Post Your August 2009 Trip Reports Here

[Justin Gaudry]

There were quite a few more reports in July than June so let's keep up the good work informing everyone what you are finding out on the lake.

The muskies haven't gone crazy yet and don't really seem like they have fully transitions to traditional summer rock structure. Someone is bound to have an incredible few days of fishing before the month is out.

Walleyes have been pretty much where they should be. Most boats sitting on reefs and working the edges. This is the time of the year that minnows typically out perform every other bait out there.

It's been a great summer for big northerns and there is no reason that won't continue into August.

The Morson Bass International is the weekend of Aug 15-16 so there is bound to be a lot of smallies caught during that event.

What did you find during your time on the water? Register with the Outdoor Network and let us know.

Good fishing everyone.

[Brad_tgl]

Hey I'm coming out from Port Angeles, WA on the Olympic Peninsula from the 8th-15th with the Giles clan. Having just come off a fantastic saltwater chinook season I'm looking forward to changing things up over your way. CANT WAIT! Will take lots of pics and hopefully will be of a couple musky. I've bought gear tailored for that fishing but will also be trying out a few steelhead/salmon lures for the heck of it.

Digging the site, I'm on some local fishing boards back home and this one looks like its off to a great start.

Tight lines,

Brad Ahrndt

[Justin Gaudry]

Welcome to the board, Brad.

We'll look forward to your trip report after your week here at LOTW.

I'll be happy to check out your gear to offer advice on how/where to find a few muskies and give you some tips for safe handling and a couple of photos before a quick release of the toothy critters that don't fall off.

I've been taught how to handle these fish safely and carefully by some great fisherman and enjoy sharing what I have learned with those that don't get to fish muskies very often.

Travel safe and we'll see you soon!

[JSONDAG]

Hey Justin, I think I'll be back this monday. Fish moving on the rocks yet?

[Justin Gaudry]

been some movement on the rocks, but was out today and saw everything in weeds. going to try some more rocks tonight.

[fastcast2]

Hi Justin
We just got back home from a week at LOTW.We managed 12 with a 49,48,2 42s,4 40s and smaller.Almost all came off rocks,but they had to be a part of an island or shoreline.No main lake reefs yet.We fished weeds with lots of northerns up to 41.Double 10s and spinnerbaits accounted for most of the muskys.Topwater is just starting and with the warmer temps coming,look out next week.I'll be back up friday and try again.Watch the report from the bass guys catching big muskys,there in the same areas.Did Mike leave yet?
Jeff

[releaser]

Justin thanks again for everything this past week. Had a great time as usual.
The winds that greeted us and kept us on shore the first day were the down part of the week. We saw many fish as a group of eight fishermen. The slow movement of the fish and them having lockjaw gave us fits. The last day they opened their mouths and numbers of big fish were seen by all. We ended the week with twentynine Muskies boated and those that took time off to fish walleye and northern caught big fish. Best muskie a fat 48 Not by me unfortunately but I had my shot and blew it. Cannot wait to return on the 21st
Releaser

[Justin Gaudry]

Hey Jeff: Mikey is still here, but expect he'll have to go home today.

Releaser: You'll have a great second trip this year. Those big girls will be relaxed thinking they are done getting harassed by you guys for another year and you'll be able to sneak back up on them. Hopefully I can join you for a session or two next trip.

[basil]

just got back late tues night from sabaskong had a good weekend of fishing sat our results were not like justins we saw 1 fish in 9 1/2 hours on the water fishing mainly rocks no weeds . sunday with the same weather pattern chose to fish walleyes in the am and had good walleye and perch action. sunday evening we saw 1 lunge but a possible 50" class fish she only showed herself once though . monday went west to the basil and little traverse didnt see a single muskie. Weather was hot thought the fish would be moving out there they werent for us. Stopped and caught more walleyes and perch big year class of perch this year. On our way back we started fishing rock again and saw 4 muskies on the 1st structure got 1 to eat in the figure 8 fell off early 40 " class wife had 1 eat a topwater she fell off also . I saw a high 40" class fish possible 50". wife was ready to go in I did the 1 more spot thing which turned into 2 spots second spot got a thick 46" lung. Tues we got out in the am for a few hours and saw another big fish possible 50" . Our trip was over for us but the fish seemed to be moving on the rocks with the warmer weather
basil

[mlures]

Just got back from 2 weeks at the lake. For some reason we didn't fish muskies this trip. Some of the best walleye fishing we have had. My wife got our largest for the year, 29". Many fish in the 22-26" range. More than enough good eaters. Two limits of crappies,two limits of walleyes, lots of perch to bring home. We measured one perch at 13-1/2". Fished close by to Mylie's. Went to Miles Bay for crappies, otherwise the farthest we traveled was around Rabbitt Pt. Did most of our fishing to the East. ALL of our walleyes were caught on points. 15-25 FOW. Hammered gold spinners with minnows or crawlers on 1-1/2 oz. Bottom Bouncers. Spent some time looking for new spots. We try to fish new areas each time we get up to the lake. Heading back around the 2nd of Sept. for opening of duck season.

Dick

[fastcast2]

We were up fri,sat and sunday.Musky fished in monsoons,wind and lightening all 3 days with 4 or 5" of rain.Put in new windows in between storms.Caught 46",44" 37" ,42" northern saw 23 fish all on topraiders in waves.The best was ,we saw a true 60" fish.My partner couldn't speak when he saw her.She followed off a rock shelf all the way to the boat and kept going right by the outboard out to deep water.Thats the 4th one in 29 years I've seen on LOTW.What a rush!!!Be back up in a week.I'll stop over Justin.Need gas.
Jeff

[Justin Gaudry]

Sounded like some great action for a short trip, Jeff. We'll have the premium gas waiting for your opti when you get back.

I actually had some action over the weekend. Got out Saturday night and Sunday morning (August 15/16) for awhile and finally landed a couple decent fish (and slimed up my new rain gear myself!)

Both of them were thick, which made me guess the length wrong in the net. Shoreline boulders and a boulder point gave up the fish; both on the same Double Cowgirl. (THANKS JERRY!!)

I hope to get the bait repaired in time to go out again this weekend.

Healthy 43.75" and 42" Lake of the Woods muskies.

Ok, Baz...now cough up the photo of that nice 46 incher from two weekends ago. :p

[Rich]

My report from mid August is similar to many others, except I didn't put many muskies in the boat!! We caught two low 40's, one came from a rock pt (on a shad rap) and the other from reeds in the back of a bay...nice consistent pattern! We didn't fish the muskies as hard as I'm used to and I was frequently the only one casting for them, so we likely missed some feeding windows. We did see several small ones follow from the weeds. The few we saw on the rocks were good sized fish, but many seemed to have lockjaw. The one I caught from the reeds was right after a horrific thunderstorm on Saturday. I was fishing solo and got caught out in the middle of it, so I just had to hunker down and float in the bay for about 40 minutes until it passed over. The first spot I fished, I got one to go on a figure 8. It was a chunky fish, but pretty lethargic...until it realized it was hooked. Since the storm had just passed through and we had a lot of fronts coming through the past couple days, I had downsized and caught it on a candy spin. Most of the fish we saw were morning or mid day runs. We did not see many fish at all in the evenings, which is unusual.

We also fished some walleyes, but due to my patience level, didn't do much jigging. Instead, we trolled crankbaits over reefs and caught several active fish. Dad ended up getting his personal best, a feisty 28". Evening fishing before sundown was also successful for walleye.

Its been an odd weather pattern this summer, which has affected the activity. I think Justin's right, these fish are all going to go nuts at some point. I just hope I'm there to enjoy the frenzy!

[Paul F]

Well, I am a little late getting my post on here for our August trip, sorry Justin. Weather was bright sunshine,then cold and rainy, with a little bit of every thing. We fished primarily for walleye, catching fish in water from 8 ft to 30ft on the reefs, rocky shore lines and drop offs. Lots of eating size walleye, never a problem for dinner. My uncle caught the biggest fish, a 26in walleye that was released; he was a little beat up but still in good shape and appears he had a disagreement with a big musky. I caught a nice 24in walleye that was also released. This has been the fourth trip this summer and the fishing has been great every time. Will be back up the last of Sept. and first week of Oct. to close the cabin and hopefully some crappie action.

[Justin Gaudry]

I got out a couple of times on the weekend (Aug 22/23). Here's what I discovered:

Saturday, Aug 22
Fished from about 9am to 6pm with a couple of guests that have been coming for 25 years or more. Fished most of their fave spots and saw 9 muskies with a couple in the mid 40 inch range. Only 2 of them looked more than mildly interested in our lures. The rest were slow, low, lazy followers in the hot sun with little wind. Water was fairly clear and you could pick up following fish quite a ways out there unless they were really, really low. Fish followed mostly bucktails and we saw the majority of them between 1-3 pm. I tried a couple spinner baits, crank bait and one of the other guys through topwater most of the day, but no fish came in on those baits. No strikes, no open mouths. Tough day. The other boat sharing the cabin with them had similar results except they did have two fish on that fell off. Water temps started at 67 in the morning and climbed to 70-71 in the heat of the afternoon. Copper/copper and copper/black had them on my bait 4-5 times.

Sunday, Aug 23
Fished from 9am to 2pm. Only saw one fish in some nice green cabbage on a small sandy beach. Came in hot on a double 10 and charged the bait on the second turn. Pre-mature hook set. It only had a mouthful of flashabou. OOPS! Mid 40 incher too. Fished some nice rocks structure and good points but did not bring up another fish. Another hot, sunny high sky. Water temp started 67 again and got up to 70ish before we had to come in.

[releaser]

Second week is history. We were greeted with wind and it rarely laid down. The Muskie were located on the windy points and you had to be right there to coax them out. Had large amounts of fish follow again and like last trip thier mouths were mostly closed. Everyone saw large fish with a couple of monsters sighted. The big girl I had out won this round again, although I caught a couple of scales. Four of us managed to boat seventeen Muskies with a chunky 46.5 the biggest. Once again the dry land experience at your resort was great. Your family and employees do a wonderful job for your guests. Sad thing is we won't be back till next summer. Looking forward for it. Len

[thighmusky]

Hey Justin Sorry this report is a few days late. We had some great action all week long. We had several fish follow on topwaters hooked up on a few but best action came on bucktails (double cowgirls) on rocks. reefs. Some nice pike on topwaters but best musky action was definitely on bucktails. Here are a few of the nicest fish of the week 43's up to a 48 incher Sorry we missed you on our way out Justin we will talk to you soon to book our next trip Tim