Going back to my post in June, the seasonal progressions of the lake have pretty much remained behind schedule almost all year. We did finally have some heat now, though, at the end of July that got us probably closer to "on schedule," if you will. It was odd to see fish so scattered and many so deep in the middle of June, but I think the water was just so uniform in temperature that fish had no reason to be in any one spot. As we got into July, though, we finally started to develop some temperature gradients, and fish started setting up in certain depths accordingly. All that to say, regardless of the bite any given day, finding fish is a much more logical process now than it was back in June.
July saw lots of options to fish as well given the amount of weed growth the lake experienced this year compared to recent past. Even now in August there continues to be some areas of weeds inhabited by walleyes (trolling or pitching edges in 12-14 feet works well there), though that bite has reduced somewhat since last week. This also keeps many fish around in the bays where the weeds mostly are (that includes Van Hook and the Far East End). We are also seeing some mid-summer patterns developing where non-weed fish are preferring to be near deeper water, either setting up on breaklines, steeper structure, or simply near the river channel. Flats can still hold fish, but the best ones tend to be near a steeper break of some kind.
The bite is still good, but they are becoming a little more finicky than they were two weeks ago, so you may find yourself trolling through or casting to more fish to get the same bites compared to July. A good day's work, though, is still producing nice limits of fish, and some days in the past week a group of four can get it done in three to four hours on the right spot.
There are still plenty of younger fish around in the 12-14 inch range, so some spots require sorting, but certain days we'll get into a pod of 18-20 inch fish and get exactly what we want most every bite. There have been plenty of days, though, with a full boat that we've had to box some 15-16 inchers to fill out, which wasn't usually the case last year as spoiled as we were with a plethora of 18+ fish out there.
Depth-wise, I've still been finding fish at times in 15-20 feet, especially with some wind and mudlines, though some days and spots push us out to 30. I'd say 20-25 is a really good starting point most average mornings. Still far better than last year when we were fishing 35+ from mid-June forward! Crawlers are still the live bait of choice, whether on a bouncer or a jig, though I wouldn't be surprised if bringing minnows pays off one day soon as it tends to do on deeper bites late summer into fall. Sadly, though, the jigging rap bite is not super hot. I was lucky enough to get some insight from the NWT winner, and though he did catch some of his key fish on glide baits, he said he literally only caught one out of every 300 he casted to...obviously not a strong pattern.
Still have some opportunities for August if you're looking to get in another summer trip, fish are still biting well, and we are fishing 30 feet and less, so I think the entire month could still be quite strong, especially for what people usually refer to as the "dog days!"
And, of course, some videos:
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