Tullibee Fishing Report

Tullibee season is on. Tullibee season for me, marks the end of winter guiding, warm spring days on the ice, family, friends, and a chance to clean up the smoker. It has been a tradition for me for quite some time. I can remember floating a boat out of Tioga beach a few years back just to get to the ice pack. How could one fish, make one person, want to go through so much effort this late in the ice season? Well, after a winter of chasing sometimes finicky crappies and bluegills, the rush of watching a school of tullibee chase you 40 ft in the water column on your flasher is as close to ice fishing therapy as you can get. They are electric when they are on, but tricky enough to make you stay focused. 

My tullibee ice fishing rig has changed over the past few years, and I am sure it will continue to change and evolve. I could go on for days about the different tactics I have used over the years, but for today’s article we are going to focus on my new favorite. A tactic that at this point in time I trust more than any other when targeting Tullibee.It all starts with the rod. St.Croix’s custom pan dancer has the perfect amount of backbone and a light enough tip for detecting bites. I like 4lb test monofilament tied directly to a UV colored buck shot rattle spoon. The color and size of the rattle spoon can change depending on the tip of your rod. You don’t want it to be too loaded when working the rig in the water column. I then proceed to take off the treble hook, and replace it with a dropper chain with quick change clips. You can find different length dropper chains. Personally, I think the longer the better. Simply clip one end to the bottom of your spoon, and the other end clips onto a tungsten jig. The bottom of this rig needs to be heavy, or it will be prone to twisting as you jig through the water column. Another consideration to keep in mind is the size of the line tie on your tungsten. It needs to be big enough to accommodate the quick change clip on the chain. Unless you are going with extremely micro tungstens you will be fine. Bait up the tungsten with wax worms or euro larvae and your rig is ready to rock and roll. You can substitute the dropper chain with a 6, 8, or even 10 lb test fluorocarbon, or monofilament line. It will eventually twist up on you, but it has worked for me in the past quite well when I didn’t have a chain dropper.

Check back next week, for a detailed report on locations for targeting March tullibee. I will also be posting some detailed photos of my tullibee ice fishing rig.

- Jeff Johnson (Fishing Guide)

Fishing Report - Lake Winnie and Surrounding Areas

Jumbo Perch

Today’s report is brought to you by ice fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Jeff provides ice fishing guide services on Lake Winnie and surrounding areas. 

Jumbo, decent, small, gone. These four words can plague any perch angler throughout the winter months. Schools of perch and the mingling of year classes can sometimes leave anglers feeling lost and confused. Use a camera and you will find that you were around the big ones, they just didn’t choose to be more aggressive than their younger brothers and sisters during the time you were there. Now it is not necessarily like this every time. Jumbo perch anglers who don't like to play the sorting game know there are certain locations where the true jumbos live and operate. For anglers who specifically like to catch larger jumbos, targeting some of these areas might be your best bet. I think of the humps and shallow shoreline flats on Lake Winnie. The humps on Winnie in the evenings routinely kick out large jumbo perch, along with walleyes. Very rarely have I had to sort any of the perch I have caught on evening excursions to the humps.I also think of the large shallow flats on Leech Lake, the backwater areas on the Mississippi River, in and around Lake Winnie, and heading south towards Grand Rapids. Spots like these continue to routinely produce that larger, more robust class of perch. The jumbos that everyone seems to crave. Round Lake near Squaw Lake, Lake Bemidji, Bowstring, and Sand Lake are great as well. Jumbo perch  are without a doubt my favorite species of fish to target during the winter months. More often than not, the areas that I listed up above are always my considerations when targeting true jumbo perch.

My winter guide season is wrapped up and deposits are already being taken for next winter. Don’t be afraid to inquire about this spring, summer, and fall as well. If all goes as planned, I will have a Tulibee report up by next week. The new boat has come in as well. Lots do, little time to get it all done. Fishing opener is right around the corner. Check back next week!

Angler Highlight of the Week

Today’s report will highlight Northern Drift Outfitters fishing guide Jeff Johnson. Jeff is a year round fishing guide in the Lake Winnie, Deer River, and Grand Rapids area. In the winter Jeff specializes in fully guided ice fishing trips for jumbo perch and panfish. Jeff is fully prepared to take up to 10 clients during the winter months. Clients only need to have cold weather gear, fishing licenses, and snacks for the day. The rest is taken care of. 

During the early part of the ice season, Jeff primarily focuses on jumbo perch on Lake Winnibigoshish (Lake Winnie). This time of year anglers can expect to catch large numbers of jumbo perch along with an occasional walleye and northern pike. As the winter wears on, Jeff takes his business back to the Grand Rapids area for the most part. The Grand Rapids area of Minnesota offers anglers an opportunity to target world class crappies and bluegills. Most of the lakes that Jeff operates on, allow anglers to bring home a limit of panfish along with the chance at some true trophies. Fishing cleaning and packaging is taken care of at the end of the day as well.

Jeff is wrapping up his current ice season over the next couple of weeks. With spring fast approaching, you can bet our guide team will be preparing boats and gear for a very much anticipated open water guide season. 

If you are wanting to get ahold of Jeff, you can reach via text or call at 218-259-8893. 

Panfish Report Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, Grand Rapids Area

Our winter guided ice fishing trips are nearing an end. There is only a few weeks left and hopefully more bluegills like the one above continue to want to play. Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux, and surrounding bodies of water have seen their fair share of fishing pressure this winter. Skittish schools of fish are becoming aware of the new technology that is facing them. Finding fish isn’t the tough part. Keeping them underneath you, now that's a whole different story.

One tactic that I have employed this winter is using more of my 1 man fish houses. I currently run the Clam Kenai because of the ease of use. Flip and go, no extending of poles.  I also like the dark fabric on the inside of the house. It keeps everything dark, and I am noticing more and more how important that is to help keep spooky schools of crappies and bluegills below you. 

Utilizing forward facing sonar this weekend to help us locate schools of bluegills and crappies definitely helped us find general areas that the fish were congregating. However, trying to get your house or yourself positioned right on top of these schools proved to be a difficult task. It was, find an area, move your 1 man there, not marking, don't move! Wait it out. It took on average 20-30 minutes for those schools of fish to move back into position. I am a firm believer that these fish are becoming accustomed to being drilled right on top of. This happens consistently now, over the course of the winter. It used to be kind of accidental when you would land on the large schools. Now targeted holes can be placed right on top of them each and every time. We are educating a lot of fish, and we as anglers will need to continue to adapt and educate ourselves. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.

As our winter guide season winds down, please continue to check each week for updated fishing reports from the Lake Winnie and Grand Rapids area. Eelpout and Tullibee season is upon us. Warm days on the ice, with family and friends sounds pretty exciting. I know my son Duncan is itching for some smoked fish soon.

-Jeff Johnson

Perch Fishing ReportLake Winnie and Surrounding Areas

Lake Winnie fishing guide Jeff Johnson with a group ice fishing outing targeting perch

Perch fishing around the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas has been improving over the past couple weeks. The fish are starting to feel the oncoming spawn. We are also experiencing more daylight which helps reduce the midwinter doldrums. Both perch and perch fisherman were out in full force this weekend. Being mobile was key to having success. Ice conditions on Lake Winnie and other local lakes remain great. Anglers are able to access most areas without the need for tracked machines or plowed roads. Keep in mind there are some slushy areas mixed in. Watching for discoloration in the snow can help keep you from running into these areas. 

I’ve said it before, but this time of the year for me, I have the most success fishing shallow flats when targeting perch. The bigger the better. I like 6-8 ft flats, large in size, and deep water nearby. Your deep water could be a sharp break line leading into a deeper basin, or a deepwater hole. Start on top of the flat and be mobile. You will know pretty quickly if there are perch nearby. The first few biters are usually the most active, and often the biggest fish of the day. You can move around and continue finding active biters throughout the day. Cycling back into some of your holes later on, can also be effective, and it will reduce arm fatigue from continued drilling. Drilling too much can also have a negative impact on your bite, so keep that in mind as well. It is important to check those deeper areas as well. Perch will often congregate in these deeper areas at different points during the day. It can lead into the nursery effect, however. Smaller fish that use this deeper water as a sanctuary will often be more in abundance. Fishing through them becomes the challenge.

We do have 1 open slot on March 5th to fill this winter for a guided ice fishing trip on Lake Winnie or surrounding areas. If you are interested you can reach out to us at 218-259-8893.

Grand Rapids Area Fishing Report

Grand Rapids, Minnesota fishing guide Jeff Johnson will be highlighting fishing tips, tactics, and locations every week. If you are enjoying the content you have seen, and you would like to connect with us, please feel free to send us an email at northerndriftoutfitters@gmail.com. If you have questions that you would like us to address in our weekly fishing report, please let us know, and we will do our best to answer. We would like to see this report page grow. Let others know, and we are always open to feedback.

Anglers were treated to an absolutely gorgeous weekend. The recent warm up has helped reduce the size of the drifts that have plagued most of the lakes in the Grand Rapids and Deer River areas. Four-wheelers, trucks, cars, snowmobiles are all finding ways to get out and maneuver around. I found myself reflecting this weekend on some of the harsh conditions we have faced over the past few years. It made this weekend feel pretty special. 

Cutfoot Sioux and Bowstring Lake are still providing anglers an opportunity at quality size crappies and decent numbers of fish. A lot of the smaller lakes in the area are struggling with good size distribution on crappies. A few observations that I made on Saturday, were that some fish are trending out of the deeper basins and holes they have been in. 

Taking this knowledge and applying it on Bowstring Lake on Sunday worked well. Every spot we stopped and checked had been drilled out. Most of the holes previous anglers had drilled were focused in the middle of these basin depressions. Staying to the outside of these depressions and focusing a little shallower provided enough bites to make for a good day.. Fish were not found everywhere, but when we did locate some, they bit. No coaxing needed. Staying outside of these highly pressured areas was the ticket for us.