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So slow it hurts.


Neighbor_guy

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What slot fish?

I just fished thurs-sunday and no one in our group of 4 houses saw a single slot fish.

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I have had zero trouble getting a good bite are their ups and downs with weather yes but the fish are their biting do I get pinned down by a wheelhouse beer and satellite tv no I am portable and moving until good bite is found have had some phenomenally fishing this season you get out of it what you put into it

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2 hours ago, jigemup said:

 you get out of it what you put into it

I certainly know a heck of a lot of people who have put in a heck of a lot more... And have the experience on this body of water to boot... Who are beside themselves with absolute disgust and dispair at the condition of this fishery. Ups and downs. Lows and highs. Things are being wrecked.. solid wrecked... URL 2.0

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On 1/12/2017 at 11:51 AM, walleye42 said:

Guys complain about only catching 20-25.  20-25 is not a bad day, that is decent action. 

I've read this thread and dozens of others between the LOTW AND URL forums. I do not see anyone complaining about only catching 20-25. Looks to me like people would be overwhelmed with sheer joy to be catching 20-25 in a day! That's not just decent action, it's a purple unicorn with a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!

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Really, Big A?  In complete honesty I'd say I come up with those numbers (or markedly better) probably 3 out of 4 times I fish LOTW.

 

If the majority of people you know, or fish with, are really struggling to catch 10-20 fish per day on LOTW, I'd wager they may be doing something wrong.  I don't mean that in a derogatory, sarcastic, or demeaning way at all.  I'm simply saying that perhaps they are using too heavy of line, maybe something stinky on their fingers, or their bobbers are a little too big?  I don't know for sure.  Just kind of thinking out loud.

 

It is a very rare occasion when I fish Lake of the Woods and don't catch a bucket full of fish, or at least catch enough for a nice meal for my family.  If the fishery was REALLY struggling the summer launches wouldn't be bringing in limits of fish for every angler virtually every day.  I truly believe, if the fishery was really in trouble, our DNR would be making a bit more noise about it.

 

I do have days when I simply can't make the fish bite, but like I said, that's typically only 1 out of maybe 4 or 5 trips, and usually on those trips I'm still seeing them on my electronics.  They just aren't feeding.  It happens.  But frankly, if you aren't consistently catching at least a handful of fish out there, you probably are doing something they don't like.

 

That being said, I typically ONLY target the lake during times of the year when I KNOW fish are biting pretty well.  Early spring, late fall, first ice, and last ice.  I intentionally avoid the "dog days" of summer, and winter, because one can expect that fishing these times will be tough.  Additionally, as it pertains to this discussion, we are right now in the "dog days" of winter. ;)

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Off topic a little but how about the sauger population. They are thriving and look how hard they get hammered in the winter. Most of the guests at resort are filling their limits with those versus walleyes, especially when the fishing is slow.  It's just interesting how that population is doing so well and being harvested so hard too. Not to mention all the saugers  that are thrown back from 30-35' of water that die from being reeled up too quick. 

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I fish LOTW consistently 3-4 per week from late Dec - Feb and then another 5-6 trips before ice out in March and April if weather permits. No argument that historically certain times of year are better than others. But so far this season, I have not witnessed or caught even one limit amongst my group. None. Zero. Just a few fish here and there. Maybe a dozen combined here and there. And that's a very healthy amount of experience on the ice also, hundreds of years combined and decades for myself. I'm not a wheelhouse, I move, I CPR the rare fish caught, and hope sincerely that people will begin being honest with themselves about what is being done. It isn't like we have seen this type of thing before, once, twice, oops nope... It's three times now. 

 

I suppose I will re-invest in my love of pizza rolls. Cuz the only fish I'm eating come on a bun I guess..

 

Things are not what people claim they are.. but I get it. From here on out I will claim I'm absolutely hammering fish on gold and pink or a plain red Hook and sit back and watch everything continue as is and just expect nothing will change. Worked for several other lakes didn't it... NOPE

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Had another great weekend moved seven times this weekend but found a solid steady bite and it wasn't in the mud fish are much more structure related right now

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  • 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      
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