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2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info


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Thanks for all the current reports on this lake...

I'll throw mine in...

Was up on LOTW this past weekend with a group of 11 guys. We went out of Adrians Road and fished in portables. Found snow cover to be low enough to be able to move off the roads with ease with 4 wheel drive, although we kept an eye for drifts.

Day 1 a buddy and I fished 24 ft of water and caught 32 fish for the two of us. Size was an an issue as many of the fish were 10-13 inch sauger. Out of the 32 fish we kept 3 walleye. We fished all day and found fish to be active from 9-11 am and then again a big flurry from 1-3 pm. Strange we marked lots of fish after 3 pm but they were non-aggressive. The best two baits were a pink glow jig and a chartreuse/gold jig tipped with emerald shinners.

Day two we only fished the morning because of the Viking game. Again found fish to bite well from 9-11 am, we actually caught a fish while we were packing up so who knows if the bite would have lasted longer. Think we caught 8 in those two hours. This time we were out in 31 feet of water because of good reports from that depth. Biggest fish was 22 inches for the trip.

The people up there everywhere were very helpful. Supposed to be great out again this weekend, good luck to all going north!

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Second day for me. I have to eat a bunch of fish so I can fish tomorrow. I have been watching the three day history report up here and in the last day pressure has been slowly rising. This morning was real slow. Mainly hit small sauger with frozen golden shiners. This afternoon was real good from 1 to 4 pm. Don't know the lake well enough to say where I was but I am guessing it is as far as Adrian goes(fishing out of a portable). I caught at least 6 nice walleyes but because of problems with air bladders on the smaller sauger I lost three walleye because of a very slow retrieval. I kept an 18.75, 16.5 and a 15 walleye today as well as a 14 inch sauger. Dead stick with a hook and minnow was of no interest to the fish. Best lure for me was a pink jig, golden eyes and the big fish came in on the smallest jig rap perch color with a couple of eurolarve on the belly hook. The wallye just inhalled it.

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Was up at the angle this weekend, fished Saturday and Sunday with four guys. Fishing was slow the first day, ok the second, 112 fish total between the four guys, the biggest being 22. Lost several large fish. Fished in about 16 fow the second day.

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What road did you guys go out of? I have only been up there a couple times and not real sure where to go. Thanks,

Tully

We drove out on Adrians both days. Originally we planned on trying further west on Sunday, but the fishing was too good the first day to pass up another try. Get off the main roads and away from others the best you can.

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My dad just sent me this cell phone picture. He's up off Adrian's in 33', getting lots of nice action. Old gk got a big one! He got it on a shiny new lure I suggested he try. smilewhistle

gk32.jpg

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I did pretty well a little north of Gull Rock this past weekend in 30-32 fow. Plenty of action and decent size overall. The walleyes I kept were between 15" and 18", and the saugers were between 14" and 16". I managed to not get into the dink saugers (knock on wood), so the bait stealing was kept to a minimum. Chubs were the preferred bait, and horizontal jigs outfished the vertical jigs. Color didn't seem to matter.

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Went out of Randall's on Saturday with three others and caught probably 75-100. The biggest being 22 and 21 inches. We ended up keeping 22 for the day from 13-19 1/4. Hot lures were rattlin flyers and gold weasels. Yellow jig under a bobber did pretty well too. Had a big fish fry and went to Long Point on Sunday. Fish not as plentiful, but more quality fish. Probably iced 60-80 for the day and kept enough to fill our limt for the trip. Hot baits at Long Point were red glow forage minnow and glow blue angle eye. Shiners severly outfished fatty's on the bobber lines.

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We are still fishing the Long Point area with Great success! We haved moved deeper into the 31ft. depths and last Saturday my son and I kept 16 walleyes/saugers combined and 2 jumbo perch. We got a late start and started fishing around 10:00 and the bite was on right away. At the end of the day we had thrown back 37 walleye/sauger also. Big fish of the day was a 21" walleye. We did move into the 16ft depths for the evening run but we only ended up catching one walleye. Fishing is just about as good as it gets right now! For us, this is the best shoreline bite we have had in 3 years.

Good Luck Fishing Everyone!

Jason

www.hardwateradventures.com

[email protected]

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4 of us hit LOW this past Monday and Tuesday. We stayed at Bayview Lodge and rented houses from them.

Monday we fished 8 to 5 and it was sporadic at best, but the size was a little better than the last couple of years. We were about 4.5 miles out from Pine Island in 31' or so. I had great luck on the bobber rod with a crappie sized glow/green head demon jig. The bite was 50/50 bobber's vs. jigging. A variety of spoons worked. We had 15 in the bucket at the end of the day.

Tuesday we were out about 5 miles from Pine Island and fished from 9 to 2:15. We finished off our limits and headed for home. A chartruse/orange demon spoon was the ticket for me. The other guys again used a wide variety of lures. Our limit was about 50/50 walleyes and saugers. Keepers were 13" to 18" and we probably threw back 30-40 little guys. Emerald shiners and bigger crappie minnows worked about 50/50. I did have some decent luck with spottail shiners on the glow demon the first day.

Looking forward to heading back up the 1st weekend in March with the family.

Brian

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A friend and I were up over last week-end out near the end of Morris Point's road-about 4 miles out/32'. We had a very consistent bite from the git-go, alot of smaller throw-back sauger, but a few in the eating size too, plus a few keeper walleyes also. Nothing real big all week-end, but fun fishing with alot of action. The rattle-reels seemed to out-fish the jigging rods by about 2-1, but I think the jigging got the fishes' attention. We also caught & released 3 white fish & 3 pout, and I caught an 11" perch as a bonus fish. We had a meal of sauger & eyes both Sat. & Sun. and brought home a limit on Monday. We caught them mostly on a variety of jigs with fatheads or very small river shiners.

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Great trip but my fishing partner is bummed being that I caught all the fish. He said at least I was able to watch and hand minnows over. Eye's really smack that lure for sure most took it in deep. He finially asked what I was using the last day and of course I said it was a secret, lol. Can't believe all the big eye's I ended up turning lose but did manage a good limit of keeps for the two of us. I'm heading up today and returning three lures I bought and getting more of the other for sure maybe the larger ones also. First time I didn't catch a lot of little saugers. Pic turned out pretty good from the cell I see. ltr.

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Maybe if you wouldn't have northeastered him so badly both days, one of those fish would have passed up your lure for his... smile Shame on you, sticking him in the back corner AND not sharing your lure with him.. wink

I checked a couple of stores around town, the gold and red one in the 1/8 and 1/4 sizes is sold out everywhere.

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I'll hit the store today and if they have any left I'll own them for sure. Norm and Ed were talking about going again next week. They can share my summit and I'll take the expedition and head a little NE, lol.

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I fished north of Gull Rock again yesterday with the wife. The easterly wind in the morning kind of set the tone for the whole day it seemed. We did alright, brought home 7 walleyes and one sauger. There were quite a few fish that would stop and look, but were tight-lipped. We didn't catch one fish after 3:00. Vertical outfished horizontal today, angel eyes with a minnow head did the best.

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Daily Fishing Report (Thursday January 21, 2010): Today should be cloudy, highs in the mid 20s and lows in the low 20s. Friday we should expect snow showers at times, highs in the low 30s and lows in the low 20s. Saturday we should expect snow showers possible, highs in the low 30s and lows in the low 20s. Today’s fishing report will come from me and our guides. All the action is still taking place, west of Pine Island and north of Graceton/Zipple in 32 – 36 feet of water. We have been doing well in our houses, which are only accessible by fishing with the Wigwam Resort…they are located on west side of Pine Island straight out from the “Big Pine”. Our houses are currently in 28 to 34 feet of water, and as of this morning 32 to 34 feet has been the magic depth again…the fish are deep. The lures showing the greatest success rates are the “Gold Disco Ball”, the Pink Florescent “Stop Sign” and “Chubby Darter/Rapala Rattling Jig” (all can be purchased at the Log Cabin Bait store approximately ¾ of a mile before the Wigwam on 172). You will want to get anything that glows right now, whether it is pink or white. Also give the plain gold jigs/disco balls a try. The ice thickness out there is currently 22-24 inches. Adrian’s road is open for business…trucks are going out everyday. Again, just a little reminder, if you want to fish by the Wigwam’s houses, you have to come with us. The only types of transportation that will get you out to our houses are track vehicles and snowmobiles…no trucks. Don’t miss out on this great fishing that we’re having on Lake of the Woods…come visit us today at the Wigwam Resort on Lake of the Woods!

Wigwamfisherman

Wigwam Resort

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Rap Jigging Shads have been working very well for me on low. I use the sml red and also the all white one with a chub on the center hook. The eye's have been just slamming it while jigging. good luck

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I like to use the 1/8 size jigging spoons, upsize the hook and use big minnows. I do use 1/4 pretty often too, rarely bigger or smaller. Both size jigging shads work, generally I run the #3 unless fish are crushing it. Recently I was getting a good solid bite on the #4, my buddy put on a #3 and he took all the action - pretty much couldn't buy a bite on the #4 once the smaller rap was down. Jigging raps size 3 and 5 are best.

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I just got back from Riverbend resort, good fishing. I posted on the main forum under Riverbend, totally spaced out this thread. Sounds like some good action all over. smile

Just got back to home base from another great trip to Riverbend. My wife made the trip with me this time and did a great job of catching fish (sometimes she beats me LOL) Anyway fishing was good with action on the electronics 90% of the day. As eurolarva has mentioned lots of little saugers to play with, we released over 60 in two day. We ended up with our walleye limits from 15-19" with one released that was 28". The big girl was suspended approx 10-12' below the ice. It was a fun tug of war for sure. I lost 3 nice fish just below the ice, I'd guess 17-18". We also had 1 nice perch, some pretty nice saugs considering the amount of small fish we threw back and 5 tullibee. The best jigs were pink, pink/white, glow red and gold/burgundy Angel eyes. The dead sticks were hot with red hook and shiner or orange hook and shiners. Lots of dead stick action. Riverbend is out in 33-34' of water and have had a really steady bite for the past several days. They were staging some houses to move even deeper on the main road Tuesday and Wed. They have roads plowed right to the houses if you want to driver yourself or they will transport you in their trailers. Snobies Ice fishing is also set up in the same general area and Darren said they too were into some awfully good fishing.

As always food was great and the accomadations were warm, clean and plenty of hot water for showers at night. Charlie and the guys working the ice were checking in regularily to be sure everything was ok. Richie did a nice jobe cleaning and packaging our fish for us each evening. Just another really fine time in the great north. 4 weeks and we'll try it all over again.

Got a chance to put a face with a name as well; Ralph, eurolarva stopped by during breakfast on Tuesday to lend some tips and advice. Great to meet you Ralph, we'll cross paths again I'm sure. To anyone headed that way good luck and have a great trip...... smile

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Hey guys I really appreciate the help. This will be my fish trip and I really can't wait.it will be a weekend outing with my 4 boys and myself.

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Took the truck about 10-15 miles out in 35 FOW. 4 guys limited out on eyes and sauger, caught about 100 fish today. Lots of little saugs with some really nice saugs as well. Most of the eyes were suspended....

Not sure if it would still be accessible by truck after the snow ends..... Had a great day! No need to go out tom wink

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4301120274_230667b227_m.jpg

Once again the Guides at Ballards Resort put me right on top of this 31 inch 10.5 Walleye! Thanks Brian, Nick and Tyler!

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Really this picture does not do this fish justice! I have caught several Big walleye up there, summer & winter but this one is a Monster. It's already at the Taxidermist!

4300373353_3d8b1744fd_m.jpg

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I'll be up there at Lake of the Woods for the first time ever we'll be staying at Wigwam resort in mid February and I was wondering if the fish are still fast and furious or should we go at a later time. Any suggestion is appreciated...

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Should go anytime you can cause you never know,those fish are swimming around down there but you gotta be out there to get em.What a beauty!! way to go atttaboy haha

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Has anyone fished the reefs recently? I am going up tomorrow night for a couple days and was hoping to take a trip to Bridges and Garden area.

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