Winder Has Gone to the Birds

[cpierce]

I went over to Winder Friday night and stayed until Saturday afternoon. I was hoping for a bunch of perch and bluegills for dinner. Two years ago they were just thick in there....Smaller, but lots of them.

Friday night was stormy with a fair amount of lightning, so a little shore fishing, but no catching. Saturday dawned calm and beautiful.


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I was also testing out a Creek Co 420 float tube. I have others, and I prefer my NFO Renegade or my Fish Cat. But I got this one and put air seats in it so that it would pack up small and light. That way I could leave it and some backpack fins in my camper. Along with a spare pump and some old waders, it makes a good spur of the moment lake kit. The tube was okay, but I need to do a little "adjusting" on its seat back.

The lake has about 5 feet to go before it's full. Clarity wasn't too bad, I could see down to about 10 feet. It's a little hard to see in this picture, but the circle of rocks and trash in the middle is a fire ring that is about 10 feet down. All the more reason to not burn trash or leave it in a fire ring for the next person!


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I started out checking the waters close to the trees and brush...nada. So I zigzagged in and out a bit. Nothing on the fish finder or on my line. I worked one side for awhile then I moved over to the other side for a bit. Still nothing. Moved back… nothing. But it was a nice calm morning to be out on the lake. There were tons of birds out. Red Wing Blackbirds, loons, grebes, ducks, ospreys, two blue herons, a flock of cormorants, and of course our friends the pelicans. None of my pictures of the birds turned out.

I know that the lake has been low for the last two years, but I hadn’t heard anything about them draining it. Plus I know of some others that had caught some fish in here not too long ago. So I kept at it. I think the fish were all hiding from both the birds and me!
I finally got a couple of beeps on the fish finder, and started catching a few…. Fresh planter trout. Cute little guys, but they need a little growing time.

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I did catch some bass also, but I never did find any perch or bluegills. They either hide really good, or they were the main course at an avian lunch buffet!
This little bass must have recently escaped someone’s dinner menu.

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The day stayed good until about 1pmwhen the wind started to blow a bit. The wind even played nice for a change and didn't ever get too boisterous. I left at about 2ish. I got plenty of exercise though.

Just guessing from the track I left, plus all of the area I was in that isn’t shown, I covered about 2 and a half miles. The dots are not secret spots or even where I caught fish. They are just an automatic point marked about every 10 or so minutes. They don't show all the in between ins and outs etc. It just gives you a rough idea of some of the area I fish. I have now established where NOT to catch fish on Winder.[laugh] [crazy]

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Altogether I caught enough to smell sufficiently fishy for the day, but no panfish dinner this week.They are safe from me! [:p]
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[Pharticus]

I thought Winder was gonna be the first lake to "turn on", given how fast it hit ice-out. Sounds like there's still waiting to be done all over up there. (Which is good, because I can't find quality time to fish for at least another week, if not two...)
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[cpierce]

I thought it would be going good too.

Temperature ranged from 57 deg in the morning to almost 60 by afternoon. Or it could be that it was just warmer up by the dam. I mostly worked the north shore thinking that it would warm up faster than the south side. Don't know if it really made much of a difference though. I didn't find many fish either shallow or deep. They're probably schooled up together somewhere all comfy waiting for the magic temperature.

Besides the birds, I am wondering how the fast spring fill of cold water on Winder affects the fish. Winder, Condie, and Twin all get their water in the spring from snow melt off of Mink Creek. That has to be a pretty cold bunch of water coming in on the sun warmed shallow stuff.
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[curt69]

Thanks for another great report .
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[windriver]

Dang that was one of the lakes on my list to try this weekend. Maybe the 70+ weather will push some bluegill up?

Windriver
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[cpierce]

I hope so.

I really don't know where the bluegills and perch were. I am hoping that they are just hang in the deep water somewhere that I missed. I actually went out into the 20 to 30 ft deep areas more than the Delorme map shows. My fish finder didn't register anything out deeper. They might be hugging the bottom too close for it to distinguish them. I meant to try the area in front of the dam, but by then the wind was picking up.

I thought they would be up in the flooded areas and bushes. What fish I did catch were in the willows and 10 to 15 ft range.

I was concerned though to see how clear it was, and how many birds were working it over. If the bluegill are smart, they will stay hidden for a while yet!

Plus it isn't unusual for me to have a bad catching day. You may do great there when it warms up a little more.
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[windriver]

As you know it is usually pretty obvious there. You can usually just see the schools of small ones and then look for the big ones. It will be interesting to see what materializes.

Windriver
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[cpierce]

The water was pretty clear. I even did the sneak up to the bushes move and hold still for 15-20 min. I wasn't seeing ANY bluegills. Once in awhile a small trout or bass, but not perch or bluegills.

Where we have had the two last falls and this spring (before they started to fill) being really low, I am wondering how hard the birds have hit them when there were no weeds to hide in.

I didn't fish it last year, but a couple of years ago there were zillions of smaller panfish all over any weeds available. Did you fish it last year and do okay on the bluegills?

I do plan on going back after it warms up more. I still NEED a pan fish dinner! []
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[gstott]

Glad to see it has filled some more since I last drove by there. A few weeks ago there was only a little bit of brush in the water, so it's looking better. Those nasty pelicans have been up there since at least the first of April. When I checked it out then, I did notice several dead bluegill floating on the shoreline. The water wasn't that low last year, so I don't imagine there was a sizable die off, and I only saw a handful of fish.

I was expecting it to turn on sooner too, but I fished it about 5 weeks ago, and the bugger gave me one of my rare skunkings.

The bass are turning on elsewhere, ( I caught 90 bass between a Friday afternoon and Monday trip) so if they haven't already started moving up at Winder, they likely will be soon.

I'm curious what Twin is looking like as far as water levels go, I'm hoping everything is flooded now.
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