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My family ran a resort on Island in the late 50's though late 60's, kept part of it as our cabin before selling in the the late 80's, se side, mile or so north of the Poplar outlet. I have been back to fish a few times with limited success. Get up to the area to fish but we hit Winnie and still stay at the place for deer season. I was wondering if it would be worth fishing again when we are up in a week or so or late fall when we grouse hunt and scout for whitetail. Any thoughts, thanks.

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Huskie- I grew up in Northome my whole life and I have not seen the fishing this slow in my life. My parents have been out fishing and have yet to see a walleye. There is a new slot on the lake to try and get the walleye population back to where it used to be in the late 80's. I fished it a couple of times last summer and did manage to catch a few keepers, but it was tough fishing. I do plan on heading up home for a fishing outing with my parents soon, so when I do I will post here and let you know what we caught.

Winnie is going pretty strong right now. It has slowed down a little due to the mayfly hatch out there. Check out the winnie forum for updates on it.

Good luck and have fun when you are up in GOD's Country! grin.gif

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  • 1 month later...

Newbe here,going to Island lake 8/20/05 to 8/27/05.

Used to go up there every year for about 6yrs. But we

didnt make it last year.Just wondering if anybodys having any luck.

Husband,son and I usually do pretty good and we always make the best of it.

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Blue,

Welcome to the forum!! I've been fishing Island Lake for about 28 years. One week in June and again at the end of August. I'll be pulling into Bender's Camp again this year the evening of 8/26. It sure doesn't seem like 28 years have passed since that first visit. Anyway, as you may have read in some of the earlier posts, the lake seems to be in a period of transition. But don't let that slow you down. You should still be able to catch Smallies, Northern and the occassional Walleye. Trolling the reed edges and weedlines with a Lindy rig always seems to produce reasonably well for me in August. I also like to jig or still fish with a slip bobber rig, especially at dusk.

Enjoy your trip and please post your results.

Regards,

Indiana Mike

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I was up at Island a few weeks ago. We caught some northern, walleye, small mouth and a lot of perch. Got 3 northern just below the slot. Had at least a half a dozen more break us off. Caught 6 walleye over the week - the top end being 26-1/2". Caught 4 perch in the 8 to 9 inch range and 30 to 40 much smaller. We trolled and drifted the weedlines with a jig and minnow - boucing it off the bottom. We started out without a leader hoping not to spook the walleye - thus all the break offs with the northern. We switched to a 20lb mono leader later in the week and still pulled in the walleyes, but never got to test it out on any more northern. We didn't catch a lot over the week but the sizes were good. No cigars. All nice fat healthy fish.

On a side note - there is a new slot on the walleye this year. 19 to 26 inches or something like that. 24 to 36 on the northern. We had about half the walleye we had to throw back. Seems like a few people that were fishing that week didn't think the slot applied to them. My father-in-law overheard a few people saying how we were foolish to throw fish back in the slot. They had one that was more than likely in the slot. Just because you drive 1000 miles and throw down $800 for a week to rent a cabin doesn't mean that you are above the regulations set out by the DNR.

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YOu should have called the DNR on that group. They put a slot on that lake for a reason, and if people don't abide by it why have it. I would have called the TIP line myself.

Glad to hear that you had a great time in God's Country.

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Hey Woodman: On another note, how do the grouse and deer herd look up in that area? Even though we sold our place on Island we still come up and stay at the cabin and hunt whitetail a few miles south and east. We plan on coming up for grouse and deer scouting in early October. While we fish Winnie of course too.

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Huskie- The deer population is outstanding again this year. I saw 18 from Blackduck to Bemidji last night. I sure hope they have a high percentage of doe tags this year or a doe's only season to reduce the big herd. The grouse population is still on the incline from one of the lowest years on their cycle. I pounded lots of woods last year and only shot one bird. I seen probably 20 all season last year. I have not been up to Northome to scout yet, but it is on the agenda for a couple weekends from now.

I will let you know what I see when I get back.

Where do you hunt. I hunt south Northome also.

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Woodman: We hunt between Island and Dora Lake, East Of Wagner. The last few years have been below average however. Our group has been hunting there for 30+ years. Have you heard of any wolf problems back that way that may have thinned the herd? It is getting tougher to find land, more and more is getting posted, not that I have a problem with that, would do the same thing myself.

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Sorry it took so long to get back,got home from Island lakeon 8/27,back to work on Monday,new computer system at work no time to write,just to let everyone know we did, Great.

Husband,son and I caught a total of 48 walleyes, kept 18 keepers,had a fish fry at the resort for us three and for the 7 people in the next cabin,(5 were under 10yrs old)(they were not catching any keepers,and we took acouple home for 1 fish fry.

Caught 12 northerns only 1 we could keep.

P.S biggest walleye 27 1/2 in.

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Wow, 48 eyes. Nice to hear a report like that from Island. Been a long time. Hopefully the lake is turning back around. Thanks for the news.

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Bluewatte2- How many of those 48 eyes were in the slot? I heard last weekend up home (Northome) that there are lots of people not throwing the slot back. I hope they catch these people so the lake will rebound again.

Glad to hear that you had a great time and got some nice fishing in. grin.gif

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Woodman,out of the 48 eyes,30 were in the slot and all went back in.

We didnt see to many people out the week we were there.

The cabin next to us caught 1-21 1/2 in. eye and they put it back,that was the only eye they caught. If we would of seen anybody keep any in the slot we would of called tip.

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Bluewater2: What was your secret on Island???? Almost sounds like the good old days. Could you give up some spots and how you were fishing????

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Bluwater2- thanks for the report and the loyal fishing. I just heard that when I was up home and thought I would throw that out on the forum. Sounds like you had a great time and glad to see somebody catching some eyes out there.

Have a great fall.

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What I can tell ya is we were on the south side of the island in front of sleepy hollow resort,(a little north of the resort,it is out a little ways)there is a weed bar,worked the edge from 19 feet to 25 feet with Hot & Tots.

Try to keep your lures deep.I hope that helps,

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anybody found any perch on Island lake lately? Or how about any of the other local lakes?

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I fished Island Lake from 8/26 to 9/3. The lake is full of 3" - 5" perch. Keepers are scarce. I also caught a few walleye trolling floating rapala's Lindy rig style. Northern and Smallmouth kept us busy when the winds didn't blow.

We did limit out on 3/4# or better perch at Dora Lake.

Indiana Mike

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We caught some (4 or 5) 8 and 9 inch perch in the first week of August. There are a ton of small perch. We caught all of them which a jig and minnow when we were going after walleye and northern.

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We will be up in the area the first week-end in Oct., but with the Island reports we will more than likely pass on the lake and hit Winnie again. We will get to look our deer area over and will bring the grouse guns along--did anyone have any success with the birds this opener?

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This is my first post. I am familiar with Island lake because I stayed at Benders camp probably 14 years ago. I was there in the dog days of August,tryed every presentation. If there was a post or a chat then it would sound like the ones Im reading today. Fish were not biting!Straight out from Benders, maybe slightly North is a small rocky island. Try a perch colored shad rap#7. Make sure it is ticking bottom then Hang on. You must be trolling fast. When I first tryed it I felt foolish but I had read an article on speed trolling. I realize its been 14 years but if I was going to be there I sure would like to try it again. If anyone gets a chance let us know if it still works. Ps.you must troll so fast you feel silly.

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Huskie~Had seen a few birds last week before opener when out checking out new trails, but Saturday and Sunday went back and didn't see one. Saw one yesterday. Had some folks out bear hunting and they came across three grouse and got one, had another guest come in tonight and said he saw a three while he was driving. Still alot of leaf coverage, coming back from the lake tonight the wind was blowing some down, so not too much longer. Fall colors aren't at peak yet, but sure makes for beautiful scenery while out walking in the woods!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just wondering how the leaf cover will be by this coming week-end, Oct. 7-8th. If the weather is halfway decent we will drive up for deer prep, walleyes on Winnie and some grousing south of Island, back in the Wagner, Alvwood to Dora Lake areas. Any more grouse or deer reports in that area? It will almost hafta be this week-end with Pheasant opening down here in southern MN the next week-end and a SD bird hunt the next, decisions, decisions, decisions!!!!Thanks, Huskie

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