Fishing and Ice conditions

[WestWindResort]

The road at West Wind is marked and in good shape out 4 miles. There is good ice and great fishing. We have found 14" to 16" in most of the areas we have been. We are letting limited vehicle traffic out on now. Vehicle traffic will be limited to 1/2 ton pickups and smaller. With the snow coming late Saturday and Sunday the ice conditions may change so call ahead for the most recent report (218-647-8998).
   Fishing is very productive now with many limits of walleye being caught. And a few crappies too. Evening (4-7pm) and morning (8-10am) are the best times for the walleye. We are fishing in 10-13 ft with very good luck in some areas. Glow red is allways a hot color along with pink and white. Good Luck.   

[Woody]

Hopefully the storms will miss.  Thanks for the report!  And welcome back to MNO! 

[cookie]

All the resorts have dug out and have been busy bringing all there rentals on the lake and claiming there areas. I have decided to go out of agassiz again this year. All my sleepers are now on the lake and ready to go for the weekend. I ask Hillmens about using / going out of there road but never got a answer so I guess thats a no. The lure of the north shore is hard to resist as I still feel thats the best area to fish for crappie. Maybe one of these days or years I will throw in the towel and focus on walleye.

[Woody]

I was wondering how everyone faired up there after the storms.  Thanks for the update! 

[shunt8]

How is the Ice on Blackduck. I will be heading up there for Christmas and was thinking of hitting the lake. Any Reports from the Blackduck area??

Thanks

[WestWindResort]

I was wondering how everyone faired up there after the storms.  Thanks for the update! 

Well we got some snow but nothing the v-plows cant handle. The lake is in really good shape considering the amount of snow we had in a short period of time. It really makes for nice snowmobiling.

[WestWindResort]

The walleye bite has been quite good. Many anglers are finding limits of keeper sized walleye with lots of bigger ones to catch and release. Most of the fishing is taking place from 2-4 miles out in 10-13 ft of water. The morning from 7-9 am and late afternoon from 3-5 pm have been the best times of the day. There's not much action after dark but keep the rattle reels down just in case you get a run of fish come through. The walleye have been biting very light so you need to give them some line and electronic like a Vexlair or Marcum flasher come in very handy for knowing when the fish are down there. Many times you can see them first and get them to bite with small upward motions. Like always, glow red and white work very well.
   Northern action has been picking up big time. I saw two 42" northerns in the last couple of days with many smaller ones too. Tip ups and sucker minnows seem to work very well. Just set up a couple outside the house while you fish for walleyes inside.
   Crappies are still showing up but very scattered. The ones that have been caught were in random areas of the lake while walleye fishing. Right now they are very hard to target. Hopefully later in the year we will see an increase in catch rates.
   Ice conditions are in great shape and we are approaching to 2 ft mark in some spots. The road is in great shape as well and runs out the 4 miles before running into some very rough ice. The end of the road is a very popular spot so this week we will try and make some large areas for wheel houses to pull into and fish. Just stop into the bait shop and they will give you the info on where to go. Good Luck!!

[WestWindResort]

Happy New Year everyone. Another big snow storm brought us even more snow. The wind made lots of drifts and they are hard. Offroad travel is almost impossible now so we are trying to make many areas for people to fish. We plowed a large area at the 4 mile mark last weekend that was a very popular spot. I will open it back up for this weekend and plow another one at the 2 mile mark. From the reports I am getting the 2 mile area might be the best one to try. Walleyes are still the fish of choice for many anglers which is good cause there are plenty of them. Many keeper sized fish are being caught with several slot sized fish also. It sounds like we may finally have a night bite. I am getting a few reports of fish being caught right at dark and after dark for a couple hours (5-7pm). Also an early morning bite has been really good too (6-8am). Like always glow red and green are the hot colors, along with a single red hook and splitshot 2ft up from the hook set up. Tip both rigs with a fathead or shiner minnow and your set.
  The crappies are still being caught, but by accident while walleye fishing. The 2-4 mile range has produced the best area for a chance at a monster crappie.
  The northerns are still just roaming the open water in search for your sucker minnow on a tip up, so make sure you get them set up. I have also had many anglers get them on their walleye rigs too, but many times they get more than one line and things get interesting fast. Good luck!!

[cookie]

Again mother nature as smacked us in the face to let us know whos the boss.
I was able to find a fishy area and prep it before the big blow so atleast I have a new area to move all the houses to for the weekend.
California landed a 41 inch pike and a few walleyes. Montana,idaho and utah had the best fishing with florida and minnesota not doing near as well.
I do have my work cut out for me  as the wind and snow drift made a mess around the houses out further. If I can dig out and move two today that would be great.

[WestWindResort]

Cookie you need a bigger crew!! We moved 20 houses on Monday. And another 5 on Tuesday.  We had 4 and a half guys doing it all, Spider was the half.
 

[cookie]

I know your right. Its a catch 22. I don't mind working on the lake all day but mother nature takes its toll. If I hire anyone I need more houses. A second driver would be huge as it never fails what I need is always in the other truck. Tried to get the wife Kellie to come out in the v-plow but she gave me that look like are you crazy. Moving 25 houses in a day is quite impressive keep up the good work. I hope to take a drive out there this weekend to see the lay out or the roads and how the premier resort in waskish runs so efficient. I do miss fishing out of westwind but I'm a sentimental guy

[WestWindResort]

January 19, 2009.
After the cold snap that slowed everything down the walleye are now getting hungry again.The bite is still very light during the day and getting a little more aggressive closer to dark. We are also seeing several fish caught during the late night and very early morning hours. If you are staying on the lake in a sleeper make sure you keep the rattle reels down at night. A blue and pink forage minnow or jigging spoon is working pretty good right now. That and a fathead minnow of course.
  A small number of crappie are still around, but I have heard some reports of a few limits being taken. The people catching crappies are very portable and are ready to move in a matter of minutes. Drilling many holes and moving from hole to hole using a good flasher to check for signs of fish is the key to finding crappies. Most holes, or even the entire area will only produce a small number of crappies. Moving with the fish to a new area and drilling more holes is the only way to catch these monsters of the deep. Which way they move or where they go is anybodies guess, but those with the time and energy the go scouting may be rewarded with a trophy crappie.
  Perch are starting to show up more often now and that is making people very happy. A few nice 10" perch in the pail never hurt anyone. They are catching them by the same means as the walleye, a simple jig and minnow combo.
   The northerns are still roaming the big waters hitting the occasional tip up or wrapping all the lines in a house in one big ball under the ice. Have fun and good luck!!

[Woody]

Thanks for the update!  Hopefully with this warm up-things will pick up!