West end for a week

[Aholzerland311]

Hello,

Coming up Saturday for a week on the west end. I have been up there once a couple years ago. How are the fish biting? I will be looking for walleye and crappies. How long of a boat ride is it to get to the west side? Any suprises to look out for?

[HansB]

The length of the boat ride depends on where you're staying. Give us a hint.

Walleye fishing on the west end the past couple weeks has been challenging....... lot's of unsettled weather, but a couple patterns have worked for me..... 25'-plus water during the day, near points or midlake humps, jig-minnow vertical/slow drifting.

Evening/morning slow lindy rigging minnows or half-crawlers on the edges of humps/points, 15-20 feet of water. Finding no fish on tops of the structure in low light, but just off the lip and slightly below the breaklines.

Some stable weather (can we hope?) should bring them back higher in the water column, especially at dawn and at sundown.

[SkunkedAgain]

The length of the ride also depends on your boat. Doing it with my 35hp will take a lot longer than someone's 115hp.

[Aholzerland311]

Thanks for the info! I will be at White Eagle Resort. I have a 17' Lund with a 115hp motor. I would hate to get stranded out east if bad weather came up.

[vermilionfox]

Are you asking how far it would be to the east end?

You're original post said how far to the west end.

Lots of good fishable water without having to run to the east end.

[Parker]

White Eagle resort is on the far West end of the lake. To get to the East side of the lake you would need to pass through Head-O-Lakes bay, Wakemup bay, Wakemup Narrows, Niles bay and then the Oak Narrows. In your boat, wide open, that would take 20 minutes or so. From there it is another 10-15 minutes to Big Bay. You could do that, but I am not sure why someone staying at White Eagle would stay on the far West end and then fish the East end. There are plenty of places to fish on the West end.

[chak]

It's a 20 min ride at 40mph from Wakem Up Narrows to Oak Narrows.

[HansB]

Quote:

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It's a 20 min ride at 40mph from Wakem Up Narrows to Oak Narrows.

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You must take the scenic route. That works out to 13.3 miles!

I routinely go from White Eagle to Timbuktu in 20 minutes.

[HansB]

Quote:

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Are you asking how far it would be to the east end?

You're original post said how far to the west end.

Lots of good fishable water without having to run to the east end.

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I agree with the "fox".

White Eagle is just minutes from excellent walleye water. Less than a mile to Hibbing Point, maybe 2 miles to Taylors Island, and no more than three miles to the Wakemup Bay reefs, all prime fall walleye spots. Talk to Mike at the resort, or look up Doug at Spring Bay, and they'll be able to tell you what's working.

[vermilionfox]

I love the walleye bite on the east end. And, I fish it hard when I'm staying on the east end.

That being said I still am able to find plenty of walleyes on the west end. I often use more stationary techniques (slip bobbers, split shot rigs from an anchored boat) on the west end. They seem to work better for me there. Not to say that trolling and rigging techniques dont' work for me on the west end, they do, but the stationary techniques seem to produce better for me.

Maybe it's the time of year that I'm usually on the west end. Who knows.

All of the spots Hans talked about should produce for you.

[Aholzerland311]

Oops, i did mean the East end. I will mainly fish the West end but would like to expeirence the whole lake, and maybe cruise over to the east. Thanks for all the helpful info. 24 hours before the line gets wet!

[CHAMPION206]

WEATHER IS LOOKING STABLE FOR THE END OF THE WEEK INTO THE WEEKEND. HAS ANYONE BEEN ON THE WEST END? I AM ASSUMING MOST BUOYS ARE OUT. WATER TEMP? TURNOVER? ANY INSIGHT WOULD BE GREAT AS I HAVE ALWAYS FISHED THE EAST SIDE BUT LOOKING TO LEARN THE WEST SIDE THIS COMING WEEKEND. HOPE EVERYONE IS JUGGLING THEIR HUNTING AND FISHING DAYS SUCCESSFULLY!!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The Water temps on the East end were still 57.8 degrees yesterday. The air temp at my place is 35 degrees this morning and the predictions are for the same all week with a daily high in the upper 40's to low 50's.

I expect the lake to turn over this week for sure.

Cliff

[Aces In The Hole]

I guess that's not what I wanted to hear.......

I guess there is nothing I can do about it. We'll be there Thursday. So how hard is the bite while the lake is turning over. Would it be best to just drink alot of beers at the cabin and stay warm instead of drinking alot of beers on the lake being cold

Dang turnover.....

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Aces,

I have had some years that the bite was not affected much by the turnover, others badly.

Fish the deeper holes if it turns over. The fish that were in the holes before the turnover will be less affected by it.

If jigs do not work use lindys.

Cliff

[Aces In The Hole]

Thanks for the info Cliff! I really appreciate it! I guess a bad day of fishing is better then a good day at work! So I shouldn't be complaining much!! Good fishing ya'll!

[CHAMPION206]

Thanks Cliff-If the turnover does happen? What do I look for on the water to determine that it did in fact turnover?

Will the surface temp be higher than what you said it was Today? Super clear water? I know you said the affect on the fish is hard to say-I have been reading fish being caught at many depths-I will try many depths until I figure something out. In your opinion Do the Walleyes seem to have a tough time with the turnover as compared to the Smallies?

Either way-the weather looks great for some fall fishing!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The surface water will be colder then it is right now and you will usually see a lot of stringy green alge like stuff floating in the water column for a couple of days.

The smallies are already moved into deep water so the affect should not be as drastic on them.

The turnover allows the walleyes to go anywhere they want for a while because the temps,oxygen levels, and baitfish will be at all depths for a short while. That changes quickly though and the baitfish soon move into the deeper holes and the walleyes will be right behind them.

Cliff

[CHAMPION206]

Great info. Cliff. Have you ever used the Boat Launch on the North end of Norwegian Bay-My Map says it is Gravel?

Are you tending to fish East vs. West recently? Pulled up the weather and winds look very low mph-should be good for some vertical jigging-this still productive? I am anxious to get there and report some posts on the fishing.

[CHAMPION206]

Aces-I will be in a White Champion with a 225 Optimax and my Buddy has a 1900 Lund with a 200 Yamaha-we will look for you-what kind of Boat are you in?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I have never used the launch in Norwegian Bay.

I always fish the East end except for at trip or two to the West end in the winter for crappies.

Vertical jigging is my favorite way to fish in the fall and spring, but there are many days that lindy rigs will work better, especially if the fish are in a nutral mood.

Very windy here the past three days but the weekend does look better so far.

Cliff

[Aces In The Hole]

Champion206, We'll be in at tan, black and white SmokerCraft with a Mercury, and a tan, green and white FishHawk with an Evirude. We'll keep an eye out for you guys too! Stop by and say Hi if you see us!

[Down Deep]

Cliff, were you out fishing Sunday? We were on a good walleye bite on Frazier Bay in 17 to 11 fow. Then that strom went through about 1:00 pm and immeadiately shut off the bite. We didn't catch a fish after we resumed fishing about 2:30 pm. I was wonderng if you or anyone else had the samething happen.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I was not out Sunday, but went out Monday during the rain. We caught 20, 3 slots, and managed to keep 8 decent fish. The bite was a lot slower and lighter though!

Cliff

[Wellesy]

Cliff, how high is the lake now?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The lake is way up from this summer. Almost as high as I have seen it get this time of the year!

Cliff

[delcecchi]

Unless you are staying up there or going to fish up there, that launch is pretty far out of the way. The one near the landing or the one in wakemup narrows near the campground are more convenient and concrete ramps.

[CHAMPION206]

Yes-we are staying up North side-I will check it out-thanks for the other ramp info. May come in handy!

[Aces In The Hole]

Champion206, we saw you guys out on the lake, but you guys were posted on a spot, so we didn't want to come and distrub you guys. As a matter of fact, I think we were staying at the cabin next to yours. Did you guys stay at the Eagles Nest? We were at the Blue Heron. I am pretty sure that was you guys. Those stairs are crazy! We stayed there this spring. So how was fishing for you guys? We only managed to boat 4 walleyes. But boy were they big and chunky! Still had a great time though!

[CHAMPION206]

Yes-that was us at the Eagles nest-Nice Place-My leggs got a workout though! We did catch Fish Saturday -Monday!

Friday was tough-Fish were deeper than I thought they would be. I am 99.9% sure the Lake turned over on Friday Night. saturday a.m. there was Algae floating on top-seemed to help the Bite for us.

We caught about 40 Walleyes in 2 1/2 days-Not as good as I had hoped but we did manage a 26,23, and a Handful of 20's. Also had a great fish fry Saturday evening. Wish we would have known that was you guys next door to us!!!