Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

First Trip to Lake of the Woods


Recommended Posts

I am going up to Riverbend Jan 20 for two days and I cant explain how fired up I am getting. A bunch of questions but just a few for now. Should I bring my portable and gas auger? I am planning on bringing my LX5 and aquaview but not sure if I need to be mobile or just stay with the fish houses provided by Riverbend Resort. I am also curious because this is new to me about tipping the resort for taking care of me and the fish I plan to keep. This is always a subject people aviod saying just pay what you think it is worth. Last I have been reading about the lures to use while I am up there but could use a few more suggestions. Also will my ford focus due or will I need to take the Explorer?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

eurolarava, I'm not an expert om LOW but here goes.

Leave the aquaview at home the farthest we have ever been able to see is about six inches.

As far as lure's I would bring some jigging raps and some regular ball head jigs. Gold is always a good color as well as pink. If you have some jigging spoons bring them as well.

You can always keep an eye on this forum as guy's are really good about telling what is hot. Set one rod with a bobber and the other use as a jigging rod and also dead sticking can also be good. Always keep and eye on the Marcum as if you see the fish come though higher on the Marcum get up to them fast and you can usally get them to bite and they will be bigger fish.

The portable is a good Idea it is always nice to get out and move around.

Best of luck and have a safe and fun trip.

Sifty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haven't been through Riverbend but I would also say to leave the Aquaview at home. Being portable is always best, but maybe you're looking for a little less "impact" trip. The other resorts that I have been through have always had their houses near fish. Sometimes 60/day, sometimes 6/day. All in what you want to do. And depending on the hour of the day, spoons may be the ticket or a dead stick on a red hook. In my experience, however limited, one doesn't know until after some time spent on the ice. You could draw in tons of fish with a spoon and have them hit nothing but the nearby dead stick or have them nail it immediately. Keep checking the posts on color, fow, etc. It is helpful but not failsafe. Good luck and enjoy grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And as Sifty stated, there is certainly something to those fish that show up off a ways off bottom. Seem to be quite a bit more agressive and they sure taste good! grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This year will be my 4th trip to LOW so I'm nowhere close to an expert. BUT I can agree with those who say to go after those suspended fish you see on the vexilar. The last 2 years I've caught the biggest fish in our group, and both of them were suspended about 1/2 way off the bottom! And they were very aggressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would agree with all the posts and would just offer this: be versatile whetherr you are going to jump around with a portable or stick with the resort house. Don't be afraid to change your jig selection or presentation. I've had days when pounding a Buckshot into the bottom and pulling it up a few inches triggered fish to just kill the jig, other days they would not hit anything that was aggressive, just twitching the jig and slowly reeling it up would trigger the strike. Live by the electronics you can really learn from it as to how the fish are responding to your bait. there are days when the dead stick (plain hook under a float) will outfish the jig. I hook my minnow differently too, trying differnet set ups. If fish seem negative I will hook them parellel to the dorsel fin causing the minnow to continually try to right itself, to me this appears as an injured minnow and therefore an easy meal.

As mentioned gold is good, green/orange, pink/white, pearl/silver for the jigs, and on the stick I do like to use glow crappie jigs with a small fathead or lake shiner. Again don't be afraid to change up often if you're not getting results, there are days though when things are just going to be slow.

I've been on the lake 4-5 times a year for 8 years, and I still don't have it totally figured out, so I read all of the posts here that I can and all of these guys are really great about sharing reports and techniques....good luck and hang on. Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went fishing today here and the bait store guy who fishes LOW recommended these lures. At least it is a start. I very seldom fish walleye. I mainly fish for panfish because it is easier and more plentiful down here. Here are some of the lures that they recommended. I will watch the LOW threads and keep working on a tackle box for this trip. Thank you for all the feedback

lure.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

euro: These are good, I would also suggest some Angel Eyes and Go Devils as well. Again gold in the Angel Eyes, and perch, ornage or pink/white in the Go Devils. Before long your tackle box will look like the rest of us.....LOL Its fun to shop though. Good luck and hang on. Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found this link for Angel Eyes and Go Devils. If these 12 packs look right I will order them. Pretty cool they are FM endorsed sponsors.

LURES

Link to comment
Share on other sites

they are one of my go to lures. I can't event count the amount of fish that I have caught on them. Of course they are not the only lure I use, but defiinitley one of the better ones. they have great shipping service as well. bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah... one thing i forgot the old angel eyes. When things get a little slow I always put on the bigs pink one I have and jig that thing non-stop seems to work for me.

Another thing to do is to listen to one of the sponsor's of this forum North Country Outdoors Radio, Curt has alway got the up to date reports. Just click on the banner at the top of the forum.

Sifty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I go I always have: Angel Eyes, Buckshot Rattles, Glow Demons, Gemini's, Teardrops, plain Red Hooks, and Forrage Minnows. Options are the key....bring lots of colors...I'm never w/out a red, green, pink, or gold jig down the hole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The group I go with has had luck with Chubby darter's as well. On one trip the walleye's would only hit plain gold hooks. Bring a large variety and two of each just-in-case a larger fish or pout takes the one that is working. Good Luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

euro,

I am by no means an expert at LOTW or any other lake for that matter. But I have been there quite a few times over the years and I agree with all that has been said.

As I sip a beverage and read these posts, yearning to go fishing, I thought I would post a picture of an earlier trip this spring to LOTW. This is the largest walleye I have ever caught, but was the smallest of three caught in about a 45 min. span. All three were released.

Have fun - I'm jealous!

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc161/vanco_photos/3-26-2007-04.jpg?t=1197335237

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fiswithteeth: Nice fish. Always fun to pull one of those through the hole. Good luck and hang on. Bill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also would not call myself an expert probably being up there 9 or 10 times but have made a habit of it to get up yearly. Last year I found the Gold Swedish Pimple tipped with a fathead head to trigger most of the strikes and if they wouldn't go for that they would at least fly in and then take a swipe at my shiner on my Green and yellow Demon under a slip. But like everyone else has stressed, come equipt with many options, you just don't know until you can see how they are reactin on your flasher.

Good Luck, and would like to here how you guys faired. I will be headin up there soon.

I have also always stayed portable but going out of their houses you usually are placed on some good fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.