Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[hib iceman]

anybody have any tip for eyes on winnie? heading up there wednesday and would like a general area to begin the search

[fishinbum]

Hello-

Sounds like a good crappie bite. I'm heading up wednesday as well with my wife and would like her to get into some steady action. I dont want you to give up hot spots but if you could guide me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it. My email is [email protected]

Thank you in advance!!

[winniewalleye777]

anybody have any tip for eyes on winnie? heading up there wednesday and would like a general area to begin the search

Find a breakline and fish towards the top in the sunrise/sunset hours deadsticking a minnow/plain hook and jigging a minnow head. In my opinion this is the best method for winter fishing eyes on winnie. I just set up camp towards the top of a break from 18'-30' or so during these hours and chase the perch around from 10-2. If you don't get anything, try another break.

As for exact locations, I have not been up this winter yet but I will say the first places I would try are the Horseshoe and Center Bar areas.

[gregg52]

didnt get it

where did you send it

are you going to fish the big lake

where do you stay

[thatoneguy]

How are the reports on Winnie the past couple of days? I am thinking about coming out Saturday or Sunday, but since I have to drive an hour-plus to get there, I'm hoping to get some idea of how the action is before I decide.

Anyone been out there lately?

[gregg52]

thatoneguy

do you drive up for the day or do you stay up there

i'm in nisswa to i go up there quite bit myself

more in the summer

but we did pretty good up there last winter

little to cold for me this week end

unless the house is already to go holes drilled etc etc

lol

[jigglestick]

the bite has been very good in places, not so hot in others.

it all comes down to landing in the spot they're going to be cruising through.

not always that easy.

I had five houses being used and none of them were hitting.

made a couple adjustments and two of the houses came to life!

finding cooperative fish in 20-25 feet of water.

the bigger fish are coming in later.

the eaters are popping hard during first light and are pretty much done when the sun hits the tree tops.

the evening bite has been starting around 4 and going for a couple hours.

rattle reels tipped with a number 4 gamakatsu hook.

plain, glow paint, bronze or red. it's all good.

split shot 8 inches up,

presentation a foot to two feet off bottom.

tough to beat late night hog walleye action!

shiners or chubs.

a tip, don't put your chubs and shiners in the same water. they'll die.

keep the shiners seperate, they'll both last longer.

not sure why.

[boatfixer]

Hey Dave, nice to hear from you!

[cribbageboy]

Hey Jigglestick,

You don't happen to run "Camp Jigglestick" on Winnie do you? I've got a fishouse rented for the weekend of the 16th out of there. Kinda curious.

[Glockwinger]

Went up to Winnie with my dad and my 9 year old son and went out using HighBanks resort ice road. We started out Thursday afternoon in my wheelhouse in 32 feet of water and started catching perch and some small walleyes (10" or so). In the middle of the night, I tangled with a large eelpout that gave a good fight. Friday my dad caught a keeper walleye to add to the perch we were going to clean.

Rick (the owner of Highbanks) stopped by around 11:00am and we talked about the bite and what had been working where. He gave me some tips and ideas for some additional action on the ice. After lunch up at the resort lunch counter, we moved the wheelhouse up into 24 feet of water. Initially, we were disappointed because we didn't have any action from 2pm until about 7 pm. Didn't even see anything on the camera except for a couple really little perch.

Then around 7 pm or so, one of the rattle lines with a fathead on it started singing. After it gave a valiant fight, I pulled a nice healthy 25" walleye out for a photo op. We watched a movie and went to bed around 10pm. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard that tell tale "ding...ding...ding". Again on the rattle line with a fathead - a nice 16" walleye. In the bucket with him. After just getting settled back in my sleeping bag, the same rattle line starts to count off inches of line. This time I felt great weight after the hookset. The following minutes were tense as I fought a very large fish. Two times I had it up to the hole and it ran for it's life. I started yelling to my dad to wake up and get his camera! The third time I got it below the hole, it paused there long enough for me to see it was an enormous walleye...maybe the largest I had ever caught. As fate would have it, as I was trying to guide the head up the hole, the hook pulled from her mouth and with a splash, she was gone. I didn't even get a chance to re-bait the hook and another rattle line started. This one was a nice 19" walleye on a shiner that got to swim another day. At 11pm I missed another fish on a rattle line. 11:30 brought the rattle line with the shiner to life again with a keeper 15" walleye. About midnight there was a two "ding" sounder from a fathead rattle line, but nothing was there.

All remained quiet and I finally got some sleep...until about 6:45 the next morning. The shiner rattle reel started letting out line slowly for about 6 feet. I waited for the line to move again, waiting for the hookset. My dad and son were awake and watching the action. Once the line started to move again I set the hook and it felt like another good one! After about 4 runs, I landed a nice 29" northern! What a way to end the trip!

Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday night, so we packed up and started the 5 hour drive home. Once we got there, a dinner of fresh fish and potatoes was on the menu. This was an excellent trip with my dad and my son. We will definitely go back to Winniebigoshish and use HighBank's road out onto the ice. The owners Rick and Kim are great people that are very nice and they run a nice place up there.

Here I am holding the 25" Walleye:

This is my son and I with the same fish:

Here is the 29" Northern:

Lastly, my son with a couple eater walleyes:

[highlife4me]

Very nice! Judging by the smiles on your son's face I bet he is ready to go again - and soon!

[wingnut38]

great pics! glad to hear you had a good time. i love winnie!

[Rob M]

Hey guys,

Winni is one of those lakes that I have always wanted to perch fish but never have. Well, this year I am going for it. Can anyone tell me how the bite is?

Thanks

[pondwater]

Just getting back from a long stay up on Winne and the fishing was great. The Walleye Bit was as good as it could ever be. The last two hours just before dark was the best time of day. A small jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head out did every thing on the lake. We found all the fish on the edges of the humps and would move up on top as the night came in.

There is 6-7 inches of snow cover and you can get around in 4-wheel drive but we used 4-wheels and went every we wanted to go. Ice is great found 14 inches of ice around the river channel on the north side of the lake and 17 inches 2 miles out from highbanks.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice house and nice report. Thanks for sharing, sorry to hear about losing the big girl!!!!! Next time.

[Glockwinger]

I'll be back for that big girl in a couple weeks...I know she's waiting!

[gregg52]

everybody must be froze up there

no reports !!!!!!!!!!!

[Derek Vos]

2 of my buddies and I fished cutfoot and Winnie yesterday and ended up with 12 crappies and 6 keeper walleyes, let probably 4-5 that were too small go. The bite was slow but steady. I tried a different hump one I haven't fished yet this year and there just wasn't the numbers of fish swimming under my sonar as other places. But that's fishing.

[gregg52]

how was the navigation on the cutfoot where did you go on ??

how much ice /?

[Derek Vos]

Plenty of ice to drive on need 4 wheel drive tho. WN access

[gregg52]

ok thanks Vos

[Derek Vos]

Talked to a guy that went to CF today and didn't catch a fish.

[Derek Vos]

He said it was packed tho too

[gregg52]

i spose alittle warm up and it being sat

some people catch fish

some dont

[bmc]

My daughter and I hit Winnie this afternoon, for my first real trip of the ice fishing season. I know....shame, shame, shame!!!

Needless to say, last years hotspot, didn't fail us! We fished on top of a hump 24' from 2:30 to 5:30 and we caught 10 'eyes and 20+ perch. The final tally in the bucket was 5 eyes, 4 jumbo, perch and a dontaed 4 lb gator. My daughter Amanda came through with the big 'eye for the night....a 24" that was a fat piggy! Gotta love it when a plan comes together!!!

Brian

[gregg52]

wow i'd call that very good bite for 3 hrs

glad to hear that

its cool to go back to a spot that produced a yr ago

we were on hump last that we did really good last winter and i've been wondering if it would be that good again this winter

i fished it during the summer and caught fish on but not like last winter

you got me wanting to get up there

its cool your daughter likes to go with you like that to

i read alot of your post seem you 2 fish together alot

good for you

lots of ice ??

[bmc]

Thanks Greg! Yeah, it's great she likes to hunt n fish. To be honest with you, I didn't even check to see how much ice there was......just worried about catching fish I guess.

I've got a mid 90's Dodge Dakota and didn't have any trouble "going cross country" out there. Gonna head back up in the morning and try for some perch and gators.

Brian

[gregg52]

i'm presumin you are on the big lake

i could go for a meal of gators

my new go to fish since i learned how to clean them

use kinda turn my nose up to them ...lol

but lots of meat and VERY good eating

we got quite a few last year on a hump

seems to be a good population of 3-5lbers

[bmc]

Yeah, we drove out of the Birches access. It's funny out there in winter, how some humps are so specie specific. I've got one hump that's full of gators and the occasional pout. That's it......never catch a perch or walleye out there. I've got another hump that all I can ever catch is tulibees on it. All I ever use out there for winter northerns is smelt on a quick strike rig, they work awesome. I'm gonna try ciscoe's this winter. I stocked up Fred's this spring with smelt, so he should be set for most of the winter.

Brian

[gregg52]

i bought some of those smelt last yr

i was doing something wrong cuz i couldnt get a bite on them

all the gators were on good sized suckers