August 28th Fishing Report

August 28, 2026

Panfish and walleyes are gearing up for the cooler weather ahead. Cutfoot Sioux, Third River, Sugar Lake can provide some great panfishing opportunities. Walleyes are overall shallow on the big lake right now. 6-12ft. Good algae blooms are making the fish less spooky as well. Allowing some traditional trolling techniques to work extremely well right now. Photo and report courtesy of Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters. Your Lake Winnie Fishing Guide.

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August 21st Fishing Report

Trolling patterns are picking up across the big lake. Spinners and crankbaits have been the go to presentations. Shorelines with decent weeds and rock in 6-9 ft across the lake have been producing good results. Photo and report courtesy of Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters. Your Lake Winnie fishing guide.

August 14th Fishing Report

Crappies are starting to show up. Trolling little joe spinner in 12-15ft of water has proven effective over the past few days. Shallow water trolling walleyes are playing early in the morning and later in the afternoon. Look for the best weed beds in 6-10ft of water. Photo and report courtesy of Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters. Your Lake Winnie fishing guide.

August 7th Fishing Report

Summer trolling patterns on the big lake are starting to produce some great results. Shorelines in the 9-12 ft range all across the lake. Finding sections with decent weeds and or rock will increase bites as well. Good amounts of water size fish are being reported as well. Phot courtesy Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters. Your Lake Winnie fishing guide.

July 31 Fishing Report

Walleyes are starting to spread out on mid lake flats and shorelines. Trolling spinners and covering water is starting to provide more consistent action. Look for shoreline weedbeds and rocks in 6-9ft of water while mid lake flats that are 10-14 ft deep in and around the rockier bottoms has been productive. Photo and report courtesy of Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters. Your Lake Winnie fishing guide.

July 24th Fishing Report

Sometimes Northern Pike don’t get the attention they deserve. However most of the negativity usually is around smaller size northerns ( hammer handles, snakes, picklers) the list can go on and on. Targeting larger pike can be more engaging for some and it makes for quite a battle when they start getting shoulders. A great tactic is to Lindy rig large creek chubs, redtails, and sucker minnows. Think walleye like areas because you are going to stumble into big walleyes as well with these larger minnows. Photo and report courtesy of Lake Winnie fishing guide Jeff Johnson.

July 17th Fishing Report

Walleyes and perch are biting on Winnie. Walleyes have transitioned off of some of the deeper mud humps and pushing more into harder bottom mid lake flats in the 12-17ft range. Leeches and crawlers under a float are still outperforming other tactics most days. The perch are showing up on typical weedy and rocky shoreline areas in 4-7ft. Find the best weeds and you will find some perch. Long lining a lightweight spinner is effective at getting the perch out of the weeds and produces some fun pike bites throughout the day as well. Photo and report courtesy of Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters your Lake Winnie fishing guide.