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Eelpout in Winnie ?


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Never hear of anyone catching 'pout in Winnie

Are there 'pout in Winnie ?

Enough to make it worth trying for them ?

More likely to be out in the big lake, or over in Cut Foot ?

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Absolutely. Last weekend I caught two over 8 pounds. Of course I thought they were monster walleyes at first until they came through the hole!

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G T NET

what time of day? or should I say night?

and how deep were you?

On Big Winnie? or Cut Foot?

I know, I ask a lot of questions.

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We caught 3 one day up there that were absolute bulls, pushing 10 pounds each. Bigger than LOW and much larger than Mille Lacs. Caught them in the middle of the day when it was overcast. Good news is that all three might still be there for you. Some guys dump a can of creamed corn down the hole to chum them and it seems to work, but that would be illegal and I cant suggest that you do it.

Very different markings on the Winnie pout though. They are marked like a leopard. The only lake that I have seen with those markings. Good luck with 'ol slimy'.

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The pout have been on a terror out there right now. Between last Thursday and Saturday, 8 of us easily caught 20 off of one spot. My biggest were 28" and 30" and both were so fat they actually got stuck in an 8" hole. The little one's were released but the big one's were kept. YUM YUM!!! We fished some mid lake humps and caught most of our's on top of the hump, about 25' of water, during mid-day to afternoon. We did fish the deep mud off the same hump but didn't get any pout. I had my best luck on a walleye sized spoon with a whole chub on it.

Brian

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You must really like Eelpout! One was in 16 fow the other was in 22. Both were caught around 5:30 pm on a perch colored buckshot glow jigging spoon with one fathead hooked through the dorsal fin. Both strikes occured just after I charged up the glow and dropped it back to the bottom. Both were caught by the big pressure ridge (the crack) in front of Ravens point.

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Thanks GTN; good-complete-detailed info.

Ya, I like 'em. But my real motivation right now is; I have a buddy coming up from Missouri for a four day weekend who has NEVER caught one and HE WANTS ONE.

We're pulling a wheel shack so can go to whatever lake we decide, so we're trying to decide.

Anyhow, did ya catch any perch and/or walleyes?

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OK there are Pout in Winnie. Now lets here how people cook them.

I had some Pout stew many years ago on Mille Lacs and it was as good a fish stew as can be made but I've never had it since.

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I haven't tried it yet, but have heard that boiling them with Zatarain's Crab Boil is quite tasty too!

I just like catching fish period. Alot of my buddies are kind of snobby and think if it's not a walleye, it's not worth their time. If they only new what they were missing. We were actually targeting perch, 'eyes, and pike but the ol' pout is welcome anytime! grin.gif

Brian

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I caught a fat 6 lb'er last weekend and finally gave into the temptation to take her home and try it. Several people told me their favorite recipes, and how to fillet the fish. One fella even told me if I cross cut the back straps and deep fried em' they taste, "Just like scallops".

Long story short, I peeled off the back straps (after scraping off about 2 gallons of slime) and washed em' up for battered deep frying. My whole family loves fish - all six of us, so I thought this would be a big hit.

Thankfully we had plenty of tasty Winnie perch instead. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I wasn't particularly impressed. The meat was pretty tough! Almost like chewing on a medium rare piece of steak - which would have been a much better choice, and not NEARLY as slimy! It should also be noted that I am a HUGE lutefisk fan, so I'm pretty open to new tastes.

Didn't I prepare this fish correctly? I fried it up in chunks about the size of the perch fillets, and allowed a little extra time - cause of course they were thicker than the perch. But I'd have to say if someone honestly thinks Eelpout tastes like scallops, then they've probably never had good scallops.

On another note, this fish took a 6-inch shiner set under a tip up for pike in about 18 feet of water off one of the South shore humps - maybe 24 inches off the bottom. I had to surgically remove the ENTIRE quick strike rig from this poor dogs gullet, and I set the hook only seconds after the flag tipped. It wasn't a pretty surgery, but my rig is going to be just fine!

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We have had two in the last couple of years that we caught on Ball Club Lake,they also have had the leopard pattern. I would have to say that it is some of the best "sea food" I have ever had. It is not at all like walleye or perch, texture of the meat is much more like lobster or crab, actually the texture reminds me most of the big sea scallops. We just skinned them like a bullhead and seperated the meat from the bones, cut the meat into chunks, boiled them and dipped them in butter, texture is somewhat rubbery, not flakey like walleye is, I think if you like crab you will like pout.

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When I was 14, I caught a pout that was easily 10+ pounds. It was the early spring and we were drifting with shiners. I set the hook and I thought I hooked a log. A few minutes later the fine specimen appeared. Before my brother could net it, my dad came over and cut my line. He said there was no way that thing was coming in the boat. I am the only one I know that has ever caught a pout in the summer. The truth is I have caught 1 out of winnie and 3 on Mille Lacs during the open water season. confused.gif

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My 6 yr. old son caught one last summer on Ball Club, it wasn't a real big one but it put up a good fight. Here is a picture of it. dawsons-eelpout-9-2005.jpg

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I caught one in the summer on Kab. Only one in my life. Not that I don't enjoy pulling in any fish, but I was sure this was my walleye of a lifetime. Needless to say I was disappointed.

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GB,

That picture of your boy is awesome! I'll bet he thought he'd caught a whale. That's what fishing is all about. Whatta smile!

I believe I'll try an eelpout one more time. I'll boil it as suggested and dip it in butter. I just struggle with the texture - chewy. I've never had chewy, tough fish before - of any kind. It's a little strange for this walleye fanatic to swallow, but I'm not giving up yet.

One more note, while filleting (removing the backstraps) from this creature, I thought my knife had gotten dull, but it was just that the back skin on this thing was really tough. Are they all pretty leathery, or was it just the one I cleaned?

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Hey thanks Sam! He really got "hooked" on fishing this last summer. An earlier trip to Ball Club last year in two days he caught 21 northerns and 1 nice walleye that wieghed 4.5 lbs. I remember when he was fighting the 'pout he kept asking me if I thought it was going to be bigger than his "4 and a half pounder". I still have the picture of him holding that walleye as my desktop background.

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it happens to guys that jig fish on lake michigan from time to time. a guy that we know from sturgeon bay had the state record for awhile. he was jigging salmon out on the bank reef and caught one 18lbs. or so. it was then broken a few years later by a guy doing the same thing on lake superior.

we caught one off the breakwall one summer as well, but it was just a little guy.

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I've never tried it, but a guy last year on FM said his favorite way to cook eelpout was to boil it in Mountain Dew and then dip it in butter. After cooking it supposed to be a neon green color. Sounded cool to me so next time I catch one I'm going to try it.

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Gents, I caught a couple 'pout by accident on Winnie while fishing for perch in mid-January. Put them right back down the hole. I've seen them on the underwater camera quite a few times up there, so it seems like there are quite a few in the lake.

For those of you who boil your 'pout, how many minutes do you boil them?

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I think you need to boil them for a long time, until you REALLY GET GOOD AND HUNGRY tongue.gif

Some of the guys in my group claim to really like eating pout, I can take them or leave them. We boil them in water for about 5 minutes, maybe less, then hit them with melted butter as soon as we get them out of the water. And maybe a dash of salt to bring out some flavor.

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Thanks PerchJerker! I'm not sure that I'm hungry enough yet to try boiling 'pout, but if the perch fishing on Winnie is as slow two weeks from now as it was during trips there in Dec. and Jan., I just might have to break down and give it a whirl! Note to self: bring butter to Winnie... wink.gif

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Get your water boiling, then put the pout pieces in for 7 1/2 minutes. More than 7 1/2 minutes they can get too chewy - something about that specific time that does it right everytime...garlic butter laced with cajun seasoning - mmm, mmm, good!~

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Doesn't matter how big your pout are, there's not much meat on them. Our pout turn into appetizers before dinner.

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