Hello, from Big Winnie!

Fishing on the big lake has been good for Perch. Several areas on the lake are going well now. The West side from the river mouth north to Sugar Island is doing well in 6 to 10 feet of water. The main lake bars such as Snag Hole, Stumps and Bena Bar out to Little Musky have been decent from 20 to 30 feet deep.

Pike have very active both for spearers and Tip-up fisherman with 6 to 12 foot depth being the best fishing.

The walleye bite is fair with early and late day fishing working best. From the tops at 15 feet down to about 24 feet is where folks are hitting walleye numbers.

ATVs are the best ice travel option as of now. The ice in Big Winnie varies from 14 inches South and East to 10 to 11 inches North and West. The river mouths have quite a bit less ice - closer to 6 to 8 inches in the current.

As always, use caution when venturing out. Call ahead to a resort or local bait shop for up-to-the-minute conditions.

Some area lake conditions:
Portage bay and Sucker bay of Leech Lake is at 11 to 13 inches. Boy lake is at 9 inches. Sucker Lake is at 10 inches. Cutfoot is 9 to 11 inches but stay out of channel areas.

Panfish bite varies as we have had some fisherman do ok on bluegills. Crappies are slow at this time.

There is very little snow up here at this time so we will continue to make ice.

I'll try to keep these reports coming a little more frequnelty over the next few weeks so you can anticipate ice conditions and understand where the fish are biting best.

See you on the ice!

Pat Rooney

Hello, from Lake Winnie!

It is almost that time for the hard water on the big lake. Here's an ice report for you. Ice conditions on the lake are starting out "ok." Third river has 3 to 4 inches of ice and there is some spearing going on with several pike over 30 inches that have been speared.

Mississippi area varies in ice thickness from 2 to 3 inches, as we have a lot of current still comming into the lake. Great caution should be used in this area!

The main lake, as of Tuesday, varies from 2 to 5 inches, with the east side being thicker but broken up some, as wind blew pretty hard when the ice was first being formed.

We will have more updates again this week as we are going out and checking every day. It's supposed to be an extremely cold weekend and great for making ice.

Pat Rooney

Hello from Lake Winnie!

A few fisherman are still out catching perch and a few walleyes. They are mostly running rigs and minnows from 10 to 20 feet of water, slowly moving along.

Pike fishing has been okay close to the river mouths.

Hunters are doing well for grouse, as the leaves are on the ground now. Quite a few grouse have been taken by deer hunters setting up deer stands.

Duck hunting is not good and has not been good for awhile. Very few northern ducks have come through, to date. Local ducks are pretty much gone from the area. We've heard a few reports of ducks still way north of Lake Winnie.

Weather is going to be good for awhile, especially this weekend. I'd get out on the lake for a last crack at fishing before hardwater starts.

We look forward to seeing many of you this weekend for opening deer hunting. Should be a great weekend. Bring your non-hunting buddies up with you so they can go after walleyes and perch.

Pat Rooney

Fall is officially here and the fishing is really taking off. In my opinion, this is the best time of year for great walleye fishing, pike fishing and perch fishing. The numbers of fish are outstanding and they are easily caught throughout the shallows and onto the humps. Pretty much the whole lake goes crazy and fishermen and women only have to risk a little cool weather.

Although the leaves are still holding well to the trees, they should be dropping soon making it much easier to chase after the grouse that are in the area. There is a large amount of public land here and the Chippewa National Forest is a great place to work your dog. Grouse numbers are up and it should be a very good grouse hunting season throughout the area.

The big lake is a great place, too, for duck hunting. Or, if you don't like such big water, there are numerous ponds and great duck sloughs throughout the Chippewa National Forest. We can help you find a few good spots to go. Mallards and greenwing teal are the primary waterfowl being taken at this time of the season.

And, if you're interested in doing some deer hunting in the area, there are plenty of places to do so, but you will want to do your pre-season scouting in the next few weeks. It makes sense to leave the woods alone after the October 15th, at the latest. We've seen plenty of deer throughout the summer and fall and they have been eating well.

Right now, you can fish or duck hunt in the morning, grouse hunt throughout the late morning and early afternoon, then head back out to the water to catch some more fish or duck hunt at dusk. There aren't too many places in Minnesota with these kinds of opportunities so near to one another without access headaches. There is so much public land available with amazing hunting opportunities.
 
Of course, we're here to help with whatever you need. This is a great time of the year to make it up to Lake Winnie. Enjoy the season!

Pat Rooney