Anybody fish on Island Lake just south of Northome?

[polarsusd81]

I am heading to LOTW this weekend and thinking of hitting Island or Winnie on the way home for some perch. Which do you guys think would be a better option? I have never fished either lake, and I am thinking that breaking down Winnie in the couple hours we are planning to spend on the way home might be kinda tough (insert pretty much impossible here). Looking at the DNR site, it seems Island might be a good option for some perch, crappies, or gills and seems pretty easily fishable.

Am I on the right track or just off my rocker?

Thanks.

[Jason Boser]

i HAVE NEVER TRIED PERCH THERE ON ICE i HAVE CAUGHT SOME DNDYS ON THE OPEN WATER SO IT MIGHT BE WORTH YOUR TIME

JASON

[glenn57]

thinking of trying island lake this weekend, anyone with some specific spots? never been on it, drove by it alot. heard the boat ramp cement is pushed up a little.

[polarsusd81]

Glenn, we had fun out there. The ramp is pushed up a pretty good bit, but you can still pass by it in a truck to the side. Bring your extension, one guy was at the handles and just barely made it through, I had the extension on and was glad I did. We punched a ton of holes and moved around a lot. The most time I spent in a hole before moving around was 5 minutes. We (three of us) kept 19 perch from 9.5-11.5. They weren't the biggest I have ever seen, but we had a good time. I caught all of mine on plastics, my buddy got his on a chrome pimple with a crappie minnow. We fished from 6 fow to 25 fow. Found muck, sand, and gravel bottoms with weeds and barron expanses. Looks like the lake gets very little pressure. We were hoping to run into some gills, but were pleased with the perch. It took all of 5 seconds in the water to pop the first perch, but some of the bigger ones were pretty finicky.

Here is a photo of the biggest perch, right at 11.5". Pretty respectable for a couple hours work.

[glenn57]

nice perch. have you fished it for crappies? i was told there are 2 deep holes to look for the crappies. was it easy enough to get around on the lake? what size are the gills out there? looks like i need to hit it this summer.

[polarsusd81]

From the DNR report it looks like there should be some good gills and crappies in there. There was an area on the south end of the lake that had a few houses on it and I would assume that is one of the holes. We fished the north end, and due to being new to the lake and knowing of a couple creeks flowing in, we walked out. You just never know, but there was plenty ice and could have easily drove. I am sure we were about two to three weeks early for the gills and crappies to be moving up into the shallows.

If I were to try to get to the lake again it would be the last weekend of March or first weekend of April and concentrate on the shallows on the north end, the perch will spawn there before ice out and the gills and crappies should be migrating to the same area to feed on perch fry and invertabrates. I just wish I had the time to head back up in three weeks.

[glenn57]

i am going to do my best to try that lake, mainly for crappies. when i get back ill post my results.