Winnie - fishing tips for a 1st-timer?

[Wadinator]

I'm heading up to Winnie on Feb 13-15 (6hr drive for me). I've never fished it before and I'm looking for any tips I can find for catching perch and/or walleyes there.
PS: I'll be staying at Nodak Lodge in Benes. Is it a decent place?

Thanks in advance!

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Wade

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Wade

[Chris Haley]

As far as staying I'm not familiar with Nodak, but I've gone out of there alot. They will be able to put you on the hot spots if you ask.

[Wadinator]

Any special color spoons that work better than others, or other ice lures? Whole minnows or just minnow heads? Grubs?

Is the lake a steady producer, or more of an "on again, off again" lake?

I'm hoping to figure out which lures, jigs, or hooks I need take with me.

Thanks!

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Wade

[This message has been edited by Wadinator (edited 01-23-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Wadinator (edited 01-23-2004).]

[PerchJerker]

We've stayed at Nodaks every year for more years than I can remember. The cabins are good and we like the people that run the place.

They do a nice job of giving you tips on locations, and reports from the previous day - ie. did the fish bite early only or all day long, are lots of guys going to certain spots or are there other spots to try where you might be alone, jig actively or jig very little, etc.

There's some guy on the Winni forum that's [PoorWordUsage]ed because Nodak's wouldn't give him GPS coordinates. I say that's just too dang bad. They always have decent maps of roads and locations and plenty of advice. Only problem is if there's not much snow (hard to see the road) and you're trying to head out 10 miles or so. That shouldn't be a problem with the snowfall this year.

Nodaks sells minnows. I brought waxies and eurolarve along for a few years, but now I only use minnows. In my opinion grubs are a great way to catch way too many small perch -- I'd rather have slower fishing with fewer small perch. We catch plenty of fish, even on the slow days.

We use pretty much the standard perch or walleye baits. Mostly jigging spoons - pimples, vinglas, northland spoons, bay de nocs, etc. Jigging raps work if the fish are aggresive. Some guys in our group like to use horizontal baits like fat boys. I like to actively jig with one rod and fish the biggest minnow in the bucket under a bobber with the other rod. On jigging spoons I usually only use a minnow head.

The standard colors work the best, but it pays to change them especially if fishing is slow. Silver, gold, perch pattern, glow, chartruese, and glow-green are what I use the most -- silver the least of any of those.

You'll hear this a lot, but it's important. Don't be afraid to move. Sometimes you can't buy a bite while your buddy 20 feet away is icing so many jumbos he hardly has time to rub it in. Sometimes a whole location will be dead and you need to drive to another spot. If you're not getting many fish or many big fish, start moving around.

Hope this helps. We have a great trip every time we head to Winnie.

[Wadinator]

Thanks for the report Perchjerker! It's nice to hear from someone who's stayed at Nodaks.

Sheesh! Driving 10 miles out onto a lake sounds insane, but I've never ice fished that far north before.

All the tips are greatly appreciated!

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Wade

[PerchJerker]

Glad to help. There's a few spots we've tried that are closer to Nodaks, like Moses and Center Bar, but they've tended to be more hit and miss for us. Most of our best fishing has come in the north-central part of the lake, and Nodaks is on the very southern end of the lake. But their roads and maps will take you where you need to be.

[Wadinator]

Change of plans... I guess we're staying at Mcardles Resort.

Anything in their neighborhood in the way of hotspots? Thanks!

Wade

[This message has been edited by Wadinator (edited 01-27-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Jim W (edited 01-28-2004).]

[PerchJerker]

They're a little farther north, on the east side of the lake. I would guess they'll have roads that go to the same areas in the north central part of the lake that we usually fish. There's tons of spots and usually enough people fishing that it's not too hard to get on structure.