With the ferouciosness of the bite there is not much you can do to protect the fish other than clip the barbs. I have been fishing cranks barbless for 10 years and I may loose a few but I return a lot more. I go as far as to file the barb smooth on the hook versus just bending it in. I have tried removing the front treble but found on most of the lighter cranks it changes the action to a fibration versus a wiggle action.

Put me in the hat.

Thanks
Tim Bates

As mentioned earlier I have been fishing Winnie since 1975. Over those years I have always stayed at Bowen Lodge – primarialy because of the outstanding accomidations – but also because of the access to Winnie and Cut Foot. The movement of fish from Winnie to Cut Foot produces a great fall bite. It looks that there will be no dissappointment this year. An educated guess would say the fall bite will come about sooner than later – maybe as early as the Labor Day Weekend.
Hope you enjoy your week on the two lakes – good thing one does not have to choose between the two but rather can easily enjoy both.

I have been fishing Winnie since 1975 and I would tell you that little has changed (must say few people in the area would know what an Erie Deerie is but I have several in my tackle box). As Sean mentioned Winnie is primarily a live bait lake. Last weekend we did very well with both minnow and crawlers fishing in 7-6 feet of water. Color of the jig or rig seems to have more effect than the bait itself. Green and orange jigs were very active last weekend with white also producing some fish.
Hope your return trip is a good one

I am new to this so I lack details – please send me an email at [email protected] with the when where and how details and I may be able to provide a boat.

Thanks
Tim Bates

As a Minnesotan who still calls Iowa home my memories of fishing with my Dad on the Mississippi are the greatest memories I have. No one in the world loved to fish more than my Dad did and no one in the world enjoyed fishing with his 3 sons than my Dad did. I hope that I have passed that love of fishing on to my children and that I have the opportunity to pass it on to my grandchildren.
My Dad had a saying (he has many) that I would share with your “Fishing enhances character – catching fish enhances life” He was a great believer that fishing was as much or more fun than catching fishing. That is the message I hope my children and your children learn as they fish along side of you.

There was some frustration in the bite this weekend – lots of missed catches. I cannot remember loosing so many minnows to light bite as we did this weekend. Even with crawlers it was a fairly common event to pull up less than half a crawler and never know you had a bite. Diane got a northern that she thought was a weed – now that is a light bite.

Mark
You just discovered one of the secrets some of us have known for many years – if the walleye’s are a little slow there are other species to keep us entertained. That is also the beauty of having Cuitfoot attached to Winnie – the fishing is not dependent on the big lake being calm enough to navigate.
Many of us have known this secret for 30+ years so please don’t tell anyone

Had mine custom made by a fellow in Mound – total cost was $750 for bimini top, attachable side curtains as well as an attachable rear panel. It fits my lund well and it is usable for various weather conditions. Check the custom route before settling for a pre-made that may or may not meet your needs

I have the Scotty holder and they work great. Never have had a problem and they are easy to mount as well as to insert and remove the holders.

Ferny
I would agree. The loon population is as strong as ever as is that of most all birds of the north. On Winnie the eagles are as healthy as ever. One has to wonder where the legislators get their info – they obviously don’t spend anytime un the north country.

Sean
You fished the wrong day this weekned. Sunday morning was pretty slow but Sunday afternoon really picked up. Got a 7lb northern Saturday afternoon. Phil and I went out Sunday morning and got a few northerns and a few perch. Sunday afternoon we hit the walleye- keeping 4 and dumping three back. Still lots of northern action and few perch. Never moved off the spot where you last saw me on Saturday. Again very shallow – under 7 feet and right on the top of the vegetation,

Tim

The only thing I would add to Sean’s advice is not to be afraid to go shallow and when Sean says shallow he can be talking about as little as 4 feet of water. Most of us amatures are hesitant to fish that shallow but during the past two weeks the 7-4 foot range has been very active for me. So tilt the motor up and go in get them

I have been staying at Bowen Lodge since 1975 and now have a summer trailer there. Sean is right when he says it is 5 stars. One of the greatest advantages to Bowen is that while the cabins sit on the high banks of Winnie (what a view) the boat landing and docks are on Cut Foot Souix. With some of the windly days of recent weeks it has been nice to have Cut Foot as a back up when the big lake is too rough. There are some good hot spots for walleye within 200 yards of the docks. Just ask Bob and he will show you where he catches most of his fish. Hope to see you all there some day.

On Sunday we had great action on the north shore – not real big but plenty of action. Walleye seemed to be sitting on top of the vegetation in 7-9 feet of water. Perch were everwhere in the shallows. The bite was agressive – no need for long counts on the rigs with crawlers We ran out of crawlers, switch to leeches, ran out of leeches and switched to minows all with the same result.

Sean – Jason and I are probably going to back up on Friday – long story on how that has come about.