# Little Help om Wingfoot



## rock p (May 29, 2009)

Fished winfoot today didnt do to good ended up with 4 gills and 2 crappie was wondering if anyone was doing any better that could give a little info on depth or anything.I was using small jigs tipped with waxies among other things.Any help i would be very thankfull.thankyou and be safe


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## jiggin'fool (Dec 18, 2005)

could have something to do with the 70 people that were out there yesterday for a get together.... seems like they did pretty good.... they should chime in any time!


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## eyecatchum2 (Mar 30, 2010)

Rock p, I fished the foot yesterday and did well. I drilled about 15 holes looking for fish, finally settled in deeper water and the fish showed up. Had a good bite for awhile, then it got real light - could watch hits down hole. Nothing to brag about size wise.


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## sady dog (Feb 10, 2008)

ouch..I sense a little anger??? 

Everyone who caught fish said a red or pink pin min with red spikes..
I was pulling it up about a foot and letting it fall..if that did not get a hit a just stopped it and looked down my hole? me and another guy where in about 11 feet of water...lots of schools of fish..nothing really stuck around until sunset..then they where just sitting there?? ice was 10 all over..
Hope it helps..


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## Eliminator (Aug 26, 2006)

Rock-P, I was out there Sun. from about 3:30 - 5:30 caught only 3 dink gills so your not alone. A couple weeks ago I caught a mess of nice gills and 4 decent size perch in the same spot (by instinct) no gps or electronics. Anyhow some days are just better than others.
You can download a fishing map of the lake at the ODNR web page, the park has been open to the general public for less than a year so it's fairly new waters for everone, even though it's been there for as long as I can remeber.


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## rock p (May 29, 2009)

Thanks for the info must just been a slow day.I also have no flasher so its just blind luck trying to find weed beds or anything else i also just found out about the tourny they had so all the people might not of helped at all.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

rp-Don't try too hard to figure out Wingfoot. It is just like a mud hole-shallow near shore and deeper in the middle to maybe 15 ft.. It is a very old lake with lots of bottom sediment(BAD), and not much was ever done to it to make it a "good fishing lake". I once sent a copy of a lake depth map we made maybe 25 years ago to now Hall of Fame Fisherman and, then, associate editor of InFisherman mag, Spence Petros, to ask him where he would start fishing(specifically for walleye) in the lake. His initial comments was, "This doesn't appear to be a very good fishing lake"!!-(nuff said)!
Abt. a hundred years ago, it started out smaller, called "Fritch's Pond", and Goodyear made it larger thru excavation and adding a dam to send more water flow into the L. Cuyahoga R. for industrial water at their plants during dry periods-much like digging a big farm pond. There really aren't many "purposely created" distinguishing features like bars, channels, points, hard bottom(non-existant), or well defined, good weed edges. Goodyear added sunken as well as floating tire reefs out there in an effort to create some kind of fish attracting "structure". (This was initally done primarily as a marketing ploy to entice coastal towns to "buy" a Goodyear designed and installed scrap tire reef to reduce shoreline erosion.(This had a secondary benefit as a way to dispose of old tires!) I think they sold at least one of them to a town/city in Fla. If you could locate one of these sunken tire reefs, you should have a better fishing experience. Fishing the shorelines in the Spring(from a boat) can be especially productive for crappie("quality/size" will improve in a few years with more crappie being kept-not a 9"/30 count lake currently-which seem to be a little on the small side at present) and bass-shorelines were not so good for gills for some reason?! What you have to do when fishing Wingfoot Lake is think "big farm pond"-but even being successful on a farm pond can be a confounding experience also. Good luck in your future endeavors at The Foot!


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## rock p (May 29, 2009)

Thank you c.j fished a couple times in a boat with a fly rod and got some nice gills.thats about the extent of it.


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## morrison.inc (Jun 8, 2010)

Hey rock. I have good news for you. The tourney didnt even touch the fish population. Not even close! I went out today and with a buddy and we each topped out our buckets with nice sized (for that lake) crappie, gills, and perch. Had to of caught close to 125 or maybe 150 fish including all the ones that we threw back. Not even close to kidding. It took me a few trips to the lake to get a feel for how the fish work there. I wont tell you spots or depths, but i can give you some tips...

First off, expect a very light bite!
The water is super clear and you can see all the way to the bottom, because of this, you will notice the fish are spooky, picky (as in bait shape,color, position, presentation ect..), non-aggressive/ only curious during the day. They will challenge your bait to a staring contest and win, and then swim away without ever touching it. This is probably why most people have a hard time catching them there in the mid afternoon, and probably why people say that its a late afternoon, or "night bite" there. Which is very true, the fish do noticeably turn on when the light decreases. Its no secret to anyone who fishes there that as soon as the water starts to look cloudy from the sun going down, the bite picks up tremendously, but catching em in numbers can be done in the day. It may be a small secret that there is also a morning bite, because there are rarely shannies out there prior to 8 or 9 a.m. Unless everyone knows, but has to work, or is just a sleep-in-bum! lol! 

I usually seem to lose the fish, and the bite slows around 10:30a.m.-12:30p.m. depending on the day and the spot. Then when 3:30 to 4:30 comes around, the bite comes back. This has been pretty consistent day to day regardless of the locations ive been at, so im guessing this is just when the fish arent feeding. During this time i always get the strong feeling that there are schools of hundreds of 9" crappie sitting under my feet swimming laps around the shanny just out of eyesight, and watching my jig dance while they are digesting food from the morning meal lol. Anyways..The night bite only seems to be intense for an hour or two, depending on the day and location. I havent really ever been out there past 8p.m. so i cant say what its like from then until park close time at 11pm.

According to other posts ive read on here, red, pink, and orange and chartruse are the "hot colors". I would have to agree. But color is only part of the puzzle. Catching fish at wingfoot, especially during the day, depends largely on jig size, how you bait your jig, what you bait it with, and how you you work it for each individual species. If you have and interested crappie staring you down, DONT stop jig motion! SLOWLY lift it above the fish while making your jig tremor or shake, he will most likely follow it. If he does, dont be afraid to pull it up more, the longer they follow it, the more aggressive they get, so dont be afraid to get a little aggressive with your jig at that point and try to trigger a reaction bite, most of the time they will go for it. If he misses the first time, he will most likley be back unless you really turned him. I've turned crappie in that lake several times before i finally get em, they dont like to give up easy... only after like 6 or 8 attempts lol! seriously if they decide they want it, they will get it! The key during the day is to keep it moving so the fish cant get a good look at your jig/lure, and go for the reaction bite. Another thing everyone that catches fish there knows is that you could put 50 rods out overnight in heated shannies and come back the next morn and maybe have a handful fish if your lucky...WHY? You have to constantly keep your bait MOVING!!! This is the difference between catching your limit , or catching zippo!

The gills on the other hand are not as outgoing as the crappie. You cant really get a reaction bite from them, and its usually hit it and forget it or a staring contest. And if you turn em, forget about it. Same goes for perch which are huge for around here, im talkin 12,13,14".... possibly even 15,16 inch perch monsters. Saw one today and thought it was a smaller walleye haha! I find i get the most gills when make my lure spin in front of their face in a stationary position, maybe even a tiny tiny flutter to entice them if thats not working well. The bass will hit anything thats moves, easy peasy. I had another 5 lber on a pin min today and got him halfway up and watched it pull right out of his lips unfortunately. Ive seen 5 bass thru my hole out there his winter, and they hit my lure every single time, only landed one tho so far. 

Well, take from that what you will. This is based on my experience and i have plenty of fillets to back that up. Good fishin to ya fellow akronite.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Sounds like you've fished farm ponds a lot!!
Are you using a camera of just sighting thru the hole?
Were you in the tournament?(If not, sounds like you should 
have been!)


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## rock p (May 29, 2009)

Thank you for the info if i cant get on erie this weekend i will b there again on sunday maybe see u out there thanks again.


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## Eye'Eye'Captain (Apr 7, 2006)

One thing I never knew about because I never saw it before is "spin" I noticed if my bait was spinning it kept fish away. Now I have to learn to fight the spin. I did notice reeling made it spin badly.


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## morrison.inc (Jun 8, 2010)

C.J.- I am just sight fishing.

Eye captain- micro swivels will help with the spinning problem if thats what your trying to avoid. But i personally wouldnt use them at the foot. Im afraid to even use a splitshot!

Heres the keepers from the other day, to back up what up what im saying so you dont think im just blowing smoke out my backside. ;-)


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## mrphish42 (Jan 24, 2008)

Damn morrison!!!!!!!!!!!........Thought I noticed a drop in the level of the Ice on Wingfoot .....Someone luvs the flash of a fillet knife..........No wonder your freezers full...........good fishin to ya (as if we all cant see your results)...jON sR.


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## morrison.inc (Jun 8, 2010)

mrphish42 said:


> Damn morrison!!!!!!!!!!!........Thought I noticed a drop in the level of the Ice on Wingfoot .....Someone luvs the flash of a fillet knife..........No wonder your freezers full...........good fishin to ya (as if we all cant see your results)...jON sR.


We probably wont keep any gills or perch under 9 or 10" out of that lake the rest of the season. ODNR wants crappie thinned, so i guess we will keep em. Maybe offer the smaller ones to the other fishermen if we get a lot. We have enough fillets to last a while. Plus i feel a little guilty! haha.


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## spoonchucker (Sep 30, 2008)

wow tearing them up... stopped by there just to check it out after my Dr appointment at St Thomas Hosp saw a couple buckets of fish come off, all big gills and a few big perch. ill be hitting that up here real soon seeing how atwood has been slow and dinky


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## fishingful (Apr 5, 2004)

Well I have been out there twice.

I can tell you the gills I got are nice and its worth the drive to get out of dink city at portage lakes......crappie are ok if you want some action.....they dont taste bad either 

I have fished one of the tire reefs out there so far and caught no more fish on it than I did last saturday when I was out with the pack.

Best bass we got so far was a 4-5 lb.

I saw at least a 40-50 lb Amer down the hole. To me thats not a walleye lake its a bass lake and hopefully the ODNR can manage it for that. If only they could get the weeds to grow back.


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## swone (Jan 24, 2007)

Yesterday was my first trip to Wingfoot. That lake is LOADED with fish. I have never seen so many marks on my vex.

I found the key to triggering a bite, for the crappie at least, was to keep the bait rising once I marked a fish. I fish with a vexilar so it is a little easier for me to tell when to start reeling up, but I used to use the same technique at Mogadore (before I had even heard of a vexilar) when I had a hard time triggering a bite. To me, these two lakes are very similar, so if you had any success at Mogadore you might try doing the same thing at Wingfoot.

Hopefully Wingfoot won't experience the same collapse that Mogadore has in the last few years.


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## CRAPPIE LOVER (Feb 11, 2007)

Well swone...I am sure that your tip will help a lot of guy's...Sometimes there is a little trick ..and from the sounds of it you have a good one...Great job.....JIM....CL....:G


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## swone (Jan 24, 2007)

Went back this morning, I see what everyone means about how tough the daytime bite is. I didn't get there until about 9 fished until 10:30 and only managed to get three fish to bite and I missed them all. I was still marking a ton of fish, just not able to get them to hit. I think that lake may be more similar to Mogadore in another way: dusk and dawn are the only times you can count on a good bite!


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## Eliminator (Aug 26, 2006)

Yea I've often thought the same thing right up until another fisherman just slams them left and right....clearing throat.....(morrison) same day same general time lollol.


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## morrison.inc (Jun 8, 2010)

Went out again today. Berlin wasnt on at all by the 224 bridge. Tried gold spoons, pimples and vibees all tipped with minnows. 
So we went back to the FOOT at about 11:30, and had to leave for obligations at 3:30. The bite was just picking up too. We ended up keeping 15 really nice gills (bigger than usual), and throwing back about another 15 fish. Saw a couple more large bass and what had to be another 16" perch. Nobody we talked to on the way off the lake had caught anything worth talking about.
Thought i saw a familiar face in the parking lot as he was getting ready to head out (maybe ogf)...? If so chime in, how did it go?
Nixmkt came out and fished by us for a little bit..How did you do?


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## nixmkt (Mar 4, 2008)

Had to leave before you did. Got about 20. Kept a dozen. Lost a nice perch at the hole. Had a couple others come in but the little crappies would zoom in and scare them away.


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## Jigging Jim (Apr 3, 2010)

rock p said:


> Fished winfoot today didnt do to good ended up with 4 gills and 2 crappie was wondering if anyone was doing any better that could give a little info on depth or anything.I was using small jigs tipped with waxies among other things.Any help i would be very thankfull.thankyou and be safe


Red Maggots work for me.


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## WalleyeFreak (Sep 29, 2008)

Morrison inc and I had a great bite Monday at wingfoot from 1130 to 130. Really weird for that lake. Caught probably 35 fish in that 2hrs. Then around 330 it really turned on. Ended up with 93 plus or minus 1. Needless to say that was a lot of cleaning but great eats.


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## powerstrokin73 (May 21, 2008)

I'LL BE OUT THERE TOMORROW AFTERNOON GONNA HIT A PRIVATE LAKE IN THE MORNING FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR THEN HEAD OUT TO THE FOOT. WENT TO MARKS B&T LAST NIGHT AND ADDED TO MY ARSENAL








HOPE THE DROPPER WILL GET ME SOME GILLS.


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## Steelhead Fever (Dec 31, 2009)

hey walleye--Me and my friend were out there....where were you fishing?


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## Minnowhead (Jan 12, 2011)

Think I might hit it Sat. afternoon also. Been a long week at work wishin I was fishin.


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## powerstrokin73 (May 21, 2008)

Minnowhead said:


> Think I might hit it Sat. afternoon also. Been a long week at work wishin I was fishin.


hit it from 11:15 to 1:30 caught 30 jigging spoons, 12FOW, decent amount of gills today


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## Minnowhead (Jan 12, 2011)

Great! I had to work and fix a flat tire! So my ice fishing got postponed till tomorrow. Going to hit it at noon till dark. I'll let you know how we do. I think Lovin Life is going to meet me out there also.


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## Steelhead Fever (Dec 31, 2009)

powerstrokin73 said:


> hit it from 11:15 to 1:30 caught 30 jigging spoons, 12FOW, decent amount of gills today


we were the two that walked way out..


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## powerstrokin73 (May 21, 2008)

Steelhead Fever said:


> we were the two that walked way out..


were you walking out as i was walking in?? you guy's end up catchin any??

Evin


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## Minnowhead (Jan 12, 2011)

Ended up with 29. Mix of the usual perch/gills/craps. Really hit them early in the afternoon on through till sunset when I pulled out. Every 20 min. right on que the school would appear and dissapear.


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## Steelhead Fever (Dec 31, 2009)

powerstrokin73 said:


> were you walking out as i was walking in?? you guy's end up catchin any??
> 
> Evin


ehh a few..should have went with the pack..


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