Whitefish Chain Fishing Reports

[walleye365]

any fish hit the ice this weekend out there. my dad fished out in front of the landing 30-60fow and whiteys is all they got.

[fishgutz77]

I fished 8-12:30 on sunday and only got small ones agian.

Got some small perch real deep as well.

Still trying to get a Laker over 15" this year out on BT.

I'll be back up in March before the Bash.

[walleye365]

fishin was alright yesterday caught 3 small fish that we let go.first fish came off middel of the lake structure in 33fow had two others on the vex that would of been a fight in that spot. second spot 45fow closer to the channel into whitefish and whitefish was all that seem to be there, fun fish to catch thow. third spot is by far my best this year 30fow that slowly dropes into 70fow we set up there for the rest of the day and there were alot of chasers but they just wouldnt hit and 4 of these chasers were big markes on the vex we had a tip up get hit and lost it on the way up nice fish. so we switched itup put set lines down in the house and thats were the other two came 12to15 inch fish. the next fish came in suspend about 4ft off and smashed the set line and the fight was on buy far the biggest laker iv had on out there i had it up to about 15ft one time fish was on about 4 min and the hook came out. we were useing rainbows on everything live on set lines and heads for jigging.

[jmm888]

I'll be heading up to Cross this week. Does anyone have any info on the walleye and crappie bite on the WFC?

[DREZLER]

no idea about the bite but heading up thursday night for the Moonlight Bay tournament. Pre-fish friday, Derby on Saturday!! This is the year!!!

[anchor man]

Drezler, is that a multi species tournament or bass alone? Just curious, I'll be up there this weekend

[DREZLER]

Thats a pike/walleye/bass tourney. It's only $125 a team to get in and I think you can just sign up at the meeting on Friday night if you haven't already done so. I would encourange anyone who will be up that way to sign up!!

[jmm888]

DREZLER, do you have more info on the tourney? Is there a web site will the rules/sign up info, etc? Where is the meeting at?

[ozzie]

call moonlight bay bar and I am sure they will have all the info you need as I saw a banner about the tourny their this past weekend......i will be up there but I will observe rather than participate....

[Buck12]

The rules meeting is at the Moonlite Bar on Friday at 7:00 p.m. You can register from 4-7 that same day at Moonlite. $125 a team, 5 bass, 4 walleyes, and 3 pike. $$$ for total weight, biggest stringer each category, and biggest fish each. I think they payback 20 places.

Good luck

[fisherman123]

Where the Big Northerns and Bass at in the whitefish chain?

[ozzie]

the bigger northerns I would guess hang out over deeper water and the big bass are everywhere on the chain!!!

[DREZLER]

So, about the topic of bigger northerns over deeper water.

Does anyone else think that that is where they go at this time of year?

Does anyone have expierience going after the big ones in the deeper stuff, like 30 or 40 feet?

[DREZLER]

I know that I have spent a lot of time on that chain trollin shore line breaks and have caught A LOT of small ones. No big ones.

[ozzie]

I have not personally done this but have heard from a few different fisherman out there that they will troll 10-20ft down over the real deep areas when they are marking suspended fish and they say this is a good technique for the bigger walleyes and northern as they are out there cruising for whitefish......at least this is what I have been told

[anchor man]

I too believe the big pike have to be in 20+ feet. As much as I have trolled cranks for wallys in 12-15 ft, I never hook into larger pike. I do see some boats trolling way off the structure over deep water. I haven't tried it yet but as much baitfish as I see surfacing out deep, it's probably a good technique.

Anybody pulling spinners for walleyes now? I'd like to try that this weekend in the rain and cover some water.

[fishgutz77]

All my northerns over 30"s have been in 30- 120fow about 20-30 down with lead core or riggers out there. Some nice ones can be had.

I get them trolling for big eyes once in a while.

[anchor man]

Gutz, when you troll those deep waters, are you relating to any type of nearby structure or just working the open basin? Do you find daytime or dark better for this method? I'm always willing to try some new stuff when the WFC walleyes get tricky to find..which is fairly often for me.

Thanks

[fishgutz77]

Walleyes always seem to go during low light periods and northerns anytime you put in front of there face.

Last year the biggest northern was 38"s

biggest eye was 29 and change caught by a freind of mine.

lead core out performs the riggers when it comes to eyes.

[CRFan1]

As usual, the folks at Kilwory Resort were top notch. The weather was kind of iffy most of the week but we manged to make the best of it. Caught tons of Northerns (nothing big though), a lot of Huge Bluegills once we found them, a good deal of Crappie and some walleyes. The walleyes were scattered as usual. As far as the crappies, I caught them all on a 1/32 pink jig with the gulp alive white grub under an adjust-a-bubble bobber....they were going nuts for it 30 minutes before dark

Here is my best fish of the week. Measured it, took a pic and released. Caught on a crawler harness with a chartruese hook

26 1/2"

[TeamWildmanIcefiching]

where abouts does a guy have to go to get into some of that panfish action? thinking about heading up with a buddy in late july. Hes not much of a fisherman so if we could get on some pannies that would be great.

[TeamWildmanIcefiching]

A buddy and I are heading up to the chain July 22 for along weekend. We were up there a year ago for a batchler party so werent able to fish. Saw alot of nice spots and are heading up to do some fishing. We were hopeing to just put the tent up on one of the many islands has anyone done that? wheres a good spot?

[JBMasterAngler]

I personally have not camped out there, but big island has some sites. I believe there are picnic tables, fire pits, and even an outhouse. Might be pretty tough getting a spot on a weekend though, hopefully your long weekend will be starting on wednesday or thursday. The fishing around that island is good, a very nice weedbed that holds lot's of bass and pike

[JP Z]

Well how did everyone do fishing the Chain this weekend? We did quite well in the tourney and took 2nd, biggest pike, and biggest pike stringer. Off first place by .37lbs, but I was thinking about it and there really weren't any fish that we lost that could have put us over. We landed what we hooked. Oh well I guess there is always next year.

[DREZLER]

nice job jpz. I take it that 14 pound pike must have been yours? We were after pike all day and only ended up with 10.5 pounds.. but we keep getting better every year. I take it you must have also spent a great deal of time targeting exclusivley pike than? I would think it's a little tough accidentley catching the biggest pike and pike stringer...

[ozzie]

I believe you can camp out on a couple islands on upper whitefish big island and a couple small ones next to it always have campers on them....but I am pretty sure that the islands on cross and rush are privatly owned but I am not positive....I know one on Rush says private property keep off

[CRFan1]

where abouts does a guy have to go to get into some of that panfish action? thinking about heading up with a buddy in late july. Hes not much of a fisherman so if we could get on some pannies that would be great.

Well, they were not in the usual spots this year due to the early spring but we eventually found them in some shallow weedy bays on the outside edges of the coon tails. Crappies are hot during from around 8:15 to dark....sometimes sooner, sometimes later. In July, you may want to try deeper weed edges with a slip bobber. Good Luck!

[ozzie]

I believe you can camp out on a couple islands on upper whitefish big island and a couple small ones next to it always have campers on them....but I am pretty sure that the islands on cross and rush are privatly owned but I am not positive....I know one on Rush says private property keep off

[anchor man]

I landed a few medium sized bass and several pike while walleye fishing. Wasn't in the tourney, but had fun watching some of the weigh ins. What are the categories for that tourney? Biggest fish by species, biggest stringer by species, and biggest total weight combined? I'm thinking of doing it next year.

[JP Z]

The big pike was luck, last cast of the day. We were throwing cranks/swimbaits for bass and pike. My dad hooked what he thought was a decent bass as it headed to the surface to jump.......then the head broke the surface and we both were stunned. Then he very handily subdued the beast and we were doing well with Pike. Honestly can't say we were targeting big pike as we weren't some of the trollers who only fish for them but can't say it was completely accidental either.

anchor man you are correct with your categories. Biggest stringer per category, biggest fish per category. And the top 20 weights are paid out.