Fishing Report August 2023

August 23, 2023

The Woman Lake largemouth bass were active today over rock structures, but the walleyes remain challenging.  Big bluegills are still quite aggressive.  We witnessed a large lake fly hatch with many bugs floating on the surface, and many small young perch were eating them like popcorn.

August 20, 2023

The walleyes on Woman Lake have been challenging to catch the last few weeks, typical of August patterns, however we are getting a few nice ones most days.  Their locations have not changed, but they have not been active biters, primarily due to the large quantiy of forage (young perch) available in mid summer.  On the other hand, both smallmouth bass and largemouth bass have been aggressive feeders and easier to catch.  We are finding them on typical walleye locations, but up on the weed edges and shallower than the walleyes.  Bluegills are still biting in the 10-12 foot cabbage beds, and small leeches on light jigs or fishing slip bobbers are effective techniques.  While I have not personally been fishing at night for walleyes, fishing slip bobbers on traditional summer walleye locations or trolling long Rapalas over the 8-12 foot sand flats are both effective now.

August 3, 2023

The walleyes, the big bluegills, and smallmouth bass have been biting reasonably well this week.  The fish we are catching are found on mid-lake sunken islands / humps and reefs in 16-18 feet of water, mostly over sand and rock rubble.  The size of the walleyes (18"-22") has been very nice, but the big bluegills (9"-10.5") are impressive.  All have been caught on live bait rigs using leeches.  We have not landed any huge smallmouth bass, as yet, but we have lost a few 20" monsters at boatside.  We are finding many these fish on the same structures.  Many mid-depth rock piles are holding concentrations of big smallmouth and big bluegills, too.