Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report July 8, 2020

Lake Winnie: Too Hot To Handle?

Hot, sunny weather and calm winds have allowed surface water temperatures to sky rocket on both Cutfoot and Winnibigoshish. It doesn’t matter where we go on either lake, 80 degrees is the current minimum temperature and we’ve see a few readings pushing the 85 degree mark.

Generally speaking, fish are active but typical of the post zebra mussel era, clear water conditions do not favor anglers who target walleye during the daytime. For die-hard walleye anglers, fishing during the early morning and late evening is the secret to consistency.

If you hang around the fish cleaning shack, you might over hear anglers talking about searching for fish on mid-lake structures like bars and humps. The consensus among many is that the fish have been slow to move away from the largest, shoreline connected bars and that many of the smaller humps have few, if any fish on them. So take a look at a few of your favorite small humps if you like, but we think the best strategy for walleye anglers is to focus on the lakes largest structures.

On Winnie, finding good stretches of healthy vegetation in open areas of the main lake has been a challenge. But in the outer-extremes of the lake, healthy stands of cabbage can be located and they are holding a mixture of assorted fish. Third River Flowage, Sugar Lake, Tamarack Bay are good areas to explore.

Finding healthy vegetation to fish will be much easier in Cutfoot, shallow flats have produced dense patches of coontail, cabbage, flat stemmed pondweed and northern milfoil. During early morning, baitfish can be seen on the surface, holding over the tops of the dense greenery. Cruise the lake and observe the surface activity, this will reveal dozens of ideas about where to target fish of all species. Make note of areas with high densities of baitfish, and mark spots where you see panfish splashing or milling on the surface.

Overall, trolling presentations are probably the best way to search for fish. Spinners tipped with fatheads, night crawlers or leeches are a mainstay. Use spinners that have #3 or #4 size Indiana or Colorado blades and single 2/0 Aberdeen hooks, the longer single hook rig allows for both better hook sets and easier hook removal. Blade colors preferred by many of our guests are hammered copper, hammered gold, pink-gold, and chartreuse-gold and perch patterns.

In the weeds, use bullet sinkers ranging between 1/16 and 1/8 ounce and outside of the weedline, use heavier weights. The bullet sinkers are good to about 15 feet, but if you locate fish deeper than that, switch to bottom bouncers for more precise control. When using bottom bouncers, 1 ounce of weight for every 10 feet of water is a good rule of thumb. For example, fishing at a depth of 15 feet would call for a 1-1/2 ounce bouncer, in 20 feet of water, 2 ounces and in 25 feet of water, a 2-1/2 ounce weight would be best.

At times, the spinners will reveal the location of fish tightly grouped in a small patch of weeds. In these instances, it may be more efficient to abandon trolling in favor of fan-casting jigs tipped with plastic tails. There are so many tails that work, but we really like “Ripple Shads”, “Twister Tails” and “Beetle Spins”. All of these action type jigging baits can be used to probe deep into the vegetation and root out fish. Tipping jigs with live bait is not necessary and in many cases, counterproductive.

The same rule could apply to walleyes found in deeper water, holding on small spots. Set the spinners to the side and fish with Lindy Rigs tipped with live leeches or healthy night crawlers. Use a worm blower to help float the crawlers and small, carrot floats to help suspend the leeches higher above bottom.

There are some folks fishing at night these days and crankbaits have been effective. Focus on shoreline breaks, rock bars and shallow humps; key depths range between 10 and 16 feet. Experiment with crankbaits that run in this depth range and chances are you’ll find a couple that will work.

We think that with continued warm weather, the early morning and late evening periods will provide the best chance for action. But when the skies turn grey and there are whitecaps on the lake, daytime anglers can get in on the fun too.

Fishing Report June 23, 2020: Classic Mid-Summer Patterns Return To Lake Winnie

Walleye anglers who love to fish mid-summer, mid-lake patterns on Lake Winnie have renewed enthusiasm today. A much anticipated period of calmer, warmer weather, which will allow easier access to mid-lake fishing structure is in the forecast for this week.

Surface water temperatures have been receding, now in the mid-to-upper-60s. It happened so slowly that we barely noticed, but the lake’s water temperature went from being slightly ahead of schedule early this month, to now being lower than average, for this time of summer.

Insect hatches have not been heavy so far, but as water temperatures rise, they should intensify. Mid-lake structure adjacent to soft bottom areas will continue to attract and hold walleyes until the bug hatches eventually run their course.

Mid-Lake Bars and Humps on Lake Winnie. Photo courtesy FishRapper.com

We’ve been comparing notes with some of the top pros and the consensus among them is that walleye activity is best when you locate fish on the shallowest portions of these bars and humps. A school of fish located in 21 feet of water is far more likely to be active than another school found in 29 feet of water. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t catch some fish from the deeper schools, but your odds will definitely go up when you focus on shallower fish.

Watch your electronics for clouds of emerging larvae and pay special attention to gaps, or clear spaces; that’s a great indicator for where you’ll find feeding walleyes.

With so many structures located in the mid lake basin, there’s virtually no way that any one angler can fish them all. Some folks fall into the trap of going to their “favorite spots” and fishing on faith, even if they’re not sure that there are good numbers of fish in the area. You could do it that way and sometimes you’d get lucky, but many times this practice turns out to be a real time waster.

Some of the better guides on the lake move from structure to structure, searching for spots that have the right ingredients. Fish located shallower on structure provide an advantage, and so do fish that are suspended slightly higher above the bottom. Moving fish are feeding fish; those hugging super tight to the bottom are less likely to strike your lures than the ones that are up and moving.

Spending a couple of hours travelling from spot to spot before you wet a line might feel like you’re wasting time, but the reward for finding the right school of fish at the right time will be well worth the effort.

Once located, Lindy Rigs tipped with leeches or night crawlers have been the most effective presentation recently. But some folks who have tried “power corking” reported some success as well.

Perch fishing has been “hit and miss” recently; we’ve heard numerous reports about big schools of smaller fish, but larger perch have been elusive. We think insect hatches have drawn many of the nicer fish into deep, soft bottom areas. Once insect hatches have run their course, perch will turn their attention back to feeding on minnows and crawfish. When they do, we’ll start hearing better reports from perch anglers again.

Panfish are gathering in greater numbers in weed patches and we’re seeing more anglers turn to these as an alternative to walleye fishing.

Key areas are cabbage patches located along the breakline in water depths of 6 to 8 feet. The best action occurs in areas where patches of weeds are slightly more open; this is why cabbage patches are important. Dense mats of heavy vegetation provide little room for fish to ambush prey and seldom produce the best panfish action.

Once located, tight lining with a 1/8 ounce jig tipped with live bait will produce sunfish, perch and rock bass. Crappie fishermen are better off casting small jigs tipped with action tails into pockets and holes along the weed edges.