Males in the shallows and females out deep seems to be the pattern here as of late. There are some larger perch filtering into that shallow water, but over the last few days it seem that are bigger true jumbos are coming from that 20-30 foot of water. Being versitile is key to getting the best bite. Over the coarse of two days, I went through nearly three tanks of gas in the Strikemaster. Here is the results of the hole hopping that occured on Saturday. Doug and [censored] happily display their catch.
The perch were either active or not. Each hole seemed to produce some fish and then moving to the next hole would again produce more. We did manage to find a mid-lake hump that showed good numbers and by staying on top of this hump would give us the best reults. If we moved to the edge or deeper water, we found very little for numbers.
The Vexilar is key to the days catch when the fish get anything but aggressive. Many of the perch that were less active would be seen on the Vexy and with a little inticing above them they would take are offerings. It seemed that the best offering for the bigger perch was Northland Forage minnow jigging spoon or a Demon tipped with a full minnow under a bobber. By the looks of the concentration of big females that we found out deep and with the males finding that shallow 12-18 foot of water, chances are the shallow bite should heat up soon.
Travel condition are a bit slow going, there are still a number of deep drifts, but with constant motion, 20-30 MPH one can go just about anywhere. We made a move from the North shore to the midlake, which is about 6 miles. We broke trail the entire way, but if one slows down those drifts and slush will have you there for awhile. By the looks of this weeks and next weeks forcast, we may be seeing an end to vehicle traffic. IT would be a good idea to call ahead if your coming this way in the next week or two to see what the current driving status is.
Nice report Sean. It’s consistent with what I’ve found over the past few days. I hope to find some concentrations of bigger fish up shallow in the near future.
After having the last two weekends filled with home shows and such it was nice to get back out on the ice and get into some of those Magnum Perch that Winnie has to offer. One thing I forgot to add was the fact if your not catching fish, keep moving. Before we hit this midlake hump that produced we covered three other spots with very little luck. It was starting to seem like a bite that was never going to happen, but the bite is happening each day out there, one just has to find the active ones.
Time will tell on that shallow bite.
Nice report Sean.
Glad your persistence of hole hopping paid off for you guys! Looks like a nice batch dandy perch. How much ice would you say Winni has peaked with this year?
I don’t think we hit the 40 inch mark but there was a good 36-38 inches. I would guess the ice thickness right now is in that 33-35 inch range. Plenty of ice out there yet, but the slush and snow is making for some minor difficulties. Next week there talking 48-50 degrees for most of the week, that will make for some great fishing, but it will be wet to say the least.
I am planning on fishing winni on Mondaythe 15th, should i look to the shallows to see if any of the females are there yet, or not wiht this weather? Also what are the current driving conditions on the lake?
Matts60x
I would try the shallows. The best bite that I have heard of is in Tamarack Bay infront of Sunset resort, they have been getting most of the fish in that 13-14 feet of water.
Good Luck