Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[blue_healer_guy]

Heres my report from Thurs- Mon morn. a tough bite to say the least. First 2 days out of dennys and the last 2 out of nodaks with a wheelhouse. We fished mainly inside/outside turns. 20ft on top is where we put the house for eve walleyes and hole hopped during the day for perch out to 30 plus. I think we brought home a total of 25 fish. Biggest perch were in that 9 inch range and 4 eyes we could keep. It looked like everybody we saw had similar luck. Last night winds wipped around 30 mph and with a light dusting created 6 inch mini drifts all over so our trek to get the house to the roads was difficult. Off road travel truck only is difficult, wheelhouse and truck not feasible in my opinion. I had maintained a road back and forth and that was the only way I got out this morning.

[jeff127]

conduct----sent email

yikes! that sounds like a tough bite......sounds like stable weather for a while, hope that helps.

jeff

[Kodiak]

yeah ouch

[Fishn addict]

Went out of High Banks. 2 of us fished the Zoomers area 30 FOW. Started fishing around 10:30 Friday night till 10:30 am Sunday.Fishing was a little slow. Kept 22 perch 4 were a true 12 in a few 11 in mostly 10 in was throwing back anything under 10 in. Probably caught and released 40-50 perch on Saturday. quite a few 9 in in the morning hours. Later in the day they were getting smaller. Sunday the perch were smaller only kept a few. Saturday afternoon 4 other guys showed up they fished the same area till Monday am. They kept 25 perch 1 walleye and threw back 2 walleyes a 22 in & 23 in. Over all a good time enough fish for a few meals.

[certified jumbo]

Fishing report: Saturday, Feb. 13th. Dennys

We had a group of 8 of us. Fished from 10 am to 5 pm. Kept 45 perch and 5 walleye. Let 3 tullipee go and 1 northern. The perch kept us busy all day, but size was marginal at best. I'd say we kept 1 for every 6-8 fish. We had a couple at 12 inches, a couple at 11 inches. But most we kept were around 9 inches, which to me are on the small side. But we did have a big fish fry. It didn't sound like anyone was slaying the 10 inch plus fish. But a few here and there. Lots of 6-9inch fish where ever we went.

Off plowed road travel was doable, but i would say dicey in spots. We did have to do some pushing and digging out trucks. Be careful.

Cj

[hib iceman]

Fished sat. 13th from 2:00 until sundown. Fished a small mud hump. tons of perch all day, the were full of bugs they were eating. the eyes moved in around 3:00. caught 20 plus and missed at least that many. they were really aggressive at first then the changed to a really light bite. caught 3 over 19", 24 was the biggest. another great evening on Winnie.

[kevfish1]

Iceman taking the kids up for the 1st time ever on this lake this weekend. any advice on where to go out of and or where to fish??? you can email me if you want at [email protected] thanks

[hib iceman]

i like to go out of high banks resort. there roads are in great shape and the are really good people. as for the fishing, try finding a hump 20-24 feet and stay away from people. i have been fishing just west of stoney point.

[hib iceman]

if the perch are not there right away move. once you find a spot with perch the eyes should move in toward the evening.

[motley man]

As said above, if the perch are there the wally's are close. Went out of Denny's today and fished about a mile out 20 FOW. Caught perch and wally's there, moved out 4 miles 30 FOW and caught little perch and wally's. Tried a couple more spots and small perch, so went back to 1st spot and kept 30 perch sorted and 4 wally's. Did do a lot of hole hopping in a 100 yard area. Was a great day for the weather and the family will make short work of the fish fry. Green was the color of the day, with a minnow head. Right on the bottom, drop to bottom and raise it up slow. Some where picking it off bottom before you could pull it up. Off road very tough, as drifts and crusted snow. We stayed on the road and walked in a 100 yards or less.

[Kodiak]

2 perch, 1 tubilee......walleyes where non existant out from highbanks.

[gregg52]

wher did you fish kodiak

my spots ???

[Kodiak]

no not yet, just started out at about 230 or so today just trying to get our bearings...i wonder if the roads will get out there.

[gregg52]

ya if you take the road i thik that goes out towards zoomers that willl get you out close to the hump if you go out of high banks

i think sunset resort off 46 has roads to it runs along the north shore up towards 3rd river that will get you close to the reef..that might be the place to be this time of the year

[poncho]

dixon lake resort also has a road on the other side of the ridge that will take you to zoomers as well.

[gatorslayer]

Iv'e heard the big gators move back in to third river about now...any truth to that?

[gregg52]

i didnt know that dixon resort was that close to winnie that they put houses out on winnie

do they start their road like at the landing in 3rd river or how do you get on it???

[gatorslayer]

They put spear houses at third river...all I know.

[pikestabber]

In general, the pike end the winter where they began the winter, so I say yes to them heading back into 3rd River. This is the time of year they cruise for EASY meals (aka, a dead sucker on the bottom). Look for the big girls to be going shallow soon.

[poncho]

i didnt know that dixon resort was that close to winnie that they put houses out on winnie

do they start their road like at the landing in 3rd river or how do you get on it???

we took " fishermans road " down to the access and the resort owner @ Dixon Lake has a lot of spearing houses out on Winnie out from the access, they plow roads all the way to stony point where they have more spearing houses placed, they also have a plowed road that goes a long ways out to a sleeper house that is very close to zoomers, we parked at that house and dragged our shacks out a ways from it closer to the ice ridge, the resort owner said he has a plowed road and a bridge over the ridge marked w/ sticks as well, I didn't check into that. As of last sunday he had some very good ice roads plowed, I'm sure they are still in great shape!

[gregg52]

hmmm cool didnt know that

thanks for the info

[bmc]

My wife and I hit Winnie yesterday out of the Birches Public Access. Being we were in the truck, we couldn't go where ever we wanted because of the snow drifts on the lake. There was a good road straight out about 2 miles, then a plowed road running N/S.

We set up on a hump that topped out around 23' and I punch a half dozen holes from 23 to 30 feet. I marked perch in every hole and set up on the edge in about 25' of water.

We caught a decent number of perch, but they were all in the 8 to 9", not quite keepers. We also caught a couple of too small walleyes. The fish were pretty finicky, coming in and looking at my jigging spoon, then hitting on my wife's bobber rig w/ a glow green demon jig.

Using the access on the way out was no problem, but on the way in the guy ahead of us got stuck. After pulling him out 2x and and little shoveling we both made it out. Someone has been trying to block this access by plowing from the lake towards the shoreline. I have a pretty good idea of who is doing it and hope the DNR will look into it. I'm gonna talk to the local C.O.

Brian

[Jay Man]

Well, he thinks he owns the whole lake.

[gregg52]

better carful guys

you'll get booted here !!!

[Big Buck Buster]

i didnt know that dixon resort was that close to winnie that they put houses out on winnie

do they start their road like at the landing in 3rd river or how do you get on it???

They plow a road through the woods off of forest road 2171 just east of the public access. If you are coming from Dixon Lake lodge on forest road 2384, take a left at the stop sign. It will be on the right hand side of the road a little ways. They usually have a sign at the entrance off of 2171.

[CONDUCT]

I will not say were we went out of but we did pay for ice road access but never got much info on were to fish really disappointed on not getting much information from resort.

Started out early afternoon 2-18 first hole friend got tubilee and picked up couple perch in 18 FOW. Setup for evening bite in 25 FOW never marked anything from 4:00PM to 9:00PM.

Went out 3-19 got on ice 7:00AM in 18 FOW again caught 15 perch or so from 7:00AM till 10:00AM very slow bite. Talked to couple others and they had only couple perch so I felt better after talking to other knowing we were not the only ones with slow bites. Picked up 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Setup for evening bite in 18 FOW close to drop 10' drop. Seen lot of activity missed a couple nice hits and caught nice slime ball Eel pout around 7:00PM and then nothing.

Went out 2-20 on ice 6:00AM on small hump seem lot of activity little bumps but nothing to report. Moved to other location picked up couple more perch and took off around 10AM.

Overall we picked up 1 tubilee, 1 Eel pout and 20 perch. Not the best fishing but enjoyed fishing with my friend I only see couple times a year. Not an easy lake to fish if it is your first time. I am sure we will be back and now we got a couple pointers on were to go next time.

Not one Walleye.

All perch were caught on red hook and minnow or size 2 jigging rap with minnow head.

[bradyd]

4 of us fished from Friday afternoon til Sunday afternoon. We ended up with 40 keeper Perch from 9 to 11 inches. Also kept 2 pike, had one fish break the swivel on a tip up that I would have liked to at least see! Also ended up with 23 keeper eyes for the weekend. I had the best 20 minutes walleye fishing in my life on Friday night when I got 6 of the eyes from 5:30 til 5:50! It ranks right up there when we found the sweet spot on Red 2 years ago and would catch about 20 crappies within the first half hour or so at our house every trip. We also caught 2 nice fat eel pout on Saturday.

[gregg52]

bradyd

where you like on the north end ??

[charliepete]

I went out of Highbanks and fished Zoomers and few other lesser known bars on the Northwest end. I was on the ice from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on 2/20 and caught 9 keeper perch (and about 20 dink perch) and 1 tuli. I kept on the move and probably drilled and fished about 150 holes using my map chip to keep me on structure. I worked about every lure in my tackle box and ran waxies, fatheads, and emerald shiners with every hook presentation I could think of. I was working anywhere from about 18 ft to 30 ft of water. I had most of my luck on keeper perch in a 28' valley between two 21' islands fishing with an entire fathead on 1/8 oz gold frostee hooked near the tail. I could have pounded on dink perch all day with waxies moon jigs, but I was avoiding them.

I drilled early in hopes of laying into the Walleyes on a few dink perch laden shallow humps around dusk, but never marked or caught a single Walley or tripped a flag.

I don't fish in towns, but the few folks I could hear chatting with each other from a distance were having it rough as well. It might have been the toughest fishing I've had up there when it's just me and I'm strictly focused on staying mobile and putting fish on the ice. I did catch a 14" Perch which always puts a smile on my face no matter what.

The main roads out of highbanks were terrific and they were nicely maintained. Traveling off road in my f-150 was doable but a little skethcy. I got hung up a few times, but nothing I couldn't get myself out of with a shovel. I was being a little conservative since it was a solo run and I don't know anybody in the area.

[overdalimit]

I went up on 02/20 with 3 other guys. I personally have never been to big winnie before so I was just doing as told. Pretty disappointed with the fishing...nothing but dink perch and 9 inch walleyes. Brought home a small pike and 2 white fish for a friend to pickle. One of the other guys got 1 eye and missed a nice big something??? We all agreed to say it was a walleye just to make him feel bad! LOL We were on sleds but parked at High Banks. Nice people.