Winnipeg Eyes

Big windy lived up to her name this past week. High winds with a few inches of snow made for blinding conditions. Now add in negative temperatures and wind-chill which makes for unsafe conditions.

We let Mother Nature do her thing and decided to sit the day out and get ready for the morning. We headed out on ATV's rigged with GPS.

Looking for deeper water, we settled in near a ridge and some broken up ice and 21 feet was the depth we set up in. Still very windy outside and blistering temps made being mobile very difficult.

It was only few minutes before we started catching some fish while making lots of noise using rattle baits was key. Once you marked a fish, they would chase it all over but not commit.

The trick was little wiggles and small rips. Pinks and purple were the hot colors of the day as we managed some very nice greenbacks that day. The bitter cold made everything more difficult with multiple times a day, battery's went dead on ATV's. So make sure a good jump pack is brought with.

Day 2, we headed out to the same area armed with more knowledge than the first day as we setup and quickly began catching fish. Some of us had live bait setup on the second rod.

We did catch fish on the live bait but rattle baits still out produced live bait. I used the heads of the live bait on rippin shads as they did not fall off as easy as the frozen emerald shiners. Our group caught many large fish that day as it was by far the best day.

With endless eater size walleyes mixed in it was a great day, but Big Windy broke some equipment just as a reminder of who she is and the vast size of the lake. 1 ATV down for the rest of the weekend, Hyfax ripped of bottoms of portables, busted two tow hitches, dead battery's, claimed 1 ice auger, broken Vexilar and other busted up miscellaneous gear.

Day 3, high pressure bluebird sky's and sun shining with the wind laying down enough for us to get out and do some hole hopping and it was a tougher bite. We did catch some nice greenbacks and again all the eater size fish one could catch.

It was an awesome 3 days of fishing with fresh cooked fish on the ice for lunch. Even though the lake took so much from us in broken equipment and made everything difficult with the weather she threw at us, I can't wait to do it again.

Just to hold a 10lb + greenback is indescribable feeling. Fish of this caliber need to be appreciated and not taken for granted! Do what you can to release these fish unharmed. This truly is a special fishery and it needs to be treated this way. Until we meet again Big Windy!