Waubay Report

[Avid Angler]

Hi guys and gals,

I am heading out to Waubay in a couple of weeks and was wondering what the fishing has been like out there? I heard of a group of guys who got there walleyes and had a decent bunch of perch as well. I was wondering if there is a current fishing report for the lake. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Avid

[Tyler Holm]

Avid,

The best I can offer is to put a call into Grenville Sport and Bait. Its on the North side of Waubay. If a lady answers the phone, your in luck. She's put me on more fish than every other bait shop combined.

[Skis]

Here's my report from the weekend: Fished the refuge on Saturday. Caught a 12" perch 15 minutes into the day. ONLY fish I caught all day. My group of 4 guys ended up with 9 perch and no walleyes.

Second day, fished Mankey's slough. 4 guys: 2 keeper perch.

Well, at least the weather was enjoyable!!

[Chef]

Send me your email address please...

[Tyler Holm]

Waubay is just one of those lakes that will produce fish if the weather has been stable. The biggest problem that people have on waubay is not being able to find fish.

If you don't find fish within the first 100 holes, my honest recommendation is to drill 200. I've done it with limits being the result. At this time of year, the perch are schooled up and its not uncommon to pull several fish from the same hole in a short period of time.

Grab your flasher (or not) and go hole hopping. Give each hole 1-2 minutes of honest fishing and if nothing happens, move to the next. If you hit one, get your bait back down there ASAP!

My boys were out there Tuesday morning for 4 hours and caught 10 beautiful perch. Several 12"ers.

They were out with the camera about a week ago and hit 45 perch, with almost every singe one caught on camera. The perch would suck in the bait and never even move the bobber. Then they would just spit it back out.

[IceJohn]

A large group of us 17 from another site in Iowa.Went Thursday to Saturday.We caught some nice perch by school bus point.our guide put us right on the spot.We all had a great time,stayed at Roy Lake.

[mnhunter2]

We spent fri-sunday fishing in the grenville area and had fair luck, the perch are not easy to catch but if you moved enough you will find them sat they wouldn't bite but you could find them and on sun they where hard to find but most of them showed some interest in the right lure, the ice was 12-17 in and has a lot of snow on it and the water is starting to make slush under the snow in some spots we set our sleeper houses up for the night walleye bite and ran the lake with portables and 4-wheelers for the perch. I would't be out there without a good shovel and a tow rope, it will only get worse unless we get real cold. Saw game and fish guys everywhere we went even a night road check on a gravel road, better now the laws and keep your ducks in a row or it will cost you!!!

[Redwalleye]

HAHAHA

We too have found that the nice lady in the Grenville bait shop is a useful tool on Waubay. I also hear ya about drilling masses of holes. We move about every 5 minutes too. Also, how do you guys do on 'eyes out there?

[Tyler Holm]

The eyes will move through your favorite perch spot and will bite best during low light periods and even after dark for a while.

I guess I normally search out perch and usually pickup a few eyes during the daylight, but as dusk arives the walleye bite turns on.

If targeting only walleyes, you might try a break with depth of 14-18 FOW. There are several. The eyes cruise these breaks and can usually be coaxed into bitting.

For perch, I'd stick in the 22-24 FOW mud flats.

[Avid Angler]

Hey Chef,

My address is [email protected]. Thanks for your info!

Avid

[Avid Angler]

Hey everybody,

Thanks for the info! I just got back from Waubay today and I would call it a successful trip. We caught sixteen keeper walleyes over three days and caught about thirty more that we released. We also caught fifteen jumbo perch. The perch were really finicky, but the ones we caught were nice. We fished off of school bus point in 23 ft of water. We had a rough start to our trip on Friday. We got to the lake and started fishing about 9:00 am, didn't graph a fish until 3:00 that day. Finally caught a walleye and then a few perch. Those perch were tough, but I think the key was to move and move. The walleyes liked fatheads and green gami hooks and the perch liked a #10 pink tear drop with a waxworm. Good luck!

Avid [email protected]

[Take 'Em]

Fished on buckshot saturday and sunday morning. three of us ended up with 23 perch and three eyes on sat. sunday morning was alot slower only 6 perch and 2 eyes. the front didn,t help. most of the perch were caught on hali's and eyes on shinners.

[spudhauler]

For the guys who were recently at Waubay, what are the ice conditions like? How thick, slushy, water on top? My group will be there Feb. 17 & 18, and I'm hoping it firms up.

Thanks

[Take 'Em]

their was 14 to 16in. of ice and some slush on the ice, but mobility was not a problem. still quite a bit of snow on the ice so if it stays mild, water and slush on the ice may be problem

[Tyler Holm]

Take'em Great to see a new name in the SoDak forums. Welcome to FishingMinnesota. I know a few individuals that graduated from the great town of Volga. Good to have you aboard.

[iceaddict]

So Hi guys My q is are they driving on Waubay??? How is the ice on Haugh Slough? Any problem bringin 1/2 ton crew and 17ft wheel house? I fish the waubay area a lot but have not been yet this winter. Any help and fishing reports would be greatly appreciated.

[Take 'Em]

their is plenty of ice on haugh slough to drive and pull a shack on. as for the fishing its been really slow since it openned. only a few perch. i have not personally fished it but been by there several times and their is so many people on there that in sure it turns off the fishing. way to much camotion on the ice.