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Big Watab Lake


nevercatchguy

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Anyone fished big watab this year? Hows the ice and hows the fishing? I would guess the sunken islands are good spots to fish. I have never fished in winter on big watab. Thanks for the comments.

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Haven't been out this year...tough winter lake....we've managed a few winter trout, but they seem pretty random...small pike...the odd panfish....open water seems like an easier plan...Does anyone know if there is an access point for icefishing the far south end??

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I have never been on this lake before. Can someone fill me in on history of this lake? Water clarity. Fishing reports. Housing ect.

If you don't want to post here please email me. I am looking for a place to live on a lake in the area so most information I can gather the better

Thanks

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I was out there last monday. I tried the sunken bar on the north side of the lake by all the other houses. I saw a few small pike, and a few rainbow trout, but none were interested in biting.

The lake is extremely clear and very deep. There is a hole at mid lake that hits 120' deep. Most of the winter fishing takes place in shallower water, I think.

In summer, the lake gets hit hard by the trout fishermen. There are many trout stocked each year and are caught with ease when you find them.

Overall it is a beautiful lake with great fishing at times, a real gem in Central MN. If summer swimming is your thing, I can't think of no better lake to jump in!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

There are many trout stocked each year and are caught with ease when you find them.

I love that! Ha, laugh

I have fished the lake summer and winter and there is nothing about ease catching the trout in this lake! It's not like your stocked pond that gets fished out days after they put them in. Good luck out there! wink

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whats the clab and eye population. i drove by today, and didnt see any houses on the lake, but i was only at the landing, so not sure on the other side of the lake.

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Don't know where you are looking, but there are 10-15 houses in view from the public access as you look across the lake.

Head out there and cut a few holes.

Hope you have better luck than I did a few days ago.

I had 10" ice where I was.

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i must not have been able to see them with the snow fall yesterday.im going ot try it out there once i get back form my cass lake trip.

im going to try and spear it, and then fish it towards night into the night and see what happens.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Big Watab is a trout lake, so I don't think you can spear on it.
Not sure about spearing there, but Big Watab is not a *designated trout lake

If you look on the DNR web site it does not have the little asterisk by its name saying it is a designated trout lake.

Trout lakes list

Also see listing of Minnesota's designated trout lakes and trout streams (as listed in statute)

*designated trout lake **special regulations ***located in BWCAW

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It has alot of structure which is nice. We fished a hump out there the other night. and with the front that had already moved in it slowed the fishing down but we had alot of marks. The nice thing about using my fl-20 for ever is I knew exactly what Kind of fish it was by the mark. Sounds stupid but when you bond with your vex 5 days a week in the winter you come to learn what alot of different marks are by the way they appear on your screen haha I know we had tons of trout come threw, walleyes were hugging on bottom and the crappies were 7 feet below the ice. Crappies bit very very well but I cant say so for the walleye and trout.

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Fished out there last weekend on could watch my jig go down 26 feet. Managed a few nice walleyes at sunset and for about an hour after. Blue Hexi fly jig with glow white and pink on the back tipped with crappie minnows. Saw a ton of fish on the Marcum just a tough bite with the cold front we had. 31fow. Finding the scatterd weed clumps seemed to make the difference.

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Spearing is allowed on Big Watab Lake and has always been allowed. It has always been an extremely clear lake. The trout can be pretty difficult to catch. Guys have the most luck during the early morning hours I believe. There are some big pike in the lake.

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All sizes and year classes of trout are available. A friend of mine landed one around 20" a few years back. I have had the best success for trout sight fishing in 6-7 FOW. This lake has also produced some MONSTER pike over the years. They pack on the pounds fast feasting on rainbows. Good luck!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

All sizes and year classes of trout are available. A friend of mine landed one around 20" a few years back. I have had the best success for trout sight fishing in 6-7 FOW. This lake has also produced some MONSTER pike over the years. They pack on the pounds fast feasting on rainbows. Good luck!

Garett Svir, although he hasn't been on the site for a while. Your post almost sounds like a Trout fishing on Grindstone lake report for Rinehard1 Along with the "Good luck" at the end! grin

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I was driving a z71 out new years weekend and pulling my wheel house. We went to the south half of the lake on 13 inches.

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Got out of work early today and figured I would drive by the lake on my way home since I've never been on this lake before, ran into a guy at the access who is spearing and said all he has seen out there this winter is one crappie and two northerns about twice as long as his decoy and his decoy is 6" long.

I would like to spear out there tomorrow and maybe try and angle some rainbows but this report doesn't encourage me at all.

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see any trout? im gonna hit it up in a few weeks and have never been on the lake. i looked at t map of the lake and picked out a few spots that look fishy

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how deep where you, looks very clear

I was in 6-7 feet, the guy at the access I talked to who wasn't seeing anything said he was in 10 feet and he was positive he needed to go shallower but I think if I were to do it again I would try deeper cause its just that clear, at one point while setting up I had both doors and all 4 windows open in my house and I could still see the bottom very clearly

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see any trout?

Unfortunately no trout which was a let down. Just have to keep trying new spots I guess.

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10 and shallower is the way to go from what I hear as well. I have some friends that do it once a year and they pound them in shallow water with a slip and minnow. I have personally never done it my self yet but its a yearly thing for them so it must produce.

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Shallow is the name of the game for winter stream trout. Some will cruise in deeper water, but it will rarely be any deeper then 7 ft down. Find some structure such as dead trees and points. They love that stuff. I've done very well out there when I stick to that plan.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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