Best chance for BIG walleye through ice?

[Chad Holst]

Im curious where in MN you would fish if you were going just for BIG walleyes?

I know in the open water that Alpine Lake in the boundry waters would be my #1 in the world "go to" lake, if i was looking for the best chance to find a BIG walleye. (our smallest "big fish" from our many trips is 30.5", largest is over 32").

I know Upper Red is a great fishery, but you're lucky to even see a 24" walleye from there (for now), LOW and Mille Lacs give up some big dogs every year but compaired to the number of people targeting those fish, the chances are still pretty slim to yank a 28"+ fish out.

If you were in a 2 day contest for the biggest walleye in MN, where would you go?

Personally i think the best chance for BIG walleyes is really limited in the winter, as my top choices are not very accessible unless you have a sled dog guide, so i would probably have to say Leech Lake, which wouldnt have even been a laugh-able consideration 5 years ago. Second...hmm... Plantanginet south of Bemidji would make my list as well as LOW depending on how clear the water capped that year.

(Again, just in Minnesota)

[ClownColor]

mille lacs...they've been getting huge there lately. I caught tons of 27" over the past few years and few 28-29ers. Those 30"+ have to be there...but, LOW obviously has to have them from just lake size itself.

for me, leech had more 24-26ers.

just me though.

[CaptainMusky]

Hands down LOW. If you are looking for a fish over 28". Mille lacs rarely kicks out fish that are truly over 28. You have provably the best chance at getting numbers of 24 to 26 inchers there though.

Last day of the ice season last year my buddy iced a 27 and 32 within minutes of each other on LOW. That 32 was an absolute slob!

[Rick G]

True Giant in Mn, Lake of the Woods, no questions. I have one on my wall from there and so do several of my buddy's. Biggest walleye I have ever touched came from the big lake in March.

[FISHINGURU]

I'd probably have to go with the east end of Rainy.

[Northlander]

LOW, Rainy and the St. Louis River are good bets.

[Chad Holst]

Rainy is the one i have always questioned, mostly because i have only had 1 trip on Rainy and it was poor conditions but supposedly GREAT fishing at the time. We sure didnt find the walleyes, but heard the bite was great, no one we talked to or filmed with was on real good fishing, yet all the reports were how great it was. I figured either the lake wasnt putting out walleyes and we just hit it at a bad time or the people sure had a slanted view on what "great" was. We have never concidered Rainy again, for no other reason that there are lakes we know are good and we know where to go, if we do a trip that far north.

A body of water that size, that far north should hold great fish, but i never hear it thrown in with LOW, Mille Lacs, etc...

On a side note to my original post, has anyone ever tried doing one of the boundry water lakes via dogs or snow shoeing in? I have spent many hours day dreaming about a few lakes we have fished on the open water and how amazing the Walleyes could/should be through the hard water...if a guy could get in there to hit them. Just the idea of having to hand drill all the holes has turned some of my friends away from planning a trip with me. Slush can be a great issue if the weather turns also. I wouldnt want to be stuck snow shoeing through a mile of shlush with a gear sled in tow, let alone doing it 7 miles from a road.But oh what a trip it could be.

Alpine would be our #1 choice, as i believe we could get towed via snowmobile 1/2 to the Alpine portage, as they can use motors on the open water 1/2 way. That would cut the walk down to maybe 2.5 miles, plus an extra mile or so to where we figure the bite would be in the winter on Alpine.

[FISHINGURU]

Rainy is the one i have always questioned, mostly because i have only had 1 trip on Rainy and it was poor conditions but supposedly GREAT fishing at the time. We sure didnt find the walleyes, but heard the bite was great, no one we talked to or filmed with was on real good fishing, yet all the reports were how great it was. I figured either the lake wasnt putting out walleyes and we just hit it at a bad time or the people sure had a slanted view on what "great" was. We have never concidered Rainy again, for no other reason that there are lakes we know are good and we know where to go, if we do a trip that far north.

A body of water that size, that far north should hold great fish, but i never hear it thrown in with LOW, Mille Lacs, etc...

So you gave up on the Lake because you had 1 bad trip in poor conditions but the bite was supposed to be GREAT? According to who the people that guide and run the resorts? According to them the fishing is ALWAYS great lol.

It is a tough lake to fish, not only being able to find them but to even be able to get to where the true hogs are.

You have to remember there are thousands and thousands of people on LOW and Mille Lacs giving reports, I can ice fish the east side of Rainy for a week and not even see another person. That's probably a good reason why you don't hear much about it just based on the low numbers of people that even make it out there.

Last I seen the DNR expects the new state record eye to come out of Rainy. That was a couple years ago maybe it has changed since then.

Where did you fish when you went there?

[Chad Holst]

Fishguru, its a long story... and i need to go back, but...here it is.

I was invited to fish in a tourney of some sort or another so i grab a buddy of mine and we head up with my uncle and his co-worker. We hit Upper red for a day, POUND crappies (this will tell you how long ago it has been) and then we head up to Rainy.

I knew the weather had went from very cold all season to very warm for a few/several days, but when we got to Rainy i couldn’t believe what i saw. We picked up some bait and headed to the house that was set up for us and ready to go. We had to drive over a very long bridge over what looked like 10 feet deep water. Then we drove for another mile or so before the water was finally gone. Mind you there was a ton of great ice, but there was a ton of water ON that ice. A bit unnerving, as I was only into Ice fishing a couple years at that point and had never driven on wet ice before. We were in a duelly!

So we get out, we get set up, and fish for a few hours. here comes the guide, and makes us move. (this went on all weekend) set up, move, set up, move. Not because we were not on fish, which we were not, but because it was the longest we could sit before the holes had opened up too much from the water running in and making them 3-4x bigger. it was GREAT weather if you like to swim and wear T-shirts while ice fishing.

Well, it all ended the night before the tourney started...some poor bast@rd dropped his vehicle in the drink. I guess he thought his truck could swim and decided to drive towards the river instead of ANY OTHER WAY on the lake. Killed his wife and kid. (wasnt even fishing...went out to party with his friends at the ice house...why bring your kid??? Yes, he was drunk..anyway..)

So they said the ice was unsafe and cancelled it. We fished for northerns after that, and had a blast catching HUGE snakes for two days. But we never caught or camera'ed any walleyes and only saw a few perch. others all said the same thing, but the forums and the shops were talking like it was the second coming of St.Walleye.

I know its a silly reason, and by no means an indication of the quality of the lake, for goodness sakes it was a million years ago. But i never got that outta my system. And i never hear stories of guys having a great trip to rainy. one good thing that came out of that trip was what we call the "silo". When we caught a snake would would turn a beer can sideways in its mouth, to judge its head size in the photo. Well, we ended up having to use "coors light silo's" on a few as the heads were wider than a 12oz can! I no longer shove beer cans in the mouth of the fish i catch, but we now call a wide fish a "silo". Im still waiting on my 1st "silo" walleye!

Do you live up that way? If so, i should get some of the boys and plan a long weekend up there...maybe bring a camera or two if you got the time.

[monstermoose78]

Pigeon River as it heads into Lake Superior. Basswood and Saganaga

[Chad Holst]

+1 on Sag also...basically the same water as Alpine.

Basswood, which one?