By now, most everybody knows that the fishing on Winnie has been good. Walleye, perch and pike have kept anglers busy for the better part of a month. Until late last week, catching fish has been a simple matter of finding a school, rigging up with your favored presentation and figuring out the right boat speed.
The late summer peak, we believe, coincided with the arrival of a full moon that occurred just yesterday, September 2nd. As the moon waxed toward maturity, not only did the fishing action intensify, but there was also a noticeable uptick in the size of fish that we saw anglers on the lake catching.
The accompanying image shows some of the larger walleyes that were active on Tuesday, the day of the full moon. The Armstrong crew caught a half dozen larger walleyes, along with dozens of smaller fish. It took some effort to catch fish over 14 inches, but the 3 man crew did report harvesting 12 fish in the 14 to 15 inch size range.
Key fishing depths ranged between 4 and 8 feet, with a few fish caught deeper. Wind swept shoreline points produced well, so did areas with shallow weed cover.
Phil & Jackie Goettl and family had a great day on the lake Saturday, returning to the dock with nice walleye and bonus perch. Goettl; “Our guide suggested 14 inches as the minimum size for keeper walleyes and 10 inches for perch. We had to do some sorting, but managed to catch 24 walleyes and 24 perch, all in the size ranges we targeted.” “There were 6 of us fishing, so we didn’t fill out, but the batch of fish we caught was really good,” they added.
Key fishing depths were 5 to 7 feet along the edges of shoreline breaks. Patches of weed, mixed with gravel produced the most fish. Points extending away from the shoreline produced few fish, but sharper breaks located on inside corners held large numbers of fish.
Lake Winnie Walleyes
Always a catalyst for change, the full moon intensified something besides the fishing action, it brought about major changes in the weather. Cooler weather arrived last Sunday and has persisted ever since. Surface water temperatures have now dropped from the mid-70s down to the mid-60s in less than a week.
Cooler water temperatures will force changes in fishing presentation. While most anglers are still fishing with spinners, the number of folks switching to jig and minnow presentations has increased. For now, both remain reliable, so you can go with your favorite method. But keep an eye on the thermometer and as waters cool into the low-60s, experiment more with jigging presentations.
Falling temperatures should trigger panfish migrations too, but we haven’t heard reports of any full-scale transformations yet. During fall, crappies have a way of showing up out of nowhere, so we’ll be paying close attention to them this week. From what we know today, trolling the weed edges with spinners is likely the best way to locate them. Once you’ve identified the location of a school, it may be better to switch gears and fish with small plastics and lightweight jigs.
The strong west winds that arrived with the cold front have also challenged the creativity of our guests. Knowing where the fish are and having access to them can sometimes be two different things. For those with larger boats, it has been manageable; guests with smaller rigs have chosen to focus on fishing in Cutfoot.
As we roll into the Labor Day weekend, the weather forecast calls for more moderate conditions. We’ll have better access to more fishing spots, and also have more reports from our guests. Be sure to join us for updates as we track the progression into fall fishing patterns.