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2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info


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Had a wonderful trip to the big pond. Spent an extra bit of time negotiating the black trail up to Little Oak. The ground blizzard had you running blind most of the way. Didn't move any but had fair luck Saturday with 4 eyes and 8 saugers kept for two guys. Released a nice 24" walleye and the buddy caught huge tulibe. Oh yeah one jumbo also. Sunday we fished Oak and Garden. We caught numerous saugers and a few walleyes released another 24" and a 21". Went home with limits. fished bottom edges of reefs mostly with being on "top" in 25 foot at garden. Snocats rule the lake right now. 30-36" ince/snow most places.

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Fished Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. 4 guys. Thursday and Friday were good, Saturday was slow. fished the Reefs 20 miles out. 100 fish day(25+ per guy) on Friday and would have had one on thursday but only fished half day.

Good times had by all!!

And thanks to Ryan who found my buddies Rod bag and turned it into the resort.

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We had a great trip up to the big lake this past weekend. We fished out of Long Point in their rental houses and did pretty well. Friday had the better fishing compared to Saturday. We tried to keep 13 inch Saugers or better, so we threw back a lot of pail stretchers. Walleyes were not as numerous, only kept 3 of them each day, but the size was great. We used the same house both days and caught 37 fish on Friday and 31 on Saturday (two guys). Our house was to the west and out in water 30 feet deep from the bottom of the ice. The best lure for me was a red/black/glow red buckshot jig...the smaller one...minnow head attached. The other guys in the group decided to go east and deeper on Saturday and they did much worse than they did on Friday.

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Had another great weekend on LOTW. Fished just past Pine Island in 20ft of water closer to the Morris Gap area and found fish. Spotty, but once you found them. It was good fishing. The lure of choice was surely my bronze Swedish Pimple tipped with a minnow head. I would also switch over to a Red Glow Lindy Ratln Flyer and call em in. We ate fish 2 nights and went home with limits. Big fish were 25 and 27 inchers with many good eaters 15 to 18.

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Fished with Riversbend March 11-13.Friday at the reefs limited out 3 people.5 eyes rest good size saugers,1 jumbo perch.Very active bite on Friday.Saturday we were in the mud in one of the houses.Very bad,6 keepers only 1 being a walleye and 1 jumbo perch.Bite was almost non-existent.Sunday at the reefs again but a slower bite with a lot of sniffers.Managed 16 keepers but 10 were walleye.Not marking as many Sunday compared to Friday at the reefs.Biggest walleye 25.All in all a good trip.

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Got back yesterday afternoon from a day and a half trip up to LOW. Fished tip ups Wed. morn right out of Warroad in 10'. No flags. Made the run to 12 and picked up some nice 'eyes and saugs but nothing too crazy. Caught one slot 24". Made our way to Elm while the other two in our group stopped at Whiskey. They caught more numbers but we did manage to finish our limit for two guys with some nice 'eyes and a couple sumo perch. Decided to go back to Whiskey yesterday morning. A lot of lookers but again managed to ice some nice fish. Quality was much better compared to earlier this winter. The ice heave is pretty interesting. Still passable but not with a vehicle. Looked like Bob's ice fishing had been pulling their houses to the west side of the breaker. The snowmobile trail is in good shape minus the "Special Ones" who figured they should drive on it a ways out of Warroad. Roads looked like they were getting wet. Real sloppy around the public access. Still plenty of ice. Had to shovel down to get through without the extension. My buddies answered their own question if you need the extension. I just laughed and ran the shovel. Hopefully the rain forecasted for Sunday doesn't mess up the lake too bad.

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Fished out of Adrians Friday thru Sunday morning. Fishing was very tough for us. We set the wheel house up in 10ft of water in the gap for the evening and morning bite (that was the plan anyway) and ventured out to deeper water during the day. We fished everything from 19 to 27ft of water off the main road and never really got into em. All in all we kept 15 between the 3 of us mostly sauger with couple walleyes around 17 inches. Only nice one in the house was on a rattle wheel at 3am friday night. Didnt put a tape to it but guessing around 25". Seemed the ones we did catch were favoring a thinner gold spoon with a minnow head. The road was very rough. The route to the gap had a couple spots with water to the bottom of the doors. The main road was a little better but you couldnt get out very far (maybe 2 or 3 miles from the island). From the looks of it there were a ton of sleds heading out toward garden island. Definitely seemed that the sled trail was in the best condition of any the travel options. If you go I would recommend rubber boots and some cleats. Very slick with he water on top of the ice. Good Luck!

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From the looks of it there were a ton of sleds heading out toward garden island. Definitely seemed that the sled trail was in the best condition of any the travel options.

shockedeek I would have to strongly disagree with you on that. We took sleds out to bridges on friday and promptly put them back on the trailer friday night. Absolutely no way in heaven I would put myself, my friends, or my equipment through that ever again. The "trail".. It was horrible. Drove the truck out Sat and Sun into the Mud. No problems once we got off the "road" if it could be called that. Fishing was great. Should have left the snowmobiles on the trailer in the first place. No good.

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shockedeek I would have to strongly disagree with you on that. We took sleds out to bridges on friday and promptly put them back on the trailer friday night. Absolutely no way in heaven I would put myself, my friends, or my equipment through that ever again. The "trail".. It was horrible. Drove the truck out Sat and Sun into the Mud. No problems once we got off the "road" if it could be called that. Fishing was great. Should have left the snowmobiles on the trailer in the first place. No good.

When you say "no good" what do you mean? Lack of snow? Water? What?

We are possibly heading the direction of Garden island on Friday. We are trying to figure out if ATV or sled. I know its going to be much cooler this week with some snow so that should change things, but curious to specifics since you were in the general area we would like to head, conditions permitting. Granted, we are going to leave from Long Point most likely so they may be different.

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Guess I was judging by the trail I could see that headed toward garden island in front of the gap. From what I could see the trail appeared to be packed snow with little water and the sleds appeared to be moving pretty good on it. It was the same trail the bombardiers were using as well. Cant speak for all the trails but guess it looked good as we were plowing through a foot of water with the truck. Would say it depends on where exactly you are going. Would say it also depends on the temps. On the first morning the temps were cooler and firmed up the snow to the point we were able to drive across the top. That changed with the 40 degree temps though. Watched a guy trying to buck his ice castle through the snow and from the way that house was bouncing I still cant believe he didnt snap an axle. With some cooler temps on the way I would think it should firm things up a bit.

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Another classic boar weekend again with the weather not cooperating. three of us leech21 an a freind brent. Friday was bad. Sat. one flag that was droped. Sunday little better, hit a 37.5 with a 20 inch girth that was just a sow, gorgeous fish. One more flag with setting hooks into a cinder block, had four pulls on the the line an it was swimming toward us an shook the hook, was huge fish thou. Monday was better more with five fish an five more drops. four fish between 31 an 36 i think an Leech21 hit his 40. Congrates jesse! made your goal. Leech21 an brent are still fishing till noon or so today an should have a little more report. With all the fluctuatimg weather i got so disorented I completely forgot where we were. Somewere near shore. all the fish came from five feet of water with ice. nothing super shallow. Lots of fun all in all a great pike trip. Jesse youll have to post those pics wen you get a chance. later boar

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Boar nice to hear that your back has come along and you are able to get back out there for late season angling. Saw a post a week or so ago where you were chiseling out your house, so between that and hauling in the big gators you must be at full recovery....Good report

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Yea dave we got were I wanted to set up so that was a plus. yea bill im at full boar so alls good pretty scary tho. No disk problems, ended up pulling a lower back mucle so bad it had swollen up like a foot ball pinching off nerves. talk to my crew up there an they had one more 36 today an couple drops yet. think there pulling the pin as i type. might get one more pike trip yet. later boar

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Alright me an two other guys were fishing at.......whats that honey? yea i'll get the garbage out. Now? but honey I'm telling the guys were we were... yes dear i'll get right on it. Sorry gota go. Boar

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HAhaha, let the bidding begin do i hear 2cts. 2 2 2 2 2 2 2....... Dave i'll split the take with ya.

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I KNOW THE SPOT!!!

I just wanted to send out a BIG THANK YOU to Jeff a.k.a. "boar" for all his help and wisdom on this trip. He really knows his stuff. I was looking for my best shot at a true 40" pike and no kidding on the 3rd morning...BAMMMMM....a 40, right on the nuts, hits! A true giant! Can't wait to get the replica ordered! We ended the trip with 7 fish total and 6 legit missed flags. Biggest fish were a 40, 37.5, 36, and a 35. No fish was smaller than a 30. The action wasn't fast but the size and quality of the fish made it worth it. Definately a repeat trip is in the works for next March. Next year tho boar, you better work on your running skills so you can maybe beat us to a flag! Haha!

I will get pics posted here, hopefully later today.

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Wow those turned out great jesse, I still cant get over how fat that 37.5 is, makes the 40 look small.

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Hey man its hard to move with all the clothes it takes to put over this ponderous bulk of ripplin' mass of Adonas type body. I'm already in training for nrxt year, I got the rocky theme in my head, that scene where him an appolo are running on the beach? yea, thats me to the flags next year bud. that was a real fun trip, thanks for the kind words. later, boar

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