Ice Report as of 12/16/25 

 

Use extreme caution and check with resorts/lake access operations before heading out 
Good Luck, Have Fun & As always be safe!!

 

 

 Eddy’s Resort :We’re looking forward to the upcoming ice fishing season! Our team was able to get out and take ice thickness measurements, and we’re happy to share a few photos showing recent ice conditions at various depths.

“With favorable weather ahead, we’re expecting continued ice growth and plan to begin plowing our ice road soon—conditions permitting.”

 

 

The Mille Lacs Angler

:The guys will be out working on plowing and staking more of the roads now that the cold snap has ended. We will update tomorrow night with plans for the weekend.

 

As of Wednesday, we will be allowing up to 8'x14' single axle wheelhouses pulled with side by sides. We have about 11"-14" of ice going out two miles, Dereke will be checking ice out farther tomorrow.

• Fishing was good through the cold weekend for the brave souls who ventured out there. There was a lot of Perch action with quite a few keepers, some nice Walleye and a nice 40" Northern Pike.

Our office opens at 6:00 a.m. daily, see you soon.

Garrison Sports Bait & Tackle: 6-8” of ice on our last check. Tentative plan is to allow snowmobiles and wheelers starting Wednesday. It’s highly recommended to have tire chains on your wheelers. We are waiting to see what the ice does with todays (12/16/25) warm up and will have a for sure plan after that!

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•  North Mille Lacs Ice Fishing: Will be open to walking, atvs and snowmobiling traffic tomorrow, Thursday 12/11/25, to 1st and 2nd break lines. The office will be open at 6am please come in so we can direct you on where to park.

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•  Nitti's Hunters Point: The cold snap is past and we are now be staking the roads in our shorts for the next 2 days. The cold snap did gain us an 1”or 2. We are sitting at around 9”-11” of ice. We will continue to be on ice staking and checking ice. We are allowing wheelers, sleds, side x sides at this time. 

   

  Beachside Resort

  
  THE BITE:We have had a few folks out this weekend braving this arctic blast. We had one group that did very well fishing in a gravel rock transition in about 14' of water. At about 4 O'clock the Walleyes rolled in and were very aggressive. It was one after another.Others targeted Perch in the bay and seemed to do ok. There was a lot of sorting through the smaller ones to get the bigger ones but they were able to take home a nice pile of fish. Because of the extreme cold there wasn't a lot of tip-up fishing and hole hoping, and that is the style of fishing that usually produces the best numbers.
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• THE ICE:As far as the ice is concerned we did have a couple cracks that opened and shut this weekend. We put some bridges and cones out as a preventative measure. The cracks would open up at night, and as soon as the sun came out they closed back up. It is extremely important to drive slow as things can change in an instant out there. During this mornings ice check everything was dry and very stable all the way out to 5 mile reef. We have been checking Ice thickness and what was 9" a couple days ago is now 11", and should be 12" tomorrow. Once we hit the magic 12" number things will start changing as we will be getting roads plowed and we will start to move rentals and privates out etc. If things trend as we expect, we should be in great shape for letting out wheelhouse traffic by this coming weekend!Look for more updates this coming week as we get things in motion. 

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  Lybacks Ice Fishing

   I started plowing a couple of roads. But with the warm-up the next couple of days, we are going to spend time flooding rough spots for when it freezes up later this week. They are predicting 40-degree temps for tomorrow.We will only allow ATVs, side-by-sides, and snowmobiles with portables out. No ATVs with wheelhouses yet.  We have plenty of parking for rigs.  I plan on pulling some of our smaller rentals out soon so we will have them available to rent. You will need to bring an ATV as we will not be driving vehicles yet.ice depths are ranging from 10″ to 11″ in the smooth ice and thicker in the rough ice areas. 

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  Brandt's Ice Fishing

  We have 8 to 10’’ of ice, We are open to Atv, Snowmobile or foot traffic. At this time we are not plowing or staking any roads. We will wait for this cold snap and wind to pass through then we will kick off our season. We plan to start plowing and staking on Monday. UPDATED: As promised… our crew is out today working on a main road, hoping to go a mile out. We do have a couple of small cracks (4-5”) just before mile and a quarter that look good, but need to heal a little more until we are ready for truck traffic. Ice thickness is 11-12” and will continue to get better as we clear the snow. We will update our page as soon as we are ready for you eager fishermen!! Thank you for your patience. 

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  Castaway's Resort

  We have 6 to 8” of ice out to the break, Currently we are allowing foot traffic and snowmobile traffic out. So grab your sled and head onup for a fun weekend on Mille Lacs.
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•  Castles Resort: 
  WHEELHOUSE RENTALS AVAILABLE ON THE ICE NOW 

  The ice is not quite ready for half ton pickups yet, probably by the weekend! We will be extending our main ice road out this week.

  - Small cars & SUVs are go now 5MPH!!

  - Shuttle Service available
  Fishing Report

  - Perch are plentiful with folks reeling in some good keepers

  Small tungsten jigs blue/white with waxies or minnow head

  - Walleye are cooperating nicely in this barometer range

  Dead Stick w/ shiner or small sucker minnow. Jigging with smaller flutter spoons w/ small minnow or half a minnow 12' to 22'

  - Pike 7' to 10' medium to large sucker minnow

 

 

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   Mille Lacs Regulations 2025-2026 Walleye:
  • Daily/Possession Limit: 3 fish
  • Size: Must be longer than 17 inches; only one can be longer than 20 inches
  • Season: December 1, 2025, through February 22, 2026 
   Yellow Perch:
  • Daily/Possession Limit: 10 fish
  • Season: December 1, 2025, through May 8, 2026 
   Northern Pike:
  • Daily/Possession Limit: 5 fish
  • Size: Must be at least 30 inches long
  • Season: December 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026 

   

• Need Bait, Supplies or Tackle ? 
• Stop in at Garrison Sports Bait & Tackle, Johnson's Portside, 
•  Lybacks Marine or Trailside Bait & Tackle 

 

Need a Fish house Rental? Guide Service? Ice Road Access? 

CLICK ON MAP- For links to each location 

 

 Need a Place to Stay while enjoying Mille Lacs Lake ?  Mille Lacs Lake places-to-stay

 

 

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