a bigger minnow on it to act as a decoy of sorts, luring in feeding fish for a closer look. Once the feeding fish come in, then use your jigging ice rod to catch them. The bonus behind this is, if something were to take down your pike or small sucker minnow, whatever it is, it would be significant.

Mille Lacs Perch Bite

Reports of any perch of size being caught this past week and weekend have been almost nonextant. Although perch being caught have been reported, no reports of large jumbo perch or a mess of good eater sized fish being caught have come in. The same for the mid-day to early afternoon walleye bite can be said for the jumbo and large perch schools. As the ice gets thicker, anglers will get out to where these larger perch can be found and are currently feeding.

Best Ice Jigs, Lures, Tackle for Mille Lacs Early Ice

The best early ice walleye jigs and tackle to use on Mille Lacs tend to stay roughly the same year after year. Once in a while, companies such as Northland Tackle may come along with a new product, but overall, the jigs and spoons that worked early Mille Lacs ice last year will do the same for anglers this year.

Blair from Johnson’s Portside Bait and Beer suggest using the Tingler Spoon, and from our reports, the VMC Tingler Spoon in Tiger Perch color is working the best.

However,

The Northland Forage Minnow Jigging Spoon in Super Glow Redfish was reported to one of the hot spoons for the weekend’s walleyes.

The Northland Tackle GSFB3-22 Glo-Shot Fire-Belly Spoon Uv Firetiger in 1/8 OZ also was extremely effective for catching walleyes both on the north and south ends of Mille Lacs this past weekend.

Catching Walleyes on the North End of Mille Lacs Lake

Mille Lacs Ice Fishing and Ice Condition Update Reports By Lake Region

Westside Mille Lacs Update

The lake’s North-Western area is where the big crack and unstable ice were taking place this weekend. We recommend avoiding this area of the lake until further notice.

South Western area of Mille lacs reports having a constant five inches of ice within the bays and some reports of upwards of eight to ten inches of ice in some areas. 

Walking Out of Rocky Reef Footage

North End Mille Lacs Update

Walleyes being caught early morning or late evening in five to ten feet of water.

Due to a large crack roughly 100′ wide and stretching from south of Garrison almost to Malmo, Red Door Resort is closed until further notice.

Eastside Mille Lacs Update

Nitte’s Hunters Point and Appeldoorns Sunset Bay Resort allow access for anglers who are walking and using ATV or snowmobiles. Appeldoorn’s reports six to eight inches within Sunset Bay, and about the same was reported out of Nittie’s Hunter Point Resort.

Nitti’s Hunter Point resort Mille Lacs Update

Mac Twin Bay Resort has also had some reports from the bay and outside of their bay of walleyes and large northern being caught. 

Southside Mille Lacs Update

The most action talked about from the weekend stem from Isle and Wahkon bays. Walleye action has been found early morning and just before sundown in ten to thirteen feet of water. There was even a report of a few nice walleyes being caught over the weekend outside Izatys Resort Marina Point and channel. There was another report of a 21.5-inch walleye being caught right off Izatys Marina Point last Sunday, and a few groups were fishing this area again over this past weekend. 

Cove bay reports have been slow and mainly include large northern pike being caught in five to ten feet of water. About six to ten inches of ice were found in Cove bay. Wilderness Warmth is a great resort to contact for inside details as to what is being caught in Cove Bay and Cove Bay ice conditions. 

Be sure to check out our Mille Lacs Live Lake Webcams for real-time updates on all the popular resort lake accesses from around Mill Lacs.

If you need to find a resort, ice fishing guide, or need to know where to purchase tackle and live bait on Mille Lacs, be sure to check out Ice Fishing Mille Lacs’s Business Directory Listings for the best businesses around Mille Lacs Lake.