A week of moderate weather and gentle breezes has brought both Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux to life. Walleyes, crappies, sunfish and perch are transitioning into early summer patterns. Surface water temperatures vary from one region of the lake to another and now range between 65 and 68 degrees. Water clarity, still high, has moderated somewhat, measuring at about 18 feet deep, vs the 22-foot readings reported about a week ago.
On clear water lakes throughout north central Minnesota, “boat-shyness” has been commonly cited as a hinderance to walleye angler success. The term is used to describe flighty behavior of fish that become intolerant of boats approaching too closely. “Cubby” (Jeff) Skelly fished on the big lake a few days back and reported that walleyes showed some tolerance for allowing him to hover above and fish vertically.
Lake Winnie Walleye caught on a 1/4 ounce jig tipped with 4 inch paddle tail
Yesterday, the Jacobs group, fishing with another area fishing guide encountered sunshine and calm water. Walleyes were flighty, they reported, but despite the bright conditions, the group caught fish in a wide variety of locations around the big lake. There were small pods of fish located on mid-lake structures, like bars and humps, in water depths of 18 to 26 feet. Flats, in water depths of 10 to 14 feet, held fish as well, and cabbage patches located in back bays at water depths of 6 to 9 feet not only held walleyes, but a mix of perch, pike and crappies too.
Walleyes responded favorably to a variety of presentations too, and some were caught using jigs and minnows, some on traditional, plain hook lindy rigs tipped with air injected night crawlers, and as you see pictured here, artificial lures worked too. In fact, anglers “fan-casting” with the ¼ ounce jigs tipped with 3-1/2-inch paddle tails caught as many, or more fish as their boat mates caught using jigs and live minnows.
Slip bobbers, used to suspend lively leeches a foot or two above walleyes is working well, and is the main presentation used by “sharpshooters”, the folks who use forward facing sonar to locate pods of walleyes. There’s little doubt that the technology provides an advantage when using this presentation because it allows anglers to pinpoint precisely where to cast their bobbers. Decide for yourself, but using bobbers will probably be too slow as a method when searching for walleyes using more traditional electronics.
Depending on your goals, walleye sizes will influence where and how you fish. Fish in the protected 18-to-23-inch slot range are more widely available than are the smaller, keeper size fish below the 18-inch threshold. If catch-photo-release is your style, you should find happiness on the lake’s larger bars and many of the humps. For eaters, more searching will be necessary, watch your electronics and don’t stop to fish any spot unless numerous fish are located there. Smaller fish, grouped by year classes, will be traveling together, so the more fish you see in a single spot, the greater the likelihood you will find eaters.
Mike and Lisa Lindholm with nice size Lake Winnie Walleye
Timing your fishing trip will make a difference too. Larger fish come along at random intervals throughout the day and often dominate the catch when feeding conditions a less than ideal. Prime times like early morning, late evening or on cloudy, breezy days trigger feeding bingers and that’s when anglers catch larger numbers of smaller size fish. More often than not, you will pick up a few “eaters”, even when the greater proportion of fish are larger.
Our friends Mike and Lisa Lindholm, pictured above, fished in the early evening one day this week and found good action, combined with a few keepers. “Only caught 3 keepers, but had about 10 larger, 19-to-22-inch walleyes. Other anglers, fishing the same flat, but fishing after dark, trolled crankbaits in about 12 feet of water and easily caught fish in the keeper size range. So, decide what’s most important to you, and adjust your timing accordingly.
Northern pike still occur mostly as a bycatch of walleye angling. Locations have been random, some are caught on mid lake structures, and some are coming out of the weeds, if there is one pattern that’s better than most, it is fishing the rocks. Fan casting jigs and plastics on rocky bars has produced many northerns this week. Any rock or gravel patch found on the flats, or near the shoreline will produce some fish. Often, there will be a few walleyes in the mix too, so be prepared for an occasional bonus fish.
To date, there have not been many examples of large pike being caught. But there are some plump, 23-to-25-inch fish striking the larger size paddle tails. Yum’s Money Minnow, Berkely’s 4 inch size Ripple Shad, and other 4-to-5-inch plastic swim baits will work. Make long casts and retrieve the lures using a sweep-drop-sweep-drop retrieve.
There are a lot of pike in the protected slot, albeit just barely. Measure carefully before you toss them in your livewell because there are lots of fish in the 22-to-23-inch size range right now. Folks haven’t targeted larger pike yet, that will occur later in the summer. That’s when we’ll learn more about the availability of larger size northern, and the best ways to catch them.
Yellow Perch action has been an on-again, off-again. Most of the perch coming in right now are caught by anglers fishing for walleyes. If you want to target them, look in shallow, back bays and flowages where there are bulrushes, or other standing vegetation. Use lighter jigs, 1-16- or 1-8-ounce weights, tipped with medium to large size fathead minnows.
Crappies coming out of cabbage patches on Cutfoot Sioux
Crappies have largely moved out and away from shallow water spawning habitat. Now found in patches of cabbage or coontail that lay adjacent to shallow bulrush flats where they spawned in recent weeks. Clip on floats, 1/16 ounce jigs and small fatheads will catch crappies. Casting small jigs tipped plastics will work too and so will the safety pin type spinner jigs. Experiment with presentations to decide which one works best for you.
An alternative to fishing shallow water for crappies is to fish during the evening bite, from about 7:30 to 8:30 PM. Most folks anchor along deeper patches of vegetation, then fish using small jig tipped with live bait and suspended below slip bobbers. Key depths range from about 7 to 10 feet, wherever cabbage or coontail patches occur.
Sunfish have been found in both shallow spawning territory, and in vegetation adjacent to it. With the mid-60-degree water temperatures, it’s likely that they are, or will soon be spawning. Please remember, the temptation to take large male fish off of spawning beds causes disastrous results for the sunfish population. There are numerous sources of more detailed information, but to summarize, male fish’s only job is to ward off enemies of the beds. Without them, the size structure of the entire population declines, and as a result, your fishing will suffer. Keep some smaller fish, females when you can, and enjoy a fine meal. But leave the bulls alone to do their jobs, and we’ll enjoy quality sunfish for a long time.
During the early season, boat ramps are packed, and the lines can get long. Remember, you’re invited to use the landing here at our marina. Whether you’ll be staying at Bowen Lodge or not, you’re welcome to join us here. The cost is affordable, and you get some perks, like the use of our fish cleaning station, and the availability of live bait, gas, and refreshments too. So, be sure to stop in whenever you’re in the neighborhood.