Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[Peter]

Could you provide us with the areas you fished? Heading up Thursday with the kids. Thanks for your help.

[james_walleye]

We literally fished up and down the whole west side of the lake from sugar point on up to stony point. It wasnt fast and furious. Pick up a few here and a few there and in the end you had a nice mess of fish.

[Peter]

Thanks for the help. My 8 yr old can't wait.

[Seabass77]

The best fishing for us was once the wind picked up and we had a little cloud cover.

[Kevlaro]

Was graphing fish along North shore out west from cutfoot channel in @ 15ft. but not having much luck getting them to bite until almost nightfall. Bite was best from hour before sunset until dark for us. Of the 4 fish me and the kids kept we caught 3 on shiners and 1 on a leech.

[Jim Almquist]

We fished the rocks on the north shore with decent luck during low light and tough fishing when there was no waves or clouds. It sure was a great weekend weather wise but would rather have had more clouds with a little more wind. I used a jig and shiner for all my fish and the water temp was in the mid 50s. We were able to keep the shiners happy at the dock all weekend long but with the warmer temps that will change soon.

[Champs]

Anyone ever try using Rainbows for minnows or is it just a shiner & fathead lake? Fishing there tonight at 5pm.

[Jim Almquist]

In the fall Rainbows are my favorite bait but in the spring I feel the shiners are better because they are also in shallow spawning and they just plain work. Not to say Rainbows would not work but I like the smaller size shiners for jigging.

[Champs]

Shiners it is. Thanks

[Jason Boser]

Winnie was ok also fish were in front of high banks, stoney and the rock pile. Most fish were in 15-17 ft of water again all scattered around. You go over a few fish and get a couple bites and then go awhile till you hit some more. Again nothing real constant but ok.

Once the clouds and wind came up Friday and sat it started to turn on in the shallows. Then we were getting them in 8-9 ft again with a northland gumball and a shiner. I think this will hold true for awhile yet. So look for good fishing when you have clouds or wind if none of that just keep plucking away.

Good luck fishing

Jason Boser

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218-999-5591

[gregg52]

i didnt fish last week end cuz i moved an rv up to a site

but what i'm hearing is the fast bite is between tamarack and high banks

17 feet of water 8 till dark

and of coarse a jig and minnow

[wormdunker]

This weekend Highbanks was near dead compared recent years with the exception of the dusk to dark bite. It did pick up at dark.

[Avid Angler]

I was on my annual May fishing trip to Winnie this past weekend and it did not disappoint. We caught 50 eyes on Friday between four guys. After the winds calmed down a bit on Saturday we boated 112 eyes. Sunday was dead calm and we had one eye in the morning.

I was impressed by the size. There were a lot of eaters to be had. We did not see the big fish, but we were fishing shallow water all weekend. 6-9 feet of water. I think the bigger fish are running deeper the way it sounds.

Jigs and shiners were the way to go. Fish the wind swept shorelines along and in emerging weedbeds. You will find fish doing this.

Good luck!

Avid

[Rick]

The fish are still in the shallows on the big flats, Chasing shiners and little perch. Look for the fish in 7-12 ft of water depending on your weather. we have been using 1/8 oz gumballs with the wind and 1/16 oz fireballs without. Shiners are still plentiful in the area, so stop at Freds or Bens bait for excellent bait.

Jason Boser

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[muskiefisher05]

was fishing on winne this week did ok seemed better with the overcast and the wind using shiners biggest I caught was a over 20".

[gregg52]

i anchored up and threw jigs on the windy days and caught

15-20 fish in about 3 hrs put 6 in the box 2 outs 3 days

bout 241/2 was the biggest...it was the first cast the secound day

[ryan p]

Fished Winnie last Fri Sat Sun fishing was good, most fish came out of 5 to 9 feet of water with jigs and shiners.

[bmc]

This past week the fish were spread out from 4-8' of water, in the newly forming weed beds....all the way out to the humps in 20-24' of water. In both locations it seemed the jig/shiner combo was the best presentation, but rigging on the humps also produced some fish.

Brian

[Jason Boser]

This week was a week where we started to see the fish start moving toward deeper water. Yhere are still fish in the shallows around stoney, river channel and all along that north shore. There are also fish out on the humps and I think it will keep getting better out there. Naturally when fishing shallow you need a jig in the 1/8-1/16 oz range but if you go deep jump up to a 1/4 or 3/8 oz jig. We are still getting shiners but they are getting harder.

Good luck fishing and be safe

Jason Boser

fishing fever guide service

mnfishing pros guide service

[greedom]

So after a life time of occasional trips and the last 4 years of fishing Winnie exclusively, the desire to catch more than Walleys has become apparent. Although I have tried Cut Foot for pannies several times in the past, I have always came away discouraged with few fish to show. One saving grace is that I can always hook into boat loads of little perch, good for the kids anyway....

Last weekend we fished several areas in Cut Foot looking for sunfish to no avail. We targeted several shorelines and a couple reed beds all in close proximity to either side of the narrows. Im guessing its too early for such locations? We did have some decent luck catching some slab Crappies in the Narrows one night at dusk. The bite seemed relatively short and of coarse we were fishing amongst several boats.

As im sure many enjoy the diversity of catching fish other than Walleye, I wouldnt expect any major secrets to be revealed, but would ceratinly appreciate some minor pointers or advice based on the following.

- While Crappie fishing the narrows at dusk, it was noted that none of us with lighted bobbers caught any. Coincidence? The same appeared true with other boats in that those frequenting their nets were using plain bobbers. Not sure how to best fish after dark without a lighted bobber. Is the Crappie bite at the narrows limited to dusk/evening?

- Mcavity bay sounds like it has a good early bite for Crappies. How long can one expect this to last? Is this mainly an evening bite or can one expect to catch fish during the day?

- Obviously lots of shoreline and territory in Cut Foot. Where should one focus if sunnies are not shallow?

I appreciate any guidance people may be willing to share.

[gregg52]

i've caught some nice sunnies on bobs bar around the weeds

also back in the little cutfoot i just put along the shoeline throw something small in the shallows and find some nice sunnies

i think theres always a crappie bite in macavity you just have to find em which isnt easy.....at least for me..i dont try to hard tho either

[greedom]

Cool - thanks for the advice gregg52. I didnt get into Cut Foot this weekend because I had a couple visitors with me and of coarse they were after Walleyes. I know of one that went in search of Crappies, but outside of the narrows bite had little succcess.

3 of us brought home a limit of eyes, had one fish fry and threw several back (big and small) in 1.5 days of fishing. Action was good in Tamarack Bay but when it slowed there we moved out to some humps and had good action as well. Good weekend of fishing!

[Fishpondc]

Got back from winnie this weekend.. we got into some walleyes on various humps rigging with leeches. The crappies were only in the narrows, every year seems a little less, but I still love camping and fishing up here!

[jim carpenter]

winnie bite is changing daily. pretty common for this time of year with the recent weather conditions. saturday we caught fish in deeper water. sunday the deeper water slowed for us and we jigged the 10foot water with great success. fun part this time of year is you can basically cacth them however you like to fish. move around and search a few areas and you should find some fish on your preferred method.

[CC Rocks]

jim were you using shiners in the shallows? Can you still get them up there?

[magnum mike]

The jig/shiner bite was good on Winnie last weekend according to my neighbor. I hear shiners are starting to get scarce. Don't drive past many bait stores without stopping if you want them for the weekend. I expect a crowd for Father's Day Weekend.

[CC Rocks]

MM i was up on your lake last Saturday. Fished 8 am to 1pm. Very slow. Three eyes only one keeper. Weather must be playing a big part up there. Water level is probably lower now that in the past several weeks. Going up again for three days on the 25th.

Let me know if your going to be around.

CC-N-Rocks.

[magnum mike]

I was up last weekend with my lovely but no fishing. She wanted to get out of the house, play cards and have a few beverages. I planted grass and took care of some chores. The reports I got were pretty bad and the weather wasn't very good. The water has not come up at all which surprised me after all the rain in recent weeks. There was a god awful algae bloom on the lake and it is starting to smell. That usually signals a down turn in the fishing. I'm hoping for better things this weekend. I'm taking my pop and pop-in-law this weekend.

[CC Rocks]

MM send me an email at gary.scholzen@pentair.com

would like to stay in touch and talk turkey about your lake and share tactics.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I went out from 10AM to 1:30 and caught two slimers and a couple of perch. I landed on the southwest side of the lake and fished anywhere from 30' to 7' up in the weeds and didn't have any luck. Tried casting raps shallow, and rigging out deep with leeches. First time on the lake, and it was more of a last minute decision to stop and fish for a bit. I did notice there was still shiners up in the shallow weeds, and I also noticed a nasty bug hatch going on.

Beautiful lake, I'm going to have to make it a point to head that way again and do some fishing/camping.