“Walleyes in Winnie have been moving along the edges of mid-lake structures all week, and many have begun showing up along the shoreline, in shallower water. On any given day, we’ve heard about walleyes being caught in both deep and shallow waters. On mid-lake bars, 15 to 21 feet has been a key depth range. Along windswept shorelines, walleyes were caught in 4 to 8 feet of water. In calmer shoreline waters, 12 to 16 feet have been a key depth range.”
Since our last Lake Winnibigoshish Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report, the weather makes it feel like we’re further away from fall this week than we were last week when we reported that fish were transitioning into fall fishing patterns. Warmer daytime air temperatures and more sunshine have momentarily stalled the cooling cycle. Surface temperatures remain steady, holding in a range between 63 and 66 degrees, depending on where we fish throughout all the connected lakes.
Bowen Lodge Fishing Customers, Guided by Jared Saufferer
Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux both still provide plenty of opportunities, but you’ll notice that certain methods, certain times of the day, and certain weather patterns bring out the best in which species will bite best, and when they’ll do it.
For Jared Saufferer, our “in house” fishing guide, jig and minnow combinations have been better for walleyes when fishing Cutfoot Sioux. On the main lake, where he’s been fishing primarily the north central shoreline structures, along with some of the deeper, mid-lake bars of Winnie, trolling spinners have been reliable too. Spinning has also been a staple presentation for some of our guests and guides that we’ve been hearing from. Jeff “Cubby” Skelly. Pictured below, turned in a solid performance on Monday.
Skelly’s crew trolled spinners in water depths ranging from 6 to 9 feet, on one of the lake’s large sand flats. There was a stiff breeze that day, which contributed to the effectiveness of that shallow presentation. Other folks fishing in the same area also caught fish using jig and minnow combinations, and there were reports of walleyes caught by others who were trolling shallow running crankbaits. Naturally, some folks were chomping at the bit to fish in that same region on Tuesday.
Once the winds subsided though, fishing action on that flat slowed. While there were still some fish caught on that shallow flat this Tuesday, folks who succeeded not only put more effort into catching them, but they stayed on the lake longer to catch them. The key, knowing when to go to any given spot, is directly related to weather conditions at the time of your trip.
Our suggestions for the where and when of walleye fishing are simple; on breezy days, follow the wind and use the walleye chop to select the best shallow spots. On calm days, follow the structure in deeper water and locate fish on your electronics before dropping a lure into the water. A third choice, fishing the evening bite, applies to folks who lack the gear, or the expertise to use either of the first two options.
Shallow Water - Last week we wrote, “Winnie’s water conditions have been clearer this season than they were last year and as water temperatures cool, clarity is increasing even more.” Because walleye feeding patterns are heavily influenced by water clarity, a healthy cop on the surface is required to get fish moving in the shallows. When the wind blows, check your map, and select areas that are likely to be exposed to a workable wind.
For drift fishing with jigs and minnows, Sundin like’s wind “quartering” into the shoreline.
For Jeff Sundin, workable means selecting an area where the waves are quartering into and along the structure he wants to fish. “I avoid areas where the wind is blowing straight into, or off of the shoreline,” he says. “I want to use the wind to help me create a controlled drift, one where the waves slapping the transom give something to push against. That incoming pressure allows me not only to pin the boat to a desired depth, but also to help control the speed of my drift. Most often, I’ll deploy a drift sock off the bow to provide additional control, and to hold the bow parallel to the structure.”
For Dale Anderson, locating fish in deep water is all about using his electronics. Following structure, Anderson scans both below, and to the sides of his boat using down imaging, and side scanning. When fish are spotted, Anderson stops, and directs his crew about where to cast their lures for maximum efficiency.
The water depths most likely to be effective this week are 16 to 24 feet of water, depending on the location and the weather. The presentation most likely to be used this week will be jigs and minnows. But there are other presentations that could work too, slip bobbers, jigging Rapalas, and even deep running crankbaits.
Just because you may not see the fish does not mean that you cannot catch the fish. If you do not have side scanning electronics, you can still locate fish on conventional down imaging sonar. Bear in mind that walleyes, especially on calm days, are liable to become “boat shy”. So, if you spot fish below your boat, mark the spot, then move off to the side and cast to the area instead of fishing vertically. Even anglers with the most rudimentary electronics can follow the edges of structure and cast out and away from the boat. This method of “casting blind” may be less efficient than using advanced electronics but has been effectively used for decades to produce great catches of fish.
The evening bite has been the great equalizer all summer long. Following shoreline structure in water depths of 8 to 16 feet and trolling crankbaits will produce fish.
When the wind blows, especially on cloudy days, drifting the shallow breaklines, or on shallow rocky structure using jig and minnow combinations will also produce both perch and northern pike. The perch are nomadic right now because they are chasing down schools of young perch, most of them just hatched last spring. Whenever the large schools of bait are located, perch are likely to be found. Key depths are 6 to 8 feet along shoreline breaks, on structure, like rocks, or in the vegetation on shallow flats.
Crappies moved into open water for a time, and were heavily pursued, especially in both Little and Little Cutfoot. Folks who got in on the early run, had good fishing. Today, many of those fish have moved, and catching them consistently requires more investigation. Until the next cold snap, crappies are more likely to be found in cabbage, coontail and other deep-growing plants. Spinners tipped with minnows are a good search tool, but, once located, jigs tipped with soft, action tail type plastics. Paddle tails, twirl tails and spin jigs will be more efficient.
It won’t be long before we begin winding down and focusing on hunting, more than fishing, but that hasn’t happened yet! We’ll be monitoring conditions and reporting on the next phase of the fall migrations. Stay Tuned!
Transitioning into fall fishing patterns, both Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux are providing a wide range of opportunities for anglers. Walleye action is improving, crappies have showed up to the party now too and so have yellow perch. Sunfish, northern pike and bass have been active all summer, and all of them continue to provide great fishing action.
Water temperatures cool, walleye action heats up!
Winnie’s water conditions have been clearer this season than they were last year and as water temperatures cool, clarity is increasing even more. Because walleye feeding patterns are heavily influenced by water conditions, there are times when the fishing seems slow compared to the 2022 season but not because the fish aren’t there. Picking your days, your fishing times and adjusting to changes in weather and lighting conditions is the key to making the action in 2023 feel the same as it did in 2022.
Water temperatures dropped to the mid-60s about a week ago and then stabilized. Today, you’ll find temperatures on the big lake that range between 63 and 66 degrees; in Cutfoot, slightly warmer. In shallow water and protected back bays, vegetation has begun dying off, forcing some baitfish into areas where the grass is greener. Others have taken up residence in open areas over slightly deeper water, but not into the lake’s deepest mid-section.
For walleyes, located on the edges of cabbage, coontail or mixed vegetation, summer trolling patterns can still provide action. Spinners tipped with minnows, or night crawlers are especially good during low-light periods at dusk or sunrise. On calmer days, or when conditions turn bright, moving out onto the flats will produce action too. Our guide, Jared Saufferer trolled spinners in 14 to 15 feet of water and showed some of our guests a very rewarding first ever walleye trip. For Jared, the north side of Winnie, everywhere from the gap, west to Mallard Point have produced reliable results.
When the wind blows, especially on cloudy days, drifting the shallow breaklines, or on shallow rocky structure using jig and minnow combinations are more efficient. Walleyes are responding to jigs better every day, and on the big lake, perch and pike are showing up in the mix too. Key depths are 6 to 8 feet along shoreline breaks. On structure, like rocks, walleyes and yellow perch may move even shallower, one report last week had anglers catching fish in 3 feet of water. “We did have a strong wind, and the sky was dark, and that made the fish active”, our friend told us.
Periods of calm, especially when the sky is bright, do not favor shallow water walleye presentations of any kind. If you’re determined to fish walleyes during the daytime, positioning the boat and casting toward fish will be your best option. Slip floats, using ½ night crawlers or lively minnows are a good choice.
Jigging lures are an important alternative too, and soft plastics should be tested too. As we are sure you’ve heard, advanced electronics make this type of fishing easier. Veteran anglers, who know the lakes well, can also use this technique by positioning within casting distance of known structures. Either way, the trick is to cast, presenting fish an opportunity to strike, before realizing the presence of your boat.
After dark, trolling crankbaits is an option, and is popular in some circles. Shoreline breaks and mid-depth flats are key locations, and best fishing depths range from 8 to 16 feet, depending on the structures.
Crappies are on the move and active in both, shallow or deep water.
Crappies were hard to come by for most of the summer, but today, reports are much better. Cooling water temperatures encouraged a move out of the shallow vegetation and into open water. Anglers found them quickly, a began catching them using trolling presentations. Spinners tipped with minnows are good, so are jigs tipped with soft, action tail type plastics. Paddle tails, twirl tails and spin jigs are all producing good results.
Last week, on their annual fishing trip with Jeff Sundin, the VA Nurses spent one day fishing for panfish. Trolling spinners tipped with minnows; they caught lots of crappies in water depths of 12 to 14 feet. The fish were located outside the grass line, in open water, but remained close to the shore.
In his own report, Sundin wrote, “I can’t say which day will be the one when they disappear, but I can tell you why they will do it. They will make a move back into the weeds.” It might be worth your time to review that report, September 8, 2023, for yourself. But the main point was that, during the transition into fall, crappies will move in and out between shoreline vegetation and open water for a time.
Another interesting twist from the VA Nurses was that trolling spinners tipped with minnows produced crappies. One simple change instantly turned their lures into a sunfish presentation. Take off the minnow, put on a night crawler instead and you’ll find sunfish are using the same, or nearby areas too. The spinner and night crawler combination is also likely to produce some crappies too, so try this if you’re thinking that a mix of the two species might be nice.
If you check the open water, find no panfish, and wonder where to look next, check the grass. Cast small, 1/16-ounce jigs tipped with plastics toward the shoreline, and retrieve using a fall-swim-fall-swim retrieve. The small jigs fall slowly so allow plenty of drop time between swimming them toward the boat.
Yellow perch, another fish that seemed harder to come by during the summer are also showing up in better numbers, and there are fish of good quality size being caught. Some folks are catching them in Big Cutfoot, others are catching them on the big lake. No matter where they’re found, spinners tipped with minnows, along with jigs and minnows are the 2 main presentations being used.
Yellow Perch have become active, obviously, so are Northern Pike!
The best fishing occurs on cloudy, breezy days and the key locations are shallow. Vegetation on the shoreline in 6 to 8 feet of water, shallow rocks in 4 to 8 feet of water, and the outside edges of deeper vegetation in 12 to 14 feet are productive locations. Right now, perch are scattered, inhabiting long stretches of shoreline in small packs, rather than concentrated in small spots. By all accounts, perch are feeding on minnows, primarily young of the year perch, so they tend to be nomadic. If your goal is to catch perch in good numbers, cover territory using the spinners and once located, switch to jigs and minnows to enhance efficiency.
Northern pike are not being targeted by most folks, but as you can see, are also active and either way, they are being caught!
Trolling spinners or crankbaits, using jigs and minnows, or casting soft plastics are all producing bonus pike. The special regulations on harvesting northern pike are apparently having a positive impact on pike in Winnie. It’s still early in the process, but we do see and hear about folks catching lots of fish in the protected, 22-to-26-inch size range. There are not a lot, but fish in the 26-to-28-inch range are becoming more common these days too.
Casting larger bucktails, spoons or spinnerbaits are all productive, but not in the obvious locations. Rocks will produce more pike than grass right now. The depth of the rocks seems less important than the presence of them, so check any rocky area, whether it is shallow or deep. Steep breaklines are an alternative for pike, use live bait rigs, larger hooks, or quick strike rigs and tip them with sucker minnows in the 6-to-10-inch size range. Troll or drift the steepest breaklines on the lake’s larger, mid-lake bars. The Bena Bar, and steep shoreline breaks on the east side of the big lake are noted for being good areas for this type of fishing.
Fall colors setting in, cooler water and active fish; it’s a great time to be on the lake!
Fall is a time we look forward to, and for lots of reasons. But as anglers, we appreciate the energy that comes along with the intensity of feeding behavior that comes with cooling water. We’re watching the progressions, and will share the details as fall progresses. Stay Tuned!
Walleye fishing on Lake Winnie generally remains good, but not always for everybody.
Marcell Rivard with nice Lake Winnie Walleye August 22, 2023
While the fish do bite when found, getting consistent results depends on a combination of weather conditions, location, angler skill, and determination. Among our guests who are doing the best are the early risers, evening anglers and ones who head out when conditions are windy and grey. Creativity comes into play too, presentations change, seemingly daily, so, folks who offer the fish several options get more “takers” than the folks who stick with any single presentation.
Water clarity and temperature are contributing factors, surface temperatures have dropped out of the 70s, holding steady now at 68 to 69 degrees. Algae blooms have declined in response and the water has cleared noticeably. When the weather is rough, and the skies are dark, fishing is consistent. Sunshine, calm water and angler traffic move fish out of the easy to reach structures during the day.
Walleyes have been fickle about food choices lately too. They like to eat leeches one day, worms the next day, and minnows the next. Sometimes their feeding preferences vary from spot-to-spot as well, and the better anglers switch their offerings frequently.
“Sharp Shooting”, using high end electronics to locate fish and then targeting them with slip-floats or casting lures still works, fish have scattered into small packs, making this approach less effective than it was early this summer. On the lake this Tuesday, one angler, fishing with bobbers and leeches said, “they bite when we get the bait in front of them, which isn’t easy when we mark fish 1 or 2 at a time.” Jigging raps, another popular lure for this style of fishing, have had their ups and downs too. Advice offered by one of the pros who fished the recent AIM tournament on Winnie offered this, “It’s a presentation that works great one day, but won’t catch anything the next day, you just have to try it at each spot to find out if it’s an on, or off day.”
More of the most reliable presentations lately have been trolling spinners, jigs and minnows and wiggle worming; all presentations that keep baits moving through the small, scattered packs of fish. To an extent, the 3 presentations could be interchanged, but here a sonme quick rules of thumb to follow.
Spinners have been most effective on the flats adjacent to larger, mid-lake bars, in water depths of 14 to 16 feet. Trolling the “top” typically means holding the upper edges of the bars, avoiding the steep breakline into deep water.
Jig and minnow fishing has been reliable on most rocky structures. There may well be a similarity between the jig/minnow combos and live crawfish which inhabit the rocks. This week, walleyes caught on rocks coughed up crawfish remains in our live wells. Use an aggressive snap-glide-snap-drop presentation to emulate the crawdads and trigger strikes.
“Wiggle Worming” has been effective on rocks too but is a very good approach when fishing in and around vegetation. The lightweight live bait jigs tipped with nightcrawlers dance and flutter, landing softly, and moving easily in heavy cover. Walleyes love this presentation, but you’ll catch other species too, especially when fishing Cutfoot, or Little Cutfoot where the cabbage and coontail patches hold a wide variety of species, including crappies, bass, pike perch and sunfish.
Sunfish by the way have been on the prowl lately and offer families a fun alternative to walleye fishing, especially during the daytime. Panfish remain focused on shallow vegetation and can be in 6 to 8 feet of water. Cabbage patches, bulrush edges and gravel attract the most fish. Find a stretch of water that contains all 3 elements, and you will find the best action.
Trolling spinners is a good way to search for them, but once located, switch to a more stationary presentation. Jigs, tipped with cut pieces of night crawler or small leeches will produce good results.
Perch have begun to show up more frequently this week but are still not easy to pin down. There were random schools of perch on the mid-lake bars in 16 feet of water. And there were also some schools of them in 6 feet of water on shoreline breaks. Cabbage beds offered some perch action too and so did gravel and rock bars in 10 to 12 feet of water. Again, trolling spinners is a good way to find perch, but after that, switch to slower moving presentations like jig and minnow, jigging spoons, and Lindy Rigs. Tackle tip: Try a short, 10-to-12-inch Lindy Rig leader and lip hook larger, lively fatheads. Whether you fish them in shallow, deep, or mid-depth areas, perch will strike them.
Crappies have been illusive this summer and remain hard to find. We’ve reported before that your best bet is to fish in the early mornings and follow the vegetation until you find the fish. This is still the best advice, cast small jigs tipped with plastics in the gaps and pockets between cabbage, coontail and flat-stemmed pondweed plants. Crappies, along with a mix of other fish species will pop out from their ambush spots to grab your lures. Once you catch the first crappie, stay nearby the spot because there will likely be more of them.
Northern pike, especially quality size ones, are apparently feeding out in open water. Shoreline structures that typically produce well during late summer have few pike on them right now. Rocky structures on the flats are holding some nice ones, but even these spots offer relatively slow action right now.
The two best ways to target better pike right now are trolling over crankbaits over open water, and using large lively minnows on steep, mid-lake bars adjacent to deep water. Lindy Rigging a 10-inch sucker minnow will produce some fish, but try adding a spinner blade and moving along the bar at 1.0 to 1.5 MPH. This allows better efficiency and allows you to cover more territory.
It’s a transitional time of year at Bowen’s. As we head toward Labor Day, families are wrapping up their summer vacations, kids are headed back for school and the “hard core” anglers are watching the reports for signals that fall fishing patterns are emerging. It won’t be long before fishing patterns change and the fall bite gets started. Check in again soon so we can keep you up to speed and help you prepare for your next trip to the lake. And to make planning the trip easier, here a few special offers, available for a limited time.
Offers available for a limited time, based on booking activity.
