Fishing Report June 2016

June 27-29,2016

The walleyes on Woman Lake have definitely settled into their typical summer haunts.  We have been catching a nice bag of keepers daily, and a few bonus "over 20 inch" waldos for the camera.  This is a great time of the year.  The loons are tending to their chicks, the eagles are chattering constantly, ducks are swimming the shorelines followed by their fluffy broods, and the unpredictable spring weather has mellowed into more stable summer patterns.  As the song goes: "Summertime..., and the fishin' is easy, fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high".  We don't have any cotton up here in the Northland, but all the trees and brush and flowers are starting their summer peak.  Water temperatures have reached the 70+ degree mark and it is finally warm enough to take a dip without curling your toes.  The walleyes have been consistently present in the 16-18 foot depths all week, just outside the weedline, and ready to snack on a leech or crawler.  I have seen lots of smallmouth bass chasing minnows at the surface over deeper water, immediately adjacent to main lake basin structure.  It is time to break out the surface baits like a Zara Spook.  There is absolutely nothing more exciting than fishing smallmouth bass on the surface.

June 18-22, 2016

I believe the walleyes have now begun to settle into their typical summer haunts, and they do not seem to be moving locations as much with each shift of the weather as in weeks past.  Most of the typical summer off shore structure is holding fish and the bite remains quite consistent.  I have not seen as many bigger fish (over 20 inches) as we did in May, but we are finding good numbers of nice fish (15-19 inches) every day the weather cooperates.  We are finding fish on the top edge of the breaks (15-17 feet) on main basin reefs and sunken islands in large pods or scattered at a common depth.  Leeches have been the most effective live bait this week and we are about to start running some crankbaits as well.

June 10-13, 2016

The solid walleye bite on Woman Lake has continued virtually every day we have had fishable weather.  Main lake water temperatures are now in the mid 60 degree range and the walleyes are beginning to arrive on the main lake reefs, rock piles, and non-shoreline related structure.  Some days minnows work best, but most of our walleyes are now coming on live bait rigs with leeches in the 17-20 foot depths. Shoreline sand breaks are still holding fish, but the larger concentrations we have found are on the off-shore reefs and flats.  If the wind is blowing, fish the windward side of the structure.  Northern pike have also been quite active almost everywhere we find walleyes.