Lake of the Woods Tourism Fishing Report 8/15
Category: fishing reports
Aug 15th, 2023 by sworrall
Modified Aug 15th, 2023 at 2:51 PM
On the south end… A great week of fishing with good numbers and some big fish being caught.
Many of the charter boats are running to the north end of the lake looking for “eater” walleyes, those fish under 19.5 inches. The protected slot limit on LOW is 19.5″ – 28.0″, which have to be released. Anglers are allowed a combined limit of walleyes and saugers of 6, with up to 4 of the 6 being walleyes. Anglers can also keep on walleye over 28 inches if they so desire. Otherwise, some anglers choose a few pics and a graphite mount then releasing the fish.
Drifting spinners with a two hook harness and a crawler continues to be very good. Gold, gold/red, gold/pink continue to be good colors.
Trolling crankbaits around rock piles or over the deep mud is producing nice fish. Trolling speeds of 2.5 – 3.5 have been working well. Various crankbaits work, rotate until you dial in what the walleyes want. Different shapes, sizes, wobbles, rattles and colors all can make a difference.
The Warrior Boats David A. Andersen Memorial walleye tournament was this past Saturday. The winning team had 5 walleyes for over 43 lbs., over an 8 lb average per walleye. Lots of nice fish caught both pre-fishing and during the Saturday tournament.
Another bug hatch popped up, which is common throughout the summer. Despite the overabundance of food in the lake, good numbers of fish are still being caught. Bug hatches can make fishing more challenging however.
On the Rainy River… Good reports of walleyes this week. Four Mile Bay was holding fish along with various spots throughout the river. Fish caught jigging, trolling spinners and trolling crankbaits.
When walleyes are spread out, trolling is effective to go through small schools of fish.
Some big pike along with numbers of smaller eater sized pike caught both on the main river and back in some bays. Spinnerbaits, inline spinners and bladed jigs with a plastic producing fish.
Reports of pulling spinners catching a variety of species including walleyes, saugers, smallmouth bass, pike and some big crappies!
Once again, some nice sturgeon caught this week. Lots of these big fish jumping throughout the day.
Up at the NW Angle… Another week of multispecies action up at the Angle. Walleyes, muskies, pike, smallmouth bass, jumbo perch and crappies.
For walleyes, work up and down structure until you find fish. On the Minnesota side, various areas north of Garden Island around Oak, Little Oak and Hay Islands producing walleyes.
Spinners / crawlers or trolling crankbaits effective. If on tight structure with fish, jigging with a minnow or plastic working well.
Muskie anglers are reporting some great activity this month. Most anglers have reported good action.
Numbers of big pike caught again this week. There is a strong population of pike over 40 inches in LOW. Many of these fish are caught by unsuspecting walleye anglers or by muskie anglers.
A complete list of reasonable lodging, fishing charters / guides and upcoming fish house rentals at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com/