Lake Mille Lacs
On July 29th and 30th, Minnesota Bass Federation Anglers will head north to mighty Lake Mille Lacs for the 2016 MNBF Championship. It’s no secret that Mille Lacs has become one of the top smallmouth bass destinations in the land. TBF anglers will be able to showcase this fishery via a special permit as they are allowed 5 smallmouth or largemouth bass over the standard 12” minimum length. The event will be conducted from Mac’s Twin Bay on the east side of Mille Lacs with tournament hours of 7am-3pm on both Friday and Saturday.
Competitors will have 2 days to hunt down the giant bass that live throughout the great amount of structure that this diverse fishery offers. There are many ways to catch bass on Lake Mille Lacs, but anglers should expect classic mid-summer patterns to dominate. Smallmouth can always be caught throughout shallow rock reefs and shorelines, but the boats that are able to locate and dial in deeper water schools will have the best chance to sack a 20 plus pound bag, which Classic Bass fully expects to see. Drop shots, tubes and finesse jigs are all staples on Mille Lacs this time of year, but a wide variety of techniques will be utilized.
We caught up with angler Corey Brant, who feels that “the mayflies and dingy water definitely make the bite this time of year tougher than one would expect,” said Corey. “I think having a combination of both shallow and deep fish will be part of an angler’s game plan.”
On Mille Lacs, the one factor that can always throw a wrench in everyone’s plan is the wind. For this reason largemouth can’t be forgotten either. There are plenty of days on the big lake that simply don’t allow fishermen to get off shore. The shallow, vegetation rich bays can offer protection from the wind and plenty of heavy set green bass. On Mille Lacs, largemouth are generally targeted deep in the emergent reeds, lily pads and slop. Flipping and frog fishing are main stays in these areas.
More information on the event can be found at http://mnbass.org/. We wish all participants the best of luck! The MNBF Championship on Lake Mille Lacs should be an exciting event filled with several heavy bags of large bass!
