Lake Winnie — Low Fifties, Shallow Weeds, Walleyes Still Biting

Some fishing reports read like a novel. This one is more like a text from your cousin: short, upbeat, and finished before you’ve put your coffee down. Honestly, I respect it. Not every update needs a thousand words.

Captain Jeff Johnson of Northern Drift Outfitters posted a quick Oct. 23 update on lakewinnie.net. Here’s what he said.

Four things worth knowing

1. Walleyes are still biting on Big Winnie. Johnson thinks the bite will hold up “for weeks to come yet.” That’s his prediction, not a promise.
2. Water is in the low-to-mid 50s. He wrote it as “mid low 50’s,” so we’re reading that as low 50s and maybe a little higher.
3. A minnow on a jig, or soft plastics. Either one has been putting walleyes in the boat. He says it’s been “plenty of fish,” but he didn’t give a count, so neither will we.
4. Shallow weeds, 7 to 9 feet. That’s where he says it has been working.

Putting it together

If you’re the kind of person who brings eleven tackle boxes and uses two baits all day, this one’s for you. You need a jig, minnows or some plastics, and a shallow weedbed in that 7 to 9 foot range. That’s it. You can leave the crankbait box in the garage.

The weeds part fits with what we’ve seen on Winnie the last couple of weeks. The previous lakewinnie.net note, from Oct. 16, also had walleyes in and just outside weeds in about 6 to 9 feet. So the fish haven’t gone far. That’s our comparison, not his. He didn’t name any spots this time.

The weather has changed since

Johnson wrote this on Friday and called it beautiful fall weather. Then a cold front was due Saturday. In the NWS forecasts we summarized for the week, Monday’s highs looked about like the previous week’s lows, and Monday might be rainy too. Fall walleyes usually keep eating when it cools off, but cold fronts can slow things down for a day or two. That’s general fishing wisdom, not something from Johnson’s report. Bring the warm gloves. Up north in late October, the drive home is colder than the drive up.

There’s something nice about a lake this big still giving up walleyes this deep into October. If you can sneak one more trip in, it sounds like Winnie’s still open for business.

Fine print

This is a short, general update from one guide. No locations, fish counts, or sizes were given, and we didn’t add any. The water temperature is what he wrote on Oct. 23, before the cold front. Check current conditions and call a local resort or bait shop before you go.

Sources

• Capt. Jeff Johnson, Northern Drift Outfitters, “October 23rd Fishing Report,” lakewinnie.net
• Previous lakewinnie.net note, “October 16th Fishing Report” (for the comparison only)
• MN Fish On Conditions, Oct. 22–28, 2026 (NWS summary)