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I'm a Mille Lacs girl. I don't venture too far from home. Most all of my fishing trips have been right outside my front door.

When Fishing Minnesota provided the opportunity to visit Lake Winnibigoshish, I jumped at the chance.

Living on Mille Lacs, I'm used to a shoreline full of docks, cabins, boathouses and campfires. It's normal to see boat landings with a waiting line as long as the checkout lane at Target.

On any given day there are scores of boats, wind-surfers and jet-skis flying across the lake. Beach parking areas are full.

Fishermen's boats are anchored close together with bobbers floating in the waves. Huge launches packed with anglers make their way out to the deep mud holes. Boaters watch for the rock piles, buoys, islands, and reefs.

I thought to myself, "Lake Winnie is a walleye lake. I know people who go to this lake and catch lots of fish. How different can it be?"

Well, was I in for a surprise!!

My first glance made me question, "where is everybody?" The resort was full, but where's the cabins...
campers...

people...
noise???

While fishing, I wondered, "where are the buoys? Arenąt there any rock piles? Are the islands behind a point? Why arenąt docks lining the shore?"

Then I noticed the boats weren't anchored....
the launches were smaller than I expected and by no means crowded and...
no one was using bobbers.

Where am I!

Once the culture shock subsided, I learned that nearly 98% of the shoreline is undeveloped. Lake Winnie is located in Chippewa National Forest. This provides a natural habitat for everything....
including people.

Further explanation confirmed there are no rock piles to mark. (So why have buoys?)

Since Winnie is a sand-bottomed lake, I understood why no anchors were tossed overboard. (I thought, "what a perfect place to make a boat commercial. You can go anywhere - no hazards." )

Now the differences were beginning to make sense, ( but none could really explain why no one uses bobbers!)

As the sun went down, I noted there werenąt any campfires along the shore. On Mille Lacs, the smell of Father Hennepin campfires carries to the graveyard if the wind is right.

Yes, Lake Winnibigoshish is different from Mille Lacs. Very different. It has it's own personality that no other lake can match.

It can erupt with a fury when the storms pass through. It can entice children to splash on its sandy shore on a hot summer day. It creates a calm feeling. A tranquil, serene place to get away.

It takes you to another world.....
that's just a ways up the road.

Editor Note:Special thanks goes to Ron & Sharon Hunter of Judd's Resort on Lake Winnibigoshish. There hospitality was overwhelming. They indeed told me several times how nice a gal Lisa Gravel is. They even went so far as to ask her to work for them.

Shieldsville Bait & Tackle
(507) 334-2631
15090 Shieldsville
FARIBAULT MN 55021-7491