opener

hey its 33 days and counting !! anyone else itching to get out there !!

Boy I can’t wait. This last weekend kinda put a slow down on the ice melting, but by the looks of the forcast we may have some fishable water by the weekend. Any thoughts on where your going to start this opener?…Bet I could guess!!!

i might just as well come up there and fish with you till you pick up your clients then go home and maybe come bace later or something , after i have a fish dinner

Boy by the looks of this response, we will have the lake to ourselves. Anyone…Anyone hitting Winnie on Opener?

I will be up there Thursday through Sunday following the opener. I heard there is a tournament up there that weekend so I am sure the lake will be even more packed.
A couple questions about the opener on Winni:
My group usually does a lot of jigging, but does anyone do any rigging this time of year?
My other question is if anyone uses long shanked jigs instead of the shorter size on the fireballs?
I look forward to reading the opener reports.

I am a long shank user. With the size of the shiners in most cases that longer hook helps the hook up percentages drastically. I am not a big fan of short shanks and stingers when the fish are biting short. There are a time and place for the short shank hooks, but its tough to argue with the success of the long shanks. The new MaxGap jigs by Lindy with the Blood Thirsty hooks will be on all of my rods.

Numbers of anglers run rigs early in the year. They catch some fish, but I would think that the best numbers come from the jigs and minnows. It should be another great year on Winnie. The smaller fish that were in that 9-12 inch range last year are now over 14 inches for the most part, so look for both numbers of eaters and slot fish this season.

This is going to be my first time up to Winnie/CutFoot, Just curious to what is the hot colors and jig size for opener are on average. Or if one is willing to leak any other tips or advise, that would be grand. Looking forward to getting on the water. And good luck to all. Thanks!

I am glad to hear that other people use the longer shank jigs. I knew I wasn’t the only one, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t missing out on something. My favorite jig colors are the usuall walleye producers. White, Chart., and green all work well. I also like colors with pinks and oranges. Pink seems to be the hot pike color. Vertical jigging is not the name of the game on Winni. I like to cast my jig out a little ways and then close the bail. Sometimes a little speed can put more fish in the boat too. Hope this helps you CampNFish.

Campnfish,
Welcome to In-depthangling first off.
As far as Winnie and a few tips. Winnie is mainly a shallow water producer through mid June. The North and East shorelines will hold good numbers of fish along with good numbers of anglers. There will likely be numbers of crowds in certain spots which are normally good producers early in the year. Jigs and Silver spot tail shiners are the ticket. Jig colors vary from angler to angler but its pretty hard to disagree with the Chartruese yellow or greens. Jig size can vary but 1/16 to 1/8 oz. should be all you need for the first few weeks.
Some of the biggest mistakes that I see on Winnie anglers is depth that most fish. Don’t be afraid of moving into 2-4 feet of water during mid-to-late day.

Even though your going to be on WInnie for the first time, hopefully you will have a great time and successful outing. Winnie is one of the premier walleye lakes in the state and you should see that. One other thing to remember is that Winnie and Cutfoot have a slot limit. No fish can be taken that are between 17-26 inches. Good Luck and maybe I will see you out there…

Thanks for the info! I am aware of the slot limit, and look forward to catching some pigs that slot limit lakes can produce. Another picture for the wall. Thanks again.