waubay last weekend

[walleyefisher]

Our weekend at Waubay did not last nearly long enough.!!!!!Friday night on the way up, we stopped in Watertown on the way up for gas, we missed the Hwy 20 turn and ended up going to Hwy 25 (way out of the way) After winding our way back to Grenville, I stopped at the stop sign in Grenville, thinking I was out of town and back on the highway, I sped up to 55.  The moral of the story is a 55 in a 35mph zone will cost you $119.00 .  The worst part was, out of the 385 mile trip, we were only 8 miles from Pickerel Lake Lodge, where we stayed, when I got pulled over, and from where I pulled onto the side of the road, I could see the 55mph sign. .  Enough ranting and raving, lets talk fishing.  Saturday got off to a SLOW start, with just a couple perch.  We moved around alot and saw fish on the camera, but they would not bite.  They would nose it and move away.  We tried every lure in the box, minnows and waxworms.  We finally moved to the North end op Pickerel about 4:00 and did not catch a thing.  There were two guys who caught a limit of walleye right at dark they were on the break in 16' of water (bunch of shacks out there in that hole)  Sunday was a better day by far, we fished striaght out from Grenville boat dock in 23' of water pretty close to the small white permanent shelter and caught six nice perch, a few undersize walleye, and one keeper walleye.  The perch ranged from 9" to 12" and were all very fat.
People said duck Island was producing, but there was noone there and we caught no fish there.  E of schoolbus  there were shacks out, but noone was catching there either.
Lures that worked were:
Perch colored Hali tiped with small minnow
White Genz worm tipped with two waxies
plain old gold hook with a minnow on a rattle wheel.

A camera and or a vex is a must!!!!
We stayed at Pickerel Lake Lodge for $65.00 per night and the service was top notch.  We will definately be back next year

[ice dawg]

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip even after all the bad luck. I didn't know there was even a cop in the Grenville area. Was he a state trooper? I'm going to try to get on Waubay this weekend. My son is coming back from New Brunswick Thursday night so I suppose he will be too tired to go on Friday. I have to baby sit my grandson Saturday and I will hopefully get there on Sunday. I hope the fishing will be better, but it has been spotty on Waubay all winter. Was the lake crowded or is the fishing pressure letting up a bit?

[sdhusker]

That $119 ticket makes those perch and walleyes pretty high priced per pound.    I cannot believe Johnny Law was anywhere near Grenville.  I thought the only law enforcement in that area was Game, Fish, and Parks.  It must have been a Day Co. sheriff. 

How is the snowcover on the lake?  Are people starting to spread out a little more now?  When I was there a few weeks ago, there was a dense population of people congregated east of School Bus, but the rest of the north half of the lake was pretty much vacant.  Of course, getting too far off the path at that time could have been an adventure, as there was a good amount of snow everywhere.  I am hearing that there is c. 18 inches of ice.  Is that pretty accurate? 

I might give Waubay a try on Saturday, so I'll let you all know how I do.

 

[walleyefisher]

Yes it was a Day county sheriff.  I guess there are two new ones and they patroll "the grade" where I got nabbed pretty often. Game guys were all over too, checking licenses, measuring fish and taking a survey on limits. I am always glad to see those guys whenever I go anywhere.  They run all over that lake on a snowmobile and one had a 4-wheeler in the back of his truck. 18" is pretty accurate on waubay, and there is less than 2" of snow anywhere on the lake. (although when we were leaving monday,  it was snowing).  I did not think there was much pressure there, maybe groups of 30-40  portables in the two places where we caught fish and about 15 hardside shacks on the entire lake where we were. One other note- don't pay to get on the lake at the two private entrances, you can get everywhere from Grenville.

[Waubay Fisher]

Hey ya'll!  I was hoping someone would post w/ how the ice conditions are up there, as I've heard anywhere from 12" to 18".  Sounds like it's closer to 18" on average though!  Is it a good solid 18" or is any of it crappy & honeycombed w/ the snowmelt?  Safe for driving still I'm hoping?  I'm hoping I won't have to hoof my gear all the way where I want to be  .  Good to hear some of that snow cover has finally melted some too, although, it might be harder to find where I had my portable parked the last three trips I was there as I scooped a nice little area around my portable  .  Damn GPS broke... so now I have to guestimate and do some 'bottom scoutin' to make sure I'm gonna be where I want to be!! LOL  Kinda funny... I've been all over where the crowds were and in several other areas on the N end of the lake, but I've only gotten a few perch in one spot in particular!  Anyways... hopefully w/ some better light penetration that perch bite will pick up a bit more in the next couple of weeks as we get towards the end of the season...

Too bad to hear about the ticket fisher .  I've seen the Day Cty sheriff patrol around up there several times... which is good - keep the drunks off the roads IMO... just gotta watch that speed though .  As far as the CO's are concerned - I've yet to meet one that is a jerk - they have all been extremely nice and do their jobs well I think.  It's nice to see them doing some of those surveys again too...

I'll be up there this weekend from Thurs afternoon on till Sunday mid-afternoon.  If anyone wants to meet up at all PM me and I'll get back to ya!  Hope everyone does well too!!!  Dawg - could this be the weekend for the beer perhaps???  I can taste that lobster already!!! LOL - j/k 

-WF outtie!!

[ice dawg]

WF, this weekend sort of depends on my son and how tired he is when he gets back from Canada. My grandson gave me his cold and that doesn't help much. I have to see the doc Monday and see about getting rid of the cataract on my right eye also. If I know my son he will be half dead when he gets back and won't want to get up and go on Friday. I'll have to baby sit the little guy so grandma can work on Saturday and I don't have a clue about Sunday. If I get there I'll look for your black Blazer.

[-fish-]

Eye fisher did you try that mud flat i gave you the gps points on? Or call Matt West? No hard feelings if you didnt i feel bad you didnt catch more fish... To bad about the luck. Theres always next time.

[Waubay Fisher]

Good luck with the doc Dawg & hope ya get over that cold, they can be a bugger at times!!  If I see ya I see ya and if not - there's always next time

[ice dawg]

Well WF, I have two boats and like to spend time in the Webster campground. That way if the wife wants to work a few days during the week she can go to Aberdeen for a few days and come back. I kinda like having coffee with Karen at Sportsmans Cove in the morning anyway. Maybe we'll have that brew later in the year if ya can get away from the work force long enough. Stay in school that work force is a nasty place to be!

[walleyefisher]

Hey fish, thank you for the GPS coordinates, yes we did try there and did not catch one fish on that flat.  I drilled 12 holes around there and just could not find anything willing to bite.(the fish were there though)  I called Matt West to see about guiding and he said he had a tournament last weekend, so he couldn't do it.  He was very good to talk to on the phone and he was the one who told us to try the place on pickerel.(we sat only a few yards from the guys who caught the keeper walleyes) , so he would have been a big help if we drilled our holes just a little ways away.

[Waubay Fisher]

Well WF, I have two boats and like to spend time in the Webster campground. That way if the wife wants to work a few days during the week she can go to Aberdeen for a few days and come back. I kinda like having coffee with Karen at Sportsmans Cove in the morning anyway. Maybe we'll have that brew later in the year if ya can get away from the work force long enough. Stay in school that work force is a nasty place to be!

TWO boats - I'm jealous!!!    Never actually dropped in the Cove - I usually visit the Grenville Sports Mart for my stuff.  I can only stay in school long enuff tho... we'll have that beer sometime .