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Any pike action on LOTW? Need Advice Please


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We plan on coming up next weekend (the 14th) to do a little sturgeon fishing on Four-Mile Bay....But it sounds like it still will be frozen solid then.

Now we are up in the air for two options:

1. fish the Rainy River farther East for the big sturgeon, or

2. fish out of a location on LOTW and try for late ice pike.

What do you guys think is the best bet? We need to get a plan made as this trip is coming up fast. We don't know if we should bring the boat/motor or bring an auger! Please help with any suggestions. Thank you very much!

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The ice should still be good enough for you to get out and do some northern fishing, and if it were me I'd do that. If you are set on sturgeon fishing, I'm not the guy who you'd want to take advice from for that smile.gif But anyway, Springsteel, Swift, and the South Point are all good places to go for northerns. Fish anywhere from 6-12 feet and bring yourself your favorite frozen baits. Whatever you decide, good luck! Be sure to check ice conditions before you come, stay safe!

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Thanks a lot fishingfrenzy!

So the pike action has been pretty good? I've never actually fished LOTW for pike, so sorry for the questions. You mentioned frozen baits? Not sure, like smelt or herring or something like that? Where do I pick something like that up? How far off the bottom would the pike be this time of year?

Again thanks a lot!

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For me, Lake of the Woods has been unbelievable for northerns. Many others aside from me can attest to that fact. If you read some of the other northern topics, you'll see what I'm talking about. Anyway, I get my frozen baits at the North Country gas station (by Strieffs.) You may also be able to pick it up at Riverside. As for what kinds, I'm partial to the Herring, though some swear by smelt. Does it really matter what kind you get? I don't think so, but it wouldn't hurt to try both. For depths, experiment. Have some lines near bottom, have others near the undersides of the ice. Let the pike tell you what they want. I'm sure others will chime in here and give you a second opinion, but those are the things that produce for me. Good Luck!

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leech21, Probably just to be safe, bring both your boat and auger. Yesterday I drove down by the Warroad public access just to scope out ice conditions. I noticed there was a guy out fishing with tip-ups, just off the mouth of the Warroad River. He was a little farther out than the end of the concrete breakwall. In the 10 minutes or so that I watched him, I saw him get 2 flags. He whiffed on the first one but he got what looked like a good sized snot rocket on the second one. The ice down at the public access still looked pretty good. The temperature at night up here has been getting low enough to keep the ice in fairly good shape. Hope this helps and Good Fishing! grin.gif 1DIRTBALL wink.gif

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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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