Winefred Ice Fishing

[SamSteele]

Hey all,

Headed to Winefred this weekend with a bunch of buddies. I’ve never been there before. Was curious if others had ice fished there before and if so, what did you find worked well? There’s a bait ban for the lake, so nothing scented allowed. That may put a damper on the tip up game for big pike.

Would love to hear some experiences. Thanks.

[dodgeboy1979]

In the past i've used big 5 of diamonds and jigged them. Caught everything from big pike to walleye and even large whitefish.

[Jamie]

How do you get back in there? Is the road plowed?
I assume you are staying at the Lodge. Do they have any equipment package rentals or do you have to bring all your own stuff?

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Jamie

How do you get back in there? Is the road plowed?

I assume you are staying at the Lodge. Do they have any equipment package rentals or do you have to bring all your own stuff?

Going to stay at the Winefred Lake Outfitters. Bringing our own stuff in and using a cabin.

[243plus]

Originally Posted by dodgeboy1979

In the past i've used big 5 of diamonds and jigged them. Caught everything from big pike to walleye and even large whitefish.

The biggest whitefish I ever caught was on exactly what you used.. a big 5 of diamonds. Surprised the heck out of me.

[Ronji]

Its weird that the 5 of diamonds has been our go to hook for years. Used them in all seasons, and caught all species of fish on them. Sometimes a jig will work, but 95% of the time is the tried and true Len Thompson.

[guru fisher]

I always find Fred is dead in the winter for some reason. That’s just a myth about 5 of diamond spoons in the winter. Great fishing in the summer not worth the time, money and effort in the winter...

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by guru fisher

I always find Fred is dead in the winter for some reason. That’s just a myth about 5 of diamond spoons in the winter. Great fishing in the summer not worth the time, money and effort in the winter...

Well that is unfortunate to hear. It’s too close to the trip to back out on my buddies now though. May as well make the best of it.

[SamSteele]

Great idea! Thanks!

[mlee]

Originally Posted by SamSteele

Great idea! Thanks!

Depending on which one you use.....sometimes you have to play with the slack between the tie eye and the cinch point or double it back towards the head if it's really front heavy.

[marky_mark]

Buddy left his truck at the launch and had his tires slashed out there
Some of the locals aren’t very friendly

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by marky_mark

Buddy left his truck at the launch and had his tires slashed out there
Some of the locals aren’t very friendly

yup...

My experiences are that the locals aren't around much, but when they are out and about you'd better be ready for a confrontation.

[SamSteele]

Hey all. We just got back this afternoon. It was a challenging trip to say the least. We wound up catching a grand total of 4 pike between 8 fishers with myself catching 2 of them. All were under 5 lbs. I ended up with frostbite on the bridge of my nose due to the extreme cold, and we had a water pump go on one of our trucks outside of Lac La Biche which required a flatbed tow back to Edmonton.

Lots of stories to tell for the future, but not many about the fishing.

Here’s a few pictures from the trip.

A photo with a 20 second shutter speed taken at 11 pm. Ursa Major in the top right corner.


Sunset on the ice.

[SteveY66]

Thanks for the feedback.
I am really stunned that the fishing was slow. I’d think the lake would be insane in March. Curious to see if anyone has had luck with whites in the winter ? I’ve caught some in the summer months, very aggressive.

[Jamie]

Sam Steele. Share them all. What a great adventure. Did you have to sled in or could you drive?

[swampy45]

It’s a hard lake to fish in the winter, and I won’t put in the time to do it again. In the summer fishing has even tapered off quite significantly over the past few years, and I am hoping to see the closure of retention for Northern Pike will help with that

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Jamie

Sam Steele. Share them all. What a great adventure. Did you have to sled in or could you drive?

Easy drive in to Winnifred Lake Outfitters and then sled onto the lake. There was a lot of snow and flood water. One guy was out with a Ranger but it looked like he got stuck a few times. We chatted with them and they caught two fish that weekend. An 8lb and a 16 lb.

[mitchj]

Iv allways wanted to fish winifred,Iv heard nothing but good in summer and winter about this lake.

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by SteveY66

Thanks for the feedback.
I am really stunned that the fishing was slow. I’d think the lake would be insane in March. Curious to see if anyone has had luck with whites in the winter ? I’ve caught some in the summer months, very aggressive.

We saw a few whites on the north side of Banana Island in about 12 FOW but they weren't interested in anything we put down.

[SamSteele]

A few more pictures from the trip.

[snowman93]

Every trip is adventure. How did the strike master hold up in the cold ? All great reviews from what I’ve seen on them .

[SamSteele]

It did great. I drilled about 50 holes in varying thickness of ice (16-20” on average) in mid -20C without keeping the battery in a warm location and I still had 1 bar left on the battery. I would probably put it in a warm place in the future but wanted to see how it did. I didn’t need to use my second battery at all on the trip.

I did notice that the battery needed to warm up for a while before it would charge. I put it on the charger immediately upon returning to the cabin and it showed full on the charger. After it warmed for a while it would then take a charge.

[WinefredCommander]

Great fishery. Will be looking forward to seeing what McMahon and his cronies try to do with the public access this season. We thought Paul was bad? This guy is going to lock this place up!