Big Sandy

Hello All,
I have a opportunity to use my nieces cabin on Big Sandy, Labor Day weekend / week.
Never been on the lake, but have always wanted to give it a go.
Asking if anyone would be willing to pass along general info on the lake, not looking for anyone’s secrets.
Maybe a phone conversation? Or just reply here.
Appreciate any help in advance.

Steve

I preface by saying I’m far from an expert out there. Best advice I can give is use your electronics. As the name implies, a good share of the bottom is sand with very little weed growth and those areas don’t seem to hold a lot of fish. But, there are many areas of structure with good rock that I’ve had decent luck on. Plastics can work, but in my experience it’s a live bait lake. Jig/minnow/leech/crawler, spinners w/ crawlers, slip bobbers, have all produced. Keeper (14″+) walleyes are not the easiest to come by, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble catching a mixed bag for a fish fry. It’s a very stained lake so I typically don’t target any deeper than about 15-18′. Caught a lot of fish in 6-8′ right below the boat.

Look in the Aitkin forum, lots of feedback there. Lots of structure, best thing you could do is spend a bunch of time using SI and look for weeds close to other structure. Or you could do what we do and go to other lakes in the area

It’s a very busy lake on weekends.
I always did best heading to the backwater down by Zorbaz. Not much for traffic down that way. It’s probably been 10-12 years since I fished it.

Steve I sent you a PM.

Plan on fishing mornings before the lake becomes a zoo. Fishing rock or gravel always seems to produce fish on bsl. I use to fish it alot but 12-14″ walleyes don’t do it for me anymore. The north end of the lake during the day is probably the least crowded with boat traffic if you are trying to fish midday. Lots of structure to keep you busy.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Good stuff to think about.

Steve

Personal message sent

Steve,
Labor Day weekend is the last of the last for summer fun. You WILL see a high amount of traffic on the lake if it’s sunny and warm out. Our summer has been that way. The good thing is there is plenty of space! My best advice is to head to the main lake and find some rock humps. Drop a jig and minnow and start probing around. Last weekend I found a quick drop that went 40 yards and worked back and forth with plastics. (Freedom Baitz – Ring of fire) I boated 20 walleyes in 2 hours with my wife. The traffic for some reason picked up in the area and they moved on. I know I could have moved to the next hump and continued my quest, but my better half was done.

Two weekends ago we had a private campsite Northern Tourny. Most were trolling weed lines in shallow bays with cranks. We caught tons of Walleyes.

Lots of ways to catch them, just keep moving away from the traffic.

Good luck and stop in at Eagle Point for a food and drink.

Shannon