CTFishTalk.com: Winchester Lake 08/13, 08/15 and 08/20 - Connecticut Lake Reports ( CT Lake Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

After spending time in New Jersey and Boston, I came home just in time for my bass club fishing tourney at Winchester Lake on Sunday. I had pre-fished the lake with my tourney partner rmflint (aka Ryan) on the Sunday prior and then by myself on Tuesday, before I left town.

On the Sunday prior, Ryan and I fished from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. The wind blew down the lake from the north at up to 20 miles per hour all day. Every time I think about heading to Winchester, I plan to fish differently than I normally do. We tried fishing a lot of different ways, but the most productive technique was throwing unweighted wacky-rigged five-inch Senkos against stumps. We boated dozens of largemouth bass, but only two were keepers. Our two-fish bag would have weighed only 3-1/2 pounds.

On Tuesday, I launched my boat and fished alone for probably only the second time in five years. I was on the water from 12:15 pm to 3:15 pm. What little wind there was blew out of the south. As usual, the water was clear and the water temperature was in the mid to upper 70s. I started by throwing a white spinnerbait with a Keitech paddletail trailer and a skirted jig with craw trailer. During the first hour, I didn't get a single bite. After that, I went back to my usual strategy of throwing unweighted wacky-rigged five-inch Senkos at stumps. Over the next two hours, I boated tons of dink largemouth bass, but also five small keepers:

On Sunday, Ryan and I fished the tourney from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. The wind blew out of the north at 8 to 20 miles per hour all day. The water temperature was still in the mid to upper 70s. For most of the day, whitecaps rolled down the length of the lake. In light of the challenging conditions, Ryan and I decided to focus on just getting a full bag of five keepers into the boat. And, of course, the best way I know to do that is to throw unweighted wacky-rigged five-inch Senkos at stumps.

In the end, we were able to get five keepers into the livewell. Unfortunately, we never had a chance to cull a little one. We ended up with a lunker of only two pounds, 10 ounces, and a bag of seven pounds, seven ounces, which was good only for second place.

The painful thing is that we lost to Bill and George, who are the team to beat in our club. To make things worse, they only managed a three-fish bag! However, they had the tourney lunker of four pounds, 10 ounces, and another decent two-plus pounder to go with their barely keeper, so their bag was seven pounds, 15 ounces. We lost by only eight ounces! Arrrgh!
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!

Scorpio · Joined: 24 Jul 2013 Posts: 73

Great report Phil, thanks! I fish Wind-chester often as I live only 10 min away. I was on Dog Pond in Goshen on Sunday so I know how tough that wind was. The biggest fish I've caught at Winchester have always been in the stumps at the north end of the main lake. I pulled a 4+ out of there earlier this year. I really need to get going on posting reports again. Thanks for keeping this forum alive!!!

PECo · Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 5203 Location: Avon, CT

Although I know there are some monster largemouth bass in Windychester, I've never gotten one, although I've caught some nice three and four pounders.

However, I have gotten a couple of three-foot northern pike there. During the tourney on Sunday, one of the guys boated an 11 pounder with a spinnerbait. I have to admit that when I saw him off in the distance fighting the fish, I started chanting, "Please be a pike. Please be a pike. Please be a pike." His rod was bent over double!
_________________
Don't forget to wear sunscreen and don't litter!