Lake Winni?

[cityfishin]

My buddies and I rent a shack for a long weekend every year. Usually we go up to Mille Lacs, but we wanted to try a different lake this year. We haven't had a whole lot of luck there lately and thought we'd try Winni. Any help or suggestions for finding a resort that rents permanent sleeper shacks for 4? Any guides that rent? We contacted Brian "Bro" Brosdahl who guides up there, but I'm unclear if he has any rental shacks like we're looking for. Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Jarrod32]

I am not aware of any sleeper houses for rental, but there are a lot of resorts on the lake.  Do a search for 'Lake Winnibigoshish and resorts' for a lot of good info.  Winnie is a great choice.  We have a bunch going up to Winnie for a week in mid-January.  Great fishing.  If your looking for a guide, there's a guy named Jason Boser that guides up there.  I don't know him, but he seems to have a good rep.

[woodyjdh]

If you are interested in Jason Boser as a guide- [email protected]
I don't know him, only that he has a great reputation!

[GEM_EYE_GUY]

try Nodak.com
look at the bottom of their fishing page
several house sizes listed, though it doesn't specifically mention sleepers
If I were you, I'd call them.  If they don't have sleepers on the lake, they can probably tell you if anyone else does.

[whitts-end]

Out crew went to high banks last year, and did alright... decent place to stay, great bloody mary's.  I don't think any outfits on the lake had sleeper houses last year, as far as i could tell.   there is new ownership now at high banks (the bloody mary recipe transfered) and they have sleeper houses  (or at least one) available... you can find them at highbanks.com....  go to the cabin availability page... you should be able to see if they are rented from there.

[woodyjdh]

As of today, Highbanks is the only resort on Winnie to have a sleeper house for rent.  The place where I work is sponsoring a fishing trip to Winnie in January.  All the employees will be up "fishin".  We are staying at Tamarrac Resort.  I have never been up there in the winter, but was nearly raised at what is for now "sunset view" resort (on the east shore of Winnie) every summer for the past 32 years.  So it will be interesting seeing everything frozen up there!     

[cityfishin]

Thanks. Woodyjdh is right about High Banks being the only resort to offer a sleeper shack. They got one just as I was inquiring about them. Nothing's posted on their website. I've called every resort on the lake. Nobody else had them and nobody knew anyone who had them. This one came from Mille Lacs and is approx. 8 x 14 and has 4 bunks. It rents for $140/night. They are very nice and they seem to be booked throughout the season.

One note: if you make a reservation beware that they have a very strict cancellation policy. If you cancel for any reason you lose your entire deposit ($140) even if they re rent the shack. That means that they collect twice for the rent of the shack. Not very fair and I expressed my displeasure with it. If enough people mention that, maybe they'll change it.

I'm encouraged by whitts-end's success there last year. What did you use?

[whitts-end]

we did ok on perch, but not great.... we saw others with LOTS of perch... it was the damndest thing.... they were using chicken skins as bait... Coming from the Madison area, we had always used spikes, so chicken skins i assume resemble some sort of grub or worm but i had never heard of that before....could believe it!  (anyone else use chicken skins??)

anyway, the big ticket  for eyes was a gold spoon like the buckshot rattle jig, kastmaster, or the like. (although i don't think the type or color mattered a whole lot... they were voracious) we tipped them with minnow heads.  not much eye action during the day, but for about 30 min right before dusk the  eyes came through like wolves feeding on everything.. it was one after another of nice 17-22 inch fish.. as fast as it started, it shut down... it was fun to watch on the camera - we saw all these 1-2" perch fry, they all of a sudden they were gone... then we watched the vexilars and had a blast as the eyes came through... about an hour after that, the bloody mary's had a good bite going.

bowens flats were ok during the day, but mostly smaller perch... anyone else have any tips or spots they want to share about winnie? we are heading back jan27-30....

tight lines
whitt

[cityfishin]

I'll be there 10 days earlier. I'll let you know how we do. I've never used chicken skins, but hell, I'll try anything once. Walleye are what I'm after mostly. I may try to move around with a portable during one of the days just to see. I'll keep you updated after my trip. Like whitts-end said, "If anyone has any tips or spots to share about Winnie, we'd love to hear from you."

[cityfishin]

Thanks. Woodyjdh is right about High Banks being the only resort to offer a sleeper shack. They got one just as I was inquiring about them. Nothing's posted on their website. I've called every resort on the lake. Nobody else had them and nobody knew anyone who had them. This one came from Mille Lacs and is approx. 8 x 14 and has 4 bunks. It rents for $140/night. They are very nice and they seem to be booked throughout the season.

One note: if you make a reservation beware that they have a very strict cancellation policy. If you cancel for any reason you lose your entire deposit ($140) even if they re rent the shack. That means that they collect twice for the rent of the shack. Not very fair and I expressed my displeasure with it. If enough people mention that, maybe they'll change it.

I'm encouraged by whitts-end's success there last year. What did you use?

Okay, I had to cancel our outing and High Banks has been the greatest. They slackened the cancellation policy after we tried to apply it to another weekend. They are the only sleeper shack for rent on all of Winnie and I'm sorry I won't be able to taste the secret Bloody Mary's that they serve. Somebody else grab the shack for the weekend of january 14th-16th. It's Martin Luther King's b-day and for many it's a 3-day weekend. Perfect for sitting in a warm shack pulling out walleye. Good luck. I hope to get up there another weekend.