Fishing Report August 2013

August 24-26, 2013

I am looking forward to travelling up to Voyagers National Park along the Minnesota - Canadian border for a week long camping / fishing trip next week. Great fishing and a wilderness wildlife experience always make this my favorite trip of the year. Here on Woman Lake the mild summer temperatures we have enjoyed in August are forecast to shoot back up into the 90s, so summer fishing patterns will remain consistent. I have tried fishing both night crawlers and minnows recently, and both work well for the walleyes, if the crayfish don't get to your bait first. The walleyes are still relatively shallow in the 14-16 foot depths and leeches are still my preferred bait.

August 16-19

I am finding plenty of walleyes in 14-16 feet of water on main lake structures like Spain Point, Government Point, Airplane Bar, Center Bar, and Lantern Bay Bar. We have been catching mostly eater size walleyes in the 14-17 inch range, with no bigger fish of note this week. Leeches are starting to get difficult to find in the bait shops, so you might want to stock up with a few and store them in your refrigerator for the balance of the season.

August 8-13, 2013

We are finally seeing signs of a lake wide algae bloom as the water transitions from Woman Lake’s typical cobalt blue cast to reflect a slightly greener tint. Water clarity drops a little when this happens every summer, which means you may start to find feeding fish a little shallower than you might expect. The smallmouth bass and big bluegill bite is still going strong on the rocks with numerous smallmouth topping 19 inches getting boated and released. The walleyes continue to hold in normal summer patterns while the northern pike have been active along the tops of major breaklines and weed edges.