WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
September 20, 2007

September 19th, 2007, and another year of open water season has nearly come and gone and I haven't hardly been on the water? No I'm not referring to me, but this is what a number of people are saying. If this is you, I must tell you that the Winnie Fall bite is under way and those fish are chewing the paint off the Salmo hornets and those jigs and minnows. If you haven't been out much, now is the time.

If the day schedule has you tied up, Wednesday of next week is the September full moon, and look for Pokegama and many of the other lakes to be producing excellent catches. I hope everyone gets into the Fall bite this season as it should be very impressive for the next couple of weeks as those water temps are holding in the mid 50's and the fish are really wanting to eat.

For those of you waiting to watch the TV show that I filmed with Kent Hrbek this spring, it is scheduled to air the first weekend in October on Saturday at 6:30 PM. It will be a showcase of the spring bite that so many of us see on Winnie. It will also replay throughout the year. It will be an excellent show as the fish were nearly jumping in the boat for two days.

Heavy winds and warmer temperatures make for some extremely frustrating days over the last week, as the Fall Walleye frenzy is happening on many of the area lakes, including Winnie, but the wind will not allow us to get to the fish.

When the winds have slowed down, the bite is hitting top end on Winnie on many of the typical Fall hot spots on the North and West shores. We have found most of the best action in that 6-9 feet of water with 7 feet being the most common depth over the last week.

As for presentations, we have found the crankbait bite to be nearly as good as it gets with the #4 Salmo hornet. We continue to focus on speed and line length for the most consistent action. The speed has ranged from 1.6 MPH early in the day and moved up to that 2.0 MPH during the middle and later parts of the day.

There has been a few of the cooler mornings where the crankbaits have not worked, but as the day warmed up, so did the Walleyes. As for line length, again we have found that 40-55 feet to be the magical number. If the water temps remain in that 50-56 degree range, look for the crankbait bite to stay at the top of its game, once the water temps starts to drop below that 50 degree mark, the bite become less consistent, yet still effective at times, but look for the jigs and minnows to take over at that point.

The jigs and minnows are working for those not wanting to run the crankbaits. Here we have found that tipping a 1/16 oz. jig with a medium to large fathead or rainbow chub to work better then most other combinations. The key with the jigs is making sure the bait stays off the bottom and early in the day slower jig movements are working better. As the days warm up the fish want the jigging motion much more aggressive, here one can really pop the jig and watch the fish really jump on it.

So with the Fall bite under way, no better time then now to get out and enjoy the great Fall weather and some of that frisky Fall walleye action that is happening in the area.

See you on the water,

Sean Colter
member of NMGL
seancolter@seancolter.com