Winnie Opener Report

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Ah, finally, back to fishing for Walleyes on Winnie.

Water temp was 52-53 Degrees.

Hit the North side at 6AM, saw one Walleye caught around 6:15, I caught & released a 22" at 6:30. Saw no other Walleyes caught for the next 4+ hours, even with all of those boats out there. This includes the Rock Pile, between there & Cutfoot, near Cutfoot, back to the Rocks, over to Farley, over to Mallard, over to Stony Point entrance, Stony Point Bar. Not a single Walleye saw or caught after 6:30AM.

Then went to the West side where the bite was good, then it turned off early afternoon.

How did the rest of you do?

Good luck to all...

[ngerdes]

Ran into the a similar situation as you. There are at least 1,000 boats that had similar luck (by looking at the nets and rods). We landed our first eye around 11:00 (got on the lake at 7:30 a.m.). Managed to boat around 35-30 eyes from 11:00-3:00 p.m.. Speaking with fisherman from the access, it sounded like we were the fortunate ones. Looking forward to tomorrow, but worried about the wind??

[gtofast1]

Fished the east side picked up 3 nice eye's in 45 min. then nothing for the rest of the day but perch. Caught eyes just before 9 am. Did alot of chasing. What was the story of the boat floating on the east side just sticking out of the water on sunday..All the gear was floating but no one around.

[magnum mike]

We mirrored everyone else. Our standard spots in the NW corner were spotty at best. I saw no reason to run across the lake (into the wind) and fight the crowds near Cutfoot. The reports were pretty slow over there. The big numbers came from Raven & Sugar.

[bassfisher]

and they call the big pond the dead sea!!!! ice fished winnie 3 times last winter...i can say it truly isnt worth the 4.5 hour trip up there. why would you wanna work that hard to boat some fish? sounds a bit like that end of the state isnt cracked up to be what some say it is.

[Dan Brelje]

Best Walleye day in the states for me!! Got to the lake about 7 am and fished in front of highbanks for about an hour w/ only 1 fish. Shot over to mallard and landed 4 eyes as a group in 4 hrs. When the bite shut off we headed down to ravens, best decision ever. We had a blast the rest of the day...boated 3 limits and had a lot of fun, biggest went 24 1/2

[tcroz]

Sounds like the west side was hot!!! This is pretty typical for this time of year heading up Friday...can't wait

[LakeTahoe]

Fished Raven's.... Shallow (4-7 FOW)... 25+ walleyes. About half in the slot, half out of the slot. Had limit by 11:30am. Started at 6:45. Got a few nicer perch out a little deeper. Winnie never dissappoints on opener, never IMHO, if you wanna catch fish consistently, stay away from the mob of boats, especially when there is not much waves/wind/cloud cover. I honestly shake my head when I see boats move from mob to mob....

[tcroz]

I agree with you to a certain extent...I have had some of my best days fishing with the "Mob". If I can avoid it I do but usually the mob is there for a reason. We all need to go into a large group with the right attitude and realize that people are going to do stupid things.

[HIGHBANKS]

5/14/07 Wow!! What an OPENER! With temperatures ranging in the mid-70's and sunshine all weekend long it was perfect weather to be out in the boat!! Boats were stacking up out front Saturday morning and finding many 18-22" walleyes. The nice keeper size walleyes 15-16" were being caught off of Tamarack Point using green colored jigs and spot tail shiners in 6-10' of water on a slow drift was the best tactic. With winds out of the southeast 12-14mph, other groups were hitting the north shore near Stony and also producing some walleyes. Mid-day bite was the strongest. Water temps are in the mid 50's.

[JKing]

Hey Highbanks thanks for the report,

How are the water levels on Winnie. We are heading up this weekend planning on staying at the National Forest Campground just North of you. Last year it was like 3' for quite a ways out & I was just wondering if the lakes down enough to make those accesses a little more difficult.

We'll probably swing down one night for a Beer or Bloody Mary.

Thanks,

John

[james_walleye]

If you cant catch fish on Winnie you might as well hang it up. Its pretty much second too none, and thats a fact.

[bassfisher]

2nd to none? have you looked up the opener on the big pond? if you werent catching fish, its because you didnt have your line in the water. and thats the fact

[Jim Almquist]

Water levels on winnie are just fine and the fishing is doing real good if there is some chop. Yesterday we caught a limit and released a limit 18-23 in.Fished north end rocks and Tamarac pt.All we needed was gale force winds and the fish just turned on. Will be back out in a hour or so and it looks great out cloudy ,windy with a light mist.Green jigs and spot tail shiners.

[Fishn addict]

Bassfisher. I've fished the big pond plenty and Winnie plenty. It's 45 min to the big pond 2 1/2 hrs to winnie. It comes down to how well you know the lakes and where to find the fish. There both great fishing waters. I've good days and bad days on both lakes depending on crowds, weather, time of year ect. When it comes right down to it I'll drive the extra miles to fish Winnie. Less people just as many fish if not more. When you put enough time and research into Winnie you'll find out the rewards will put you futher away from all the headaches of the big pond.

[Bigfife]

I will be up on Winni this Thursday thru Sunday and I can't wait. I fished Mille Lacs on opener and we did 20 fish Saturday rigging and bobbering. Winni gets me really excited because everyday I can slam 25 walleyes a day easily jigging in shallow water. I have never found a jig bite that is comparable anywhere in MN. Nothing better than having a 25" slot fish try to rip the rod out of your hands. If the fish aren't biting on Winni, you are in the wrong place.

[Fisherman For a Lifetime]

Hey Bigfife,

Yep, I can't wait either - I'll be on Winnie all next week - I have a cabin rented Monday-Friday, 21-25th. Woo-hoo!!

Let me know how ya do...

[james_walleye]

I'll stand by what i said, if you cant catch eyes on Winnie in the spring than you might as well hang up the walleye rod. And one thing Winnie definately isnt, is over rated.

[walleyeguy7]

I agree, Winnie is usually really good, and is definitely not over rated by any means. My opener was not very good this year. Our boat (3 people) only brought 9 keepable walleyes into the boat, by keepable I mean 14 to 17 inches, other than that we boated TONS of northerns and perch. The other boat we had out filled out no problem. Mr. Walleye and company were staying in the cabin next door and they also did very well (obviously). We tried almost everything but nothing really seemed to be consistant for us, I guess that's why it's called fishing and not catching.

[HIGHBANKS]

Hi John...the lake level is actually slightly higher than it was last year for opener. Our access is in good shape. I haven't heard any reports from boats launching at Tamarack Campground - so I'm not sure of its current condition, I would imagine it would be ok though.

Sure that would be great if you stop by the lodge - we'll have a cold one ready!!

[crappie_king1114]

North Shore between Pidgeon and Farley is going crazy from 6 til dark. 8-9 fow. I was using leeches but also saw jiq and min doing good. Last three nights, same story.

[Cuyunakiller]

fished highbanks till 11a.m. caught 2, moved to cutfoot caught a few nice northern, slow the rest of the trip. had a great stay at Nodak, will recamend this resort to everyone. all the amenitys for dirt cheap with my own slip for the weekend.

[JKing]

Thanks Highbanks. Thursday can't come soon enough.

We'll swing in Friday or Sat. night for a few drinks.

[snowgoose]

Hi John

I'll be at Tamarack this weekend also. I have a tan 4 door GMC and a older Blue Lund with Someday on the side. Stop by for a beer if the boat is there. We can compair notes. I will be there Friday morning to Sunday morning.

Todd

[limited out]

Crappie - Thanks for the report.

This is just left of the Gap on the way down to Stoney correct? I think we did well there last year late in the year although i don't remember any drastic sturcture changes. I assume you were lindy rigging it?

My group of 10 will be up there this weekend from Friday to Monday - looking forard to hitting the H20.

[rather b hunting]

Sunday was one of the best days I have ever had on the lake. We ended with 58 keepers 2 short of our 10 man limit. We were throwing back 3 fish for every one we could keep. Between 3 boats I bet we caught over 150 fish. Fishing Tamarac Pt. I had a little honey hole going away from all the rest of the boats drifiting Tamerac pt. Then somebody came over saw all the fish we were catching got on the marine band and within 2 hours I went from fishing all alone to 50-60 boats. I dont expect to have the whole lake to myself all I ask is those of you who have marine band radio's be very cautious of what you say on them. You never know who is listening and obviously alot of people were listening. It was fun as I sat back and took pride in the fact knowing I put all those boats on fish cause everybody caught them like mad.

[JKing]

Todd,

We'll look for ya Friday night. We'll have a Green & Silver 4 door Dakota with a Black & silver Alumacraft full windshield.

Good Luck!

[snowgoose]

Sounds good John. There will be several of us there. I'll keep a cold one in the cooler for you.

[fishuhalik]

I'll be out there too, 16 ft. white & green alumacraft w/ a 30 yamaha & 3 guys in the boat. Sure, it's a little crowded, but it makes things interesting!

[snowgoose]

I just talked to a buddy at Tamarack. Sounds like there are 7 or 8 campers there now. Shouldn't be a problem getting a site.

Starting to look like a FM get together. I better get more beer on the way up.