fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

February 11, 2016

The weekend forecast looks to be mighty chilly, -14F w/-34 wc on Friday morning and going lower on Saturday morning to -26F w/-38 wc. So glad I will not be out there. This ought to bring about some propane tank problems for some. Dress warm and be safe!!!

February 12, 2016

Going up on Monday hoping for a nice day on Tuesday.... Going out of Ken Mar Kee. Any updates along that area?

February 17, 2016

It is nice to be a fair weathered fisherman. It is a coincidence that the forecast is favorably warm. I am hosting a couple of guys from work. We will be fishing Fri, Sat, and Sun. We will be out on sleds with portables. I sure hope the fish are willing participants.

February 19, 2016

I'm posting a little late, but got 10 miles out of Adrian's last weekend (2/12-2/14) and had some fun. 33 feet deep, and had about 17-18" of ice. Caught tons of little shakers, and ended up with just under 2 limits of fish between two guys for the weekend. In total we probably caught 100 fish, but the keepers were stretching the meaning of a keeper. Our largest was a 16" walleye, with two other 14" walleye. For fillets to bring home we also ended up keeping some fat bellied 12-13" sauger.

I also have to give some props to Strikemaster augers. I misplaced my charger for my Lithium Lazer auger, contacted their support to purchase another one and they actually shipped me one at no charge. Great experience and wonderful customer service!

February 23, 2016

Fished out of Zipple Bay Friday and Saturday. 29.5 feet deep. Between two of us we caught just less than 60 fish. Kept two limits of nice sauger 14-15.5". caught and released a 4Lb. pike. Walleyes were plentiful but very small.

After the front went through on Saturday the fish got very aggressive and would race up from the bottom to hit 3/8 oz. gold jigs. It was an absolute blast. Before that all they would hit was very small tungsten glow pink jigs that had to be worked continuously and slowly. However there was a fish showing on the electronics almost constantly.

February 23, 2016

A good friend was at Zipple on Saturday also, first at 25' with nothing doing and then out deeper in the mud around 32' and once again nothing. He would mark some fish and caught a bunch of small ones but no keepers until he moved into 16' for the last couple of hours. Glad you had a good trip. I will email him your results just because he's my friend

February 23, 2016

Fished Fri, Sat, and Sun. Catching was very good. In general we (+ two guys from work) ended each day with two limits. Ate one and packed the other for travel. Most keepers were in the 16 to 17 inch range. Nothing less than 15 inches with a few at or near 19.

Overall it was slow. I was amazed at our patience. We spent each day in one spot and waited them out. In some cases, the fish would show-up and turn-on for 10 minutes or so - we really needed to make hay while we had the chance. It was a tough ride out on Fri with the mist and fog impacting our ability to see anything.

February 24, 2016

Fished Sat-Sun from the Gap to Zipple Bay. Tried a lot of different depths and presentations. Best spot was in 29 ft out from Morris. Had a flurry with 4 nice eyes and stopped as fast as it started. Only eyes caught in 2 days, the rest were sauger. Managed to get enough to bring home but it was a tough go. Ice was good except found a spot with 13 in. Everywhere else was 17-18.

February 27, 2016

Looking at coming next weekend with rangers...

How far out can I expect to go from pine?

Can a guy get to the reefs?

February 29, 2016

I am planning to be up as well and have no doubt about getting around on sleds, so I'd think you'd be just fine on a ranger.

March 7, 2016

My youngest son, and my wife and I kinda had the perfect day on the lake on Saturday afternoon.

We drove up and dropped off our sleds at about noon on Saturday. Dragged the house out to Twin Islands and set up in 27 feet of water. Took the sleds for a drive over to Zipple Bay State Park, south into the forest and state trails, and back over to Long Point. Short little jaunt, but a nice ride none the less. Good snow conditions, but the trails were a little rough. I'd imagine the local snowmobile clubs have likely stopped grooming the trails this late in the year, but for the most part, the trails were still fun despite not having been groomed.

After riding for a couple hours we swung back over to the fishhouse. My wife put on her cross country skis and proceeded to log in a couple miles cruising around the islands, and along the south shore. My son took one of the sleds and carved up pretty much any remaining nice snow in the area. I dropped my lines and made my best attempt at catching us supper.

From 3:00 to 5:30 I marked only a few fish, but almost everything that came in was fairly aggressive, and in only 2 1/2 hours of fishing I managed to catch us a couple limits of 15-17 inch saugers. The wife caught a couple, and the boy caught a couple, and we wrapped up our day and loaded the sleds for home before dark. Oddly we caught NOTHING but saugers? Not one walleye, perch, or tullibee? But that's perfectly okay. Those little saugers eat just like a walleye, and we enjoyed fresh fish sandwiches on Ciabatta rolls with homemade Tartar sauce and finely chopped lettuce for lunch after church on Sunday.

The weather was gorgeous. I was a little concerned that the bright sunlight might shut down the bite, but I honestly only had maybe two or three fish show up on the Marcum that didn't commit to a bite.

All in all pretty much the perfect day. Wish they all went so well! Ha ha ha...

March 8, 2016

they had actually groomed the trails that Tuesday..

March 16, 2016

My Brother in Law and I went fishing out of Slims on the 11th and 12th. They only had three houses left on the ice. Only caught two saugers on the morning of the 11th. The guide moved us to a vacant house and we ended the day with 10 total. The fish seemed real aggressive in the afternoon. Slim pulled all the houses off as the sun was making mush out of the ice. Figured we were done for the year. That evening Slim suggested that we use a portable if we wished to go out again on the 12th. We were game and the next morning we went out. Man was that fun. We caught an endless amount of fish. It was so fun to catch and release for hours. It took only about an hour to fill out. We headed back in about noon.

1 nice walleye. The rest were all saugers. And a plethora of small walleyes.

Lots of fishermen on snowmobiles enjoying the beautiful weather. Hope they had good fishing also.

That's pretty much it for ice fishing. Next year!

March 21, 2016

On the main basin resorts have pulled fish houses for the year. A few anglers out on the ice still targeting walleyes and pike. Safety first. The Rainy River is open and is opening quicker than ever. Open water reaches into Four Mile Bay. Muddy water temporarily has slowed down the walleye bite but we are hearing very good reports on sturgeon fishing. Franz Jevne. Birchdale, Frontier, Vidas, and Timber Mill landings are all open to all boats. The go to rig for sturgeon fishing is a 3-5 ounce no roll sinker with a sturgeon rig (18" 60 lb test leader with 3/0 -5/0 circle hook) loaded with crawlers or crawlers and frozen shiners. Position boat upstream of a deep hole in river and pitch bait into hole. Heavier gear is recommended. Up at the NW Angle, resort houses are off of the ice. Another great year of ice fishing for the NW Angle. Now looking forward to ice out.

March 22, 2016

On the way up on Friday, bait dealer indicated they were selling a lot of crawlers to surgeon fisherman. On the trip back on Monday we saw a lot of boats heading up.

April 25, 2016

Anglers had to deal with lots of rain and colder weather this weekend up on Lake of the Woods. Pike fishing was decent with some reports of big fish in the bays. Big pike over 40" are traditional in Four Mile Bay, Bostic Bay and Zippel Bay which have open water. Using a large bobber with a frozen cisco just off or on bottom worked best as the fish are somewhat lethargic still. Most of the lake is still ice covered.

On the Rainy River, sturgeon fishing dropped off slightly from the previous week due to rain and cold but anglers still pulled a pile of dinosaurs from the depths. The most popular sturgeon rig is a 3-5 ounce no roll sinker, 18" lead and 5/0 circle hook loaded with crawlers, frozen shiners, or frozen ciscos. Find a deeper hole in the river and still fish on the bottom. Good numbers of sturgeon being boated up and down the river. Please take good care of these prehistoric fish by not grabbing gills and supporting weight horizontally vs vertically. For the spring, the keep season is April 24 - May 7. Catch and release again May 8 - 15.

May 9, 2016

Minnesota fishing opener opens Saturday, May 14 and walleye numbers are exceptional on The Walleye Capital of the World. The opener is traditionally very successful with most anglers jigging with a minnow. Fish will be found in the Rainy River, 4 Mile Bay and along shorelines and islands across the lake. Pike fishing this week was great with reports of fish still in the bays. Using a frozen cisco just off or on bottom worked best. Trolling crank baits or casting into the shallows with a spoon or spinnerbait is heating up. The entire lake is free of ice and the walleyes are waiting.

On the Rainy River, sturgeon fishing great this past week. A potential state record was caught. Sturgeon rig loaded with crawlers, frozen shiners, or frozen ciscos works great. Fishing deeper holes in the river and still fish on the bottom. Please take good care of these prehistoric fish by not grabbing gills and supporting weight horizontally vs vertically. Catch and release May 8 - 15. Season closes

Up at the NW angle, resorts and guides are gearing up for the MN Fishing Opener May 14th which will boast limits of fish. It's "Go Time" at LOW.

May 9, 2016

Both Saturday and Sunday forecast is temps near freezing, slight chance of snow and rain. Breezy on Saturday with gusts over 20mph. I think I am staying home.

The weather was very nice for this time of the year this past weekend though.

May 10, 2016

Typical opener. Cool and windy and wet. Just one of the reasons I don't do opener anymore. I will be heading up during the week and have a spot reserved so will be up there a good part of the summer.

May 10, 2016

It will be less crowded anyway and the bugs won't be bad!

May 16, 2016

The MN fishing opener presented cold weather and wind making fishing challenging at times but that didn't deter most anglers who chose 4 mile bay and the Rainy River to avoid some of the elements.

Anglers fished various depths up to 28' on the main basin to find walleyes.

Jigs tipped with minnows worked best. Colors that seemed to do better than others are gold, orange, pink, and chartreuse. On the Rainy River, walleyes were caught from 4 mile bay all the to Birchdale, about 40 miles upstream.

Most walleyes caught in 5-15 feet of water. Slow presentations worked best. In some spots due to current, a 1/2 ounce jig was required to reach bottom. Gold and bright colors worked best when tipped with a minnow.

Up at the NW Angle, resorts and guides are also on fish. 20-27 feet of water is producing eater walleyes. 1/4 ounce jigs in Pink and gold while tipped with a minnow is best right now.

May 20, 2016

My opener started Tuesday afternoon and it didn't go well. The usual spots on the south shore were quite slow. Not many boats and they were moving around a lot. A fish here, a fish there, most a bit too big or much too small. More of the same on Wednesday but the weather was perfect. I was told the water had gotten dirty but it seemed good until you got west towards the field. The best bite seemed to be early and late in 4 mile bay. And of course "up north". Hope the usual south shore bite gets going soon.

Good luck.

May 23, 2016

With temperatures doubled from the previous weekend, anglers found walleyes very cooperative. Fish are biting, finding the active schools is key. Guides are scattered all over the lake finding fish.

Anglers fishing multiple depths up to 28' on the main basin to find walleyes. Jigs and minnow working best. Colors: Lake of the Woods signature gold, along with brighter colors such as orange, pink, and chartreuse.

Anchoring and vertical jigging producing numerous limits. Some pulled spinners if the wind was right.

On the Rainy River, walleyes are being caught from 4 mile bay all the way up to Franz Jevne, about 40 miles upstream.

Most walleyes caught in 5-15 feet of water. Slowly working a 1/2 ounce gold or bright colored jig and minnow worked best. Some anglers are catching fish from shore as well. Up at the NW Angle, resorts and guides continue to find good fish.

20-27 feet of water is producing walleyes of all sizes in both MN and Ontario. 1/4 ounce jigs in pink and gold while tipped with a minnow has been the ticket.

May 24, 2016

Five of us were up and fished Thursday evening, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The weather was outstanding. The fishing was decent. Evenings were good to very good depending on the day. Daytime bite was slower for the most part. We all brought home our limits and had a nice fish fry on Friday afternoon. Had to sort through a lot of smaller walleyes and saugers. There seems to be a ton of 11-13 inch fish in the system right now. Kept nothing under 14" for both species. Not many fish kept over 16 inches. Only maybe 4 or so over 16 and under 19.5".Didn't catch many slot fish though. Only caught 7 fish over the 3+ days that were over 19.5". Biggest was 25.5". Chartreuse with white glow or just white glow was the best color. Best depths were 24-26 ft. Did catch some out deeper but caught over 80% of the fish were caught in that depth. Surface water temps ranged from 46-57 degrees depending on the day and the amount of wind. Water clarity I felt was very good. It seemed like 3-4 ft water clarity which for LOTW is pretty good in my opinion. How did other folks do?

May 24, 2016

The wife and I fished Friday and Saturday. Fishing was great, warm temps, low winds, no bugs, etc... It was too breezy on Sunday to go out.

Catching was a bit tougher. We caught our limit of keepers, both walleye and sauger. We marked a lot of fish, but they were not very aggressive. The fish seemed to be spread out, where we'd catch one, and then nothing, we'd circle back 30 min to an hour later and pop another one.

We fished numerous spots, shallow sand, mud, and rocks; mid-level reefs, deep water reefs, mid-level transitions, etc... no real pattern. There were a good number of boats out.

Surface temps on Fri were 54F and 58 on Sat. Hopefully the wind on Sunday mixed up the lake a bit. Looking forward to the next trip.

May 26, 2016

5.23.16 Sunset Lodge Fishing Report

The beautiful weather this past week has helped to warm up the water to 60 degrees and the fishing is getting even better! On the Minnesota side, most people are still jigging on points but have found some fish starting to move out to reefs near Oak Island, Little Oak Island and the south east side of Hay Island by Northwest Point. 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce jigs and minnows with gold and pink, yellow, gold and black with a yellow eye being the most productive colors and sizes. Some people are starting to pull some spinners and bottom bouncers with hammered gold and hammered gold with pink being the most productive. We are still working that 18-26 feet of water depth during the morning and day and moving up to as shallow as 8 feet for the last 45 minutes of the evening.

In Canada, people are having great success jigging with 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce jigs with gold, black with the yellow eye and gold being the best sizes and colors. We are finding that rock points are producing great numbers of fish with the larger fish being right on the rocks and the 14-20 inch fish being at the transition line from rocks to sand and mud.

The prime depths have been a little deeper in Canada with 24-28 feet being the most productive.

By Jeremy Glessing

May 31, 2016

5.31.16 Sunset Lodge Fishing Report

Wow, what a week we had with bug hatches, rain and temperature changes but Mother Nature couldn't stop the fish from biting! In Minnesota, the fish are on the move, venturing out to the mud and reefs away from the larger islands. We are seeing a lot of people having their best success moving in shallower this past week, jigging in that 10-20 foot range. We are also seeing a lot of fish being caught in 20-26 feet pulling spinners and crawler harnesses and a few getting out there and pulling some crank baits. Gold, pink and orange are always a go to color for jigging on Lake of the Woods and seemed to be the best colors again this week. Gold, smaller spinners on crawler harnesses will be a go to color and set up for all the Minnesota guides through out the summer months.

In Canada, jigging is holding strong on points and reefs in 12-24 feet of water adjacent to deep water. Lots of nice eaters and picture fish being caught this past week. 1/4 and 3/8 ounce jigs have been the ticket with gold, pink and orange being the most productive colors. Shiners and fatheads seem to be the preferred bait for those fishing Canadian waters.

-Jeremy Glessing

May 31, 2016

Mother Nature offered many different weather conditions this weekend for anglers but the fish didn’t seem to mind. Fish still seem to be scattered around the lake but the reefs are picking up. Depths to key in on are 7-14’ and 20-27’. Anglers are using many tactics to catch fish with all of them being successful. Tactics that are working include slow drift or anchoring and jigging with a minnow, pulling spinners with leeches or crawlers, or crank baits. Colors that seem best are gold, and bright colors such as orange, chartreuse, or pink.

On the Rainy River, walleyes are still being reeled in up to 40 miles upstream. Key depth is 5-15 feet of water. Bright colored jigs tipped with a minor working best. Some being caught on crankbaits.

Up at the NW Angle, resorts and guides continue to find eater and picture fish. 20-27 feet of water is producing walleyes of all sizes by pulling spinners or crawler harnesses. 1/4 ounce jigs in pink and gold while tipped with a minnow has been the ticket in 10-20 feet of water. In Canada working adjacent to deep water is producing good fish in 12-24 feet.

Edited May 31, 2016 by LakeofthewoodsMN

June 6, 2016

Lots of fish to be had all around the lake last week. June showers were abundant but that didn’t seem to faze the fish. Jig and minnow remains top dog as far as tactics go. Guides are on fish. Depths in 18-28 feet are holding strong on the south shore and reefs are producing as well. Jigs with gold are doing great when accompanied with a rattle. Trolling crank baits in the shallows after dinner are producing some fish.

On the Rainy River, walleyes are being caught near the mouth of the river and into four mile bay. Jigs and minnows remains best option for catching walleyes. Most anglers fishing the lake.

Up at the NW Angle, resorts and guides are finding fish. 10-27 feet of water is producing walleyes by pulling crawler harnesses or 1/4 ounce jigs in pink and gold while tipped with a minnow. In Canada working adjacent or near deep water is producing fish in 12-24 feet.

June 13, 2016

6.13.16 Sunset Lodge Weekly Fishing Reports

Up at the Northwest Angle we had a great week. Everyone is getting their limits and throwing back many more fish, too. The water temperatures rose at the beginning of the week from 60 degrees to anywhere from 63-65 degrees depending on where you were on the lake. The end of the week we had a couple of cold fronts roll thru that made it a little more challenging but we were still catching fish.

On the Minnesota side, we have been jigging anywhere that has a rock to mud transition. Usually, 18-23 feet. Some people have been trolling spinner rigs out in the mud from 20-26 feet of water also. The mayfly hatch is starting, which means the bite at The Flats will start to turn on soon at 6-8 feet.

On the Ontario side, we are jigging lots of points in 22-28 feet where the rock to mud transition is. A few of the shallower reefs have fish already staging up on them also. 3/8th ounce fluorescent or gold jig's tipped with a minnow have been the best. Smallmouth bass are up on their beds and fishing has been great for them! The perch are starting to show up a little bit now too. The ones we caught have been JUMBOS!

Ontario Musky season is approaching fast as the season starts up on the 18th! We've already had a couple T-bone our walleyes while reeling them in!

Forrest Huset

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Here on Oak Island, the weather has been up and down over the last week. With rain and wind broken up by days of sunshine. Fishing has been really great this last week lots of limits of eater fish being caught along with some dandy trophy fish reaching the 30" mark.

On the Minnesota side, pulling spinners with bottom bouncers in the mud and reefs between Oak Island and Four Blocks has been effective. Hammered gold and pink were the hot colors this week. 22 to 26 feet seemed to have the most action. Crankbaits have also been working well in these areas as some of the larger fish are suspending well off the bottom. The Flats in 8 to 10 feet have also been hot.

On the Canadian side, the reefs on the west side of Falcon Island have been giving up fish in 15 to 24 feet. Jigging with minnows and pulling hammered gold spinners and night crawlers have been most effective. The East side of Tug Channel has also been producing fish. Other spots to consider are the south side of Birch Island, Bishop Bay and up towards Big Narrows.

Cale Albers