Lake Winnipeg Update 2017

[Downrigger]

We saw the same with pickups all over. There was one Ridge that would have been difficult in places but snow was softer. Looked rough for the people in pickups. First 300 yards on the lake was real rough for us with tracked vehicles.

 

[5575]

We're headed up for 5 days on Saturday.
Wondering what you would take out of our choices we have as far as transportation.
Small ford escape suv on tracks
snowmobile with otter
atv with otter
or Toyota 4x4 pickup

Where is the best access right now, I hear the west side is pretty messed up. Should a person just take the escape and stay off the rutted trails? Or should I take my Toyota 4x4 and pop ups? Looks like light snow most day but light winds so that will be nice!

 

[Downrigger]

We're headed up for 5 days on Saturday.
Wondering what you would take out of our choices we have as far as transportation.
Small ford escape suv on tracks
snowmobile with otter
atv with otter
or Toyota 4x4 pickup

Where is the best access right now, I hear the west side is pretty messed up. Should a person just take the escape and stay off the rutted trails? Or should I take my Toyota 4x4 and pop ups? Looks like light snow most day but light winds so that will be nice!

If it were me I'd do tracked vehicle. If you were in the Toyota and did get stuck I think it would be a bad deal. The snow would probably have to soften for that to happen but its not a great place to be stuck alone with no way of pulling yourself out. I think the escape or snowmobile option would be the way I got but probably depends where you go out of too.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Sub_Elect]

SUV with tracks or sleds. All access points are good.

 

[5575]

Ok the escape it is then. Thanks. Anyone been having trouble with thieves at the lake or hotels yet?

 

[Sub_Elect]

Haven't heard of anything yet.

 

[Vollmer]

Everyone run chipper blades on Winni?

 

[Bluegill]

Ok the escape it is then. Thanks. Anyone been having trouble with thieves at the lake or hotels yet?

When we were up there the 3rd week in January we stayed at the canalta in Selkirk. The first night a group of guys had a sled house stolen out of the back of their pick up they never touched anything else that was strapped down

 

[tinker]

hey i was up there also, had a white mega cab and a side by side parked in back. we didnt lose anything to thieves, thankfully!

When we were up there the 3rd week in January we stayed at the canalta in Selkirk. The first night a group of guys had a sled house stolen out of the back of their pick up they never touched anything else that was strapped down

 

[Bluegill]

I think I might have seen your rig possibly talked to you. we had the dark blue ford with a red ranger with a homemade box on the back

 

[fishman]

wondering if maybe a person could do alright with just chains on the ranger?Its a lot faster and a lot easier on the machine.

 

[5575]

A person could go anywhere with a regular 4x4 ranger.hardly any snow on the ice and what is is darn hard. Just drive slow. Hell we saw compact cars and mini vans a couple klicks from the ramps today! Ha ha

 

[fishman]

thanks 5575

 

[Jimhardy]

Hey guys , like the earlier posts stated , travel is easy all over the lake .... just not very fast. Lots of big hogs getting caught in the last week .
Some of you have contacted and stayed at my places on the west side , I have had a couple of cancellations and changes so these dates are open if anyone is looking for a place to stay.
Both are year round houses , fully equipped . the smaller one is 2 minutes from Matlock access , the larger about 10 minutes from the access.
dates available as of right now are :
March 12 – 15 at the big cabin
March 27-April 4 at the big cabin

March 5-9 at the small cabin
March 13-21 at the small cabin
March 25-29 at the small cabin

Big cabin comes with a heated single garage at 225.00 per night and the smaller one is 135.00 per night.

Call me at 1-204-792-1053 if you need a place to stay.

Oh yea our places are very secure , lots of parking

 

[Mizzou21]

Just got back from 3 full days of fishing on the Big Windy. Averaged 50 fish per day. Big fish of the trip was a 31.5 inch that went 12.04 pounds, and of course caught by a total newbie!! LOL. Biggest fish I have ever seen come through the ice, and hell may be the biggest I will ever see. We managed 3 other 27's and 3 26's. Never got any other MA's this trip. Had a great time, and as always the people of Canada are fantastic to deal with. From the Canalta, to Dave with DNA Outfitters, and of course the folks at Boston Pizza thank you for all the hospitality and excellent information! We traveled around in a truck, and as others have stated, rough as hell. We accessed ice from Ralph road in Matlock each day, and fished the same area out from the mouth about 2 miles. Fished the same ridge/crack area each day. 18-20 feet was best. DH custom rattle baits from mister DirtyMike himself caught 90% of the fish and had the locals up there asking for some!! Salted minnows and livies produced, but the salties were better. Fish were very lethargic this trip compared to others, many lookers or took multiple times to entice them off the bottom to get them to bite. And very few slammed the baits like in the past, most were lighter bites. The bigger fish we caught over 24 inches were the more aggressive biters, but they also took usually 2-3 times up off the bottom before they would commit. We were 5.92 miles out from access according to gps and it took us nearly 1 hour to get on and off ice from where we were fishing based on rough ice and snow pack and slow travel. That was by far the worst part of the trip. We had an extension, but probably could have made it through just barely with no extension. Good luck to all guys heading up that way, and maybe see some of you up there again in March!

 

[5575]

Yea today didn't suck.
Took my two Manitoba buddies who had never been around electronics on the ice. Scheels special ordered me a helix ice 7 and got it to me the day before I left. Good thing for my buddy who got to use it!
Saw the mark middle of the water column. Reeled up to it and BAM! Best fish of his life, and she lives to bite another day! :;:cheers

 

[huffranger]

That's a brut !!

 

[5575]

Last fish of the day today was a good one as well!

 

[Vollmer]

Nice fish! Congrats!

 

[tigolbitties]

I read above to either use sleds or tracked rangers. Is that still the case with the lack of snow? We are planning sleds but have some rangers without tracks that we could take up. Just not sure what the right answer is. Thanks guys! 2 weeks from today we are heading up for our first trip...going to be a long 2 weeks...