Just a heads up, I have used dock supports that I am willing to sell if you want to invest in some wood from the lumber yard in deer river? Had to extend my dock on cut foot thirty plus feet. Little bit more labor intensive but, it may keep your boats in deeper water? PM if interested.

Put the dock out on cut foot the weekend of April 20th. It’s low. Added an extra thirty feet of docking to reach adequate water depth. Used the old dock supports that I had sitting in the woods. Three hundred dollars worth of lumber and I should be good. Very low. Might be a good time to sell my other dock supports for people in need?

45 teams and only 77 fish caught? Wow!

The crappies didn’t have the size. The bluegills were nice. Not huge, but good enough for a few to fry.

Good report Charlie. I also found that shiners and the 10 to 13 foot locations were key. I focused a lot of my efforts around the north shore and river channel. Son and I did decent Friday till Sunday evening. We also got into a pretty good panfish bite in the shallows of little and big Cut Foot Sioux Lake. There were also bass and northern in the shallows as well. Water is high. Does anyone know when they will open the winne dam a little more? The dock is getting close to being raised again. Keep up the reports.

I have just what you want. 170 feet plus of wood dock materials and metal dock posts and racking. Double 2 x 6 stringers that are 16 foot long. 2×4 treated wood decking. Call me. I left you a message on your phone. You don’t need to take all of it. Just what you need.

Had a 2007 opti-pop. 200hp. Took good care of it. Did all the maintenance on it when needed. Out of nowhere blows. Mechanic at nelsons says he sees about three a year. Exactly the same thing. Injectors get fouled or clogging and poof. I am not sure on the 115’s. My two cents. Keep looking.

Mechanics advice to myself was get rid of the 2009 Acadia before you put more into it then it’s worth. We had a lot of problems with it over the past 9 years. The wife wanted a Honda Pilot or Toyota highlander. Very difficult decision for me. I always try to buy the American products. We’ll the pilot was built in Alabama. That helps. Happy wife, happy life! Good luck!

Up on Winnie this weekend. Son and I got our limits of divers and some mallards. Cold this morning with snow and plenty of wind. A lot of divers around this morning..

Fishing has been fairly good on Cut Foot Sioux Lake and Winnie. Just working the weed line with spinners and small cranks. Weed lines and wind are the key. I’m moving fast until I find active fish. A lot of slot fish.

Decontamination stations for the nets…….?????? Face it. We’re screwed! 1 net found in Mille Lacs! Hits the front page. The net I backtrolled into on Winnie last fall had probably 3 times more walleyes in it and they were falling apart from being in there so long. My story is pretty common to my neighbors up there. They have all seen it or experienced it first hand. What happens on the leech lake reservation is far worse than the Mille Lacs waters. Time to revisit the agreement or implement some standards.

So do they check the nets for invasive species before they drag them through the next lake????

One last quote from me. I’m okay with subsistence harvesting in our area. I’m not okay with “for profit”.

Sorry guys, but they’ve been hauling out of the cut foot Since last Friday when the ice went out. 3 to 4 boats at a time morning through evening. Right next to the ice edge in the pass. The pass is Lake Winnie. Rumor has it they sell to a local shop in Grand Rapids that is advertising fresh fish. Right on HWY 2. Lake Mille Lacs barely gets touched compared to the leech and Winnie area. Good luck this opener and fish next to the nets! That’s where they’re at…

Heading to Cut Foot. Ice went out last Friday. Saw the walleye stripping at cut foot Sioux Inn and that was neat. Winnie still had ice on Sunday when I left. I’m sure that will be gone soon. Drove past Big Sandy and that was open with no ice. At least from my view off HWY 65. Good luck to everyone!

Been using the new rancher all winter ice fishing up around Winnie. Just picked up a 2004 rubicon foreman 500 a couple of weeks ago. Worked great at the cabin last weekend. Leaked gas out of the carbs. Did a rebuild/cleaning of the carb and now purring like a kitten. We are ready for the trails at the cabin.

This thread has helped me. Three months plus and I still get good info. I bought the Honda Rancher 420 ES in December. Beat the heck out it ice fishing on Winnie and surrounding lakes. The lighter weight probably has saved me a few times from the slush and deep snow. Now I’m in the market for a used Honda 500 class foreman, Yamaha Grizzly, or a can am. Any ideas on what to look out for buying a used Honda, grizzly, can am?

Wife got a lily pad last summer for the kids. 6 x 18. They abused it all summer at the cabin. Best purchase we’ve had for the kids. Out all weekend and put away when we leave. Recommend it highly.

Stopped by and took a look at that Yamaha kodiak 450 at Tousley’s today. Nice machine. Saw the rubicon 500, might have to give that some consideration as well. The rubicon is stout. I’m not the smallest guy. The 400 seemed light. I do like the smaller foot print of the Honda 400 though. Tough decision and I like the input. Thanks again.

First off thanks for the posts / replies. I appreciate the views. I’m now leaning towards the Honda with the Yamaha’s getting a strong consideration. I really wanted the Polaris to work, but with the issues I need reliability. What models should I look at within the two? Meaning the 400 class?

You are right Bob. Nothing negative. My opinion. What I have experienced on both leech and Winnie is the fishing has changed. I only have a small sample size of 10 years for the region. Not an expert by no means. Water clarity seems to have changed on Winnie the past two years. Leech, I see no difference. I haven’t found any zebra mussels on my dock yet. Will be looking from now on.

Bob, Those nets get dragged from lake to lake in that area. Bowstring, cass, leech, Winnie to name a few. They don’t care. You think Mille Lacs has a problem with netting and invasives? It’s nothing compared to the leech / cass / Winnie / bowstring area. Those fisheries are changing quickly. We are already seeing signs in the ecosystem. I’m not talking about the white fish netting either. It’s only a matter of time before we see this zebra mussel cycle in the area. What can you really do to stop it? Setup the DNR to inspect and wash? That will cost coin… Don’t zebra mussels have a life cycle of 7 to 10 years?

I still remember the 84-13 loss to the cornhuskers! The metrodome was half filled with red!

Sounds like a science??

How does one locate and dispense nets for white fish? Where do they frequent? Mid-lake? Open water basins and suspended? Just wondering?

Drifter, I have an old log cabin with additions in the 90’s and early 2000’s. I purchased it this past summer. It’s a lot of maintenance. I’m able to do most of it myself. It’s the log replacement / rotten sections that I have the experienced pros take over. Just stay on top of it.

This one had a lot of good fish in it. Very small white buoys. 50 yards long. Working to untangle the prop we could see it had been there awhile. 2-3 days. The fish were falling apart. No white fish either. Called the local CO. No response. Fishing was good for us. Hard time getting slot fish, but, the action was good and plenty of variety.

I don’t mean to be a negative Nellie on this forum for my first post. Just trying to see if this is common practice for the region. I do plan on giving updates for the Lake Winnie and Cut Foot Sioux Lake area in upcoming future. I see the last post for Winnie is may.