What’s your idea of a beautiful day on the lake?
We know that the answer to that question is subjective, everybody has their own ideas. But when it comes to walleye fishing on Winnibigoshish, don’t be surprised when our guests tell you that cloudy, windy, and turbulent weather adds up to their idea of “a beautiful day”. The time-honored term “walleye chop” has never lost it’s meaning here and nowadays, a good chop on the water and an overcast sky will likely provide you with a great walleye fishing trip.
Surface water temperatures dropped last week but have since stabilized. After hitting highs in the 78-to-80-degree range, they are now pinned into a tight range of 71 to 72 degrees. Those numbers represent cooler highs than we’ve experienced in recent years. But, considering we’ve experienced 2 back-to-back cold fronts moving through the region, they also represent warmer “post cold front” lows than we’d been accustomed to in recent history.
Also, not consistent with past experiences, walleye action on the big lake remains strong, even during the “post-cold-front” periods. We think it’s because the fish themselves are helping us out, the present-day walleye population is high enough to provide our guests with more opportunity to encounter fish. It makes sense, the more often we locate them, the better the chance we have of catching them. If anglers are willing to adjust to changing conditions, like wind directions, cloud cover and the like, they are usually rewarded with success.
There are schools of fish on the north, south and west sides of Winnie for sure. There may be schools of fish on the east side too, but with the prevailing winds, it’s been hard for our guests to access that side of the lake. Key spots have been Raven’s Point, Mallard Point, Stony Point, and Little Stony Point. Between the “key” locations, walleyes can be found scattered along the shoreline breaks in water depths of 5 to 8 feet of water.
On days when the wind won’t blow, fish make short migrations away from the shoreline and spread out across flats in water depths of 12 to 16 feet. Getting a lure in front of them may take longer, but when it happens, they will strike.
On the shoreline, trolling spinners tipped with minnows or night crawlers is the most productive. But when the wind blows and fish are more concentrated, jig and minnow presentations are providing action too. Gold blades are the mainstay color on Winnie, but copper, orange, chartreuse and perch patterns are good alternatives. Use bullet sinkers in the 1/8 to ¼ ounce size range at trolling speeds of 1.1 to 1.3 MPH to keep the bait in the strike zone.
On the flats, trolling spinners has been reliable too. Some anglers are using bottom bouncers for precision placement, but many are simply adding extra weight to the bullet sinker setup that they use on the shoreline breaks. One great way to make an “on-the-fly” sinker adjustment it to add a split shot sinker above the swivel, under the bell of the bullet sinker. Experiment with weight, boat speed and line distance until you find the sweet spot.
Locations on the flats can be random, with fish moving and feeding their way across the sand ripples. But locating patches of gravel and light rock will enhance the spot’s ability to hold fish more consistently. The more skilled and experienced anglers are using electronics to pinpoint gravel patches like the one you see pictured here. The gravel patches are attractive areas for crawfish and at times, high populations of them. Both perch and pike love to eat crawfish too, so don’t be surprised to find them feeding in these areas too.
Perch, as it happens, are showing up now in larger numbers on not only these deeper rocky patches on the flats, but on any rocks anyplace in the lake. Judging by the entrails of fish we see in the cleaning shack; crawdads have become a major food source. The life cycle of the crayfish is important to perch, when there are lots of baby “mudbugs” or when the adults are in a molting phase, the perch will gather in large numbers.
If you encounter perch while you’re trolling for walleye, consider slowing down and looking for concentrations of them on the rocks. It does not matter if the rocks are shallow, deep, or anywhere between, they are potentially good perch spots.
Jig and minnow combinations are reliable for catching perch, so are Lindy Rigs tipped with live minnows. Try them both.
Sunfish have been active and guests report catching them on the breaklines in both Cutfoot and Little Cutfoot Sioux. Cabbage patches found adjacent to deep water are good locations. Most folks are finding fish by trolling spinners, then stopping to still fish for them. Small jigs tipped with cut pieces of night crawler are good. Small leeches, or larger ones cut into pieces are good too. Please don’t forget, the sunfish limits have changed, so keep a close eye on your fish count.
Crappies have not been the highlight of the summer here. When found, they are nice size, but the population is apparently at a low ebb right now. To target them, focus on fishing during the early morning or late evening, that will put the odds in your favor.
Northern pike are prowling the flats and deeper patches of submerged vegetation. Most of them are being caught by anglers who pursue walleyes. Northerns, especially the larger ones have temporarily evacuated the shallow shoreline breaks. Feeding on the abundant forage suspended over deep water and mid-depth flats, fast moving presentations should be used. Targeting pike by trolling crankbaits on the flats is a good idea. Larger spinners, tipped with larger live minnows can also be used to great effect on the larger pike.
Finally, as we roll into late summer, walleye size structure is improving. It’s getting easier to be selective about which walleyes we harvest, and which ones we don’t. Let’s chat when you get here, stop in at the lodge and we’ll share the latest data coming in from the DNR, along with the latest stories from the lake.