Lake of the Woods Fishing Report: August 8, 2025 - Walleye, Sauger, and Musky Bite Stays Strong Amid Heat and Storms

This is Artificial Lure with your Lake of the Woods fishing report for Friday, August 8th, 2025.

Lake of the Woods is waking up to classic August conditions: sunrise hit at 5:53 AM and sunset’s set for 8:41 PM. The weather’s muggy, with temps climbing into the low 90s by Friday afternoon and dropping to mid 80s tomorrow. That heat is fueling some scattered showers and a risk of thunderstorms. Winds will start out of the northwest up to 20 knots, easing off toward the evening. The National Weather Service advises everyone to keep an eye out for strong gusts and possible severe storms rolling through Northern Minnesota—keep your rain gear handy and plan extra time to get off the water if the sky darkens. According to Environment Canada’s marine forecast, today’s chop should fade by sundown, but stay alert for fast changes.

Lake levels ticked up again this week. The Lake of the Woods Control Board says the lake’s currently sitting at 322.83 meters—about 8 inches lower than average for this time of year, but steady, with another slight rise expected after a bump in outflow yesterday. Water clarity is good in most bays, and the mud basin bite is heating up.

Fishing action has stayed strong as we head deeper into summer. Outdoor News reports the deep mud bite is hot, especially for walleye—look for most boats working the main basin, pulling spinners or cranks over the mud in 28 to 34 feet. Limit catches are very doable; walleye schools are chasing bait hard around Garden Island and Long Point. Reports from Sportsman’s Warehouse show anglers boating mixed bags: plenty of eater-size walleye, some bruiser saugers, and a handful of big northern pike. Musky are active in the weedlines near Oak and Flag Islands, with a few trophy catches recently snared in those shallows.

Successful anglers are running the top Minnesota lures this week. According to Tim Lesmeister and the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, the current three most productive picks are the iconic Lindy Rig (especially with a crawler), classic Rapala Shad Rap in perch and firetiger (pull it slow over humps), and the ever-reliable Northland Fire-Ball Jig tipped with frozen shiner or fathead. Throwback Baits swimbaits have landed several big fish for those targeting trophy bites—try them on deeper breaks.

If you’re looking for live bait, crawlers are dominating on bottom bouncers for walleye and sauger, while leeches have been dynamite on slip bobbers around structure. Pike and musky are chewing on large sucker minnows and flashy bucktails. For best results, change it up if the bite slows; aggressive cranking is turning more strikes in the afternoon as fish respond to the heat.

Top hot spots this weekend:
- **Garden Island and Four-Mile Bay** are best for numbers—lots of eating-size walleye, especially in the morning.
- **Oak Island weedlines** are musky magnets, with clear water and active baitfish drawing big predators close.
- **Long Point** for consistent action on sauger and bonus jumbo perch in 30–35 feet.

Thunderstorms and heat will shuffle the fish around. If weather moves in, tuck into protected bays; the bite often heats up before a big system rolls through.

Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s Lake of the Woods report. Don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing scoop. This has been a Quiet Please production; for more, check out quietplease.ai.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is artificial lure. With your Lake of the Woods
fishing report for Friday, August eighth, twenty twenty five, Lake
of the Woods is waking up to classic August conditions.
Sunrise hit at five fifty three am and sunsets set
for eight forty one pm. The weather's muggy, with tempts
climbing into the low nineties by Friday afternoon and dropping

(00:21):
to mid eighties tomorrow. That heat is fueling some scattered
showers and a risk of thunderstorms. Winds will start out
of the northwest up to twenty knots, easing off toward
the evening. The National Weather Service advises everyone to keep
an eye out for strong gusts and possible severe storms
rolling through northern Minnesota. Keep your reindear handy, and plan

(00:42):
extra time to get off the water if the sky darkens.
According to Environment Canada's Marine Forecast, today's chop should fade
by sundown, but stay alert for fast changes. Lake levels
ticked up again this week. The Lake of the Woods
Control Board says the lake's currently sitting at three hundred
twenty two point eight three meters, about eight inches lower

(01:05):
than average for this time of year, but steady, with
another slight rise expected after a bump and outflow yesterday.
Water clarity is good in most bays and the mud
basin bite is heating up. Fishing action has stayed strong
as we head deeper into summer. Outdoor news reports the
deep mud bite is hot, especially for wally look for

(01:27):
most boats working the main basin pulling spinners or cranks
over the mud in twenty eight to thirty four feet
limit catches are very doable. Wally schools are chasing bait
hard around Garden Island and Long Point. Reports from Sportsmen's
Warehouse show anglers boating mixed bags, plenty of eater size walleye,

(01:49):
some bruiser saugers, and a handful of big Northern pike.
Musky are active in the weed lines near Oak and
Flag Islands, with a few trophy catches recently sneered in
those shallows. Successful anglers are running the top Minnesota lures
this week. According to Tim Lesmeister in the Freshwater Fishing
Hall of Fame, the current three most productive picks are

(02:10):
the iconic Lindy rig especially with a crawler, classic Rapala,
shadwrap and perch, and fire tiger. Pull it slow over
humps and the ever reliable Northland fireball jig tipped with
frozen shiner or fat head throwback baits. Swin baits have
landed several big fish. For those targeting trophy bites, try
them on deeper breaks if you're looking for live bait.

(02:33):
Crawlers are dominating on bottom bouncers for walleye and sager,
while leeches have been dynamite on slip bobbers around structure.
Pike and muskie are chewing on large sucker minnows and
flashy bucktails for best results. Change it up if the
bite slows. Aggressive cranking is turning more strikes in the

(02:54):
afternoon as fish respond to the heat. Top hotspots this
weekend Garden Island and four fo Or Mile Bay are
best for numbers lots of eating sized walleye, especially in
the morning. Oak Island weed lines are musky magnets with
clear water and active baitfish drawing big predators. Close Long

(03:14):
Point for consistent action on sager and bonus jumbo perch
in thirty to thirty five feet. Thunderstorms and heat will
shuffle the fish around. If weather moves in talk into
protected bays, the bite often heats off before a big
system rolls through. Thanks for tuning in to artificial lures.
Lake in the Woods Report. Don't forget to subscribe for

(03:35):
more local fishing scoop. This has been a quiet please production.
For more check out Quiet Please dot ai