August Morson reports

[Wild Thing]

Ho Hum, another trip to paradise.

Fished Thursday-Friday-Saturday and caught many and nice fish each day. Wife got another 26-incher for the biggest of the trip (her 3rd one of the summer) and our 13th fish 26 or larger.

The water really is warming up and the algae is gross (the only two things I hate about LOTW are wind and algae) but it hasn't affected the fishing yet. Walleyes still off the sides of the reefs. Wonder if they might leave the reefs earlier this year because the water is so warm???

On Saturday (after picking even more blueberries) we packed up the family for a long boat ride, made it as far as Tug Channel before turning around. Fished one reef that topped out at 22 feet surrounded by 45 feet and we just NAILED the 18 inchers. Fun to fish deeper water for a change.

Saw water 75 to 81 degrees.

Lots of tubing and swimming. Not much else to report.

Probably a few weeks until we're back up.

[Tman2]

You, my friend, are a much better walleye fisherman than I am. I wish I had walleye reports like you to brag about. No trips planned for August, but hopefully early September..... but alas you'll be going up for something different by then!

[Wild Thing]

A correction! (How do you edit posts now?)

My wife reminds me her walleye was 27.5', not 26. I had the 26 on this trip. Good thing she doesn't read this site or I'd be in BIG trouble.

T-Man. Man no one has ever called me a good walleye fisherman! We have just been very lucky on the reefs this year. Our system also works really well when the walleyes are in the mood to eat. It seems like, even if they aren't there to start, if I wait them out 30 minutes they start to hit again.

And i have no idea why we have had so many big ones. That is pure luck. I haven't even put in many hours. I can only manage 3-4 hours of actual fishing per day with family and guests and all.

And yes, only 39 days until duck season!!

Good luck all!.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

WT if you wanna shoot some clays tomorrow give me a call.. I posted on FB but I don't know what you'll check first?! Sounds like the fishing has been good to you this summer!

[benelli_dude2002]

made a day trip on friday. we fished a couple reefs on the south end and west of Miles Bay and did pretty good. Biggest was maybe 20 inch. 12-14 ft humps with jigs n minnows. we tried crawlers for an hour or so then we switched to jigs. color didnt really seem to matter. one of us was using just a plain lead head with no paint. Everyone ate good that evening as we ate the evidence. Was just a light breeze out that day, couldnt ask for a nicer day. maybe back up before the end of the month. Lotsa wild rice this year. Only 4 1/2 weeks til Ontario duck season. most likely I'll be workin though since I made sure I am home for Labor day weekend.

[Shorelunch]

Gail force winds started at 6pm Friday night and were still roaring noon on Sunday. Managed to get some fishing in Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, but otherwise it was tough going for those up there this weekend. Caught eater walleyes off an island's drop off somewhat sheltered by the wind trolling crawlers with spinners. Windy weekend, but still managed to find fish.

If you're going to Morson this week and are towing a boat, I would take the old highway. They are graveling and oiling 621 from Gameland to Bergland. There was gravel from Sleeman to Bergland Friday, but now is just gravel from Gameland to Bergland. Not sure how far east or west they are planing to go and when it will be wrapped up. Still gravel through RR, too . . . oh, and all fruit has to have a sticker on it now.

Back up in a couple weeks.

[Wild Thing]

Shorelunch,

Thanks for the tips on the roads!

Man I feel for ya on the wind. I hate it when that happens up there. I was sitting at a blues festival all weekend watching the flags stick straight out and thinking, I'm glad I'm not at the lake or I'd be mad!

Was hoping for a report on the reefs as we are heading up Thursday for a short trip. Hope everything calms down by then. Will report when we get back.

Anyone else been up in the last 2 weeks?

Take care all.

P.S. B-dude

Big fish like spinners and crawlers!

[Eastwind]

Sitting at LOW right now. Fished yesterday and we did well just off of the reefs with jigs and crawlers. Will try to post again before I get back. Twenty feet plus water.

[jerkin'm]

Shorelunch, will you give a little more info on the "fruit has to have stickers on it now" statement? I called the resort we are headed to next weekend and they knew nothing about it..We have lots of kids going and fruit will obviously be an issue...thanks

[Shorelunch]

Shorelunch, will you give a little more info on the "fruit has to have stickers on it now" statement? I called the resort we are headed to next weekend and they knew nothing about it..We have lots of kids going and fruit will obviously be an issue...thanks

Should have clarified - when returning to the US, all your leftover grapes, apples, etc, needs to have a sticker of origin. Otherwise, it goes to I'Falls and gets ground up.

Heading up next wknd if the weather is decent. Will be interesting if the walleyes will still be on the reefs. Keep the reports coming!

[jerkin'm]

Thanks for the update...We won't be in Morson but over in the Sabaskong area next weekend...Need to run over to Morson some year...

[benelli_dude2002]

you can't eat big fish WT. heh heh. fun to catch though. Looking forward to duck season!

[Eastwind]

Got our limit of decent eaters each day. My friend boated a 28" 'Eye today. As usual, another great trip to LOW. Fish were caught on drops off of the edges of islands and off the edges of reefs, 20' to 35' of water.

[Wild Thing]

All good tings must come to an end and our string of trips with at least a 26" walleye or larger ended this weekend. Biggest was only 21.5"

Fished a couple hours and mid-day on Friday and got a fair amount on a couple reefs, but not as fast as July. Fished maybe 3 hours Saturday and it was pretty slow, compared to past trips this year.

We caught most in 18-20 at the bottom of the reefs, but there really wasn't much of a pattern.

I have a suspicion they are in transition away from the reefs to wherever it is they go this time of year. I am not particularly good at finding fish in late August-September up there. Haven't figured that out.

Two beautiful days, hardly a ripple on the lake and 80 degrees. Great for swimming with the kids and doing some dog training. Lots of mosquitoes still after 8 p.m. and the ALGAE IS AWFUL, hard to find a beach not covered in green slime. Man I wish they could figure that out and get rid of it. Too much of something getting into that lake!

Back up for Labor Day weekend hopefully and then for the duck opener on the 10th.

The road is just fine now, all the gravel is worked into the blacktop and not even much dust.

Take care all.

P.S. No new fruit restrictions for Canada. US Customs did confiscate our peppers and tomatoes coming back in.

Here's the word: No citrus, apples, tomatoes, peppers, corn or other fruits and veggies back into the U.S. unless processed or unopened with country of origin. Some of that is new since July, the dude at Baudette told us today.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

WT and BDude... see you on the 9th! It's finally almost here... don't know if you heard the bad news about Drake but you can check it out on my wall on FB... he is hanging in there.....

[benelli_dude2002]

what happened to 'big fish like spinners and crawlers'? heh heh. Yeah i never seen the algae this bad. looking forward to duck season. slight chance I might make opener in the am. wont know til night before or so. maybe see ya then. maybe.

[benelli_dude2002]

lotsa rice this year. hope to get in on a couple hunts. that was fun last year. got some of that cheap Black Cloud I wanna shoot up.

[Wild Thing]

B-dude. I think the spinner bite is nearly over. Time to go back to (gasp) jigs!

Always room for you in my duck boat. Although I do remember not being able to get into the cat tails because the boat bottomed out! Still, we shot 18 blackjacks that afternoon! Burned a lot of that black cloud as I recall!!!

I'm gonna get you some hip boots for Christmas!

Rice is there for sure. now all we need are the ducks.

[benelli_dude2002]

I got hip boots now. Bring on the ducks! call'em in and I'll back you up.

[Wild Thing]

Hey I forgot to post that I got another huge pike on a reef up there. Thought it was a 12 pound walleye until it finally surfaced. It never jumped or came up like the 10-pounder pike do, it just pulled and pulled. When it finally tired out and lay flat on the surface, it was significantly longer than my 36-inch spinner leader. I'd say it was at least 42-44 inches and very fat, broad across the head. But as we debated whether to net it or grab it, is simply rolled over and a tooth cut the line and that was it... an early release. Fun while it lasted!!! And no slime in the boat!

[Tman2]

I thought someone mentioned it, but can't seem to locate it in a post; what's the water level been doing the last month?

[Wild Thing]

Tman: It's at exactly 50 percentile, meaning exactly average for this time of year(or more accuratley, half years higher, half years lower.)

It's dropped about six inches or more from the peak in early July. Of course, no where near as low as May.

Any reports on the fish out there? We're heading up Friday.

Take care all.

[Gusser88]

Fished the Morson area from the 26th-29th and walleye action was pretty steady. Got them on deeper reeps or just off shallow reefs. Got our limits every day and had some good fish frys. The average size was bigger than in the past. One of the guys in our group is a muskie guy so got to try that off and on during the day when we saw some good spots. Landed a 44" and 41" with a couple more follows which was pretty cool. The biggest walleye caught was 26.5" and we lost a couple hawgs. Used spinners with crawlers on the walleyes. Oh, and we also caught a 15" crappie off a reef which was really fun. Weather was pretty stable on Thurs-Sat and water temps were 66-70. The water clarity was very low with all the algae. Hopefully get back in mid October.

[Sumander]

We fished Friday and Saturday the 27th & 28th. Started on reefs friday morning without a lot of success. Wind picked up so we had to hide from it. Ended up trying a couple of spots with current. We found nice fish in the second spot we tried in 14-15 FOW. All were caught on jigs and minnows. The fish were in the 15"-17" range. After lunch we hit some reefs in protected areas. about the 4th one we tried we found fish. We had a nice steady bite and once again caught 15"-17" fish. Nothing big all day.

Saturday morning was flat. We decided to head way west. Found fish right away on a submerged rocky point in 18 FOW. We caught a 27" & 24" and many in the 16"-17" class. It was a real nice sustained bite for an hour or better. Once again all on jigs and minnows. Saturday afternoon we ran around and hit reefs. Action was real spotty. Our take is, they indeed are transitioning off the reefs!

A great trip, back up in a couple of weeks! Anyone else hear the wolves howling at Saturday morning around 9:30?

[Wild Thing]

Thanks Guessr and Sumander...

Okay Sumander, if they are transitioning, where are they going? I hear weeds and shallow but never seem to get a steady bite there.

Give me some advice!!

I guess I'll try the reefs to start but it really seems more hit and miss now than in June-July-early August... also have to move back to minnows I suspect...

Thanks again