Reports?

Didn’t anybody get out on Winnie for opener?

I did not BUT I have relatives and friends that fished it Sat-Mon and it was all about big fish. Not much under the 17″ slot for the fry pan. Numbers seemed down to. They said that you could tell the fishing was not up to opening winni standards due to the amount of boats that were on the move at all times (people looking for fish…)
My hope is that it will improve as I will be up there on Monday. Leech will get some attention from me as well as I heard there was a better “slot” bite outa’ there…RR

My brother and I fished Winnie opening day and you were spot on. Lots of movement. Bigger fish were caught by us but not in numbers.

I’ll be fishing Winnie from this coming Thursday May 21st through Memorial Day. I’m hoping to start hearing some better reports from this weekend. I’ll post how we do.

Joe “Stickboy’ Schuur and his group were just up there this weekend. Hopefully he’ll have a full report for us shortly.

Yo’ Joe?! How’d it go for you and the crew?

Well for starters it wasnt the usual winnie bite. Things were a bit behind. We had water temps around 50-52 deg. and cold front after cold front come through with the wind switching a few times a day.
Left wed. afternoon after geting my new lowrance hooked up and loading my new 2009 lakemaster chip. (thanks for the help james). Most of our crew got up there late morning. I arrived right at diner time. After dinner we hit the big lake. 3 of us in my boat went out and braved the rough water. It was blowing har enough all week to create a mud line on the north shore. This is a first for me I have never seen a mud line on winni. half way through the first pass it started to rain then lightning. We headed in a a slow speed got hailed on. It passed rather quickly so we stopped and fished in cut foot for the eaving. It was slow but we managed a few fish for the box. The typical Jig and shiner with no preferance on color. Fat heads didnt work this year for us.
Thursday morning brought 28 deg temp. with 40 mph. winds with snow. Leaving the cabin was tough. We did manage to finally get out. Fishing was slow some of the crew ground it out on the same spot all day others ran all over trying to find the typical winni bite. Those that ground it out seemed to do better. today we never made it to the big lake either, fished cut foot all day.
fri. brought lighter winds and a little warmer temps. I managed to get to the big lake for a few hours. I was able to get a few bigger fish 24″ being the biggest with a handfull of 20″-23″. Slots were limited. I herd roomers of a good bite on stoney point but in 2′-4′ waves I wasnt making the trip. Fished the afternoon back in cut foot.
Saturday brought the cold and wind back 40 mph winds and 30deg again. Hard pressed to leave the cabin. When we did get out it was to the sheltered sides of cut foot again. Same thing jig and a shiner. Slower seemed better which tells me next week end is going to be on fire. I think the bite is going to pick up. I beleive winni is about a week, week and a half behind what it should normally be.
So no fantastic bite to report. I did like the new 2009 lakemaster chip. It was accurate and found me a new sopt to try just wish the weather was a little more co-opertive .
We did manage to bring home a limit so sun we packed up and headed home early. Of course this was the nicest day of the week at 63 deg and calm winds. It was fun to be up there again for our anual 2nd week end, I had a great time as usual and cant wait till next year with the same group.

We were up there Thursday-Sunday. Sorry Stickboy forgot you guys were up. Should have called you. The weather was rediculous. Wish I would have had 2 drift socks most of the time. I strongly considered anchoring up on the edge of that little mudline. We had our best success in the 9-12 ft. range in the main lake. Mallard Point, the Gap, and the Rock Pile were the best for us. Overall it was slow, but those 30 min flurries make up for it. It was so nice to be in my own boat. We’d catch a few fish, backtroll right back over them and pull a few more before they shut off or moved. I had some success in Cutfoot as well, but its snaggy and I got sick of losing jigs.

Dan I forgot you guys went up that week too. I would have called. In all the years I have never seen a mud line on winni. I think it was actually a sand line as there isnt much mud there. I too fised from the rock pile to the gap when I was out there. My best luck was still in cutfoot. My depth range was from 6′ to 17′ never got a pattern just like you said they would turn on then off or move it was difficult to stay on top of the active fish. Thats why the guys in our group that stayed in one spot all day did the best, just waited them out.

Here is a 28.5″ walleye I got last Friday. We were in 9 ft. and the fish crushed a jig and minnow. This is my biggest Winni walleye and a nice suprise mixed in with all the 14-18″ fish we usually catch.