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First time fishing Winnie-Advice?


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I will be fishing Lake Winnie on the opener. I will be heading out of Highbanks Resort. I have never fished Winnie before. It looks as though I may not have a depth finder with me, only a handheld GPS. I was wondering if anyone could send me a private message with some GPS spots to try out. I am also open to all and any advice for fishing the lake for the first time. Thanks!

-Guy hoping not to get skunked

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I have a RV up there I might there might be on mille lacs not sure go where all the boats are there will be all kinds that week end depends on how big your boat is but you are close to good spots go right around the corner to 3 sisters is good

lot of times outa the big blow to fish 8-12 ft along the weeds no dept finder is tuff personally i woudnt go with one

or at least a chip but any way you'll see the boats

jig and minnow

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Be careful out on winnie on opener it is going to be crazy. There is one about winnie is that u almost have to go in a clockwise fashion to catch fish during the season when the weather is changing

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I will second that. If you are going to get into the group, watch what the group is doing. It is usually a drift through "the spot" and motor back to the top of the hill well outside the group. Please don't troll through "the spot" against the drifting traffic and for god's sake don't drop an anchor in "the spot". It is chaos out there but it is an organized chaos.

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Other than the name calling, including expletives, sneers, ogles, jigs/rigs thrown at and bounced off your hull, near hull-to-hull boat collisions, people catching your anchor rope, and, in general, basic disrespect for the others that are also fishing there (most were there LONG before the anchor was thrown in), nothing. smirk

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After many years on Winnie I have seen a few "prop checks". One year we even saw a potato gun.

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lol thats classic. If you want to have some fun, drop a buouy away from any structure and just close enough to you so you can see it. It is pretty unreal how many boats congregate!

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You need to start about 100 yards from the actual fishing spot. Use empty laundry detergent bottles (bright colors work best) and attach decoy weights to them. You will see why after reading this. After a little yelling, high fives and waving a landing net, toss out the "marker". With-in 5 minutes you will have decoyed several boats to this area. After a few boats show up, quietly troll back to where you really want to fish. You can set a time limit and place bets on how many boats you can decoy to the dummy spot. It sounds absolutely ridiculous but it works EVERY time.

The really nutty part about this after about an hour when we go back to collect the marker, someone has stolen it!

One time we used a small weight on a large bottle. The wind slowly moved the jug with the waves and the crowd followed the moving jug for ½ mile.

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LMAO! remind me never to follow you. smirklaughlaugh but then again i never did like fishing in crowds. eek

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We have done that for years!! As far as the original topic goes, jig and a minnow, anywhere on the west short stucture.

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What is really hilarious is that lotsa times people will start catching fish around your marker.

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I've seen that happen a few times. Just goes to show you that there are fish all over the place. The key is confidence. IF you believe you are going to catch fish, you more than likely will.

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FF7, if you have a chance grab a debth finder. The GPS will help you find some structure but early season the "debth" the fish are at is way more important then any one spot on the whole lake.

As far as the drifting, I have to laugh every year of the boat backtrolling against "traffic" over a ridge. Or the boats in the middle of the gap riding the waves of the boats coming and going off of cutfoot! I have fished Winni enough now I can move around on opener where less boats are. But if you don't move 1/2 mile or more, all the boats will follow if you start to pull in fish smileeek

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Totally agree GF4. Depth finder is key. It is especially important when keeping on a break. A lot of times the fish on the entire length of the break but are only active at a certain depth, say 8 ft. If you get into 9, they quit and if you get up into 7 they quit. Keeping your lines in this depth is extremely important. This is why it is also nice to have a trolling motor down while drifting. This way you can move up and down a break while drifting along it.

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All this talk is raising anticipation. We finally get to wake up tomorrow and it will be MAY!!!!!!!!! Slowly but surely walleyes will be hitting the jig at the end of my line.

The decoy marker story would be fun to watch.

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You guys got me anxious! I'll be there in two weeks...Hopefully it is not as bad then!

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I'll be there in two weeks...Hopefully it is not as bad then!

Now, my friend, you are dreamin'!

Nice thing is though, the lake is soooo big, and there are always many, many spots that will yield fish. I'll be there the same time as you (this Wed. through Sun.), good luck.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • JerkinLips
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    • SkunkedAgain
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    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
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