Champions Tour Walleye Preview: Mille Lacs Lake Set to Shine

For the first time in Champions Tour history, an event had to be postponed.

Mother Nature had other plans when the Classic Bass Champions Tour, Presented by Skeeter Boats, was scheduled to visit Mille Lacs Lake and showcase the incredible prespawn smallmouth bass fishery. Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait long to see the Champions Tour in action on one of Minnesota’s most iconic fisheries.

Now, the spotlight turns to the Champions Tour Walleye Event, Presented by Humminbird and MinnKota, also set to take place on Mille Lacs Lake, where the weather appears to be a bit more cooperative.

This marks only the second walleye event in Champions Tour history. Although it has been several years since the inaugural event, Champions Tour owner Dane Vocelka has continued looking for ways to expand the organization’s footprint and introduce the Catch, Weigh, Release format to new audiences. The competitive walleye scene appears to be a natural fit.

Located in east-central Minnesota, roughly 90 miles north of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Mille Lacs Lake is one of the largest inland lakes in the state. Spanning approximately 132,500 acres with more than 90 miles of shoreline, the lake has long been regarded as one of the premier walleye destinations in North America. Its famous mud flats have produced countless memorable catches and helped cement Mille Lacs as a bucket-list fishery for anglers across the country.

In recent years, the lake has also become world-renowned for its exceptional smallmouth bass fishing. Thanks to a healthy forage base and strong fish populations, both the bass and walleye fisheries are thriving. Mille Lacs currently boasts an abundance of walleyes, including strong year classes of younger fish and the giants the lake is famous for.

Admittedly, the Classic Bass Champions Tour field is not filled with walleye specialists, so we reached out to National Walleye Tour Pro Hunter Nitti, to get his take on the lake and how this event could unfold.

“A lot of the fish are shallow right now,” Nitti said. “A lot of the smallmouth and walleyes are pretty mixed in areas, in terms of numbers of walleyes.”

This time of year, Nitti explained that many of the biggest walleyes tend to roam as individual fish. Occasionally, they may group up in small wolf packs, but they are generally much harder to target consistently.

The smaller fish, those under 24 inches, in Nitti’s view; are more likely to be grouped together in shallow water. On Mille Lacs, “shallow” means roughly 12 feet of water or less.

“I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot of guys going for bigger fish, but I don’t think they’re going to catch many,” Nitti explained.

Because the Catch, Weigh, Release format is still relatively new in the walleye world, competitors will need to adjust their mindset. Instead of focusing on a traditional five-fish limit, anglers will be rewarded for catching as many quality fish as possible.

“If it were me, I’d be looking for the schools of 3lbers to catch as many as possible, and there’s a lot of them,” Nitti said.

Nitti believes it will likely take 30 to 40 walleyes to contend for the win, which could put the winning angler around the 100-pound mark.

As for techniques, he expects the event to be heavily influenced by Forward-Facing Sonar and a wide variety of live-bait presentations. Jigs tipped with spottail shiners, slip bobbers with leeches, and jigs paired with crawlers should all play major roles.

One strategic factor Champions Tour anglers always consider is the lake split and how it affects game plans. For this event, however, Nitti doesn’t believe it will have much impact.

“When it comes to windmilling smaller fish, there’s fish in all corners of this lake. It won’t matter what the split is, there’s walleyes everywhere,” Nitti explained.

Nitti will not be competing in the event, as the National Walleye Tour will be in South Dakota that same week. Still, conversations among touring pros have produced a consistent outlook: success will depend largely on how well anglers use practice to locate productive schools, but no matter where they start, there should be plenty of 3-pound-class walleyes available in all corners of the lake..

Nitti expects the bite to be strong, although Mille Lacs can be notoriously inconsistent.

The lake is known for producing incredible catches one day and becoming much more challenging the next. Anglers who can adapt to changing conditions throughout the day should have the best chance of success.

If cloud cover moves in, Nitti believes the bite could be especially good.

We’re excited to see how this event unfolds on one of the most storied walleye fisheries in the country. Follow along all day on Tuesday, May 19, through the Reel LiveWell App to watch the action as it happens. The Champions Tour social media channels will provide updates throughout the day, and the media team will release a full event video following the tournament.