Trolling Crankbaits Catching Walleyes

[LakeofthewoodsMN]

On the south end...   An excellent walleye and sauger bite continues across the lake.

The deep mud is holding big numbers of fish.  30 - 35 feet of water is the norm right now for depth.   

 

Anglers are catching fish using many different techniques.  Pulling spinners, trolling crankbaits and jigging are all producing fish.  

A two hook crawler harness with a spinner blade colored in gold, gold / pink, pink, orange, glow red, glow white, or a combo of these colors.  Use a 2 - 3 ounce weight to get it down.  Heavier in deeper water and in breezy conditions.

Trolling crankbaits continues to catch good numbers of fish as well.  When walleyes spread out over the miles and miles of mud over Big Traverse Bay, covering water is a good strategy. 

 

Rock reefs, or the areas adjacent to the rock, are holding some nice walleyes and saugers.  With miles and miles of open mud basin, areas of structure can be a magnet.  

 

Many anglers will jig on top of the rocks.  Jigging has been successful over mud where there are numbers of fish.

 

Anglers fishing tournaments are utilizing forward facing sonar and are sharp shooting big walleyes in all parts of the water column throughout Big Traverse Bay.  The recent winners of the AIM Pro Walleye Minnesota Championship tournament put up 5 walleyes for over 50 lbs.  This is the second tournament in a row that saw over a 10 lb per walleye average.  These fish were caught, photographed and released.

On the Rainy River...   A variety of species of fish continue being caught on the river.  There is still some decent current which has drawn extra fish into the river.

Sturgeon anglers are reporting good summer action.  Anchored up soaking some crawlers or frozen emerald shiners (or both) is the name of the game.  

There were some good reports from the river this week for walleyes and some nice sized fish as well.  Reports of quite a few shiners in the river already.  Shiners will often attract walleyes.  Jigging, trolling spinners / crawlers or trolling crankbaits are all producing fish.

Up at the NW Angle...  Excellent walleye fishing continues.  Some fish are on the structure while others are hanging out over flats.  Different forage in different areas these predators are focused on.  

 

Mud from 15 - 30' such as east of Little Oak Island, near Four Blocks or north of Garden Island have been producing walleyes.  When fish are sliding out to mud flats, spinners and crawlers which cover water work well, as do trolling crankbaits.

In this part of the lake, it is often a mixed bag including walleyes and saugers, perch, crappies, pike, bass and even muskies.