Muskies on Winnie

[james_walleye]

I asked this question before and have never gotten much of a response but i'll ask again. Anyone here have any expierience fishing muskies on Winnie? I fish there a couple times a year and im just getting into fishing muskies and im looking for any kind of pointers on chasing them out there.

[Random guy]

I have fished it for Musky a couple of times without much luck. Don't get me wrong it produces some nice fish, I just can't catch them on that water. The structure is not as defined as a "normal" musky lake. I have thought about a trolling aproach to cover a wider area. Maybe one of the guides up there can fill us in on a few clues?

[james_walleye]

So if a guy decided too troll a super shad rap or a believer what kind of speed does a guy run those at for muskies? Pretty quick i imagine?

[Random guy]

walleye weren't you involved with the last speed trolling debate? I would have to say for my liking I would troll as fast as the lure and structure would allow. If I can hit 6mph I would run that to cover water and trigger dormant fish. I am not familar with the ins and outs of Winnie, that lake has kicked my butt to many times.

[james_walleye]

No i've never offered in much on the muskie forum. So a believer will run true at 6 mph? Thats cruising.

[Random guy]

I'm not sure if the believer will do 6, I don't use them much. I'm a bigger fan of the fast flat cranks like Jakes or Grandmas.

[FigR8'EM]

I have heard of some large fish being boated on Winnie but I have never had any luck up there. The only time I fish it is when Im up at the Deer Shack scouting for deer season and hunting grouse. I mainly troll large Jakes and Grandmas becuase i dont know the lake that well and cant figure out what structure to focus on to pound with regular casting. Good luck if you get out there

Kano

[james_walleye]

Ok so when i was at Winnie here a week ago i was goofing off the last day of our trip and i found a pretty good size stretch out from shore that was set up like this. Out about 100 yards from shore it was 3' and sand and just like that there was a small break into about 5 1/2' and on the bottom of that break was really nice weeds. I never got a chance too fish it and im just a beginner muskie guy but it seems too me a great place for a predator too sit and ambush prey. Either that or a great edge too catch predators like muskies cruising, especially early or late in the day. Say a topwater or burning a bucktail might trigger something off that small break? Without seeing the good size stretch of shoreline like this do you guys think this might be a good area too key in on? I will be up labor day weekend again and might give it a try.

[PGAGolfPro]

Not to say the depth change does not matter or won't make a difference, but anytime you can find a transition from rock/weeds or sand/weeds or any combination like that there is a distinct possibility that the location may hold fish. In my experience, I have moved and hooked quite a few fish in these types of areas. These fish are probably feeding and using the break/structure as an ambush point. This has been mostly on metro lakes, but I'm sure it would hold true in most other lakes as well. The bait that I was throwing was a bucktail in-fact. Needless to say, if I find an area like this on any lake, I would definitely fish it!

[TMan]

For what it's worth - Here's my theory on "location" for Musky. Simply think; would that spot hold bait fish of any prominant species & then would there be numbers of them? Walleye, Crappie, Bluegill, Perch, etc....? Then yep, it's possible there is some "Crowd control" around at the times when the munchies might be there... If so, then you need to pick out what times of day primarily, and/or weather conditions, that those baitfish species would be present on a regular occurence at your questioned spot (I.e., not 1 or 2 fish, but a seasonal pattern for their locating there or the weather making them locate there, i.e., windy day, overcast etc).

An example relating to your spot would be: In spring or early summer, Walleyes will be shallow and may be holding on your break at 5 feet if it's morning or evening or even mid day if there's a wind blowing Shiners up into the shallows... Hence, Momma Musky knows where to eat at that time of year too!

Understanding and fishing many different species of fish throughout their seasonal patterns help with being able to target & locate a desired species at any given time of year. But then ya gotta catch 'em!

TMan

[Random guy]

Well put TMan. Good old fashioned logic.

[james_walleye]

I just viewed a picture a guy posted another HSOforum of a 51" ski he caught on Winnie this past weekend. Getting me excited too try it over labor day weekend.