Anyone been out?

Fishing Winni tomorrow. Any tips appreciated. Otherwise will be hitting our normal area looking for perch.

I was up there 2 weeks ago and had some of the best perch fishing in years. LOTS of fish just had to sort through the little guys to get keepers. We went out of nodaks and had the best results in 18-20 fow. I usd tungsten and plastic so I could stay fishing and not re baiting. We found a nice inside turn on shoreline break and fished it the entire weekend.

Good luck, Matt

I was up there on Feb 7-10 and it was extremely slow. The first day and a half was at 18′ feet or so and only one nice walleye at 24″… Tiny perch were down there but not hungry…
The rest of the trip was out at about 26 to 28 feet and didnt hit any walleyes. The perch picked up and they were hungry but no keepers.

A weather front pulled through on my way up there and I think it was just bad timing.

Talked to a few others on the evenings we went out for dinner and it sounded like the whole lake was a bit slow.

If I had a good UTV or snowmobile I definitely would have moved around and I think that would have helped alot.

Good luck up there.

We did good. Got some nice ones. Bite was good but had to do a lot of sorting. Perch dinners all around. Yum.

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The crew is set to head up on Thursday. Same area I sent you to a couple years ago was working out pretty well two weeks ago. Want to give me some heads up send me a PM. Otherwise
We’re also going out of the river on the west side, trying Portage Bay on Leech as well.

chomps wrote:

The crew is set to head up on Thursday. Same area I sent you to a couple years ago was working out pretty well two weeks ago. Want to give me some heads up send me a PM. Otherwise
We’re also going out of the river on the west side, trying Portage Bay on Leech as well.

Good luck buddy. Hopefully this weather doesnt cause any issues. It was pretty wet on the roads when we left Sat afternoon but that’s pretty normal as you know.
I hope you slay them. Bite was like nothing I had seen before. They hit anything and everything the exact same. Didnt matter what you fished. Hell, they were hitting spoons without bait with little effort. Jigging raps, no prob. Whatever.
Just tons of tiny ones. Early and late better as usual.

I’d love to here a conditions report after the weekend. Hoping to make a trip up there the week of March 13th.

Will do

Roads are in fine shape, we never even made it to Winnie, fishing was too good on Leech, largest was 12 3/4, and most were 10-11. We cleaned 84 day one, day two was unreal and day three we had to work our tails off and sort dinks. If it’s cloudy stay shallower than 12 fow, right next to green weeds. Ice is 22 plus, no extensions needed.

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Big baits keep the smaller ones away, kind of. Slab raps in uv whatever were hot. Large fatheads and even shiners got smoked by the bigger ones as well.

Friday night and Saturday was tough but managed one limit of perch. Sunday after the buddies left I hopped spot to spot finding all dinks, finally on the 7 or 8th spot found them on a deeper funnel to shallow shelves and limited in an hour. Was absolutely insane fishing for that hour, most fun I’ve had for awhile. Rap down bam bam bam, slow down drop the fathead bam bam bam, back to rap, back to fathead, awesome!

Like to keep a mix of 8-11″ and let some of the bigger ones go. Is it just me or some the bigguns just look real freakin old? Not very delicious looking IMO.

Ice was perfect driving anywhere. Small heave on north end but totally crossable most anywhere. Went out high banks.

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Awesome report, been awhile since we had legit limits, really no need. Your exactly right on the mix, we threw the 13 3/8ths back. Picture doesn’t do justice, my brother is over 6’4″

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Fairly new to winter perch fishing, kind of fits my style really well. Enjoy catching dinks all day, but it really pays off to find some big ones.

First time on Winni, and really enjoyed it. The structure was super overwhelming first time zooming in on the nav app.

I’d say half the perch that came up were spewing out good sized baby perch.

4 eyes in the mix, one lost in hole. One went around 22-23″, others dinks. ALL came on SMALL blue white jig with minnows. Had more than a few big red marks come through at night but couldn’t get em to go.

Good stuff guys! Chomps would you mind telling me where you got on Leech? Mainly fish Winnie but would be open to try somewhere new.

north Star resort on Portage Bay is the usual, newer public landing in Sucker Bay will hold up as long as it stays cold, but there’s some open water right next to shore and I can see this going bad fast once it warms up, time for wheelers

Going to add to the conversation that we will hit the Big Fish at least once while we are in the area for a few drinks and a good supper, the Dam Cafe is an awesome breakfast option. Any other options out there?

We usually stay up on the northeast side of Winnie, so if we stop, it’s at Gosh Dam Place for a beer or 2 and dinner once in a while. It’s not bad. I’ve heard good things about the pizza at Blueberry Bowl also, but haven’t gotten over there yet. We are planning on using wheelers. Hopeful it holds up.

old post i know, but…………headed up first weekend in april to the general area……..actually closer to Jessie and bowstring, would like to do some ice time.

anyone have any reports on ice and snow conditions. not looking for fishing reports, i got a game plan of my own!!!!

I might be out there this weekend. Planning on hitting a couple lakes in that general area. Will report back if I make it to Winnie.

Charlie W wrote:

I might be out there this weekend. Planning on hitting a couple lakes in that general area. Will report back if I make it to Winnie.

sweet!!!!!!!! i wont be going to winnie per say, just want some general info on lake travel and basic snow depth. i want to fish but plan on a few chores around the cabin too!!!!!!

Glenn, every year this is the weekend we hit bowstring and Jessie for crappie and perch. Trip got bumped up two weeks earlier this year and they couldn’t move around much. I’m sure snow and standing water is down by now, but not positive. We always try to stay at Jessie view

Craig Sery wrote:

Glenn, every year this is the weekend we hit bowstring and Jessie for crappie and perch. Trip got bumped up two weeks earlier this year and they couldn’t move around much. I’m sure snow and standing water is down by now, but not positive. We always try to stay at Jessie view

thanks…………i know where that place is. nice place.

ever stop in at rileys???? i sure hope the ice is good yet in a week. just tough getting up to date reports. i plan on calling someone up there next week. should hopefully hear more after the weekend!!!!!

We fished around Squaw Lake this past weekend and found the accesses mostly drifted in with bit of blown snow. We found a bare and solid 30″ of ice on the lakes. I’m sure the launches are all clear of any remaining snow now from the past couple warm days, but considering the cooler overnights forecast, things should be sweet for a while.

______________ wrote:

We fished around Squaw Lake this past weekend and found the accesses mostly drifted in with bit of blown snow. We found a bare and solid 30″ of ice on the lakes. I’m sure the launches are all clear of any remaining snow now from the past couple warm days, but considering the cooler overnights forecast, things should be sweet for a while.

awesome sauce!!!!!!!!!!!

loved hearing that!!!!!!!!!!

heard from a fellow that was on Winnie the past 2 days. 2 feet of honeycombed ice!!!!!

I have a hard time believing with 6-12 inches of snow still on the ground the ice is still ok for at least wheeler travel. its gonna be the water and slush.

I just got back from that area. Fished a lot of lakes between the two days. Did not fish Winnie but did end up on Cass on Sunday afternoon. All the ice we found was still solid and the accesses were still in great shape. We ripped wheelers all over.

Charlie W wrote:

I just got back from that area. Fished a lot of lakes between the two days. Did not fish Winnie but did end up on Cass on Sunday afternoon. All the ice we found was still solid and the accesses were still in great shape. We ripped wheelers all over.

awesome!!!!!!!i’ll be that way friday morning!!!!

i just called the bowstring store and talmoon spur. they both carry bait. they dont have bait. the lady at the spur said she heard the ponds froze out and no minnows. she did say people were still out fishing!!!!!!!

The Mini Max in Squaw Lake had bait this weekend.

______________ wrote:

The Mini Max in Squaw Lake had bait this weekend.

thanks fishwater!!!!!!!!!

that is about 30 miles out of my way.
starting from my home town i got 186 miles worth of bait shops along the way,i’ll work them up first.