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.