August: The Month of Rain Pour & Panfish

Ross Hagemeister

meisterguideservice.com

August has been a rainy month in Otter Tail Lakes Country…Nice, but rainy! The photo I’ve selected this week describes our August weather spot-on.
It seems we are either in nice sunny waters or under a shower.  Earlier this week we had nearly 3 inches of rain—that’s a lot of rain for our traditionally dry August.  And, to top it off, more rain is on the way!

What do the fish make of all the rain and overcast skies?  Walleye in particular, on most lakes in Otter Tail County, don’t feed well under dark skies—especially this season.  So if you’re on the lakes or are going to head out and fish walleye this week, you should hope for bright sun and low winds.

Since walleye are bothered by dark rainy days in August, the smaller fish species like perch and sunfish kick feeding into high gear.  For panfish stick with weeds near drops. To produce large panfish use larger baits than you do in the spring time. I recommend using 1/16 oz jigs tipped with 2 inch Gulp Fry or twister tails. Large sunfish, nice crappie, and largemouth bass munch them up and they keep the small bothersome sunfish away.  For late summer northern, try casting spinner baits over cabbage beds on flats near deep water, or troll minnow baits like #7 Shad Raps that dive around 10 feet deep and graze the tops and edges of weeds near deep water.

Good luck fishing this week in Otter Tail Lakes Country.