Fishing Report July 2021
July 2021
July 30, 2021
The walleye bite has slowed, as is typical this time of year with all the baitfish now available in the water. We are still catching walleyes most everyday, if we don't have a cold front or storms moving through, but some days we only get a few. On the other hand the smallmouth bass and big bluegills are biting aggressively. The best bet for walleyes right now is to fish a lot of different spots where you mark walleyes on your depth sounder, try and catch a couple of agressive fish, and then move on to the next fishing spot. Main lake basin rock structures and sunken island sand breaks in the 14-17 foot depths have been best for me. I am finding the bass and bluegills on the mid-depth rock structures with the bluegills right up on top and the bass a little deeper. We caught numerous smallmouth in the 18"-20" range in the last week, but no 6+ pounders yet. Surface water temperatures have remained around 75-76 degrees, so I think the temperatures have peaked for the summer and will gradually start to decline through August.
July 13, 2021
Not much has changed from last week as far as the fishing goes, except that the big bluegills are starting to show up on the mid-depth main basin structures. Rock piles and sunken island edges are drawing big 9-10+ inch bluegills at the 11-15 foot depths. We are catching them using the same live bait rigs and leeches we use for walleyes. If you should catch a 10+ inch bluegill, I would encourage you to take a photo and release it. Monster bull bluegills are a rare comodity most anywhere, and Woman Lake is blessed to grow them, so let's all do our part to keep the big spawners thriving. This big bluegill bite will likely last through early August. You will often find big smallmouth using these same structures, which is really fun. The walleye bite is still steady, but they are somewhat picky eaters now with all the clouds of baitfish swimming around. Once you find them, take the time to stay with them and you will get your share.
July 7, 2021
The walleye bite on Woman Lake remains solid and we are seeing fish in their typical mid-summer patterns. It is not a "hot" bite, but pretty steady and predictable on good weather days. If you know how to find the walleyes, and spend the time to get the bait down to them, you can catch a limit on many days and will at least catch dinner on most days. Many walleyes have dispersed to the main lake basin structure and are holding on the 14-18 foot deep breaks off sunken islands, major reefs, and rock piles. However, we are still catching plenty of walleyes on shore connected points, sand breaks and sandbars as well. Surface water temperatures have reached the 76-77 degree mark, and that is about as warm as this lake will get all summer. We are catching them on live bait rigs with leeches or nightcrawlers, but the leeches tend to be more durable. Long-line trolling of crankbaits (Rapalas) over the shoreline breaks and reef edges at night is also a productive approach. The smallmouth bass are camped on the mid-depth rock structures in 11-16 feet of water and can be caught on live bait rigs as well as many other options, like tube jigs, plastic worms or grubs, or crayfish style baits. They are primarily feeding on the crayfish hanging around the rock structures, but they will readily take most any bait that gets within their strike window. In another week or two, we will start seeing the monster bluegills showing up on these same rock structures.