Whitefish Chain

[Muddy62]

I'm heading up to the whitefish chain this weekend (pig lake area) and am planning to chase some pike and panfish. Does anyone have any advice on what to key in on? depths, bait, structure? Any advice would be appreciated. PM me if you'd like. Thanks!

[me_fathead]

Don't know about the ice fishing but I fished out of Pig Lake for almost 20 years and I can tell you where to go for a a few specific species throughout the open-water season. PM if you like.

[anchor man]

Any WFC reports from this last weekend? I won't be up til Friday and was hoping the eyes were a little more hungry by then.

[Moses2531]

If only they were as hungry as all the snakes were right!? Haha! But I guess thats why they are so thick out on WFC, well-fed! Reports for me have been slow still, picking up the occassional 'eye early in the morning jigging around the islands on Upper, but havent nailed down anything consistent yet. Cant wait for June though, things always heat up!

[RockBass16]

Have you been jigging with minnows or leeches and how deep have they been in the A.M.

[diederich06]

Has anyone had any luck catching northern of decent size?? I have been catching 30 a night of the small ones 12-16".... I have tried 6' up to 25' and it's all small fish.. Any ideas?

[Moses2531]

Put Muskies in the lake! Haha! I have found the same results Deidrich, there are big pike in there, just a matter of keeping your bait away from the small ones long enough to give them a shot at it. I have found my larger pike out over much deeper water though, upwards of 40-50' over the years

[crix]

use bigger bait musky size wouldn't hurt to weed out the small pike

[Jeff13]

Club those little snakes! I've fished the chain for years and the size of the pike has gone to snake after snake. Theres a million of those dinks in there.

[Dan L]

It is a shame what has happened to the chain over the years. I see by the 2011 gill net survey that the pike population is at an all time high. The average size fish was under 2 lbs. That along with the high bass population does not help the walleyes.

[mnspearingguide]

I guided a fish biologist this past winter from wisconsin, he said the lake is perfect for pike spawing grounds, with the vast flats he said they have a excellent success rate of grown the little pike into small 2 lb pike. he said there is only 2 options, get the dnr involved (which I personally don't think will happen) or the fisherman need to start harvesting these smaller pike. I encourage my clients to harvest the 2 lb pike when we go out, the meat is excellent, however it takes your daily limit to make a meal. but if we all went out and took one or 2 small pike at each trip, it will bring there #'s down a bit, allowing them to grow better, and allow other species to have a better chance. However he aged the pike by the scales, and by a bone by the gill plate, they were not stunted pike, most were 2 - 3 year old fish in the 2 lb range. so they were healthy.

[Jeff13]

Heading out there this weekend for the first time. Anyone got water temps? Hopefully try and get my wife and daughter on sunfish and crappies for a while in the afternoon.

[Moses2531]

Thats really interesting and kind of nice to hear that the health of the fishery is good. I had assumed that the pike were stunted but yes like you said if its just the great habitat and food sources allowing for the quick growth than thats another issue.

I agree with keeping the smaller pike. I think I have mentioned this before but I always try to come home with 2 or 3 of the little guys ofcourse never keeping one over 5 pounds. But it makes for a great sandwich or two at the very least and I like to think Im helping the fishery. I think if more anglers out there did this it could help!

As far as the high number of bass, I personally think that the size structure of these fish is good. I feel that I can work and find some large fish consistancy and again personally I see Bass as a sport fish and dont ever keep them. I dont know if the same type of harvest measures are needed with the Bass fishery? IMO ofcourse.

[whitefishchainfisher]

Glad to hear others are trying their best to reduce the snake population on the WFC! Hope to convice many others to help as well! They are just as good as walleye when fried and have tricked many people to thinking it was walleye when i cooked them side by side. If its the bones you are worried about just take the back and tail filets out as they are very easy to take filet boneless... or pickle them and let the bones disinegrate! I have a GREAT recipe I will post if others are interested and if it would help persuade people into getting these snakes out of the fishery! THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[rayguy]

Was up on Whitefish the past five days. Walleye fishing was tough to say the least. Was catching a few in 15-22' of water but they were all small, a good sign though. I'm old enough to remember Whitefish as a top walleye lake. Many large fish, what happened? Its more than just a big Northern poulation. I think there is way to much foodbase in the lake. On a calm day everywhere there are either small tullipees or whitefish turning everywhere. Never used to see that. Also its rare to catch a perch anymore on the lake. Far as Northerns you can't troll a plug almost anywhere without being attacked by 1 1/2 lb snakes. Have reached the point where all the ones we get are going to be pickled. We who fish the lake know the dnr surveys are bogus. Whats the answer?

[Jeff13]

Fished upper whitefish and lower hay on Saturday. Took my limit of 2 pound pike to help get them out of their and caught numerous other trying to troll for some eyes. Marked what I would believe to be eyes in the 25-30 foot range. Talked to some others who were rigging and they said it was really slow. The last couple of years out there it has been really slow for me until after dark. All of my big eyes have come trolling the weed edges after dark. The big ones are still there but I agree with the above post, lots of bait to compete against. I've had success to trolling for eyes over the basins, seems some of them are chasing the whitefish and tuliees during mid summer, those fish are pretty fat out there dining on them. Can't find any perch either, used to catch them like crazy but it seems they have vanished it's a tough body of water for sure some days.

[whitefishchainfisher]

i have one opinion that o know will cause a huge argument but here we go: STOP THE STRIPPING OF SPAWNING ALLEYS ON THE PINE RIVER!

my dad has nothing but awesome fish stories about the days before they started robbing the chain.

[rayguy]

They have stripped there for longer than I have owned our cabin-41 years. I am not sure that is the answer. However this year there were many dead female walleyes floating in Delta Bay. I think something should be done about the rough treatment at the stripping station. Each large female lost is a blow to the lake walleye population. That being said the river is not the only place they spawn. But in my years there not any work has been done to improve lake spawning areas. A few places made with rock rubble would help the lake I am sure. We need to push the DNR and the local lake assoc. to make this a reality. Far as the snakes go maybe a few Musky stockings would knock them down in a few years.

[mnspearingguide]

I don't think stockin muskies will help out much, it will be a quick short fix, but what happens when we get the pike numbers where your happy, then what about the muskies, they will keep eating, the same as the bigger pike, when the pike numbers get low enough, they will just go after another fish, they are not much different than pike when it comes to eating. I was out this weekend, the walleye bite was slow, picked up a few, but the minnow hatch has been fantastic this year, huge numbers of minnows, not sure what kind they are. that and the factor of the mayflies, hatching, there was a big float of them dead coming off the main lake into rush channel, biggest I have seen on the chain in years. I will be happy to catch a few less fish this year to fatten them up for the years to come when we don't get the hatch's we got this year. Biggest thing to remember is, we have allot of different sport fishermen out there, we have to understand we all like to play/fish for our favorite fish. All the years I have been on this lake, it seems every year or couple years it changes from what is the hot fish to catch. from pike, to walleye, to bass, etc. Lets all enjoy it. keep them lines wet!

[Dan L]

Last year the lake association along with the DNR did work on Hay Creek to hopefully create a spawning area. There is an article on this area on the WAPOA website. Forty years ago I think it was rare to catch a bass on Upper Whitefish. That is from my memory anyways. The pike population also consisted of a much healthier population. Whitefish had more big pike and fewer of the snakes. I don't think you can overemphasize what this increase in pike and bass populations has done to the walleye fry and fingerlings.

[ozzie]

yeah you can't blame the stripping station as they put back in the chain a bigger % of fry back into the system than what would have survived naturaly...also the with the tagging system proves that these fish come back year after year and aren't dying after they get stripped and released. I have personnaly witness walleyes with multiple tags from the spawning area....I personnaly think that the Chain has a very healthy walleye population but with an abundance of forage and the snakes/rockbass/largemouth/smallmouth bass populations exploding it just becomes more difficuly to get a walleye to attack your bait. Good Luck

[RockBass16]

This is a pretty intense forum! Someone already mentioned but should we be concerned with the high # of Rock Bass on this lake (note the ironic comment from rockbass16)but really.

As far as where all the BIG fish are . . . I have seen alot of downriggers mounted on boats around WFC these days, just sayin'

[anchor man]

It's always been a challenging and sometimes frustrating chain for walleyes. About 7 years ago when I started fishing it consistently, I could usually go out and get 1 walleye, sometimes 2, and every once in a while you'd get into a pile of them. Now, I go out say two times for about 4 hours at a time over a weekend and feel like I accomplished something if I get 1 in a weekend. Could be an explosion in bait, snakes, or maybe I've just lost my touch. Either way, it would be nice to get a few more in the boat with all the hours spent out there.

[Moses2531]

First off I love to see the enthusiasm on WF!! I agree with those who mentioned the incredible baitfishery making the chain difficult. I dont know how many people use camaras and things ice fishing, but I stick to the Vexler for hard water. Anyway, the nice clarity on WF makes using a camara from a boat alot of fun to explore and the fish are in there. That along with sonar units and things, the fish (including walleyes) are definitly in there.

The challenge again comes with getting those fish to bite when they arent exactly starving! Sure makes for nice healthy broad shouldered 'eyes when you get them thou! Plus the challenge keeps alot of weekend anglers off the chain and keeps them at Gull! I think that Muskies would have a longer term benefit though and not disrupt the walleye fishery. Between the Rock bass, snakes, and largemouth I dont see a significant nmber of walleyes being eaten.

[rayguy]

Vermillion and Mille Lacs were both stocked with Muskies. Walleye and Bass fishing on either is far better then Whitefish now. Add in Leech, Boy and Wabado to name a few and the eating up all the Walleyes is pretty lame. Musky and Pike as well mostly hunt for the soft bodied high protin fish such as members of the Whitefish family as well as suckers and yes game fish. However as been said in this forum the bigger Pike in WF are being caught suspended in deep water. They are there after a Whitefish or tullipy meal not looking for Bass or Walleye. Twenty five years ago we used to troll big silver Rapalas with a 2 oz sinker over 80+ feet of water after big pike so its nothing new. Why people around here faint at the thought of a Musky program in WF is because most of them spear and don't want anymore Musky water around here. Not to protect the Walleye and Bass.

[quijibo]

Are you guys trying to say that there aren't Musky in the WFC. It seems like I used to see them mounted in every bar, restaurant and bait shop when I was a kid(43 now), but then again I used to see pictures of huge Lakers in those same places. I've caught two Musky at the little end(Little Pine) about twenty years ago.

[ozzie]

But there are lake trout in the Chain so seeing pictures of them would make sense...

[JP Z]

Whitefish is going to be busier then usual this Saturday with the Crosslake Lions Fishing tourney going on. I think they have around 70-80 boats right now.

[Firsttime]

Going to going up to garrison in a couple weeks is there a public access on whitefish. if so how has the fishing been?

Thank you for your time

[rayguy]

WRONG WHITEFISH