Whitefish Chain Fishing Reports

[JP Z]

Schmitty,

I am by NO means an expert on the chain. But generally speaking for size Upper whitefish is better. Check your map for Father FOLEY's flat I believe. That's a good bar the locals fish often for eyes. Otherwise I can't help you a whole lot as I don't fish the lake much except for a tourney Mid June. You should be able to get Pannies almost anywhere. Get in on the weedlines, and even the inside edge for gills. The smaller lakes like Rush and Daggett are good and they get less traffic.

[fishgutz77]

Fish early and late for eyes. with leeches in 18-24 on decent breaks. minnows will work but they need to be lively or redtails on whitefish.

[schmitty3]

Well made it back from our week long vacation on the whitefish chain. Our main target on the trip was walleyes, and we did pretty good. Actually IMO really good for the warm front we were fishing in. We spent almost if not all of our time fishing two rock piles that came up from 60 ft to 12 and 15 ft. We were out on these rock piles almost every night and 1 or 2 early mornings. Each night and moring we got at least 10 walleyes in about 3 hours of fishing. Never stayed after dark, but im sure the fishing would've stayed good if not got better on these rock piles. Every fish was at least 14 in biggest being 26in which we caught right before dark and couldn't get a good picture of before releasing it. Had a couple 26+ on that we unfortunately could not get into the boat. During the day we spent our time either fishing panfish in the deep weeds which produced decent results or fishing pike off the weedlines which produced a ton of fish just not much size. All in all it was a great trip. Below is a 24"

[anchor man]

Haven't been on the chain for about 5 weeks due to the birth of our first. Planning to get out Friday afternoon/evening and chase the 'eyes. Anyone know of some recent walleye activity happening on the chain?

Thanks

[Sportland_Bait]

Catching some walleyes and lots of pike out there in 17-26 feet. Mostly lindy rigs and redtails or jigs and fatheads. Been pretty decent out there the last 3 weeks or so.

Jason

[fishgutz77]

Get the redtails, its worth it.

the main lake structure in 21-24 fow has been best for us.

some nice ones still eating crawlers on spinners as well.

[Jeff13]

Got some eyes last weekend bobber fishing a hump with leeches in 14 feet, and a bonus 21.5 in smallie, that was pretty cool. Got a 28 and 24 pulling ledcore with shadraps.

[cribbageboy]

I'm going up to the WFC tomorrow morning and will be staying for a week. Just wondering what's still working for eyes, northerns, and bass.

What lakes are producing best in the chain?

What rigs are working the best?

What depth?

Also, we'll be staying on Eagle Lake just north of Fifty Lakes. Kind of curious if it's worth wetting a line in there or should a spend my week sticking to "The Chain"?

[tori's dad]

Went trolling on Whitefish last night in the full moon- efforts paid off with 10 nice walleyes and some dandy Northern Pike. Started out in 60 ft of water pulling crank baits- was ok but when the sun went down and moon came up the fish got active on the breakline with silver husky jerks trolling about 2.8 mph. Fish shut off around 0100 for whatever reason and we called it a night- beautiful night to be on the water.

[shadrapla]

update ice???

[shadrapla]

update please

[ozzie]

as of this last weekend my parents stated that the bays were frozen but the big lakes were still open. I am going to be up there this weekend and could give you a better perspective...I know that the smaller lakes in the area pretty much have ice cover

[ozzie]

as I could see it appeared that most if not all of cross was capped with ice but I drove by trout and that was mainly open water still. sorry I can't give you a better report but I can tell you that the lake I was on just north of there had a good 6 inches 100 yds from shore.

[shadrapla]

im curious how i can get access to north of whitefish lake(by heath resort)

[ozzie]

there is a resort that plows a little on the north end maybe killworries (sp) is the name...not positive on the name otherwise there were some plowed roads towards foley bar last year from the south shore but we normally just access it with snowmobiles.

[SpecialK]

Any current reports? I am headed up to Boyds this weekend and would like to get out a day if possible.

[diederich06]

Ideal Fire Department was called to a ice rescue last night out near the big island area, i believe 2 people and a Ice house fell through... ice conditions are not the best on any lake with the 45 degree days we have been having.. the forecast is looking better for the ice conditions.. north shore of upper whitefish has around 9".

[eyes1]

What are the ice conditions on whitefish? Is there any vehicle traffic from any of the acess points on whitefish?

[mnspearingguide]

Ice varies from 8 - 18 depending on where you are at, most bays have 14 - 22, the main lake can be very scary, just west of foleys bar was open up until the cold snap 2 weeks ago. haven't ventured that direction to check the ice, also north of pig bay, in the main lake was open too. most access's that I have been on have been good, a few have some ice pushed up along shore, more by crosslake.

[eyes1]

Thanks for the info MNSPEAR that helps. I have not been on whitefish since Dec., 30th. I will use caution when I am out there next week.

PS. I found your web site and it looks good you will be hearing from me to set up a spearing weekend sometime. I have wanted to speare again for a long time but have not had the chance.

[mnspearingguide]

we have been doing pretty good compared to other reports on the lake, the spot I am in right now is getting pretty cloudy, getting tough to see the bottom. we have been doing real well on whitefish, seeing 10 - 20 a day, and pike have been a mixed bag, a fair amount of little ones, but see some decent ones if you sit all day. Will be moving the houses before next week, been out scouting, and one of my old spots is starting to come around, pike are finally moving in. been a little later this year, guessing the snow finally is pushing the green out of the plants in the deeper breaks.

[merc40]

I am heading up to Upper Whitefish on Monday and Tuesday. I am just wondering if you are seeing whitefish just outside the weedline? I would love to try and fish for these during the day because I know how big they are on the chain. I speared one a few years back that was really big and an eagle came by and took it when I wasn't looking

[mnspearingguide]

They have spread out and we are seeing them on the edge of weedlines, sand flats where it breaks, and weed/sand edges. if you can find some structure they will cruise the edge of it, even being in 8' tall weed and it goes down to 3' tall weeds on a flat, they will cruise that edge. if you have a underwater camera, watch for them while jigging agressivly, if you see them come from the same direction, move, they kinda have highways they like to cruise, if you can get on one of them, you will be set.

[merc40]

Thank you very much. I do have a camera so I will be looking forward to seeing them. I know last year I sat in about 30 feet and I couldn't see far. Hopefully it will be clear water up off the weedline. Have you seen any sunfish action in the weeds or are they out deep? I will let you know how we do

[mnspearingguide]

I haven't seen much for sunfish, but then we have decoys down most of the time, I would target 8-20 fow for the whitefish. Use the camera to find the edge of the short weeds to sand in the 14-18fow area, otherwise look to see where the 1" tall weeds jump up to 10-18" tall weeds will be around the 10-12 fow. that is where I would start,they feed on snails on the sand bars, and the plankten/weed bugs on the weeds.

[merc40]

Thanks again for all the info, it is appreciated. I can't wait to get up there Monday morning.

[Moses2531]

Do you guys smoke the whitefish you catch then? I have never targeted them really but have come across my fair share of accidental hookups with some nice ones! I wouldnt mind trying out a new fish! Also for those that spear out here, do you see predominantly all the snakes that we catch all summer or do you find the bigger pike that are all too elusive all soft water season for the most part!?

[mnspearingguide]

Yes you can smoke them, I also fillet them out like any other fish, and fry them up. They are excellent fried, niced firm white meat. If you know how to take out the Y bones on a Pike, you can do the same on the whitefish, only difference is the end of the bone does not Y, just a arc in the bone is all. I like to take them out no matter what I am doin with the fish, it is nice haveing a smoked fillet that is bone free.

[merc40]

Well, I made it up to Whitefish around 10 am from the cities this morning. Set up my fish house in about 8 feet of water and put the camera down and saw dense weeds that were flattened out. I turned the camera about 30 degrees and here was a really nice whitefish. I didn't catch any but I saw about 10 by the end of the day. I was jigging a busckshot rattle spoon with a lot of red eurolarvae on the treble hooks. I had two fat ones come right up to my hook but they kept on swimming by. I tried for them until late in the afternoon when I switched to walleye fishing. I caught one 15 inch walleye and missed another one that came in while my camera was down. So how do you trigger these whitefish to eat? They seemed set on cruising above the weeds looking for food like you said.

[mnspearingguide]

Merc40,

try downsizing on the buck shot, seems to me the smaller the better. I can honestly say I never tried hooking them, but what I see when they come into a spear hole, the smaller the better, the more action the better, bright polished silver, or anything really flashy. Then the rest depends on the fish gods to make them eat. I have actually only had a dozen or so ever hit my attractor, either they slam on the brakes right next to it, or I end up harvesting them before they get there.

good luck out there, and don't be afraid to move it your not seeing any.