Lake Winnibigoshish Fishing Reports

[Team Otter]

I am heading to winnie this weekend should i buy Jumbo leeches?

Absolutely.

[TravP]

And crawlers, and minnows>

[Jason Boser]

[PoorWordUsage]? that is nice bubby and barb are great and the sites nice. The humps would be the place to go for walleye with a leech or crawler and a rig right now. if you want action go to the weeds and you will get somw walleye perch and northern with a jig and minnow

Jason

[MayFly_1]

Anyone have a lake temp for Winnie? I will be bringing the family up on the 25th for a week and the kids want to swim while the guys are out fishing. Sure hope the bite keeps up.

[Team Otter]

65.0 F today.

It's down right chilly up here! We found fish today but shallow and spread out. Plastics and small profile crank baits were the ticket today but it was darn nasty out there. Until tomorrow...

[Northlander]

Jamison my wife and I will be at High Banks the second week in Aug. Any chance you will be on Winni then? Any tips? Drop me a e-mail if ya like. Thanks.

[bmc]

Steve,

Let me know when you're up there and I'll run up and fish a day with you. Bottom bouncing or Lindy rigging deep on mid lake humps or trolling cranks on shallow mid-lake structure and along the shorelines 10' or so. Jigging minnows in the shallow weeds works too, although I don't have the patience for that.

Brian

[Northlander]

Brian E-mail me and Ill give ya all the deatils. I can fit ya in for a half a day Im sure. AM is best. Wife likes the afternoon sun.

[Team Otter]

Steve,

Brian is obviously a great resource for you to use. You can e-mail me next week and I'll fill you in on the specifics from this trip but things can change, obviously.

[email protected]

[Northlander]

Ya I realize it will change but the only knowledge I have of Winni is from Ice Fishing and a few short trips to Cut Foot.

I will find fish as long as the weather lets me out.

I will have all the goodies with so something will have to get bit.

[Team Otter]

Well, fishing was darn good despite the weather. Wow, talk about a cold front! Arctic Armor in July can't happen very often. Global warming?

Several presentations went over the side of my boat but at the end of the day, riggin' on mid-lake structure and pulling crank baits over deep weedlines were the best. When riggin', the set-up was simple; 1/4 - 1/2 oz. egg sinker and plain hook tipped with a leech or night crawler worked slowly across the top of a hump with fish on it. If you don't mark fish, move on to the next one. It's pretty straight forward. As for the trolling bite, it's a bit inconsistent but when it's on, it's definitely ON. #5 Shad Raps worked well ~100' back. With that being said, I know there's also jig and minnow bites happening as well as some sampling of lead-core and spinners and night crawlers or minnows. Pick your poison and have fun! Lots of pan-size fish biting out there right now!

[Northlander]

Well we sure can do all those. My wife however likes to jig or lindy rig. If she reads a book thats when I put some boards out and troll some cranks.

Jamison do I need more than the Secret weapon rigs (3 colors of lead) up there? Im assuming the active fish off the reefs are suspended anyways.

Does anyone down rig winni?

[Team Otter]

You'll be fine with what you have.

Down riggin'? Not sure but good question.

[bmc]

Downrigging? Hmmmmmmmm, interesting thought Steve. I never hear of anyone doing it, but we might be missing the boat too? I'd have to guess 90% or more of the people out there now are lindy rigging. From talking to my buddy who did really good out there today, it was a crawler bite today, but last weekend he did better w/ leeches. Have both for sure!

Brian

[gregg52]

bmc ??

you said he did really good lots of fish in the box ???

or just caught alot

i'm presuming the humps

downriggin i thought was more for deep suspended fish

sounds like alot of monkeyin around

most the fish i think are in 25ft or less

[Jim Almquist]

Greg are you going to be out this weekend ? I am hoping the weather cooperates so I can get out to the humps this weekend.

[slovene]

I will be out there tomorrow through Sunday (MTT Sat./Sun.). Am going to try and find areas out of the 10-20 NW wind forecast for Sat.!! Maybe I'll run into you two this weekend, if not, good luck, and wear your raingear!!

[Jim Almquist]

Once again the weather wants to ruin my plan but I will wait till saturday morning before I decide what lake to hit but I do know that I will be fishing somewhere.

[gregg52]

i dont think i'm coming up think i'll just try it around home here for change

i think i can do as well as going up there and buckin those big winds

gettin old i guess even in the big yar craft kinda takes some of the fun out of it

specially if they fish dont go

[Northlander]

Downrigging can be used many different ways. One that might shine on Winni would be to get small baits down in a specific strike zone.

[Jim Almquist]

Greg you did not miss a thing on saturday. It was very windy so we just messed around but did get out on sunday. The wind was perfect and there was a good bite on the hump we were fishing. We kept 3 slot for a meal and released some bigger ones and a few more slot fish. There was a very consistent bite on leechs in 22 to 24 feet but they were dropping the bait or just inhaling so it made it tough to decide when to set the hook. All was great until a out of state guy decided to join us on the very small hump that I was on and then one of the guys from the MTT also decided to pack fish and that pretty much pushed the fish off the hump and killed the bite. We went to a few more common spots with no luck so we left because I did not want to share anymore spots with the tournament guys. The lawn needed to be cut anyways.

[gregg52]

ya i didnt fish all week end first time i can say that in bout 3 yrs

ya its kinda fun to find a hump by your self or an area of a hump and catch fish always seems someone happens along

i had a hump all to my self for bout 3 week i guess

then i went there and there were couple of older guys on it

i spose they figured i pulled up on them but as we passed in trollin i told them that wasnt the case and the gf had pulled in 2 already lol

one was a nice gater bout 6 lbs

then they left shortly after we got couple more lol

we were doing pretty good its a small hump and the fish seem to hold in an even smaller spot they were drifting and its way to small for that then they come back in a bit and asked if we left them any fish kinda funny and the fishin had slowed some so i told them ya theres lots left we went to anther spot closer to shore and whacked some more i think we like 8 in the box and that big snout the gf was talkin smart all night i think i only caught a few she had a prettty hot hand but thats fun to

[slovene]

greg-the fishing was good, in fact, about $4,300+ good, on Sunday!

send me an e-mail.

[Corey20]

I fished winnie last thurs-sun and did very well each day. Saturday being the slowest with the weather. Boated 28 fish on sunday with only 2 over 17inches. Others between 13 and 16.5 inches. Dragged lindys with leeches and crawlers, seemed to catch about the same on each. Find a hump work the breaks and if there isnt fish there move to the next one! Be back out this weekend getting ready for the 2 day MTT.

[james_walleye]

Hey Slovene i was one of the guys who got 3rd in that sunday tourney and we were talkin with the 2nd place guys together and didnt know it!

[walleyes4me]

We fished cut foot on Friday till around 2 pm. Found some smaller eyes and a few in the 18" - 22". All throw backs. We heard some guy got air lifted to the hospital because he fell out of his boat. Anyone else hear this?

[slovene]

Well, I guess we've unknowingly met now. If I knew that was you, would have talked a bit more. Nice job on the finish! Are you fishing the 2-day next weekend as well? We're boat #16 I believe. If not, it was nice talking to you, although briefly, and I'm sure we'll meet somewhere down the line again. I believe the last time we talked on here, we were quelling others doubts of catching fish during the "dog days" on Winnie. I guess there's no argument anymore!!

[james_walleye]

Yeah we were talking about the dog days, the numbers of fish caught in that tourney prove how good the fishing can be. We actually spent the whole week up there and did pretty well in a few places. As far as the 2 day tourney, no we will not be up there. We both would like to be but its not going to work out. Good luck in the 2 day. It will be interesting to see if the bite changes out there.

[slovene]

Well, with the weather still staying on the cool side, I'm guessing most patterns that had worked should hold for the next tourney as well. Obviously, there will be some fish movement, but, for the most part, I'm betting that not a lot will change overall. Should be a good bite along with good numbers brought to the scales. What an odd year up here weather wise, but the bite has still been good throughout the summer! I'm sure we'll talk soon, later!

[hillhuntin]

Sounds like the weather has had a major role in the whole Mississippi flyway. I come up to Winnie every year with my family over Labor Day for 10 days and from the looks of the fishing reports I have seen, seem to fair the same as here in central Illinois. We have had a very odd season thus far. Normally we are having white bass busting the surface for the month of June and catching the walleye beneath...but they are just now beginning. The same with out catfish run, seems to be in the first of July and is just now starting to get good. 'Thus being almost 1 to 2 months behind, as the same as our temperatures.

We are still coming up the same as usual, the week of Labor Day and hoping to get on some fish, just to make the trip fun. Hoping someone will give us some type of good reports, as this is the first year we are bringing our grandson (3) and he so loves to fish. He would much rather watch a fishing/hunting show than cartoons... needless to say he is our pride and joy. Any insight would be great and if you need any assistance with lakes in central Illinois would be more than happy to assit.