Anybody fish White Face Reservoir north of Duluth?

I’m ashamed to admit it but living up here all these years I never have. There are a lot of private homes on it and most of it is all Minnesota Power lease land. A 3 acre piece of property has come to my attention that is not lease land it’s property with lake access you actually own. I looked at a smaller parcel up there a couple years ago on the recommendation of a friend that was a good buy but I just didn’t like the idea that I couldn’t own the property.

From what I’ve heard it’s more pan fish with some eye’s but nothing too big on the eye’s coming out of it. Just wondering if anybody here has fished it enough to give a review.

My grandparents have a place on whiteface going on 40 years. A lot of memories on the lake, tho not for bigger fish. I’m 30 and I’ve spent tons of time on the lake. A lot of small 10-12” walleyes, you will get your eaters but sometimes that can even be a little tough with getting size depending on time of year. There are some bigger fish in the lake you hear about from people on the lake. I just haven’t had that much luck for em. Only seen a couple over 25”. I can count on both hands fish over 21” I’ve caught myself.. Talked with the dnr over the years, they say little weed growth and low baitfish populations in turn is why the fish run on the small or stunted in size. The crappie fishing in the summer can be great. It’s nice area, an hour from Duluth and far less busy then island lake even with the lake getting more boat traffic over the years. Lot of rocks and gravel with little sand on the lake. Gotta know where you’re going on the lake if you’re going wide open as one of the thousand rocks on the lake will eat the lower unit. There is a fair amount of lease land on the lake, so that 3 acre plot does sound appealing as god only made so much land. That’s my 2 cents, Good luck on your decision

Thanks mikeyman sounds similar to what I’ve already heard. Checked the DNR web site on the lake survey and it shows lots of species and the only thing with decent size seemed to be bluegill and crappie. I’m not against that by any means I love pan fish fishing. They haven’t stocked walleye since the 70’s as they figure the population is reproducing well enough. Just below average in size due to what you have already mentioned. Big body of water at over 4000 acres so lots of room to play.

I’ve run hot and cold on owning lake property over the years but this one has my attention. No structure on it other than a 10X15 shed for storage and a 16X24 shelter for putting a boat under. It has 200 amp electrical service with a pedestal for a rv which is all I would want. I don’t want another house or cabin that needs to be taken care of.

I would put up one or two more rv pedestals as all the kids have their own rv’s and it could be a family campground of sorts.

There was a fish survey guy last year that lives on the lake and was on the lake from opener to October. I must of been surveyed by him 15-20 times. Rumor has it, the cabin/home owners on the lake are pushing hard for walleye stocking. If you like panfish I forgot to mention the big gills later in summer in the lake on my previous post. With the bays, islands and the longer fingers of the lake, it takes a pretty big wind to get blown off in a 16’. Only a 4-5 jet skis on the lake, at least of last year. If you have no plans of building, this sounds prime. Do you access this property off hwy 4 on Blais road or farther north off hwy 16?

It’s on Ranta drive not exactly sure where that is. I plan on running up there later this week or next to get a gauge on travel time. The guy just put in a new gravel driveway 2 years ago so I should be able to walk in and take a look.

Scoped the lake out in 2015 along with rice, Boulder, (didn’t go on island since really low and traffic looked like a zoo) and whiteface, white was the only lake I could get eyes to bite on, but they were small. Caught some nice crappies too. Took our son up last summer and camped at the forest campground and did ok for fish numbers but small, was just fine as I just wanted fish on the line to keep my son interested. On the definite upside, though my info is very limited, both trips we’re 4th of July weekend and I never would have known it from how quite the lake was.

I spent a lot of time in that area in my 20s and camped and fished on Whiteface more than a few times. If I remember right, there are a few really nice accessible islands with sand beaches. We camped on one overran with mice, didn’t figure it out until after a night of drinking. We had 10-12 tiny mice crammed into empty bottles in the morning. My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, freaked out. Good times.

Aside from the lake, it’s a pretty awesome area, lots of fun outdoor recreational options heading north and also untapped areas east towards Brimson. The sledding in the area is outstanding.

I think the whiteface is a walleye factory, they just all wind up over the dam. From my experiences, the Whiteface river is chockfull of small walleye, all the way from the whiteface to the St. Louis. I’ve ran that river more than a few times in the late 90s, usually mid summer. I saw some epic log jams.

Thanks for the input everybody. I have 3 acquantices who have cabins or homes on the leased property who have all invited me up at one time or another to go go 4 wheeling just never took them up on it. I know it’s a nice area from when I drove up there to look at property a few years ago.

My problem with owning lake property is once you make that investment you feel that’s where you need to go all the time. It keeps you from going other places. It ties you down so to speak. And then there is the constant investment in “things” you need up at the lake after the initial purchase of the property.

Anyhow this is the argument that goes on inside my head every time this lake property bug bites me. The other thing that has kept me from buying in the past is close neighbors. I won’t make the investment unless the property is private enough where the neighbors won’t just wander over when they see you or you can hear all their conversations when they are outside and vice versa.

If you don’t get the right neighbors in close quarters your investment is wasted.

Keith,
Interesting perspective on buying a lake place. We just bought a lake place a couple years ago and I worried a bit about being locked into going to the same place all the time. We made sure the Lake and area met a certain pre-determined criteria. Privacy/neighbors was a concern and you are rolling the dice especially if cabins are close together. So far we have been lucky, one of the “bonuses” of going to the same place is that we have met a lot of new people, have made new friends and we all look out for each other.

You mean there are places people actually talk to each other?????

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Keith,
Interesting perspective on buying a lake place. We just bought a lake place a couple years ago and I worried a bit about being locked into going to the same place all the time. We made sure the Lake and area met a certain pre-determined criteria. Privacy/neighbors was a concern and you are rolling the dice especially if cabins are close together. So far we have been lucky, one of the “bonuses” of going to the same place is that we have met a lot of new people, have made new friends and we all look out for each other.

The place I looked at a few years ago had one neighbor that was pretty close. I was on the property walking around scoping it out when I heard voices and little kids. I could hear every word they said and this was in the middle of the day. At that moment I decided I didn’t want the property. I’m not anti social by any means and they could have been and probably are very nice people but I’m not willing to plunk down the kind of money they get for lake property and roll the dice on it.

My in laws have been on a lake for over 40 years now. Their neighbors which were pretty close sold this winter and they are getting new neighbors they know nothing about. The only thing they know is it’s a joint venture by three separate families that purchased it. My in laws take that as a not so good sign and are stressed about what this summer is going to be like. I don’t blame them. Multi family ownership of one lake property rarely works out in the long run. Out of 3 families there’s bound to be some younger folks that will sit around the fire and party until 3 or 4 in the morning. Hell we used to do it all the time.

Anyhow this current property owner told me on the phone the nearest neighbor is probably 2 to 300 yards away. Sounds like it might be far enough but I’ll know more when I go look.

Rantas bay is on the north end of the lake. Popular fishing area more so early in the fishing season. It is very quiet in rantas compared to other parts of the lake cabin wise. Valid point, I know what you mean about being about tied down to one lake..sometimes i feel obligated to be there with the rest of the family or friends, when I have plans of fishing a different lake.

I’m more worried about proximity of neighbors more than being tied down to one place I guess. Truth is I’m not much of a open water fisherman. I’m more of a hard water guy. Don’t even own a boat. Part of that reason is in the summer months I do informal BBQ catering for private parties and that can keep me pretty busy on weekends during the summer months. I won’t feel pressured to go buy a big pontoon or fishing boat right away. Frankly part of my plan was to sit back and let the kids make those kinds of investments!

One thing I’d do right away is to add another rv power pedestal so when the kids come with their rigs they can plug in. No water available so that is a bit of a drawback and not a cheap proposition to have a well put in I imagine. It is all set up through the county for a go ahead to do a septic if I ever wanted to do so.

I’m retired so I think I have the time to fish other lakes without getting the guilt trip feeling of “I spent all that money on lake property and now I’m sitting on Red ice fishing” feeling. Especially seeing as how it’s not really set up as a year around cabin or anything.

Can you hear me arguing with myself??

How is the walleye fishing on whiteface these days? My dad just bought a cabin on the lake and from what I’ve heard is u can catch a bunch but all really small. But every forum is from years ago. Is it any better these days?

Id check the MN DNR Site for recent surveys to see size structure, but from everything I know they have been small for decades.

Ok it’s been awhile since I’ve hung out here. Life has been busy. Four new grandkids with another about a month out! Yikes!! So I bought the property on Whiteface. Been there five seasons now and love it more every season. We have three acres directly across the road from the lake and we have deeded access about a half mile down the road to where we have a dock and pontoon. We have a private boat landing which is almost a luxury. It is shared by 12 other lots but gets very little use.

Taxes are cheap compared to what our neighbors pay on the other side of the road. Turns out the guy I purchased this lot from moved about two miles down the shoreline and is on the lake and asked me last summer if I would be interested in buying that property in another two years or so. As he is looking to move to warmer climes. So I may be selling what I have soon.

Anyhow the fishing. The best part is the pan fish. Eyes are small but the bite is good enough to keep you entertained. The size of the lake is probably the thing we find most beneficial. You don’t get bored fishing the same two holes like many do on the smaller puddle lakes. My daughter and her husband and our six year old grandson have a camper up there and come every weekend in the summer. Most of the time on the water is spent in the pontoon cruising and stopping at islands and swimming or float on tubes. The grand son is obsessed with swimming so that is how most time is spent. He likes to fish but the attention span of a six year old isn’t exactly conducive to doing any serious fishing. You can spend all afternoon cruising on this lake and not see all of it. It can be quite picturesque on nice sunny days with all the islands.

Went out on the ice with my neighbor across the road a few weeks ago. He actually turned out to be a good friend. And I was worried about neighbors! Fishing was slow but crappies when you got them were large. No night bite which is disappointing. I like to stay out at night ice fishing. All in all happy with the decision to purchase and after five seasons of learning the ropes up there excited at the prospect of maybe buying lake shore property in a few years.