August on LOTW at Morson

[Wild Thing]

Fished four days but came home a day early because of huge wind and slow walleyes. The walleyes are scattered, catch a few here and there, but not on the tops of the reefs where they should be. Everyone in our area reporting pretty much the same. Likely because everything is so far ahead for the season. The traditional shallow reefs may already be done for the year. Our biggest was only 21''.

Our best bet were reefs near deep water, such as up around North Island. Caught enough for a good fish fry for 5 guys and a shorelunch, too, and brought a few home, so can't complain. But it sure wasn't as fast as it was in June and early July, and no big fish at all.

Lots of wind and storms, but we fortunately got missed by the Warroad tornado. We could watch the thunderhead to the southwest. Glad I was off the lake. We had 40 mph sw winds Saturday p.m. and then 30 mph west all night and it was still howling when we pulled out on Sunday afternoon. Seems like we've had more wind this summer than in recent years, but probably just bad luck.

Few smallies biting and the musky guys continue to do well. Will be interetsing to see how the bass tournament guys do.

One more fishing trip, then ducks. Where has the summer gone?!!

[rockpt]

We were up from Friday, July 28 to Sunday, August 6. Did great on eyes that first weekend on the 8' reefs around Fish Narrows and south of Basil Island, then one front after another and fish became scarce everywhere. Big wind from the southeast or southwest much of the week. Like Wild Thing said, 30-40 mph gusts overnight on Sat. and into Sunday. I had a wild ride on Sunday morning from camp on Miles Bay to Morson.

The other thing was the bees. They were on us in the boat all week and all three of us and my dog got bit at least once. Thursday we were on a reef south of Fadden's Island, at least 300 yards from shore with a stiff 20 mph wind, and we were swarmed. Chinese fire drill getting out of there as fast as we could. Bottom of my boat is littered with dead bees we swatted or stomped over the course of the week. If you're going up, bring some bee and wasp killer, a flyswatter (trust me, you'll use it) and most importantly, the after bite treatment.

We're back up in mid-October for another nine days.

[marknamy]

We were up over the weekend. Decided to work on the cabin on Saturday with the expectation of going fishing on Sunday. Big mistake. Narrows in north of Mylie's was ugly. I have been out there in bad water but this was unbelievable. Felt like an episode of Deadliest Catch. Pulled cranks around the Rasberry's, picked up one nice eye. Back the 18th for ten days of vacation. Hopefully the wind blows itself out by then. Keep the reports coming.

[Wild Thing]

My buddy, up from Milwaukee, got stung in the head Saturday up by Rubber Island. But his head is so big that you couldn't tell it was swollen. We were on a reef about 200 yards from the nearest shore.

Sounds like a horror movie!! Maybe the wind was [PoorWordUsage]ing them off! He stuck an ice cube on it and medicated with LaBatts....

I call those wind days chore days. Painted part of the bunkhouse Sunday and mowed the grass... anyone out in that wind is either a fishing fanatic or just nuts...

I heard some radio chatter talking about five footers... crazy....

They now say the Warroad tornado was an F-3. Man, that's too close for comfort...

[Shorelunch]

Every year up there it's something isn't it! This year bees, hornets and wind. Last year was what, some of those swariming black bugs? I think I'll be up over the 18th, we had good island/shoreline fishing last trip a couple weeks ago but didn't make it out to my favorite reefs by Dawson - because of the wind . . .

WT, did you get a chance for the smallies? It will be interesting to see where the Morson Tourney guys go as I think they're opening the boundries up to the entire lake.

[Scoot]

WT, you were up on our neck of the woods. Funny we didn't cross paths. We camped right in the area you mentioned (near North). Got up there Friday morning and left Sunday morning. Key word for the weekend was "weather". We were really lucky we didn't get in trouble with the weather, some nasty stuff was all around us. Tornado to the South of us, major wind and rain North of us, and big hail to the SE of us. We got our butts kicked pretty good, but it coulda been a lot worse! One of our boats had sparks coming off of the their rods for a little bit (they scadaddled immediately). No lightening or anything to warn them- just an ugly front that was full of electricity. Scarey stuff! We boated in from near North on Sunday. Quite a ride! Our two boats were 50 yards apart the whole way in and at times you couldn't see the other boat. Yeehaa! I've been in bigger water before, but it has always been in my dad's 26' Sportcraft; never in a smaller boat (18'). The ride was interesting, but not nearly as bad as I expected. In our old boat it would have been no fun at all.

Fishing was decent enough to scrape up enough for shore lunch, but like WT said, scattered fish. Managed three sklunges and worked really, really hard to find them. I think the water temp drop over the past week or so really moved a lot of fish off of some of the spots I know they were 10 days before we got there. We found some nice smallies up shallow on a reef one day and deeper off the sides of the reef and on deep shoreline breaks the next day. I doubt I'll get back up in that neck of the woods again this summer. Another fun and safe few trips into the islands this summer- gotta love it!

[Wild Thing]

Another phenomenon: Why is it that, when the fish change moods, it's always the bigger fish that stop biting or go somewhere else? It's odd that you can still scrape up little fish for lunch, but the big walleyes seem to vanish. When they are hunting on tops of the reefs, we at times catch more fish over 20 inches than under. Then they disappear. Don't see them in the winter, either, not many over 18. They have to be somewhere, as we catch them for a few weeks in June and July. Then, pooof... anyone have a pattern for bigger eyes after they leave their mid-summer reefs? Maybe they all head out to Big Traverse to get caught on downriggers.... but I won't stoop to that level to catch fish.

Just a random rant. I may have to break down and fish for slimy fish like bass and muskies!

[Eastwind]

Got back on Tuesday from Morson. The Walleye bite was the toughest that I have seen since I learned how to fish the different seasonal patterns years back. Fished reefs and shorelines West of Morson, all over Miles Bay and as far out as McPherson Island ( and most everything in-between) looking for them which resulted in very low numbers of eyes being caught. Used crawlers and minnows with about the same luck for both.

Now the good news. Because of the slowwww walleye bite I had no choice but to finally take up Smallie fishing. We went out after supper every evening that the weather allowed and had a ball casting rocky shorelines with various crank baits. We got several each night and even picked up some bonus Walleyes. Now I've got another species to buy lures for. Is that a bad thing????

[Scoot]

WT, I don't know why it is, but I totally agree with what you're talking about- you can always seem to scrape up some little ones, but the big fatties seem to hide very well as soon as the weather turns to dump. Why can't it be the other way around?

Eastwind- more lures to buy. That's a good thing! Fortunately, most of the cranks you use for walleyes will work great for smallies. One crank to consider that you may not have is an X-rap. Early season, I've had great luck on them up in the areas we're talking about.

[Shorelunch]

Yeah, that happens to us too. Generally, the 10-15 inchers hang around the the hefty sized fishies move. We have had luck jigging deeper after they've moved off. Usually though, they disapear. Just to throw a wrentch into things, I've found that they move up even shallower sometimes 3-4', especially if there's weeds nearby.

I haven't tried an X Rap up there yet for smallies, but I will. I still like Rat-L-Traps and Rattlin' Raps up there too.

Heading up in a few hours and will report back in a couple days.

[dmoore]

We got back on Monday (14th). Visited with Eastwind. We gave up on the reefs and spent all our effort on long shorelines with rocky fingers coming out. Did very well dragging bottom bouncers and spinner rigs. Crawlers or minnows didn't make much difference. Caught an unusual amount of big perch (no grubs). My son and his family will have a great fish fry this week. Fished muskies on Sunday (3 hrs.) My partner and I had action on 6 fish, boated a 42" and 3 that got off were BIG fish. Surface baits and jerks. Fall shoreline pattern is beginning. Won't get back until Sept. 6. Crappies should be starting.