Lake Winnie Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report July 9, 2024

Seasonal milestones like rising water temperature, developing vegetation and algae blooms are like a road map that guides anglers through the various fishing patterns that occur on Winnie and Cutfoot every year. One major milestone, Mayflies hatching occurred not long ago and this hatch was a big one. Mayflies hatching by the millions formed clouds in the air, and the water’s surface was completely covered by them.

Image of Mayflies from recent hatch on Lake Winnibigoshish July 2024

 Like heat seeking missiles, fish of all species migrate into areas where the emerging larvae provide a fresh source of protein. The impact of fishing patterns is undeniable and anglers who want to be productive, are forced to make adjustments. For now, fish have more food than they know what to do with, and it has turned them into binge feeders. They make shorter, more intense feeding runs, followed by longer periods of inactivity. The rule for anglers is that they must work harder and smarter, for less.

 Just because walleyes have a lot of choices doesn’t mean that they aren’t feeding. In fact, this is the period when they eat and grow more than any time of the year. Using your instinct, understanding your electronics and being persistent will allow you to find and catch fish on most outings.

Bowen Lodge guest with nice Walleye caught on Lake Winnie July 2024

 A few days back, Reed Ylitalo, one of our preferred fishing guides, was on the lake and reported seeing more clouds of larvae on his electronics. “I found a lot of bait in the water column, but I’m 100% sure if this was an emerging hatch of midge, or another wave of mayflies on its way.” Ylitalo reported. “Many of the fish, walleyes seemed to be dormant, laying close to the sandy bottom. We did find and catch some fish in water depths of 17 to 24 feet using a ¼ ounce jig head tipped with either a leech, or a fathead minnow.” Ylitalo calls the slow, deliberate fishing technique “wiggle-wiggle-drag.”

 Ylitalo found another pattern that day too, walleyes suspended above the flats in 10 to 17 feet of water. Most of the fish were located high in the water column, suspended 5 to 8 feet below the surface. Targeting those fish with slip floats, small jigs and lively leeches produced some more fish for his crew.

 During mid-summer, not all our guests’ demand, or expect walleye fishing to be at its best. For many, panfish, bass and pike provide all the action they want and for them, fishing has been good.

Catching panfish off the dock at Bowen Lodge on Cutfoot Sioux

 Sunfish appear to have completed their spawning period and have taken up residence along the edges of fresh green vegetation. Sunnies love to feed on emerging insect larvae too, so the best fishing spots are found near areas of semi-soft marl where insects hatch.

 It’s easy enough to locate sunfish by trolling spinners, beetle spins, or small action tails along the cabbage. The best spots are usually small though, so once you’ve encountered some fish, stopping the boat and fishing vertically will be more productive. Compact, but heavy, jig heads tipped with cut pieces of night crawler, or small leeches will be good. Fish the lures a few inches above the bottom and keep movement to a minimum, sunfish don’t always like to see a lot of movement in your presentations.

 Bass fishing has become more popular in recent years and as you can see, some of our guests are finding some big ones!

 On both Cutfoot and Winnie, largemouth bass can be found in the bulrushes. Cabbage patches located adjacent to bulrush are also productive, so are pockets in densely matted patches of wild rice. If you have heavy gear, the best presentations are weedless lures that can be tossed into the heaviest cover. Texas rigged plastic worms, jigs and plastics, or “slop-frogs” can all be used to catch bass. Don’t be surprised when you find rock bass, sunfish or pike in the deep cover too.

 Northern pike are where you find them right now and can be found in a wide variety of habitats. On the big lake, locating baitfish in open water is one of the reliable methods. Trolling crankbaits over the flats in water depths of 12 to 16 feet of water will produce pike. Lures like rattle baits, or jointed swimming lures work well for speed trolling.

 Another key location on the big lake is steep breaklines that straddle the flats and deep-water basins. The presentation that works best for mid-summer pike on the steep breaks is using large, lively minnows on Lindy Rigs. Using leaders tied on 5 to 7 feet of 17 to 25 pound fluorocarbon paired with 1/0 live bait hooks and ½ to ¾ ounce sinkers, slowly troll the edges of mid lake bars. Provided they are large, 8 to 12 inches, you can use most minnow varieties. Sucker minnows are easy to keep healthy and work well for pike. Don’t be surprised when the occasional large walleye comes along as well.

 On the Cutfoot chain of lakes, cabbage patches and rocks will produce good pike action too. Trolling the edges of vegetation works fine, but to zero in on larger pike, casting larger lures often works better. Bucktail spinnerbaits, paddle tail swimbaits, wood jerkbaits and large spoons are all good choices.

 Perch fishing has been spotty, but when found, anglers are catching some good size fish. Until now, most perch have been found in vegetation, but with all of the insect hatches going on, should soon be located on mid-lake bars and humps as well. Our best advice about perch is to catch them when they’re encountered rather than targeting them. You’re likely to catch just as many by random encounters. If and when that changes, we’ll let you know.

"High Water Walleyes" On Winnie and Cutfoot June 20, 2024

Six weeks ago, folks were speculating whether low water levels would be a drag on anglers accessing not only Winnie, but many other area lakes too. Since then, frequent rainfalls brought water levels up to normal, or in some regions, even above normal. Then on Tuesday, we received another rainfall, this time a big one! Now we’re looking at high, even flood-stage water levels and walleyes are using all that extra water to their advantage.

 Most anglers know that walleyes like moving water and use terms like “walleye chop” to describe breezy times when conditions are favorable for catching them. The chop on top is what we see, and most folks understand that the whitecaps help diffuse daylight. The assumption is correct, and the lower visibility definitely is an advantage. But there’s more, under the surface, walleyes see, and respond not only to diffused light, but also to current that’s churned up by the whitecaps. A river fish by nature, walleyes have a natural tendency to move into the current, feeding as they swim upstream.

 On Winnie, Cutfoot and connected waters, you’ll find lots of areas where incoming water is producing current. As a bonus, the water flowing in from low-lying areas is darker, and also warmer too. So, fishing in the darker, moving water is an attractive option for walleye anglers who prefer fishing shallow water. The larger flowages like the Mississippi, Third River and Raven’s Flowage are obvious choices, but keep an eye out for any small streams and creeks flowing into the lakes. For a time, they’ll offer attractive feeding opportunities for walleyes.

 Fishing for walleyes on the flats continues to be productive option for some of our guests. Key depths range from 12 to 16 feet of water, and fish are scattered, roaming in small schools. For most folks, drifting or slow trolling and fan casting jigs with minnows is still a mainstay presentation. Some folks have had better success trolling with spinners tipped with either minnows, or ½ night crawlers. “The secret is to keep the spinners away from the boat,” advises one of our long-time guests. “Instead of using bottom bouncers or heavy weights to keep the offering under the boat, we’re using 3/16-ounce bullet sinkers, and letting out a lot of line;” he added.  

 Search baits, like ¼ ounce jigs tipped with large plastic swim baits, jigging Rapalas, or weight forward spinners tipped with night crawlers can also be used to catch walleyes over the flats. The most important factor is remembering that using search baits is it's own presentation, not a substitute for finesse presentations. Knowing that the idea is to trigger impulse strikes from the fish, and not attempting to emulate more subtle jig and minnow presentations. Making long casts and retrieving them using aggressive jigging cadences is the key to getting strikes when using search baits.

 Some folks like to fish mid-lake structure at this time of the season and are finding fish on mid-lake bars and humps. The best ones are larger bars that connect directly to the shoreline. Small, isolated humps further out from shore have yet to attract fish on any large scale. On the bars, jig and minnow combinations are producing both walleye and pike. Lindy Rigging with leeches and crawlers is working too and minnow rigs tipped with creek chubs, redtails or other larger minnows have produced action for some as well.

Crappie, sunfish and perch action continues to be spotty, but some of our more adventurous guests are finding them.

Sunfish are reported by many to be scattered far and wide, making them difficult to pin down. Once located though, they are active and will bite willingly. As this photo reveals, heavy vegetation is one of the keys to locating them. Searching for bluegills, or any other panfish, can be done using spinners. Rig up a standard single hook spinner with a #2 or #3 Indiana blade behind a 3/16-ounce bullet sinker. Tip it with a ½ cut night crawler and troll in and around vegetation like cabbage and coontail. Slow speeds, .8 to 1.0 MPH are working best right now because water temperatures are cool and fish metabolism is not at it’s peak.

Once located, a more efficient presentation will be compact, but relatively heavy jigs tipped with cut pieces of night crawler, small leeches, waxworms or even with plastic tails. A 1/8-ounce live bait jig looks large for catching sunfish, but it’s not, not only will they grab lures with large hooks, but the larger offering will also help reduce deep hooking. Fish vertically, and hold your lure steady, you’ll catch more sunfish by using the subtle, steady action.

Largemouth bass have been active, and some folks are finding nice fish. Bass will be in a variety of habitats, but bulrushes are one of the best places to look for them. Lily pads, or heavy matted vegetation are good alternatives. Heavy or medium heavy action fishing rods, reels spooled with 20-to-30-pound braided line and weedless lures will get you into, and out of the best bass territory. Try slop-frogs over heavy matted vegetation or in lily pads. In the bulrushes, Texas rigged plastic worms, or other weedless lures will be best. Cast into the bulrushes, fish slowly and allow the fish plenty of time to find and strike your lure. The best presentation for crappies right now is to troll the cabbage beds using spinners tipped with small to medium size chubs. Small packs of active crappies are in the gaps and pockets found along the outer edges of the vegetation. Cabbage beds located near steeper breaklines are for now, the better areas to search for them.

Jumbo Perch are where you find them! Here today, gone tomorrow is the current rule of thumb, so when you locate some, catch them now rather than waiting to come back later. Heavier vegetation mixed with gravel or light rocks are the preferred habitat. As the waters warm, and conditions stabilize, we should see hatches of small crawfish and that will lure perch into more open territory. Typically, early July produces improvements in perch activity and we’ll let you know if and when this pattern begins to emerge.

Lake Winnie Walleye Report June 13, 2024

There’s been a lot of wind lately, most of it blowing in from the west or northwest. While it’s made for generally good fishing conditions, not everybody has the equipment to take advantage of it. Because of that, not everybody has been fishing in their preferred early summer fishing areas. Folks that do get where they want to be, are reporting good success for walleyes. Folks that don’t are reporting mixed results, depending on the water and habitat conditions they encounter.

Surface water temperatures have been slow to rise, but this week they have advanced. It’s common to find temperatures ranging from 63 to 66 degrees in mid-lake areas on Winnie. Backwater areas in the flowages, shallow bays and isolated calm areas of the Cutfoot Sioux chain are warmer. On Wednesday, one group reported 69 degrees in a shallow bay, the warmest we’ve heard of so far this spring.

Water clarity caused problems for anglers earlier this season, but we notice that there is a slight, and welcome stain in the water now. Probably caused in part because of inflow from feeder creeks and flowages that were low, but are now filled, even overflowing in some areas, by recent rainfalls. The darker, faster warming water flowing into the lake has provided just enough “dinginess” to make walleyes move shallower and become more aggressive. When the wind blows, they can be found on shoreline breaks, and on the flats in water depths of 6 to 12 feet and can be caught relatively easily.

On Wednesday, one of the area’s top fishing pros provided this; “I’ve been able to do more drifting, and slow trolling recently. I’ve noticed that the water is darker, not much, but enough to allow me to fish over the top of the small schools I locate. That makes it easier for folks who don’t have the high-end electronics, the fish are staying put once they’re located.”

Walleye locations on calm days vs breezy days

While the water is somewhat more turbid, it is still clear though and on calmer days, walleyes still become flightier, and more difficult to pin down. On calm, or bright days, they move across the flats, into deeper water. Look for them in cuts, or inside corners located along the breaks into deeper water. Key depths range from 18 to 24 feet on the transition between sand, and softer bottom areas. There are also some fish moving off the flats and onto shoreline related, mid-lake structure.

Points and steeper breaklines that lead directly from shore, and into the deeper main lake basin are always the first to fill up with fish. Popular bars like the Bena Bar, Sugar Bar and Horseshoe are just a few examples. Look at your map and select locations like the one seen here, areas that offer walleyes a travel path between the shallows, and the deep basin. Later, fish will follow insect hatches, and migrate across the softer, marly bottom and begin inhabiting more isolated structures in the middle of the lake.

Along with varied locations comes varied presentations. Some of the more effective fishing presentations for walleyes right now include jig and minnow, trolling spinners, Lindy Rigging with live bait and slip-floats, where to use each depends on where you find fish. Walleyes on the shallow breaklines, and mid-depth flats are responding well to classic jig and minnow presentations.

Trolling spinners have worked best in areas where vegetation is growing, primarily in shallow areas of the flowages and back bays. Typically, spinners are tipped with medium size fatheads, but night crawlers can also be used effectively.

Lindy Rigging with leeches, night crawlers and large minnows has been effective along steep drop offs on “the bars”. Walleyes appear to be showing a preference for night crawlers today, but that can change periodically. It’s best to carry some crawlers and some leeches and switch them up until a preference is discovered. Most associated with targeting large fish, creek chubs or redtails in the 6-to-8-inch size range can be used on Lind Rigs too. At the moment, using minnows will trigger strikes from northern pike too. So, keep this in mind when you’re looking for a larger pike to put on the grill.

Slip-floating works best when walleyes are found on small rock rises, on larger mid-depth flats. The structures provide fish with a place to gather in tighter groups and that helps keep lures in the strike zone. Leeches are the most common bait for bobber fishing, but don’t overlook a night crawler. Using a 1/16-ounce jig, cut the night crawler in half and fish with larger, dark brown nose end; this method can be highly effective for walleyes.

Perch and panfish haven’t been making many headlines around here. When folks find them, perch of quality size are being caught, but they are nomadic and rarely show up twice in the same spots. The best bet for catching some jumbos is to wait for overcast days and fish in vegetation. Small packs of fish move through patches of emerging plants feeding on minnows. Trolling with spinners is a good search tool for locating them. Jigs tipped with medium size fatheads fished vertically is a reliable presentation for zeroing in on them.

Crappies have been illusive too! Apparently, they’ve decided not to spawn this spring, and when found, are located in classic post-spawn habitat like cabbage. The leafy vegetation offers good cover, where the fish can ambush schools of small minnows. Casting small jigs tipped with plastic action tails is reliable, and it’s best to fish either during the early morning, or late evening when the fish are most active.

All things considered; fishing has been good despite the somewhat turbulent conditions. It’s just a matter of time before weather patterns stabilize, and classic early summer patterns take hold. We’ll be watching, and reporting as the season progresses, please stay tuned.

Walleyes, Crappies, Perch and Pike On The Prowl Lake Winnie Report June 2, 2024

Early summer fishing patterns, when compared to most typical seasons, are running a bit behind schedule this year. Water temperatures remain cool, baitfish are moving in and out across the flats into and out of the shallows. Walleyes following their preferred food source, move in and out with them, appearing in a variety of depths, changing locations from one day to the next.

 For some, the nomadic behavior causes problems because the moving schools of fish are more difficult to “pattern”. There are some anglers taking advantage of it though, finding small schools of walleye in a wide range of locations, depth ranges and feeding moods.

 The best way to describe their method might be “stalk. locate and fish”. What that means is that they move along slowly, watching for fish on side-imaging sonar, locate schools of fish and then stopping to zero in on them. For some folks, advanced “forward facing sonar” is then used to pinpoint fish. Folks without the advanced electronics can still catch fish, they just have to make a few extra casts, and move a little bit more to do it.

 “For me, knowing the general territory fish inhabit is good enough,” Jeff Sundin says. I get a handle on the key depth, or structure that the fish are using and then ask my customers to cast in that direction. If anything, knowing the structures fish are using and following my Lakemaster chart to stay in position, is more important than being able to see individual schools of fish on my sonar screen.” The veteran fishing guide adds. “Being determined, following the contours, and casting deliberately toward potential fish holding structure will eventually lead us to new schools of fish.” He concludes.

 Structures most likely to hold fish right now are shoreline breaks in the 16-to-24-foot depth range. Often, walleyes during the daytime, are positioned along these breaklines. When conditions turn favorable for feeding, they begin moving across the mid-depth flats, heading for the shallower shoreline breaks adjacent to the shallow sand flats where minnows and small baitfish are plentiful. Key depths during the feeding spurts range between 4 and 8 feet of water.

 Jig and minnow combinations continue to be favored by most anglers on the big lake. There are some folks using slip bobbers and leeches, and a few more using live bait rigs and larger minnows, or night crawlers. Suring the evening, and just after dark, trolling the flats using crankbaits will produce not only walleyes, but some larger size northern pike too.  Tailor your lure weights to the depths you’re fishing, 1/8 ounce jigs are more common than anything and work well in shallow water, 6 to 12 feet. On the deeper breaklines, ¼ ounce jigs are better and at times, 1/16-ounce sizes should be used in extreme shallow water, 3 to 6 feet, for example.

 Crappie anglers, accustomed to finding fish in shallow water during late spring, are reporting mixed results. In certain, select areas, crappies have been found in patches of bulrush in water depths of 3 to 3 feet. There are more fish being found deeper though, located in patches of cabbage in water depths of 6 to 10 feet of water. The cabbage plants are often used as transition areas both before, and again, after spawning. Right now, we think they are still in a “pre-spawn”, but knowing for sure can be hard to pin down.

 Jig and minnow, jigs and plastics, and bobbers with live minnows are the most common presentations. Some crappie anglers troll the cabbage patches with spinners, or spin jigs too and this presentation can be effective, especially for locating small schools of fish. Troll at speeds of .9 to 1.3 MPH until fish are encountered, then stop and fancast the vegetation using jigs tipped with plastic tails.

 Perch anglers report finding low numbers of high-quality fish on the big lake. When you find them, they are nice, 11 to 12 perch are common: that’s the good news. The bad news is that finding them takes effort, populations are low, and key habitats vary wildly. Shallow vegetation in 3 to 5 feet of water is one key area, so are shallow patches of mixed gravel and light rock. Another key area to check is the deep, sand to mud transition along shoreline breaks.

 Marl, a semi soft mix of sand, clay and mud is where insect hatches occur and the bugs, especially bloodworms, are highly attractive to perch. Marl can be found anywhere, but on Lake Winnie, can be found easily in water depths of 24 to 30 feet along the shoreline breaks and even out on mid-lake bars and humps. There are reports of folks finding perch in these areas and catching them using live bait rigs with short, 2-to-4-foot leaders tipped with live minnows. The best minnows for this presentation are rainbows, larger fatheads and some of the “river-mix” varieties.

 Northern pike have been caught in good numbers ever since the fishing season opened in mid-May. This week though, there’s been an uptick in the number of larger pike being caught. Chunky fish in the 26 to 30 inch range have been reported daily, and occasionally, fish over 30 inches strike as well. Most of the pike have been caught are bonus fish that come along during the pursuit of walleyes. Pike striking on jig and minnow combinations is not breaking news. So, if you want to catch a few for dinner, you will probably get plenty of them while you fish for walleyes on your jigs and minnows.

 Catching larger pike may not be that simple, they like bigger meals than that. To target larger pike, try casting large spoons like Red Eye Wigglers, or big Daredevils. Jumbo size spinnerbaits are good too and so are crankbaits like magnum Rapalas. Fishing vegetation like cabbage is one good location, but rocks are another, sometimes overlooked pattern. Live bait rigs, tipped with larger, 6-to-10-inch size sucker minnows is a good presentation for deeper rocks, and along steep breaklines on mid-lake bars.

 Sunfish will become important soon, but so far haven’t appeared on the radar screens of our guests. As water temperatures warm, they’ll be getting more active, and a larger part of our daily conversations, we’ll ley you know when that happens.

 As we roll into summer, expectations for walleyes transitioning into summer feeding patterns are heightened. As a parting thought, we think this is a good time to start experimenting with alternative presentations. Even though jig and minnow presentations are still reliable, leeches, night crawlers and artificial lures will begin working better soon. Carrying a few of everything, rather than a lot of any one thing, is an idea that makes sense right now.

Lake Winnie Walleye Report May 21, 2024

With a full week of fishing now in the books, we’ve had a chance to compare real life experiences with recent DNR fisheries reports about Lake Winnie’s fish populations. So far, the key takeaway about this season is that the very large 2019-year class of walleyes have matured, and folks are catching lots of ideal eater size walleyes. The typical bag coming in includes most fish measuring 15 to 16-1/2 inches, with an occasional larger, 17-17 ½ inch fish from the 2018-year class. Not many, but some fish from the 2013-year class remain in the system too, and folks are reporting 23-to-26-inch walleyes striking from time-to-time.

Image of Rand Olson with beautiful walleye caught on Cutfoot Sioux

 A water quality assessment in 2023 revealed that Winnie’s water clarity measured 27 feet, an all-time record clarity for the lake. As we’ve discussed in past reports, the ultra-clear conditions have impacted how our guests’ fish for, and catch walleyes. Already nomadic by nature, walleyes have become “flighty”, moving quickly between shallow and deep water. This week walleyes have offered perfect examples of this behavior.

 A friend offered this; “We caught fish steadily for most of the morning on Wednesday, the walleyes were feeding around a patch of bulrushes surrounded by 6 to 7 feet of water. The walleyes were there feeding on schools small perch, and possibly shiners too. The skies were dark, there was a light chop on the water, and with all that food, they were reluctant to leave the area. We were happy with that spot, so we tried again the next day. But now, the water was flat and there was a little sunshine peeking through the clouds, and all those fish were gone.”

Screen View of key Lake Winnie walleye location on mid-depth flats

 Within hours, we’d heard from one of the area’s better fishing guides that those same fish had moved deeper, now inhabiting a flat in the 12-to-15-foot depth range. They were still active and they caught them by casting and retrieving ¼ ounce jigs tipped with either a shiner, rainbow or large fathead minnow.

At first glance, it could appear that the fish were not holding on any specific structures. Look closer at the screen shot of his graph, it shows that the walleyes were moving in and out of a depression within the flat. That hole, which may have been holding bait fish, seemed to be the center of activity on that fishing trip.

TRIP TIP: When you’re searching for fish on Lake Winnie’s sprawling flats, seek out and make note of any irregular features. Depressions like this one, gravel patches, vegetation and clam beds all offer habitat for bait, which in turn attracts gamefish.

 An alternative to locating fish in shallow water, or on the flats, is to search for small schools of walleyes holding along the steep breaklines. Key depths range from 18 to 18 feet of water and key locations are main lake bars, located near shore.

Ordinarily, we don’t suggest fishing in deep water because it’s hard on the fish, barotrauma is dangerous to them. There are some exceptions though, and because almost all of the fish being caught are of “keeper” size. An angler who needed to gather a few fish for a meal could likely get some by searching the deeper edges of shoreline related bars. Key depths are 22 to 28 feet, with an occasional small school of fish showing up in 30 feet of water. The schools of fish are not large but appear as scattered smaller packs of 6 to 10 fish. Inside corners have been more likely to hold fish that points or straight stretches of breakline.

Nice Lake Winnie Walleye

If you decide to fish the deeper spots, take a few fish for a meal and then move on to another location or search for alternative species. Catch and release fishing in deep water is not a good idea.

 Whether you fish shallow, deep or in the middle, be prepared to move. If you catch fish in an area, and they seem to suddenly disappear, they are likely to be nearby, using a deeper, or shallower portion of the same flat, or related structural features.

 So far, jigs and minnows are still the best bet for catching walleyes. Water temperatures remain cool, 56 to 59 degrees, so faster moving presentations have yet to become effective. It’s a good idea to have an assortment of 1/16, 1/8 and ¼ ounce sizes and swap them whenever your depth patterns change.

 Shiners are widely available now, so you caan buy them if you like. Fatheads and rainbows are working though, so if you want to save some of the expense, grab an assortment instead of insisting on having only shiner minnows.

 Panfish have not appeared in the shallows yet, but we are watching for them. Updates will be available as the conditions turn warmer, and they begin moving towards the shoreline.