Dog Days & Dang Good Fishing!

Ross Hagemeister

meisterguideservice.com

Grab your sunscreen, wide rimmed hat, and sun shirt and get to Otter Tail Lakes Country!  It’s been sunny and hot around here and now August has arrived!!

I guess it’s here—the “Dog Days of August.”  I’ve never really been quite sure what that means?  Does it refer to the heat?  High sun and dry weather?  Poor fishing?  Poor fishing conditions and poor fishing?  Maybe dogs don’t like it?  Maybe dogs have more say in August?  I’ll just keep guessing…

What do I think of the fishing in August?  It’s dang good. Take a look at the nice walleye in the photo I provided.  It’s a nice mid-summer walleye and it was pretty “doggy” out side. The fishing is good all around the county and for all species! Panfish continue to bite in and around weed clumps on the edges of flats, points, and sunken island tops that are covered with weed (preferably coon tail clumps or cabbage). Bass are always near panfish so you shouldn’t have to look too far from schools of sunfish—but basically, bass are in nearly every niche in the lake: they like vegetation, docks, drops, deep weed edges and weedy sunken islands, rocks, stumps, current, slop, lilly pads and bull rushes.  For walleye look at shallow flats with patches if weeds and sand, and always check out deep weed lines and deep islands and points.  Crawlers are the most constant bait right now, but don’t rule out leeches.  Minnows will catch some larger fish right but it’s tough to keep them alive and kicking.

Good luck fishing this week in Otter Tail Lakes Country and maybe you’ll stumble on to a dandy walleye like the one in the picture!