Minnesota Survey Shows Healthy Mille Lacs Smallmouth Bass Population

Since the late 1990s, Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota has become an increasingly popular destination for anglers who want to catch trophy-sized smallmouth bass. Until now, it wasn’t known how many of these fish – prized more for their fight than their fillets – called the lake home. A population estimate completed in 2018 shows there are some 67,000 smallmouth bass in the 128,000-acre lake. This looks like a healthy population, said Tom Jones, regional fisheries treaty coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. This estimate roughly represents... READ MORE