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Wigwam Bay


FinallyBackNorth

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Hello Folks!

I've been a self proclaimed silent member here for a long time, and have found this site to be a treasure chest full of resources! I'd like to start off by thanking all of the great people that make up this site.

Your love of the outdoors and drive to educate others ensures conservation of our future resources through responsible angling practices. Sharing your knowledge and techniques with fellow anglers, especially newer ones give them as much enjoyment out of their outings as possible. I have also found that the people here are primarily of strong value and quality and make this site the best there is!....THANK YOU TO ALL!! grin.gif

With that out of the way, I've been living off Wigwam Bay for the last few months now, but don't know the structure of the bay yet as I have yet to fish it. Does the shoreline break in Wigwam have a sand, gravel or Mud bottom? Are there any rockpiles that could hold fish either in the bay or around the Main lake points of the bay (besides the piles you can plainly see that break the surface in the shallows)? Are there any notable hazard areas I should be careful of on the first outing ?

I'm planning on making my maiden voyage at Midnight Saturday morning targeting the shallows with cranks and slip bobbering rock piles if there are any productive ones close enough (don't have a huge boat). Then pullig crawler and leech rigs through the shoreline break shortly after day break. Anybody have any recommendations on technique outside of this? I want to go home with my arms so sore from CPR'ing so many beauties that I can barely do the 12 Oz. curls when I get home!! grin.gif Thanks again!

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Finallynorth,

There are a couple of rock piles off Browns points that are marked with hazard bouys--those might be good spots to do the slip bobber thing. Otherwise, Shermans point on the south side of
Wigwam should be good. If the lake is tame enough, I would try the weed beds on the other side of Shermans point. Also, that spot where the creek runs into Wigwam might be good.

I'd like to know what kind of success you have. I usually go to the mud flats for walleyes when I put in at Indian point..I might be wasting gas!

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FinallyBackNorth,
I've fished Wigwam Bay on opener for many years now. For the most part, Wigwam has a gradual decent from inside the bay. I believe it is mostly sand bottom except along the shore on the north and south side. I've found that fishing shallow is the key, depending on what direction the wind is out of.
As for structure, there is the old harbor rock pile remains in the northwest inside corner of the bay. Also, both points are heavily covered with rocks and bolders.

My personal opinion about Wigwam Bay is there needs to be wind whether you're drifting lindy's or bobber fishin'.
I'm not much for trolling raps on opener so I don't know what kind of success you would have there. I would think water temps would need to be a little warmer...
Anybody else out there do much trolling on opener? If so, chime in...

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Thank you guys so much for the info.

TundraKing.....you sound a lot like a guy I know, a good man......named Mitch? You coming up for the opener?

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You bet! I'll be up Saturday morning early with RiverRunner. Lookin' forward to seeing you out there.

------------------
The Wife says they're Toys, I say they're Tools...

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Well we'll see ya then! Just make sure that wife doesn't mistake one of yer tools for her toy shocked.gif and stick ya in da cities for the weekend. Aah, Friday night....you ever try spot tail shiners?

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I grew up going to a family cabin on Wigwam Bay (memories stretching all the way back to the mid 70's) and I have fished Sherman Point quite a bit back then and a lot in recent years. My experience with it has been long bouts of famine punctuated with individual "feast" outings. I remember fuitlessly fishing Sherman Point a lot as a kid because it was close to our cabin. Yet, my best walleye outing as a kid took place right off the point. I'm a better fisherman now but comparatively speaking, I have run up a similar record as an adult on Sherman Point. I have caught walleyes off the other (Brown) point too. Aside from one very memorable outing in the fall of '01, I have caught very few walleyes within the bay itself.

If the weather is nice, consider heading over to Indian Point too. These areas are no secret, I'm sure you'll see plenty of other boats (especially on Indian Point) over opening weekend.

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Schnauzer -
Do you still have that family cabin on Wigwam? Are you coming up this weekend to take part in the Walleye-Weight lifting program?! Yep, that's my workout program, and apparently, it's coming just in time. wink.gifLet me know, and thanks a bunch for your valued, and appreciated input to my questions. Good Luck and I pray that sore arms will be yours too this weekend!

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finally back north- where is your cabin in wig-wam? I have a cabin in Wig-Wam and have caught plenty of walleyes in the bay, I catch walleyes in the bay all the way into July. I know some good spots.

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No, sadly the family cabin was sold in about '93, if my memory serves me. I still fish Mille Lacs though... It still feels like it is "my" lake and the childhood memories get stirred up quite thoroughly every time I'm up there.

Our cabin was located just down the road from the old West Shore Resort, and North Star Resort. Down the hill... it it still there and mainly unchanged from my first memories. It is dark gray - almost blue-ish and has several out buildings.

The good news for me is my wife's family bought a place on Woman Lake on '94 and that has now become my stompin' grounds. I will be opening there this year. I usually take a few days off around the opener and spread them between Woman Lake and Mille Lacs. This year I'll be on Woman Lake the whole time though. Where is your place?

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Where I'm living is actually my Grandma's place. It's one of those brown condo's on the north side of the bay off Earle Browne Drive and Gone Fishin Lane. Yep, that's been my transition home as I'm moving up from the cities to Pequot Lakes. I started my new job with a phone company in Brainerd back in February and have been working on the moving technicalities ever since. We should be done with the home closing's by June, right after the wedding.....it's been a busy year!!

RoosterSlayer- Where are you at? Same condo's?! Wouldn't surprise me too much, I've seen stranger things in this small world. So, are you going out Friday at midnight? Any hints or suggestions up your sleeves? My buddy from St. Cloud is coming up and bringing his new Alumacraft, I think it's a 17' or so, tan color I think? Anyways, I'd love to meet some folks and say hi to some new neighbors. Good luck!

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Well... when you are in Pequot Lakes, you will be within easy striking distance of my "other" home water... Woman Lake. It is great up there. I am jealous of you getting to live within easy driving of so many great lakes.

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Wigwam can be a good bay to fish early in the year. I have done well with bobber fishing and pulling lindy's. Has anyone ever hit the perch in the bay?

------------------
Get the Net!!

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Schnauzer,

I was the jealous guy for many years, in fact about 26 years as of today!! Life has just all of a sudden lead me up this way and it hasn't been an easy transition by any means, but it's almost done. It's going to be a great summer with lots of changes but I'm staying positive that they're all for the best! After all, you're right, I have some of the stat's, or the world's, best fishing right out my back door now!! I hope you do well on Woman and I'll keep you posted as to how Mille is doing!

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Back*******: If you happen to get into Pequot during your travels and get the chance to eat at Timber Ridge Supper Club say hi to the owner (Mike Sauer). He's my cousin. Great food there also. good luck and hang on this weekend. Bill

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bturk - Timberjacks, well that's practically one of my new neighbors!! I've ate there twice only so far, when we were checking out the new house - they have the BEST prime rib and chicken wings I've had in my life and great service to boot! That's your cuz huh, well in that case you may see me there some time...we'll be all moved into our place there by June, we're closing like May 25th. It's about a mile further down past Timberjacks and just north, off the SW corner of Sibley Lake.

Hope to meet some of you people this summer, as I left all my (male) fishin buddies down in the cities!! Good luck this weekend! 16 hours away....

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Finallybacknorth- My cabin is just up the road from the condo's, its the only Mobile Home on the bay, its at the end of the reed bed. I wont be up there at midnight, first time in 2 years cause I have a lacrosse tournament in Mankato on saturday. We usally just fish off our dock at midnight and do decent, I would give you some spots to try but I dont want a crowd at my spots, give me your e-mail adress. I have tried for perch with no luck yet this spring in the bay, I caught some jumbo's off my dock in october though.

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Ended up with 1 19" fish for the whole weekend for 2 guys. We must have put in 18 hours on Saturday and 10 on Sunday. We tried Crankin, jiggin, riggin and bobberin, caught the one fish at about 9:00 PM Saturday slip bobber and leech. It was fun, but I think it'll be much better after a week or so.

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RoosterSlayer,

My e-mail is [email protected] shoot me a message. Do you just come up on weekends, or are you up all week? Maybe we could hook some night next week and wet a line before the Memorial crowd gets up here? Well, let me know if you're interested!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
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