Storms and High Winds Hit Lake Winnibigoshish

The Late Spring Walleye Bite

By Matthew D. Larson

Walleye fishing during the 2010 fishing season was remarkable on Lake Winnibigoshish in northern Minnesota. For the first time anglers had the privilege to experience quantities of walleye while seeing quality as well. I had several early season trips on this particular lake that provided excitement and many photographs. I have owned Larson Guide Service since the age of 16 and have been fishing up north since I was a young boy.

One trip that stands out in my mind was on a rather foul weather day in late May. I had the honor to fish with Leroy Schluter and Gregory Glasson, who are long standing clients of mine. It was a Saturday when we departed from the lodge around 7:00 a.m. and were fishing by 8:00. The lake seemed calm and the sky was overcast.

The weather conditions seemed favorable but a slight chill in the air gave me a notion that a high pressure system was moving in from the northwest. It began to get cooler out. The temperature ended up dropping around 10 degrees and a slight mist began to fall. Greg started making remarks about “the weather not being so great” and the possibility of “leaving early to try another body of water.” However, as the slight mist turned to rain, the wind began to blow from the southeast around five to ten miles per hour.

At that point, I decided that we would drift lindy rigs along a series of flats on the lake. Beginning our drift from the south end of the lake, we came across a point where we caught our first walleye. Leroy yelled loudly “get the net!” Our first walleye came in at 20 inches. It was cold and slimy to the touch. Lake Winnibigoshish has a slot limit of 18 inches to 26 inches. Slot limits protect breeding fish and promote healthy age classes. It was then that the wind began to pick up another 5 miles an hour.
With waves turning into 3-foot swells, the boat started to bob in and out of the waves. The walleye action began to pick up and we were averaging two walleyes each drift across this point. Walleyes typically will respond to sudden changes in weather and will feed on forage. Winds were picking up speed and what was once a 3-foot swell turned into dangerous waves. It now became too windy to be on the lake.

We were 4 miles from the boat landing and it became our task to get off the lake safely. Winds began blowing in excess of 30 to 40 miles per hour with gusts up to 55 miles an hour. Waves kept crashing into the front of the boat and Greg and Leroy both looked at me and said “This is dangerous! We’d like to get in as safely as possible please”. With this in mind I started slowly driving straight into the waves, each wave crashing over the front of the boat. The cold misty spray penetrated my coveralls and chilled my face. As my fingers became numb and it was hard to maneuver the boat.

When we finally made it back safely, the task at hand was to get the boat on the trailer. The waves weren’t allowing us to get the boat on the trailer right. We accomplished it after several tries, and finally had the opportunity to warm up. With the aromatic scents of hot coffee tickling our nostrils, we finally had a chance to look at the fish we kept. It ended up that we had four walleyes, and 10 jumbo perch. For only being able to fish for four hours out of the day we were appreciative of our catch. This was a great early season trip with some excitement and turmoil on Lake Winnibigoshish.