Panfish Report Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, Grand Rapids Area

Our winter guided ice fishing trips are nearing an end. There is only a few weeks left and hopefully more bluegills like the one above continue to want to play. Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, and surrounding bodies of water have seen their fair share of fishing pressure this winter. Skittish schools of fish are becoming aware of the new technology that is facing them. Finding fish isn’t the tough part. Keeping them underneath you, now that's a whole different story.

One tactic that I have employed this winter is using more of my 1 man fish houses. I currently run the Clam Kenai because of the ease of use. Flip and go, no extending of poles.  I also like the dark fabric on the inside of the house. It keeps everything dark, and I am noticing more and more how important that is to help keep spooky schools of crappies and bluegills below you. 

Utilizing forward facing sonar this weekend to help us locate schools of bluegills and crappies definitely helped us find general areas that the fish were congregating. However, trying to get your house or yourself positioned right on top of these schools proved to be a difficult task. It was, find an area, move your 1 man there, not marking, don't move! Wait it out. It took on average 20-30 minutes for those schools of fish to move back into position. I am a firm believer that these fish are becoming accustomed to being drilled right on top of. This happens consistently now, over the course of the winter. It used to be kind of accidental when you would land on the large schools. Now targeted holes can be placed right on top of them each and every time. We are educating a lot of fish, and we as anglers will need to continue to adapt and educate ourselves. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.

As our winter guide season winds down, please continue to check each week for updated fishing reports from the Lake Winnie and Grand Rapids area. Eelpout and Tullibee season is upon us. Warm days on the ice, with family and friends sounds pretty exciting. I know my son Duncan is itching for some smoked fish soon.

-Jeff Johnson

Perch Fishing ReportLake Winnie and Surrounding Areas

Lake Winnie fishing guide Jeff Johnson with a group ice fishing outing targeting perch

Perch fishing around the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas has been improving over the past couple weeks. The fish are starting to feel the oncoming spawn. We are also experiencing more daylight which helps reduce the midwinter doldrums. Both perch and perch fisherman were out in full force this weekend. Being mobile was key to having success. Ice conditions on Lake Winnie and other local lakes remain great. Anglers are able to access most areas without the need for tracked machines or plowed roads. Keep in mind there are some slushy areas mixed in. Watching for discoloration in the snow can help keep you from running into these areas. 

I’ve said it before, but this time of the year for me, I have the most success fishing shallow flats when targeting perch. The bigger the better. I like 6-8 ft flats, large in size, and deep water nearby. Your deep water could be a sharp break line leading into a deeper basin, or a deepwater hole. Start on top of the flat and be mobile. You will know pretty quickly if there are perch nearby. The first few biters are usually the most active, and often the biggest fish of the day. You can move around and continue finding active biters throughout the day. Cycling back into some of your holes later on, can also be effective, and it will reduce arm fatigue from continued drilling. Drilling too much can also have a negative impact on your bite, so keep that in mind as well. It is important to check those deeper areas as well. Perch will often congregate in these deeper areas at different points during the day. It can lead into the nursery effect, however. Smaller fish that use this deeper water as a sanctuary will often be more in abundance. Fishing through them becomes the challenge.

We do have 1 open slot on March 5th to fill this winter for a guided ice fishing trip on Lake Winnie or surrounding areas. If you are interested you can reach out to us at 218-259-8893.

Grand Rapids Area Fishing Report

Grand Rapids, Minnesota fishing guide Jeff Johnson will be highlighting fishing tips, tactics, and locations every week. If you are enjoying the content you have seen, and you would like to connect with us, please feel free to send us an email at northerndriftoutfitters@gmail.com. If you have questions that you would like us to address in our weekly fishing report, please let us know, and we will do our best to answer. We would like to see this report page grow. Let others know, and we are always open to feedback.

Anglers were treated to an absolutely gorgeous weekend. The recent warm up has helped reduce the size of the drifts that have plagued most of the lakes in the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas. Four-wheelers, trucks, cars, snowmobiles are all finding ways to get out and maneuver around. I found myself reflecting this weekend on some of the harsh conditions we have faced over the past few years. It made this weekend feel pretty special. 

Cutfoot Sioux and Bowstring Lake are still providing anglers an opportunity at quality size crappies and decent numbers of fish. A lot of the smaller lakes in the area are struggling with good size distribution on crappies. A few observations that I made on Saturday, were that some fish are trending out of the deeper basins and holes they have been in. 

Taking this knowledge and applying it on Bowstring Lake on Sunday worked well. Every spot we stopped and checked had been drilled out. Most of the holes previous anglers had drilled were focused in the middle of these basin depressions. Staying to the outside of these depressions and focusing a little shallower provided enough bites to make for a good day.. Fish were not found everywhere, but when we did locate some, they bit. No coaxing needed. Staying outside of these highly pressured areas was the ticket for us. 

Grand Rapids Area Fishing Report

Grand Rapids, Minnesota Area Fishing

This week’s fishing report is brought to you by Grand Rapids, Minnesota fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Jeff will be highlighting local fishing opportunities in the Grand Rapids area every week. If you are interested in booking a trip with Jeff, you can reach him at 218-259-8893.

Crappie fishing in the north woods has remained one of the most stable bites for anglers throughout the years. This year is no exception. Crappies' location in the winter months make them an easy target. Most anglers with today’s technology can find a school of crappies, and then begin implementing tactics to get them to bite. Some days are easier than others, but with a little bit of try and a little bit of luck, crappies can provide even young anglers an awesome introduction into the sport.

By Saturday evening temperatures in the Grand Rapids area finally broke free and allowed many people an opportunity to break free from the cabin fever that was beginning to set in. I think the cold had the biggest impact on the children over the past week. No recess, no outside activities in general, made it a tough week for every parent and every educator. My son Duncan pictured with the nice crappie, was one child in particular who needed to get outside and explore.

Duncan loves the action of perch fishing and the shallower water that we usually find ourselves in makes the overall fishing experience a little bit easier. I explained that for this evening trip,we would be targeting crappies, and it was not about catching, but about the adventure and enjoying some outdoor time together. I could tell he was a little bit skeptical about my plan, but we pushed forward. This was also going to be a brand new spot that left myself a little skeptical of the outcome. 

Holes drilled, bobber set, snacks in hand our evening crappie adventure began. It didn’t take long for the first few biters to show themselves, and a few were also lost during our ungraceful hand-offs that have plagued my son and I over the years. But, before long Duncan’s bobber disappeared down the hole and low behold a nice adult size crappie showed up. I could tell by the look in his eyes, that success was not something we would be searching for the rest of the evening, it was already had.

The overall action remained pretty slow, but enough fish chose to play to keep us engaged. The smaller tungstens that have played a huge role for me over the past few years found themselves in the bottom of the fish house. Large tungstens with plastics, or plastics and wax worms worked much better. The old school bobber rig and minnow gave way to the biggest fish of the night, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I had some of my old frostee glow jigs tied on. I know it’s been awhile, but it brought back some good memories. The bigger tungstens and plastics made those stale marks on the graph show some kind of movement. 

Overall, many memories were made, and a great fish fry was had the following day. One mistake also led to an interesting find, but that’s for another time. Get outside with the kids when you can and remember patience, patience, patience. Success doesn’t always have to mean a pile of fish at the end of the day.

Lake Winnie Fishing Report

This week’s report is brought to you by Grand Rapids, MN fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Jeff provides ice fishing guide trips on Lake Winnie, as well as other lakes in the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas. For those wanting to book a trip with Jeff, you can reach him at 218-259-8893. 

 Anglers in the region were treated to the first real cold front of the winter season. Temperatures in the region began falling as of Friday evening, and many lakes received a break from the heavy angler traffic they have been receiving. Many anglers on the big lake are experiencing a tougher bite overall. The fish seem to be scattered and when they are found, only small bite windows are appearing. Capitalizing on these small windows throughout the day can lead to a decent bag of fish still. 

Most anglers are still needing to approach the lake with a multispecies approach, and they cannot be afraid to take what is given. A guaranteed evening walleye spot might produce good action for bigger perch, while proven perch spots are randomly kicking out nice walleyes and pike. The cold temperatures over the weekend and heading into this week will for the most part keep a lot of the angling pressure down. I am one that is thankful for this, and I do hope that this week provides a bit of a reset on the lake. Everyone needs a good nap once in a while, and if you have been familiar with Lake Winnie over the past few years, she never seems to sleep. 

An old but very effective rig has led to more bites than many other gadgets, gizmos, and thingamajigs over the past week. The tried and true split shot and plain hook can lead to more bites on a slow day. Don’t waste your time on draining the vexilar battery either. Tipping the rig with different size fatheads throughout the day is the most technical you will have to get. Simply drop the rig to bottom and lift up slightly. Personally I like to hole hop with this rig, and I don’t carry a rod holder system with me. You can usually find a sweet spot for the reel to rest on the ice while the tip of the rods is able to move without having much resistance. Let it sit and let the rod give you all the information you need. Give it a few minutes, rinse and repeat a small distance away. Unlike all of the jigging spoons a person might utilize, this rig will not call that many fish into you. Making small moves to holes nearby cannot be overlooked. There is something about this rig that brings me back to my youth, before the world got so crazy. Everyone needs a little break from screen time as well.

Lake Winnie Fishing Report

Today’s report is brought to you by Grand Rapids, MN fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Ice fishing on Lake Winnie has remained steady since the start of the ice season. Perch fishing continues to be the primary focus during the daylight hours. The temperatures that we have had in January have allowed anglers to get outside and hole hop. The mobile angler is having more success on average than those who are camping out in their houses for the day. Shallow flats in the 6-8 ft range have led to larger perch overall. These fish are very nomadic though. When a hot hole is found, it is extremely important to be efficient with your approach to capitalize on the school.

Perch talkers loaded with wax worms, minnow heads, full minnow bodies, or plastics are extremely versatile and work well when you are fishing fast and needing to capitalize on the fish below you. Perch talkers work great for walleyes and pike as well. Large schools of perch can also be found on 11-13 ft flats as well. These depth ranges have led to more walleye bites as well, during primetime hours.

The Pines Resort on Lake Winnie offers a great access point to Tamarack Bay. The road system will allow anglers to have easy access to spots in Tamarack Bay. Anglers who are willing to get off the main road systems via snowmobile, utv, or atv can often find flats that have not received as much pressure and often lead to better quality fish. Large drifts on the lake can make travel a little difficult. Visibility of these drifts is poor. It is important to take it slow.

There are still open dates, for those that are wanting to book an ice fishing trip this winter. Please feel free to send me a text or give me a phone call at 218-259-8893. Our guide service can accommodate large groups as well. Anglers only need to have their valid MN fishing license and appropriate clothing for the day. The rest is taken care of. Anglers are also allowed to bring their own gear if they would rather do that.