Fishing Season

We are very excited for the upcoming fishing season for a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s been a long winter and we are really looking forward to seeing all of our returning guests and meeting our new ones. The other reason we are excited has to do with FISHING! Due to the health of the walleye population in Lake Winnibigoshish, the Minnesota DNR has changed the slot limit for Walleyes. The new protected slot limit will be 18″ – 23″. You will still be allowed to keep 6 fish and one fish can be over 23 inches. This is a very generous change and should result in some nice “keeper” walleyes this season. We met with the DNR a couple weeks ago and were given an update on the health of Lake Winnie. Our Walleye population is very strong with only one weak year class of fish. The largest year class of walleye’s ever recorded were just being caught in the nets last fall and measured in the 10″-12″ range. Those fish should reach the 13″-15″ range by this fall. So if you are considering a trip, September fishing should be excellent. Jumbo Perch population in the lake is also very good and fish over 10″ were pretty easy to catch all winter long. Northern Pike populations are extremely strong which has prompted the DNR to propose a new regulation for Lake Winnie that would change the bag/possession limit from 3 to 10 fish. At this time, this is still just a proposed regulation with an anticipated implementation date of 2017. Due to the huge population of Northern Pike in Lake Winnie, we will be encouraging our guests to keep Northerns under 23″ for fish fries and pickling. Tamarack Lodge will offer free instruction on cleaning Northern Pike to remove those pesky Y-bones and share our recipes for pickled Northern which is quite delicious. So there it is. The ice is pretty much gone from the lake and we are anxiously awaiting the start of the season. If you haven’t booked your vacation yet, give us a call so we can get you in on what promises to be a great Summer season.