Lake Winnie — Chop on the Rocks, Spinners When It Lays Down

Our mid-September Winnie card was still talking spinner limits and a shallow jig-and-fathead comeback from the Sept 11 lake note. That story’s not wrong — it’s just a week older than the water. Fresh notes from Capt. Jeff Johnson (Sept 21) and Jeff Sundin’s Friday (Sept 18) Bowen Lodge write-up say the lake’s finally getting the cool-down it was waiting on, and the shallow game is still the main act… with a little more “depends who’s on the wind” honesty baked in.

The cool-down finally showed up

Fall patterns on the Winnie chain had been slow to commit. Sundin clocked Wednesday morning shallow water at 59°F, mid-lake Winnie around 64–65°F, then Friday’s big-lake surface sitting a uniform ~63°F wherever they rolled. The heavy algae bloom from a couple weeks back had faded some — white foam from plankton die-off showed up as evidence — and clarity held around 8–10 feet, still a friendly window if the sky cooperates.

Friday was the kind of grey, southeast 10–15 mph “walleye chop” day Sundin calls ideal for himself. Fish, in his read, slid onto shallow structure to feed. That’s the hinge between the older MN Fish On card and this one: same shallow neighborhood, different weather permission slip.

Play one: hop rocks under the chop

When the wind’s doing you a favor, the Friday crew story is simple and old-school. Morning was slow for Sundin and friends across a handful of spots. Around noon the texts flipped — “picking up,” “starting,” and Capt. Jake Premo reporting 11 on a last pass while jigging minnows. That tip put Sundin’s boat on the rocks with a drift bag, riding the waves, hopping 1/8-oz live-bait jigs tipped with fatheads.

Expect snags. Expect perch pecks. Expect the occasional fat Winnie walleye for the effort. His cooler didn’t leave full, but it left close — a couple fish shy of the bags. The keepers they weighed that afternoon ran about 16–17 inches.

(Sundin’s speculation, not ours: he expected the 2023 year class closer to 14.5–15.5”, so those sizes either mean a different group or a strong growth story.)

Perch shared those rocks. Most sat under his usual 10” bar; a couple hit ~11”. Back at the cleaning station, other buckets showed a similar mix — a few jumbos, mostly 9–10” fish. Northern pike? Only a few, but fat and chunky; he kept a short-but-thick 21-incher for the skillet.

Play two: calm day, cover water with spinners

Not every day brings that chop. Johnson’s Sept 21 note still has walleyes shallow — 6–12 feet on prominent shoreline stretches and mid-lake structure. Sundin’s outlook for the week is optimistic; friends were still finding fish even when conditions weren’t “ideal.” On the quiet days, the plan he heard working is the familiar one: troll spinners, cover water, hunt the 6–10 ft weedy stuff.

Folks with forward sonar are still getting bites on slip floats. Leeches are gone from the bait shops’ good-stuff drawer — small jigs with a half nightcrawler or a lively medium minnow fill that gap. Sundin’s tip: buy the river mix and cherry-pick the better minnows for the bobber game.

Side quest: Cutfoot crappies

Johnson’s Sept 21 line is cheerful — Cutfoot Sioux crappies have given “plenty of action.” Sundin’s take from the same week is softer: “okay,” not fantastic, but meal-worthy if you work at it. Most boats are spinning minnows; he liked jigs with artificials better (he pointed readers to his Sept 18 FishRapper crappie note for the deeper dive). Two guides, one chain — take both as weather-and-effort dependent, not a guarantee.

Keep it honest

This isn’t a lake-wide survey. One Friday crew under good chop, a network of friend texts, and a short guide note on the 21st. Weather mattered. Morning was slow before noon turned the lights on. Perch size on the rocks was mostly modest. Spinners and fathead jigs are both still in the conversation — pick the one that matches the wind, not the one that matches last week’s card.

Sources

• September 21st Fishing Report — lakewinnie.net (Capt. Jeff Johnson, Northern Drift Outfitters)
• Guest post by Jeff Sundin — Bowen Lodge, Sept 19, 2026 (covers Friday Sept 18 fishing)
• Older MN Fish On card this refreshes: Winnie shallow spinner / jig-fathead (2026-09-15, from the Sept 11 lakewinnie.net note)

Confirm current MN DNR regs before harvest.