Fishing Report September 15, 2023 Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux Walleye, Crappie, Perch and More

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!

Fishing Report Lake Winnie and Cutfoot Sioux August 24, 2023

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.

Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux Walleye Fishing Report August 5, 2023

On Lake Winnie, water clarity has been in decline since the arrival of this week’s string of warm and calm, sunshiny days. As of Friday, getting a good look at the bottom required moving into water depths of about 6 to 7 feet. That’s still somewhat clear compared to the pre-zebra-mussel times, but a significant improvement for anglers compared to the super-clear conditions we experienced recently.

 Aided by the lowered light conditions walleyes, at least some of them, have moved into classic, late summer habitat like shoreline breaks, mid-depth gravel flats and areas of submerged vegetation. Lower light penetration into the water, combined with rising surface temperatures that affect fish behavior, helps explain why our guests were able to catch fish this week using trolling presentations.

Spinners, tipped with live bait, provided action for some of our guests who fished shoreline breaks. Crankbaits trolled over the flats, in 12 to 16 feet of water provided action for folks fishing some of the mid-lake structures on Big Winnie. Cutfoot walleyes responded to jigging raps fished on shoreline points, and some of the mid-lake bars. Our guide, Jared Saufferer, is still catching fish using slip-floats and live bait, but he acknowledged that trolling spinners has worked as well.

Despite the improved conditions, not all the walleyes are on the prowl during the daytime. When the lake goes flat calm, the action grinds to a halt. On Thursday, our guests Ben, Jake, and Paul were on the lake with one of the local guides. The morning was calm and sunny, walleyes were difficult to fool, but around noon, the breeze started blowing and the action perked up. They released some larger slot-fish that Jake caught and finished the day with 9 very nice keeper walleyes.

One day later, another group fishing with the same guide enjoyed a good morning of fishing and managed to end the day with a nice creel of keepers. But the action happened in the morning, while there was a breeze and haze over the lake. During the afternoon, calm seas and sunshine killed the bite and made bagging a walleye became very difficult.

Our best advice when calms days are forecast is to start your fishing day extra early, fish during the evening. When the forecast calls for a breezy, overcast day, then you can count on finding some active walleyes during the daytime.

 Spinners and minnows are usually a great combination for trolling. This week though, leeches seemed to add more attractive power for hungry walleyes. Night crawlers have worked, but are hard to use, because of the small perch. They’ve nipped at the worms, shortening them an inch at a time until there’s nothing left. Our suggestion is to load up on medium size leeches, especially knowing that they can be used on the slip floats as well.

 Folks who prefer fishing mid-lake structure can find some fish out in the middle of Winnie too. Not all the bars and hump have schools of fish on them, but there are fish on enough of them to make your search effort pay off. The most active fish have been located along the upper edges of the bars in water depths of 15 to 20 feet. Slip floats will work on these fish, so will the jigging raps, along with jig and ½ night crawler combinations. Key colors are gold, glow perch and glow blue.

 Perch fishing has been inconsistent, but there are times when anglers locate schools of nice size fish during their pursuit of walleyes. If you like catching them, we advise focusing on them whenever they are encountered. If you wait to try them later, the nomadic fish may not still be around when you return.

 Sunfish action has been good, our guests have all reported catching them in good numbers on Cutfoot Sioux. Many have been caught by folks trolling spinners. That may be the easiest way to locate sunfish, but stopping the boat, anchoring, and using small jigs tipped with live bait is likely more efficient. Try a 1/8-ounce live bait jig tipped with a cut piece of night crawler, or small leech.

 Crappie fishing has been tough, at least for our guests. One educated guess is that they must be active earlier in the morning than most folks have been willing to start fishing. Watching the sunrise while casting small jigs tipped with plastic tails may well be the best plan, more on that later.

Many Northern Pike are becoming active right now and some of them have been nice size fish. Rock and gravel patches produce better action than shoreline vegetation, especially for larger size fish. Use larger jigs tipped with 4-inch plastic tails, try 6-inch swim baits or throw heavy spinner baits that run fairly deep. Live bait, like sucker minnows in the 6-to-10-inch range work too. Sucker minnows set up on a quick strike rig, and suspended below a large slip float similar to Thill’s big fish slider is a great presentation.

 Northern Pike aren’t just fun to catch, they are tasty to eat too and we’d encourage you to add a few of them to your creels. We should remind you about a TV program that Kurt Walbeck produced a few years back. In the video, you can learn how to catch some “eater size” pike, get a tutorial on how to clean them and them, learn one great recipe for eating them. To learn more, watch the Bowen Lodge - Outdoor Bound Northern Pike Video

 The time of the season for walleyes to move toward the shoreline is fast approaching. The weather forecast appears to offer a more mixed, and somewhat cooler week ahead. It would not be a surprise if breezier, darker weather triggers an uptick in walleye action. Let’s watch and see how that plays out.

Winnibigoshish Walleye Report July 24, 2024

Family fishing trips go hand-in-hand with mid-summer and if you watch the traffic on both Cutfoot and Little Cutfoot, that’s what you’ll see. Perch, walleye and pike are holding both in, and along the outside edges of cabbage patches. Crappie, sunfish and rock bass can be found in the heavier patches of coontail, pondweed and other submerged grasses. Trolling with spinners, tipped with live minnows or leeches is a great way to search for them. When located, presentations can be refined based on fish species and locations.

The rule of thumb for walleye fishing on Lake Winnie this morning is “the better the angler, the better the fishing”. Casual anglers are catching their share of fish, there are plenty of fish to go around, and they are biting. Results are awesome for folks who pursue them diligently, or you could say “working” for the fish.

 Look at the results (below) from the weekend tournament, managed by the Minnesota Tournament Trail. All the top 20 teams weighed in 5 fish, the tournament limit, and all of those 5 fish limits exceeded a 3-pound average. The top 10 teams fared even better: posting 4 pound plus averages. Congratulations by the way, to our friend Dusty Snyder, who along with Pat Mclean posted took 2nd place with a 5 fish weight of over 25 pounds.

 Locating fish using high end electronics, then using slip bobbers and live bait, leeches, and night crawlers specifically, has gotten a lot of attention this year. In some circles, the buzz is that without them, fish cannot be found, and subsequently caught. It is important to remember though that even without sophisticated tools, you can still catch some fish despite this summer’s clearer than average water conditions.

We recall the summer of 2022, at mid-summer, when Winnie’s water became cloudy when a strong algae bloom developed. Our guests, along with almost everybody fishing the big lake, were scoring big numbers of walleye in shallow water, trolling with spinners and live bait. This year, the weather is cooler, so are water temperatures, which dropped into the 68-degree range during the past week. Cooler, clearer water, and walleyes sensitivity to light is what combined to produce the conditions that make the high-end electronics “appear to be” a necessity.

Fishing early in the morning, and again late in the evening will give weekend warriors an edge. So will picking cloudy days, especially breezy ones, that is when the fish will become active and much easier to catch. Low light conditions send a signal about where to find walleyes too.

On average, water depths of 6 to 10 feet have been productive at these key times. Mid-lake walleyes have moved deeper when it’s brighter, key depths range between 16 to 24 feet. The alternative has been finding vegetation, cabbage beds hold fish right now too. Most of the best ones occur in the outer extremities of the lake, areas of Tamarack Bay, Third River Flowage and along the west shore. Don’t overlook Cutfoot Sioux right now either, anglers are catching some nice fish here as well.

Anne McMullen Goodwin releases beautiful Lake Winnie Walleye

Key presentations include slip bobbers, jigging baits like jig raps or puppet minnows, and soft plastic lures. Almost any presentation that involves casting away from the boat and retrieving through schools of fish should be explored. Experimentation has only just begun; we’re convinced that there are other effective presentations that folks simply haven’t tried yet.

Walleyes from the 2018 are graduating into the protected slot fast. Thanks to Winnie’s fast growth rate, fish from that season are now ranging from 17-1/2 to 18-1/2 inches already. This offers folks like Anne McMullen Goodwin, pictured above, the opportunity to catch, photo and release some nice walleyes. The class of 2019 now offers plenty of eaters in the 15-to-16-inch range.

Conditions may change soon, there’s another stretch of warm weather predicted for this week. Winnie already has a low-to-moderate algae bloom, and water temperatures on the rise will accelerate that. Folks who love trolling presentations like crankbaits and spinners may enjoy a surge if and when that happens. We’ll be watching the lake, and report back with what we see.

Lake Winnibigoshish Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report July 14, 2023

The pursuit of walleyes on both Cutfoot Sioux and Lake Winnie is reduced for several reasons. Some folks are paying more attention to family activities, others have been waiting for the next “hot bite” to start up, and still others have turned their attention to fishing for mid-summer species, bass, sunfish and rock bass and others. But right now, folks who want to catch walleyes can do it, here’s some advice to guide you.

Walleye action on Lake Winnie

Admittedly, the walleye bite is not at its peak right now, but those who are choosing to fish for walleyes find that creativity and persistence do pay off. Getting fish to bite is not the issue but locating them can be. That’s because fish have dispersed over a broad range of territory, some are on the flats, some are using shoreline vegetation, others follow the break lines on deep structure and many are suspended over open water in the mid lake basin.

The mayfly hatch that hit the lake last week has run its course, so finding less food in concentrated areas has been one reason fish are dispersed more now. Surface waters have declined too, once crossing the 80-degree mark in June, they have now fallen into the 69-to-71-degree range, the cooler water works against folks who love fast presentations like trolling spinners and crankbaits. Water clarity is a factor as well, while some regions of the lake do have a modest algae bloom, other areas remain clearer than usual for this time of the season; that’s tough news for fishing on calm, sunshiny days.

Folks who are doing their best at finding and catching walleyes are a few key presentations. Slip floats, which are becoming more popular on Winnie, jigging presentations, jig minnow, jig and plastic, jig and night crawlers have been productive too.

Jared Saufferer, our fishing guide, has been helping most guests catch walleyes using slip-bobbers and leeches. Key depths have ranged between 15 and 20 feet of water and for Jared, rocks have been key. Whether on large rock piles, or on smaller, scattered patches of rock, he keeps the boat out and away from the structure. Anglers pitch the bait toward the fish holding structures and allow the lively leeches to do their magic.

Lake Winnie Walleye caught using slip bobber and leech combo. Courtesy Jeff Sundin

The better your electronics, the easier Sufferers method is, but even folks with rudimentary fish finders can get effective results; creativity is the key. Approach likely fish holding structures cautiously, creep toward them using your trolling motor and stop short as soon as you’re within easy casting range. It’s true that you won’t “see” the fish, but when you guess right and there are fish on that spot, they won’t see you either; the element of surprise is a powerful tool!

Jigging presentations can be approached the same way, casting toward likely structures with jigs and minnows has been reliable, especially for Reed Ylitalo, another one of our preferred guides. Ylitalo prefers finding shiner minnows when possible and seeks out rock structures for jigging too. Cast, or pitch your jig-minnow toward the structures and retrieve using a “hop-drop-hop-swim-hop-drop” presentation.

Sundin favorite, Lindy Live Bait Jig and Berkely Ripple Shad

Another local guide, Jeff Sundin has been fishing with jigs too, but for his money, large plastic action tails have been getting more attention. Sundin finds fish along the steeper breaklines on mid-lake bars or adjacent to the lake’s sprawling shoreline flats. A ¼ ounce Lindy Live Bait Jig, dressed in a 3-1/2 Berkely Ripple Shad, pictured here, is one of his favorite combos. “The trick is to NOT think of these as a substitute for live bait. Instead, remember that this is its own, unique presentation and they call for an entirely different retrieve. Cast the lures as far away from the boat as possible, let them fall and then on a tight line, retrieve using an aggressive “rip-drop-rip-drop” presentation. The fish strike on the drop, that’s why keeping your line tight is important, when you feel the strike, strike back immediately.” Sundin says.

Some of our guests have done well trolling along shoreline patches of vegetation as well. As the vegetation becomes lush, the typical mid-summer food chains set up. Spinners tipped with minnows, crawlers or leeches have produced some walleyes and pike or perch strike them too. Wiggle Worming, another popular presentation, will catch walleyes here too, especially when you’re presented with a good drifting wind. The shoreline action improves during low-light periods, so focus on early morning, late evening and overcast days.

Early risers can catch panfish along the cabbage patches

Early risers can take advantage of emerging vegetation for panfish. So far, this hasn’t been the best season for either sunfish or crappies, but like the walleye fishing, creative anglers are catching fish. Trolling the edges of cabbage, cast small jigs tipped with plastic tails toward pockets and gaps. Let the fall and then retrieve using a “swim-drop-swim-drop” retrieve. If you’re starting from scratch and need to locate places to focus your efforts, try trolling with spinners. The spinners become more effective when water temperatures are warmer, so for now, this should be a search tool and not the primary presentation. Later, if and when water temperatures rise, spinners will become more effective.

Bass can be found along the cabbage and coontail patches too, but for the best results, focus on bulrushes. Some of Cutfoot and Winnie’s best bass spots are in 2 to 3 feet of water, in the heavy bulrush patches. Weedless rigs are best, and heavy gear is essential too, strong braided line and medium-heavy casting rods will perform best.

Using the same heavier gear, cast large spinnerbaits, bucktails and swim baits for both pike and musky. There are good numbers of pike in the cabbage right now, look at the deep ones found in Tamarack Bay, these have been reliable producers this summer. It’s hard to single out a musky on either Winnie or Cutfoot, but any given cast could produce one, and there are some large ones out there.

Perch fishing continues to dumbfound most folks on the lake. They do occasionally show up, and when they do, they’ve been large, but the schools of fish have been in random locations and the fish seem to move often. Finding a good school of perch on one day does not guarantee that the next day will be productive in that area. So, catch some when you find them and don’t expect consistency.

With the Independence Day holiday behind us, we’re looking forward to just a few more weeks of mid-summer, family activities before the back-to-school check out begins. After that, fishing will become the priority for many, and we’ll be watching for the action to ramp up as it typically does. Even though walleye fishing may not be at its peak right now, there are fish being caught and using the presentations discussed here will help you get some. Good luck out there!