Anyone been out?

Sean? Anyone? I haven’t been out for a while, looking for an update.

Scott,
I have not had much action this winter. Ice conditions on Winnie and many of the area lakes are bad. Slush and deep snow is making travel terrible. The perch action on WInnie is slow at best, I have only been on Winnie once, and we were chasing walleyes with even them tough to find.
RED lake continues to be the only bite spot to this point.

Was out on Winne this past weekend. Conditions were tough. Went with a 16′ house. Was hard getting around. Had to have the Resort (Nodaks) plow truck get us to a spot. By morning had 4″ of water on the ice. Was only 14″ of ice. Seen lots of fish in the Marcum camera(including minnows) but slow bite. Got 9 perch at least. Lots of slush on the roads. I would suggest only going out with a portable house. Good luck

I checke out Winni on Sunday 2/13 and I won’t be back until the snow is off the lake. The ice is alright but the slush and water on the ice makes conditions very dangerous. If you drill a hole, you can count on sitting in water. Looks like the fish are getting a nice break from the normal winter pressure. Not many people out fishing on the lake.

I’ll be up there this weekend. I plan to hit ‘er pretty hard. Going to need plenty of auger gas. I just hope I don’t spend the morning going over spots that produced in the past only to move on to the next spot. I should be able to pick up fish but finding the quality fish is going to be the key. With the ground I cover I should be able to leave a detailed report of the depths that produce the fish. Who knows if you don’t just pack up and try it? I’ll have a report posted on sunday or Monday depending if I skip up to red for the evening.

Matt, I can help you out with some place to start and what worked this weekend for us. Also, becareful if you are planning to venture off the path with your vehicle. You can get around, but there are pockets of slush on the ice that you will not get a vehicle out of.

Although its tempting to just drive the truck out there, I know better than to just go driving around crazy. And with the little amount of ice thats there driving conditions maybe questionable. I think I’m just going to bring the wheeler. I’m all excited to try out my brand new polar sport three man. I got one heck of a close out deal on it. I’ll be up by myself so if anyone wants to have beer time let me know.

I’m Wondering if this cold snap fixed up the ice and slush up there. Can anyone give a current ice cnditions report? Maybe I can leave the wheeler at home. I doubt the ice surface is ideal for a snowmobile?

i would bring the snomobile before the wheeler lopt less likely to get stuck ,

YOU are going to love the Polar 3 man! Everyone that fished out of mine this year said it was roomy and with the head extention standing up was great.

I set it up a number of time when I didn’t need too…just because it’s a great little house!
You might want to email Bowen Lodge or Sean directly through there websites for ice info.

Yeah I used to be a huge otter fan. But ever since polar came around….. I truly think they make a better quaulity product.

Had some friends up there Mon-Tues this week and they found tough going in some spots. The lead truck was full of gear and pulling two snowmobiles on a trailer. He came up to a large patch of water on the ice and fearing that he would get stuck, he gave ‘er heck across that water. The guys behind him watched as water came over the hood and covered the snowmobiles. Of course this water froze up so they had a skin of ice all over the truck and snowmobiles. Must have got some in the engine compartment also because it didn’t run well for a while after that. Of course, this guy doesn’t know the word slow. They got off ok and caught some fish but I guess you need to be a little careful where you go. But then again, what’s news about that.

I was riding shotgun in that truck you speak of. It was exciting to say the least. The engine was cutting out just as we hit dry ice. It could have been a long night out there and I don’t know how we would have gotten out. The roads were plowed by Highbanks and they were busy the next day plowing a way around that swamp, so I understand. We would not drive on the lake after that and went to Leech instead the next two days.
We were fishing on the humps in Winnie and got about 50 nice perch on Monday for 6 guys. Seemed like hole-hopping worked the best but the cold wind and deep slush made that tough too.
That was our first time on the lake and I guess we would go back inspite of our experience with the bad roads. Maybe next year but only if the ice situation is good.
Putz, if we take that March trip we might have to try Winnie again. I know that you are fearless when driving on the ice so you can lead the way.

Welcome to IDA Snowsnake…guess if you would have been stuck…your handle would be Watersnake?

Sounds like you know Putz already….

Heard anything about eyes up there?

Hmmm…Snowsnake…aye? This could be one of two people I have fished with for 30+ years. In fact, the 3 of us call ourselves the 3 Fat Germans although I am the only one that lives up to the first part of that name.
Brian, anything you hear about me from either of these guys (or my son) will probably be grossly exagerated. I’m going to watch my P’s and Q’s from now on with all these people on line. No more hot spots advice as these guys are very protective of their info.

Welcome, Snowsnake. Post something in general info so everyone gets to know you.

Yes, tis I, Putz. I can now monitor your e-activities and see if you are indeed handing out all my Leech Lake coordinates as you have hinted in the past. You have to be so careful who you fish with these days.
Brian: We did not get any walleyes on Winnie because we did not know where to go to try for them, our first time on the lake on ice. The rest of the guys wanted nothing to do with Winnie after that wet day so we went to Leech instead. We were the only guys on the lake in Boy Bay and I can see why because fish were hard to catch. But at least the ice was good.