August 2, 2024 Lake Winnie, Cutfoot Sioux Fishing Report

Walleye fishing on Lake Winnibigoshish remains good, but timing your trip for early morning and late evening is a very good idea. Daytime fishing can be good if the conditions are favorable for walleye feeding. Overcast skies combined with moderate winds continue to produce good action. When the sun is shining, and the water is calm, the bite slows considerably. Ironically, folks have been catching some of the largest walleyes during periods when the action is slow.

Lake Winnie Walleye, Courtesy Dusty Snyder

Most folks continue to fish over mid-lake structures, particularly smaller free-standing humps. Most of them top out at 16 to 22 feet and are surrounded by water depths of 30 to 35 feet. The most active walleyes tend to gather high on the edges, key depths vary between 16 and 24 feet. Sometimes walleyes move deeper on the breaklines, but there are a lot of fish that move away horizontally and suspend. It has been common to see walleyes suspended at 18 to 20 feet over the 30-to-35-foot soft bottom basin.

The suspended fish have been difficult for most anglers to catch, but there are some pros who manage to coax some of them into striking. Most of them agree that using slip-floats, leeches and small jigs have been the most reliable presentation to use in these situations.

More traditional methods for catching fish on structures are jigs tipped with leeches, live bait rigs tipped with night crawlers and spinners presented using bottom bouncers. There are some anglers also catching fish casting smaller, lightweight jigs tipped with ½ night crawlers and fishing them back to toward the boat using a swim-drop-swim-drop-retrieve. The lighter jigs help keep the lures up above bottom where they are more visible to the fish, and less prone to snagging on clusters of zebra mussels.

The zebra mussels are the key reason why lindy rigs using plain hooks tipped with leeches should be avoided. Lindy Rigging with night crawlers that are injected with some air from a work blower stay above bottom, and seldom get fouled. Leeches don’t swim as well as we think they do, and they frequently touch the bottom, becoming fouled by the zebra mussel clusters. This is one reason for the recent surge in popularity of slip-floats on Lake Winnie, they have gone from a seldom used tactic, to one of the top producing presentations in recent years.

Despite the popularity of fishing mid-lake structures for walleye, there are a handful of anglers finding fish in shallower water. The warm, sunny conditions have brought surface water temperatures back into the high 70-degree range, even hitting 80 degrees in certain protected areas. There’s a fairly robust algae bloom in some regions of the lake, and shoreline breaks related to patches of vegetation are holding some fish.

On the shoreline, trolling with spinners tipped with fathead minnows has become effective. For a mix of walleye, pike and perch, troll the same areas using shallow diving crankbaits. Rattling crankbaits that run at 4 to 6 feet of water are best on the shoreline. Deeper diving crankbaits can be used on the flats too, key depths are 12 to 14 feet, and scattered pods of all 3 predator species are encountered at random intervals.

Cutfoot Sioux Sunfish, courtesy Bob Slager

Another by-product of the warm surface water temperatures is the improved sunfish activity. Some of our guests are finding good eating size sunfish and bluegills trolling the edges of cabbage and coontail patches everywhere in the Cutfoot Sioux chain of lakes. Key depths range from 6 to 10 feet, with 8 feet being a reliable target depth. Once sunfish are found, there are times when stopping the boat and fishing vertically with small jigs may be more efficient, but while the water remains warm, trolling is very effective. Use a single hook spinner with a #3 blade and tip the hook with either night crawlers or medium size leeches.

Alternatives to trolling for panfish are some of the spinner type jigs like beetle spins, road runners and the like. Cast the edges of cabbage flats and retrieve slowly using a drop-swim-drop presentations. Don’t be surprised when an active bass, pike or crappie attacks the spin-jigs as well.

Lake Winnie Northern Pike, courtesy Jake Hamilton

Pike have been more elusive this week than they were last week. The warm, sunny weather has not been favorable for activating them. When caught, there have been some nice sized ones though, and most come as a by-catch while folks are trolling for panfish and walleyes. If all things weather related remain equal, the next full moon should bring about a period of increased pike activity; it typically does.

Crappie anglers report hits and misses right now, with most fish coming at dawn, or late in the evening. It seems that the current populations are low, but there are some nice, 11-to-12-inch fish in the system. For best results, fish early in the morning wherever you find the best patches of healthy cabbage. Small jigs tipped with plastic action tails, cast into gaps and pockets will produce strikes. If you find an area that “looks good” during the day, be sure to try it as the sun goes down in the evening. When they go on the prowl, they will become easier to catch.

Perch, by all accounts have been smaller than usual this summer. There are still some nice ones out there, and our best advice is when stumbling into them at random locations, take advantage of the opportunity. The perch, especially the larger ones, appear to be nomadic, rarely being found in some spots from one day to the next. Again, sunshine and calm seas don’t favor great perch action either, so we could see an uptick in the action whenever the clouds and choppy conditions appear.

We’re at a pivotal time in the season, quietly and without fanfare, fish are adjusting to changes in their food sources. As insect hatches run their course, and young of the year fish become attractive targets, many will return to the shoreline and become minnow-oriented predators once again. Every season, sometime in August, the shallow water action begins to intensify. Where it will be, and exactly when it will happen is tricky to pin down, but it will happen, and we’ll be watching for it. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

Mid-Summer Ups and Downs Lake Winnie Walleye Fishing July 25, 2024

Last week, stable, warm weather played into the hands of walleye anglers on Lake Winnie. As surface water temperatures approached their peak of almost 80 degrees last Sunday, there was a good algae bloom in the water. As the bloom became heavier, mid-lake structures produced good catches during the daytime and GREAT catches during the evening and early morning periods. The action reached its peak as a line of thunderstorms approached on Monday of this week.

Joe Nelson with fat Winnie Walleye

Post storm conditions caused a setback, and by Wednesday, the cool front had caused a drop in surface temperatures, the algae bloom was reduced, water clarity increased, and walleyes became finicky. Now, the walleye anglers who had good catches were the ones who fished early morning and late evening, daytime anglers settled for both fewer, and smaller fish.

Setbacks happen, but during this period of summer, seldom last very long. This is the time of summer when fish feed and grow the most. The forecast calls for warming temperatures, and relatively stable conditions to return. As the weather pattern stabilizes, and water temperatures rise, we expect to see a rebound in feeding activity. So, lets talk about the fishing patterns that worked well for our guests before conditions changed.

Megan Kempf with nice Winnie Walleye

Leeches were trending as the “best” live bait choice for walleyes. Delivered by many folks using slip-floats to suspend the offering a foot or two above the bottom, walleyes ate them willingly. Anglers also reported catching good numbers of walleyes using leeches presented on ¼ to 3/8-ounce jig heads. Fished vertically and held still with a “dead-slow” action, the jig and leech combos produced good catches. Lindy Rigs, with plain hooks were less effective because they often fall to the bottom and gather clusters of zebra mussels. Anglers who prefer fishing with live bait rigs should add a floating jig head, or other float ahead of the hook to help suspend the leeches above bottom.

Night crawlers, injected with air using a worm blower and presented on Lindy Rigs produced some fish too, and shouldn’t be overlooked. Walleyes feeding preferences change periodically, and it would be no surprise if worms became more effective in the near future.

Trolling with spinners did not make a lot of news last week, but there were some anglers using them effectively. Trolling on the high edges of the largest, and shallowest mid- lake bars produced good results last weekend, and on Monday. Key water depths ranged from 13 to 15 feet of water, long lining the spinners using ¼ to 3/8 ounce bullet weights ahead of the spinners worked well. Tipping the spinners with minnows or leeches were the two preferred bait choices.

Panfish are active, and action-oriented anglers might be interested in these as an alternative to walleyes right now. Sunfish have moved deeper, into the edges of deep-lying cabbage patches. They feed primarily on insect larvae, so tend to remain in areas where the best hatches are occurring. You can locate them using spinners tipped with night crawlers, or small leeches. Once located, you can catch more fish using a slower, vertical presentation. Jig heads tipped with cut pieces of night crawler or small leeches are good.

If you prefer using slip-floats, try rigging a flasher rig to appeal to the bluegill’s sense of curiosity. The rig consists of a slip float, and a small egg sinker held in place on your line by a simple barrel swivel. Below the swivel, use a plain hook, several colored plastic beads and a small, flashy, spinner blade on a 12-inch drop line. Tip the hook with small, lively leeches or worms and fish the outer edges, and gaps in the vegetation.

Crappies have been hitting but finding them has been tricky. They have been much more active during the very early morning hours, and this is the best time to search for them. Trolling the largest patches of vegetation will work, but casting small jigs like beetle spins, twister tails and other swimming baits may be better right now. Move slowly, look for gaps or pockets and cast into them. Let the lures fall, then retrieve using a slow, swim-fall-swim-fall retrieve. Most strikes will occur as the lures fall, so be deliberate and allow the action of the bait to do the work.

Walleyes Catchable, Pike Plentiful and Panfish Prowling! Fishing Report July 19, 2024

Walleyes are catchable, pike are plentiful and panfish are prowling! That’s the theme of this week’s report from Bowen Lodge.

Surface water temperatures had already risen into the high 70s, then a “cool front” moved through early this week. There were moderate declines in both surface temperatures, and in the algae blooms that helped darken the water last week. As of Thursday, surface temperatures on the big lake were about 75 degrees, Cutfoot Sioux waters were slightly warmer, 76 to 77 degrees depending on the spots. Calm, sunny weather helped start a new algae bloom that could be seen developing during the afternoon Thursday.

Walleye anglers continue to find, and catch walleyes on mid lake structures like bars, humps and hard-bottom areas of the flats. Over is the intense mayfly hatch that occurred a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it’s hard to find much evidence of any sort of insect hatches going on the big lake now.

Moving from spot-to-spot on Thursday, one group of anglers reported seeing almost nothing in the way of bait balls, or pods of insect larvae on the mid-lake humps they fished yesterday. They said, “We still found scattered packs of walleyes, and we’re not sure what they were feeding on, if anything. We managed to catch a fish or two from most of the spots, but the fish didn’t respond well on repeat drifts over the same spots. We did best by moving a lot, drifting the spot once, and then moving on to another location.”

Key presentations vary, but folks are catching fish with leeches more than any other bait right now. Suspended under slip-floats, attached to jig heads, or served up with Lindy Rigs are all effective methods for presenting leeches today. One of our better area anglers reported using a #4 split-shot attached about 5 feet up the line from a tiny, #6 pink colored hook. “I spot lock the boat and cast the live leech toward the bar and let it sink to the bottom. I don’t move it very fast, I let the leech swim on its own and do as much of the work as possible. Turn the handle 1 crank at a time, wait for a pickup and if nothing happens, turn the handle another time. It’s amazing how often I pick up nice walleyes using this method.” She reported.

Fishing tip: When you’re using leeches, make sure that they are both lively and large enough to swim against the weight of your hooks. If they are allowed to swim on the bottom, snagging on clusters of zebra mussels will be a problem. The lighter the weight of your hook, and the livelier the leech is, the better results you will achieve.

Some folks are also catching fish using night crawlers too, but they don’t seem to be as reliable right now. Jigs and minnows are also working for some, but again, not to the same extent that leeches have produced fish over these mid-lake structures.

With all the attention being paid to mid-lake structure, very few folks are scanning shallow water, but there are walleyes to be found in the shallows. So far, the action is spotty, centered around areas with the best vegetation and lowest visibility. The back bays, flowages and areas adjacent to incoming water from small streams and rivers are the best areas to look. Mixed patches of cabbage, flat stemmed pondweed and other sparsely gathered plants will be the most productive.

Key depths are 6 to 8 feet, sometimes deeper, wherever there’s adequate cover. Trolling spinners tipped with fatheads or medium size leeches is probably the best presentation. Night crawlers are catching some walleyes, but small perch are plentiful, attacking worms violently and diminishing their effectiveness.

Perch are getting easier to find in the same shallow beds of green vegetation too. If there’s a way to isolate “keepers” from little fish, we don’t know about it yet. Trolling spinners tipped with fatheads; you will catch random 9-to-11-inch fish mixed in with the legions of small ones. Don’t expect limits, but gathering enough keepers for a meal should not be a problem. Troublesome as they are while you’re fishing, the abundance of small perch in the 4-to-7-inch range is impressive. The outlook of perch fishing appears promising, we just have to wait for them to grow up a little bit.

Northern pike anglers are having fun these days too. You can find pike in most areas of the big lake and all around the Cutfoot chain of lakes as well. For most folks, pike are typically a by-catch of their walleye and panfish presentations. Large pike require a little extra volume of food though, so if you’re interested in catching them, scaling up the size of your presentation is a great idea.

Large, safety pin style bucktails are good, so are large plastic paddle tail swimbaits and hard jerkbaits. Medium heavy casting rods spooled with braid are best for larger lures. If you have a supply of musky equipment, bring it along on your trip because pike anglers are reporting sightings now too, especially in Cutfoot.

Panfish and crappies are gathered around the flats where vegetation is green and lush. Trolling spinners has produced modest catches of both sunfish and crappies. We think it’s a good idea to troll until you contact your target species and then fine tune your presentations from there. Small plastics served on small jigs are best for crappies, cast your lures and let them drop into pockets and gaps. Sunfish prefer some meat on your presentation, add a chunk of cut up night crawler or a small leech to compact jig heads and fish vertically.

As always, panfish anglers who fish during early morning and late evening will find the most active fish. If you’re fishing during midday and catch one or two crappies or sunfish, make note of the area. Try fishing in the same spots later, of early the next morning and you might be surprised by how many fish you find.

Mid-to-late summer is a transitional time, and we’re following the trends. Soon, walleyes will move away from the soft bottom areas where insect hatches drew their attention. They’ll take up residence on the flats, along shoreline breaks and on rocks, wherever minnows and small gamefish gather in large numbers. Follow the updates and we’ll do our best to keep you up to speed.

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.