Whispering Pines is our home as well as our business; visitors here are treated as guests of our family--which they are.
Since we live, work & play in this wonderful area all four seasons of the year, you can be assured of a vacation and memories that will bring you back for many years.
Walleye Fishing:
Since walleyes have excellent visual acuity under low illumination levels, they tend to feed more extensively at dawn and dusk, on cloudy or overcast days and under choppy conditions when light penetration into the water column is disrupted. Although anglers interpret this as light avoidance, it is merely an expression of the walleye's competitive advantage over its prey under those conditions. Similarly, in darkly stained or turbid waters, walleye tend to feed throughout the day.
"Walleye chop" is a term used by walleye anglers for rough water typically with winds of 5 to 15 mph and is one of the indicators for good walleye fishing due to the walleye's increased feeding activity during such conditions.
Because walleyes are popular with anglers, fishing for walleyes is regulated by most natural resource agencies. Management may include the use of quotas and length limits to ensure that populations are not over-exploited.
Casting or trolling with spinners or minnow-imitating plugs is a good bet. Special worm harness rigs of spinners and beads are often trolled. Jigs, either traditional bucktails, or tipped with any of the modern plastics, a piece of worm or minnow are walleye angling favorites.
Live baits are often still-fished, drifted or trolled on slip-sinker or "bottom-bouncing" rigs. Excellent live bait includes leeches, minnows and earthworms.
When ice fishing walleye are caught jigging or on tip-ups. Tip-ups are generally set up with a dacron backing and a clear synthetic leader. For bait, the most common minnows are Fatheads and shiners. Size for bait is anywhere from 1 to 6 inches.
In springtime walleye will take almost any bait or lure, but may be more challenging to catch through the summer months. Fall often brings another peak of walleye feeding activity. Walleye are readily caught through the ice in winter, usually on jigs, jigging spoons or minnows.
The walleye is often considered to have the best tasting flesh of any freshwater fish, and, consequently, is fished recreationally and commercially. Because of its nocturnal feeding habits, it is most easily caught at night using live minnows or lures that mimic small fish.
Big Lake has a ton of structure and I think you can find a walleye just about anywhere if you give it some thought, time, and read the conditions.
One of the most consistent places to fish is 30 seconds from the lodge, the rock pile between the lodge and the big island.
I troll mostly, but if the wind is not too strong, I like to drift too. I use a 3/8 ounce or 1/2 ounce Lindy type slip sinker with a 5 ft plus leader. The line is 8lb test and the leader is 6lb test. I like the florocarbons. The line is hard to see. I use a no.6 octupus type hook and bait it with a leech or half a night crawler. I'm partial to the nightcrawlers. I constantly raise and lower my rod tip 6 inches or so, bouncing the sinker off the bottom. It gives the bait a jerk movement for a reaction bite and the sinker bouncing off the bottom creates a slight disturbance on the bottom that I thinks attracts fish.
The heavier sinker keeps the line more vertical. You don't get caught as much.
I catch most of my fish from 8 to 14 feet. 9 to 12 seems to be the favorite depth during the time of summer we are up there.
I troll backwards about as slow as I can go and much prefer an electric trolling motor. It's quiet and less apt to spook the fish. A depth finder will keep you where you need to be. Don't look for the fish so much as look for the street corners, (structure), they'll be hanging around. When you catch a fish or two trolling, throw a marker out and anchor to use slip bobbers. This worked well when my two boys were small. Trolling gets a little boring for a nine year old and I got less lines tangled up.
Evening, (an hour before sunset), is a good time to anchor near the shore, (3 to 6 ft of water), and use slip bobbers for the fish coming in shallow to feed. The main boat dock is as good a place as any to give this a shot.
Catch and release is encouraged so future little shavers like this one
Will always have the opportunity to experience the thrills of fishing And find new friendships with nature.
Boats, motors, canoes, Kayaks and pontoon boats along with fishing gear, tackle, bait, and fishing licenses are available for rent and sale at the lodge.
