August and September Trend of Big Walleyes Repeating
It was about a year ago. We were all set up to film a summer segment of Midwest Outdoors TV from a charter boat on Lake of the Woods. Normally fishing is good. On this day, the big girls came out to play!
It doesn’t always work out like it did last year at this time. The goal was to film a Midwest Outdoors TV show highlighting the excellent August walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods on a charter boat. Big fish are certainly in good numbers within the lake but first you have to find them, second they have to eat. On this particular day, both check boxes were checked.
We were pulling spinners with both frozen shiners on a single hook harness and crawlers on a three hook harness. We were marking big marks on the electronics and often times like clockwork, there would be a big fish on. For the day, we caught three fish over 28″ with the big fish of the day being 30.5″ with an absolutely huge girth.
Click Here to view Facebook Video of a big fish from the water
I was fishing with Greg Jones of Midwest Outdoors and we both caught nice fish throughout the day. In addition to the fish over 28″, we boated numerous walleyes in that 24-27″ range and a cooler full (up to our limit) of eaters as well.
Fishing has been excellent this summer with a lot of big walleyes being caught. Lake of the Woods shows no signs of slowing down this fall or winter. The population of walleyes and saugers both in the main basin (Big Traverse Bay) and up at the NW Angle has been excellent.
Traditionally, August is an excellent time to troll crankbaits in the deep mud. By deep, I am referring to 32-35′ which is in the main basin. There is structure in a few areas where reefs pop up but overall this is one big aquarium full of tulibees, perch, emerald shiners, perch minnows, blood worms, various hatches and a plethora of other bait walleyes and saugers love to eat.
To get crankbaits down to the bottom, charter boats use downriggers which are extremely effective. Other methods of getting cranks down deep are leadcore line, a 3 ounce bottom bouncer or snap weights.
Fishing is on fire right now and should only get better as the fish start putting the feed bag on in the fall. This past week morning temps dropped to the low 40’s so fall is on it’s way. Whether you jump on a charter, in with a NW Angle guide or bring your own boat, walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods is about as good as it gets and it won’t be long the snow will be flying. That leads to a whole other conversation, but for now, let’s get after those walleyes while the water is still soft!
To learn more about Lake of the Woods, check out the Lake of the Woods Tourism website.
To find a guide, charter boat or lodging, check out our lodging page.
