Lake Minnewawa HELP PLEASE....

[michaelpettersen82]

My buddy just bought some land on Minnewawa, and we have never fished it, or even heard much about it besides that it holds a decent amount of walters and some nice pannies. I have been reading about it a little on the DNR website. But if anyone on here could help me out a little bit(NOT looking for your honey hole) but just some general ideas as to where to start looking for the walters on opener. We normally go to army corp of engineers camp ground,Big Sandy for opener and memorial day, but this year we start a new tradition of going to Minnewawa and would like to get an idea where to start, Colors, presentations, depths. Thanx in advance

[wismitty]

as far as i know is that my cousins have a cabin on he lake since 86 87 and the walleye fishing on opener is spotty at best. I know they have quite a few guys up for opener and they are all good fishermen and i know they do not do well. They chase pannies mostly because the water temp is low around opener.

Wismitty

[palisade1kid]

Get a lake map and work the holes and humps.

[bassphish2005]

never hurts too fish around the bullrushes[plenty in Minnewawa].....never know what you might pull in?

[Warner's Point]

Growing up on Minnewawa and fishing it for the last 30 years, I wouldn't get to excited about the walleyes. It's really gone down hill in the last five years. Stay on Big Sandy if you want to catch walleyes on opener.

[wahoohendoo]

BILL IS THAT YOU?THERES ENOUGH TRAFFIC ON SANDY DONT SEND MORE.

[michaelpettersen82]

Wahoo, you must have not read my original post. We normally fish Big Sandy on opener and Memorial day. So dont worry I wont be on YOUR lake anymore

[michaelpettersen82]

What kind of forage is in this lake?? Shiners, Shads? Any help would be greatful.

[Warner's Point]

Yes, Hendo its me...

There are some shiners left, but not like there used to be. The mayflies disappeared in the mid 80's and the perch population dropped quickly after. Now it's basically very young panfish for forage. Don't rely on having weed beds to fish or sandbars holding much fish after the 4th of July. The weed harvester pretty much clears out any structure on the bars that would help hold any fish.

[GFNER]

One word WEEDS! Have caught alot of walleyes over the years on this lake in some pretty non traditional walleye haunts.Bassphish also has a good point, lots of fish in the rushes.

[wahoohendoo]

petterson the smiley face winking means i was kidding. i did read your post. walleyes in wawa are much bigger than sandy but harder to come by. so enjoy YOUR new lake. i hope this helps.

[Minnewawa]

anyone have any thoughts on why the walter fishing has gone down the last few years. I have had a place for 12 years and have noticed it is much harder to catch walters now.

[Warner's Point]

I think the biggest reason the walleye fishing has gone down is that the DNR has not stocked the lake since the 90's. They claim the lake has a sustainable naturally reproducing walleye population and stocking doesn't improve angler success.

[UdeLakeTom]

I just noticed...WP and Minnewawa have the same number of posts..and it's about the same thing.

Who will take the lead???

[wahoohendoo]

got my $$$ on wp. he's a gritty one!

my .02 on wawa. get rid of that weed harvester. its only spreading more seeds. the lake is almost unfishable by mid summer.

[sakazulu]

My folk's new home is there and this will be my first on Minnewawa also. Heard some of the same at the local "watering hole" last fall. Ought to be a tough one to figure out but may be better than fighting the crowds on all the traditional opener lakes. I remember the weeds on Minnewawa as kid and apparently they're still there. I like the bullrush suggestion and may have to break from tradition. I promise not to get in anyone's way!

My thinking is to do some "outside the box" type fishing that you read about and see on the tube, maybe just be happy w/a panfish bite and have some fish for dinner!

We shall see! I'm in the same boat as you MP82. Good Luck!

[Minnewawa]

just wanted to comment on the weed harvester. With out it cutting weeds the lake would be so weed infested by mid summer that you wouldn't be able to get around. If you talk to some of the old timers they will tell you that before it by mid summer the lake at times was unusable.

Regarding the stocking of walleye by the DNR i spoke to a friend in the DNR and he checked into it for me. He found that they deemed the natural reproduction to be high enough that they didn't feel stocking would be beneficial.

[wismitty]

fished it this winter and caught all the little perch i wanted no wonder the walleye are harder to come by, but with all that forage how could they be hungry?

[wahoohendoo]

that is no different than it is now. basically unusuable by July.the harvester puts weeds where there wernt any before, if thats possible.

[Warner's Point]

I agree with Wahoo... The lake is no better than it was before the harvester. It has spread weeds around the lake just as much as it helps clear them out. In the early 80's when the harvester was just starting on the lake the weeds were not bad along our shore line. Now it's impossible to cast a line by July and the weeds that are growing now are weeds that were only found in the middle of the lake. All that is needed to start growing new weeds is a tiny fragment. The one thing I would like to see them do is to selectively harvest in areas around sand bars and reefs. These weeds are not the dense mats that everyone hates, but the cabbage weeds that northern, crappies and sunnies love.

[Minnewawa]

The harvesting of weeds is regulated by the DNR. We are only allowed to harvest areas which they allow. Currently we (i say we because i am on the Lake Assn)do selectively harvest. If We could get more people to participate in the Lake Assn. we would have alot more options. But all these things take money and everyone wants to use the lake and wants more fish in it, but when it comes to putting there money where there mouth is it seems to be a different story. We are open to suggestions.