Winnie 101

[TroutAngler]

I'll be making my first trip to Winnie next weekend and am looking for a general overview of fishing techniques. Its a family affair and I want to get started on the right foot and perhaps make it a regular occurance. I've been reading the various fishing reports posted. Generally speaking, what is the most effective way to fish for perch and walleye: Jigging? Deadstick? Spring bobber? How far from bottom? any fish suspended? I feel I have a good handle on where to fish on the lake, thanks to Jason's fishing reports, just not how to fish. Any advice on recent effective techniques, jigs, bait, hot spots, etc. is welcome

[hanson]

TroutAngler-

My perch technique for Winni is pretty simple.

#1- Find a hump or a breakline.

#2- Auger holes from the top of the hump, down the side of it, and out into the deeper flat below. Most of the humps I've fished on Winni top out at 20' or so and drop off into 30-35' of water.

#3- Hop from hole to hole with your depthfinder looking for fish near the bottom.

#4- When you locate fish, I fish the hole using aggressive techniques first such as a jigging spoon tipped w/ a minnow head. I'm looking for the active fish.

#5- I catch what I can out of that hole and move to the next one.

Pretty simple, eh?

Most likely, you'll find the perch near the bottom of the break or out into the flat, so in about 25'-30' of water.

My last trip up, there were a lot of perch that were inactive so it took a lot of augering and holehopping to pick off the nicer perch. I could get a few inactive perch to bite when I downsized my presentation to a Ratso or Ratfinkee tipped with a EuroLarvae but I also got into the smaller perch.

The majority of the fish I caught were on a 1/8oz JB Lures Varmint jigging spoon, gold colored.

Perch can be fun to catch because they like to chase. You can jig them up off the bottom aways and keep pulling it until they commit. Slamming your lure into the bottom is another good way to convert a few.

[PerchJerker]

Hanson's advice is solid.

There's TONS of structure in Winnie. Don't get married to an area and stay there too long if the bite isn't happening. Try some other spots and sooner or later you'll hit active fish, or at least scrape together a decent catch. Moving around works better than waiting for the fish to come to you 95% of the time.

I also like hole hopping and looking for agressive fish with a jigging spoon and a minnow head. But if you're finding mostly lookers and very few biters you might have to switch to live minnows. I deadstick with spring bobbers instead of using slip bobbers in that deep of water but either will work.

I've completely given up on waxies and larvae on Winnie. As far as I'm concerned the small perch can't leave it alone and the big perch won't touch it.

Ask the resorts or the bait shops for advice. Seems like everyone up there is friendly and willing to offer good advice. Good luck and have a great trip.

[jiggin pig]

I was just up there on the last week of january and our best combo was a smaller gem eye with a whole fathead hooked through the back. I would let it fall to the bottom and give it a couple of jerks and as they say bobber down. another good one was a perch colored forage minnow with a whole minnow. I did not have much for success with a minnow head. A small plain glow hook is a good one to fall back on also, it allows the minnow to do the work for ya. just my two cents. other than that, keep hole hopping along the breaks.

[TroutAngler]

Great advice everyone, it is greatly appreciated. We have a group of seven - all family members. We'll make sure to save a few for the rest of you!

[PerchJerker]

Troutangler - post how you did when you get back from your trip. Our group doesn't go up until the 23rd or so .... these last few weeks before the trip are tough ones to wait out.

[TroutAngler]

I will do that. I've been anxious for a few weeks. Just got the Lakemaster chip form my H20c so I can find those humps. Can't wait to test it out.

[hanson]

Oh man... You are going to love the Lakemaster chip on Winni. It is so on the money they should make them illegal.

[PerchJerker]

Agree. I used the LM Software for a couple years before mapping units with chips were available. Now I use the H20 with the chip. Amazing doesn't even describe how useful and accurate it is.

[TroutAngler]

So, what is the definition of a "bar", is it really just a large hump? I got's me some gold and silver hammered swedish pimples, some perch forage minnows, some angel eye jr spoons in a variety of colors, some buckshot rattle spoons in perch, gold, silver. I plan to hole hop, etc. anythng I am missing? There is one camera among the seven of us, how is the clarity? I planned on spending some $ on either a camera or the H20 c. Sounds Like I made the right choice with the H2O c and lakemaster chip? We are staying at a resort on Dixon Lake (Dixon Lake Lodge). Anybody have any success on Dixon for crappies/wallye, sunnies? Are we better off ignoring Dixon and concentrating on Winneie? I'm sure the resort owners will be helpful. Are we better off heading onto the lake from the north (3rd River Flowage) or should we drive to an access on the south side of the lake? I plan to hit the mid lake humps and some other areas in the NW corner of the lake for perch and walleye.

[james_walleye]

Its good too hear that the chip is that accurate. I've fished Winnie for the last 6 years now and done very well on walleyes every time up there with just a lakemap and depthfinder. I just got an H2O with the chip and cant wait too put that too use out there. It will be nice too be able too see exactly where you are at in relation too a bar and too be able too pinpoint some of these areas better.

[jiggin pig]

we also had an aquaview with us, it was great while it was daytime, but early morning and before dusk it was rough to see anything. I also have the lake master chip and i feel it is a must have if you ice fish on winnie. We found it to be just a little off, but you can have perfection. If you can get your hands on some smaller sucker minnow's, we also had good luck on walleye with those. good luck, i am heading back up the weekend before walleye closer.

[flagsup]

glad to hear those chips are on my cousin let me have his with just winnie on it cause he bought a new one with multiple lakes on it i dont have a handheld thats chip compatible so i took my lx15 out of my boat and made it porttable.we have agroup of 8 guys that go to winni every year in march hopefully this year we'll still be able to hit the ice.over the last 15 years we've always found away out but you never know that late in the year,always on ST. Pats day weekend. these guys are right on jigging spoons,jig raps with just the minnow head are deadly.move around the spots the resorts tell you,sometimes 20 to 30 feet is all it takes,sometimes its a hundred yards,the point is move till you find fish,a flasher is very helpfull although if you land on a pod of fish youll know it as soon as you drop a lure down the hole.the big perch are usually pretty agressive but sometimes if there on the flasher and they wont hit a spoon drop a whole minnow down on a bobber and give them a little time if they dont go move on.another point if your catching small prech move on sometimes not far but the perch seem to hang with there own size class if you pop a big one work the area well.Ive found holes 30ft from a buddy who might elect to sit on ahole that two of us couldnt get our lines down quick enough.talk to your resort owners and spend alittle money in they're busineses they're usually pretty helpfull to get you pointed in the right direction.