Fishing Report June 2022
June 28, 2022
The walleye bite has been excellent recently and the weather has been warm and fishable. Surface water temps are hanging in the low 70 degree range, slowly creeping upwards with each hot sunny day. The bigger walleyes (20+ inches) have been more active lately and we have been catching a few each trip. Please release the bigger walleyes when you can, unless they are hooked badly (injured/bleeding), and keep those 15-19 inch eaters. It is good for the health of the overall walleye population. More fish have now moved out to main lake basin structure like sunken islands, rock piles, reefs and bars. 16-19 feet of water still seems to be their preferred walleye depths when active, but we often see inactive fish sitting in 24-28 feet of water nearby. We are still fishing leeches on live bait rigs mostly, but don't be afraid to start trolling a spinner/crawler harness or crankbait. The smallmouth should start being active on the mid-depth rock piles now, but I have not been fishing for them.
June 20, 2022
Woman Lake experienced 2 big mayfly hatches in the last week, but despite the hatches, the walleye fishing was pretty darn good. We have been seeing very nice catches of 17-20" walleyes all week, and the bigger fish are now starting to show up. We caught a number of 20+ inch walleyes recently with the largest topping out at 26 inches. You can check out photos of a few of our walleyes in the Catch Photos section of the web site. Surface water temps have been inching up to 68 degrees and should hit 70 degrees shortly with the hot weather forecasted. The lake water is definitely swimmable now. The walleye transition to main lake basin structure has also begun with more fish beginning to be seen on sunken islands, lake basin reefs/flats, and mid-lake humps. There are still plenty of fish utilizing shore connected structure (points, shoreline breaks) as well. We have been fishing live bait rigs with leeches, mostly in 15-18 feet of water, although we have caught a few as deep as 24-25 feet. The smallmouth bass have finished spawning and can be found on most major rock structures.
June 14, 2022
Surface water temperatures have reached the 65-66 degree range and yesterday I saw a few kids venturing into the water for a swim. Summer is here, and so are the bugs. Woman Lake had its first mayfly hatch Sunday night and Monday, and this is also an epic year for mosquitos with all the high water. Despite the many mayflys, we caught some decent walleyes and both Sunday and Monday, but not as many as we would have caught without the bug hatch. We typically get four major mayfly hatches each spring/summer with the final one just before the July 4th holidays. Sometimes the hatch will totally shut down the walleye bite for a few days, but sometimes not so much. I expect the bite to be back to normal in a day or two.
June 10, 2022
Sunshine and light winds were welcome the last few days on Woman Lake, and the walleyes are active. I had a day to myself yesterday, so if you can believe it, I went fishing. I caught a limit of nice 17-19 inchers along with some smallmouth bass, and caught them all on leeches. I suspect leeches and crawlers will outperform minnows as live bait for walleyes from now until September, when we swith to big redtail chubs. Water temperatures have crept up to 64 degrees, but nothing else has changed since my last report.
June 6, 2022
The Woman Lake weather has finally tamed down, we have been seeing more fishable days recently, and the weather forecast looks reasonable at least until the end of the week. The surface water temperatures are still chilly, holding in the 60-62 degree range depending upon the daily skycover. We are currently finding most walleyes in small pods, still relating to shoreline related structure like points and shoreline breaks, but it won't be too long before they start dispersing to some main lake basin structure like sunken islands and bars. The 15-18 foot sand breaks have been the best, and I am still getting more bites on shiners than crawlers or leeches. Our walleyes have mostly been 15-19 inch males, with no big ones recently. By mid-June, leeches and crawlers will be the best ticket for live bait rigs. Trolling crankbaits on the 6-10 foot sandflats in the evening remains effective. The smallmouth and largemouth bass are now moving to their spawning beds, and crappies have moved to reed flats with access to deeper water.