Fishing Report May 2021
May 2021
May 31, 2021
We enjoyed a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend with warm weather, sunshine, and good fishing. Water temperatures are approaching 60 degrees in the main lake basin, and the seasonal walleye transition to early summer patterns has begun. The walleyes have been primarily relating to shoreline connected bottom structure, but we are now beginning to see some of them stage on offshore reefs, sunken islands, and rock piles. This transition will continue for a few more weeks, until they have fully dispersed throughout the Woman Lake Chain. Shiner minnows have been the most productive bait so far this spring, but this week we caught the most and biggest walleyes on leeches. We found fish on both sand and rock structures, mostly in the 17-20 foot depth ranges. The bigger fish are also starting to be more active, as we caught a few 24 and 25 inch walleyes along with the eating size fish. The northen pike of all sizes are still feeding agressively, so you will likely catch a number of them while chasing walleyes. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are currently winding up their spawning period, and will probably become more active over the next week or two. Crappies should starting their spawning season, and will be congregating in their traditional spawning locations soon, if they are not their already.
May 16, 2021 2021 Minnesota Walleye Fishing Opener Weekend
The weather was perfect on Woman Lake for the 2021 walleye opener, a far cry from the cold blizzard we experienced during the 2020 walleye opener. The walleye fishing was near perfect as well. Saturday, the main lake water temperature on Woman Lake was 55-56 degrees and the walleyes were actively biting for us. We fished spottail shiners on live bait rigs in 19-23 feet of water and we caught a limit of chunky 16"-19" walleyes by mid-day. All our fish were caught on sandy shoreline breaks and on sandy points. The weather was sunny and warm with light winds, just about perfect conditions. On Sunday, the warm weather continued and so did the great fishing. We found the walleyes on the same type of sand based structures, but up in 15-19 feet of water. Sunday's walleyes were a little larger, mostly in the 18"-19" range, along with a nice 24 incher. The northern pike bite was also very active on the shiners, with our largest being 30" long.
May 13, 2021
We had an early ice out on Woman Lake this spring, however the main lake basin did not warm up very quickly. Smaller lakes like Blackwater Lake, Mule Lake, and Girl Lake had main basin water temperatures in the low to mid 50s last week, but a few degrees warmer is the shallow black bottom bays. I caught crappies on fathead minnows easily, but it was not really a hot bite. The clear sunny days this week warmed everything up nicely, and the crappies are now quite active. I am now finding shallow bays and harbors with temperatures in the 58-60 degree range on Woman Lake and today we caught 18 fat crappies ranging from 10-13 inches. The spring fishing season has begun, so get out on the water.