fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[Mike Sertich]

I guess I should have. I was with my Brit,Hobey, and unsure of what the "water" was like in tha areas that i wanted to fish. Had to be ankle deep. I didn't know what kind of problems I might encounter so I was being cautious. Anyway, Seeing your set up as I turned around, was rewarding. I thought I might have some success if you were set up in that area. I was right. So are you. Thanks for all you do for fishermen. I will stop for sure next time. I left you a note last year when I "bumped' into your set-up. I look forward to meeting you and sharing a laugh or 2.Thanks again. mike

[mnhunter 3815]

not a problem mike.cant wait for next ice season even tho this 1 isnt done yet lol.im headed back up on wednesday for a few days trying to chase the monsters this time.

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Daily Fishing Report (3/15/10): Today will be cloudy, high 43F with winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Tonight will be overcast with areas of dense fog, low 31F with winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow we will have areas of dense morning fog...partly to mostly cloudy, high 43F with winds light and variable. Tomorrow night should be partly cloudy skies, low 26F with winds light and variable. Wednesday we should have more clouds than sun, highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 30s. Thursday we should have a few showers, highs in the upper 40s and lows in the upper 20s. Friday should be mostly cloudy, highs in the low 40s and lows in the low 20s. Then the next few days it will continue to get colder, with even snow on Friday night (the 19th) and Saturday (the 20th), which should help us out for next weekend and the following week. Adrian’s has officially closed the road in Four Mile Bay, but there are other access points on the south shore of Lake of the Woods to get out to great ice and it is business as usual for us at the Wigwam until such time we determine it is no longer safe. Last night we pulled our houses off the Reefs and moved them in closer to shore to follow the fish, we are about 4-1/2 miles northeast of Long Point into 32-36 feet of water. Today’s fishing report will come from myself and our guides. Pink, White and Gold are still the magic colors on Lake of the Woods. Vexilars are not a must, but suggested…I won’t even fish if I don’t have a Vexilar these days. Tom and I started moving our ice houses from the Reef to the Long Point area yesterday, because the Reefs hadn’t preformed to expectations the past few days and we want everyone to catch fish…after we drilled the first 4 houses, we had to do a little exploratory fishing, which I wasn’t complaining about. With no bait and just Chubby Darters, we were picking them up one right after the other…I’m sure with a little bait on the lure the fish are going wild this morning. I will update the fishing report tomorrow morning to let everyone know how we did out there today. The lures showing the best success rates are the “Gold Disco Ball aka Strobe Jig by JB’s Tackle”, “Charmer Jig (Pink) by Tom’s Tackle, the Pink or White Florescent “Stop Sign”, “Macho Minnows” 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). Use anything that glows right now, whether it is pink or white. Also give the plain gold jigs/Disco aka “Strobe” balls a try. The ice thickness out there is currently 30-34 inches on the big body of water. Good luck and Happy Fishing to all! Thanks for fishing with us and visiting with us at the Wigwam Resort on Lake of the Woods.

Happy Fishing to all, and to all a good day.

Wigwam Fisherman aka Jean-Paul Tessier

Wigwam Resort

[Boar]

had family out on honey hole in 30, pretty slow. boar

[jerkbait]

MNHUNTER, are you still able to get out to the lake by the bay when the bay starts to go?

[mnhunter 3815]

no cause that creek gets flowing and washes out the bay just down from the resort. the landing at the resort now is taking a beating water has almost taken over tha,t wouldnt suprise me if nick closes it down.could try the zipple bay state park landing but i noticed water there also.i think by wednesday i'll have to use graceton beach landing.

[WALLEYENUTZ]

as of this morning Zipple bay said their landing will be open to Wheeler traffic this weekend.

[jerkbait]

Mnhunter, when you say you are going to fish for big fish this weekend, is that pike? Do you normally fish for them out in front of zipple? I have some friends thinking of coming up to try pike fishing in a couple of weeks and this is something I have not done since we moved up here. Any info you can give me would be appreciated if you don't mind. I live on Sandy Shores, so I am looking for areas near by. Thanks!!

[mnhunter 3815]

we are going to target big walleyes.not sure if we are going for pike undecided about that as of now.got an e-mail addy jerkbait?

[Boar]

Hey jerkbait, sandy shores is a skip away frm one of the best places on the lake, west side of twin island. the shoreline in front of zipple an the inlet to the bay as wellcan be great. This past weekend was slow for pike, weather play a hard ace an trumped the pike. Hafd my best pike days with high sunny skys. Boar

[Walleye Inn]

hey boar i was in the same spot same holes as the week before holes were still open way west on hotspot28 fow on a little drop. was very good two weeks in a row. wish I could take the time to run the wheeler up. mnhunter please post when you return thanks we caught some sat evening and probally 25 sunday morning 6;30 to 8;30 then we packed up .

[Boar]

Hoped ya marked that spot. Found ya in the bay Sunday morning with smoke coming out of the stack an no room at the Inn. Left ya note.We'll catch up next season. One more trip hopefully to the reef on in April. Boar

[jerkbait]

mnhunter, email is [email protected], if you have some secret spots you would like to share . Stopped a Zipple for dinner last night, Perky(she says her new name is Sunshine )thought they would be closed after today. Boar, thanks that is what I was wondering. I have heard from a couple of people hear at work about the west side of twin islands.

[mnhunter 3815]

closed??? i hope not lol perkys new name sunshine?? to dam funny.im heading up 4 am tomorrow mornin

[mnhunter 3815]

e-mail sent

[jerkbait]

Perky thought they would be shut down for the season today. They were pu;lling houses off yesterday. You stay in your sleeper on shore though don't you?

[mnhunter 3815]

stay on shore in my sleeper.talked to deana this mornin she said the resort will be open rest of this week for sure and maybe longer.she also said zipple plowed a road all the way to graceton landing.she said either take wheelers out of zipple or take your truck out of graceton as of this mornin that is.

[mnhunter 3815]

we will be in the resort tomorrow night for dinner.you going tobe out fishing tomorrow?

[CrappieKilla]

Renting a sleeper shack from a guy March 19-21 near Babblers and he says his shack will still be out there and there won't be any problems driving out at all. After reading many reports on here, I'm not sure what to believe/do. Do I still drive up all the way from the twin cities cause there won't be any problems driving out there, or is this a stretch of the truth cause he wants our money? I know we should just call the day before we head up and that's the plan for now, but any opinions and latest reports would be really helpful and appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[jerkbait]

mnhunter, won't be out fishing until Friday afternoon, have to work until 11:30. Have a couple of friends coming up Friday-Sunday. Plan to fish walleyes, not sure which way we will go. Have been do realy well the last couplee of weeks at LP.

[fishwater]

We had 8 of us up fishing the 14-16th. We took sleds out on the 14th across 4 mile bay and decided to drive out the 15th/16th out of graceton beach and morris pt. We headed out deeper to 30' and busted east towards the border in 4x4 trucks. We did really well in 30' all three days. Tried deeper and shallower the first day and tried for a shallow morning bite the third day with limited success. We had 8 guys, everybody went home with 16-18" walleye and a few sauger. We only got one slot fish, a very fat 20"er. We actually got into some decent sauger for Pine Island standards (14"+) on the third day. I think with the current weather fishing will be good for another week for sure. I'm hoping to head back up this coming Thursday again.

GK's solo action

home plate

GK hard at work

my big Perch

rick working double duty

fish

Ice from 25' deep towards west edge of pine

[jiggin9]

Fished this past thurs-sat up on the big pond. The fishing was fair at best but we had a good time regardless. I wish the wind would of calmed down but what can you do? We hit up stony, 12 mile, lemms, marks, gull rock, whiskey flats and twin islands in the three days and no place really stood out for us. 29' and deeper produced better for us than the shallows. There was around 30" of ice everywhere we drilled. Going out on a wheeler and portable wasn't too bad until you crossed any old tracks or hard pack. I'm not sure how much longer the resorts will let people out but I'm thinking that the ice season is limited after the reports of vehicles breaking through. I watched one vehicle come from NE of lemms as far as the eye could see and kept on trucking. They definitely had more confidence in the ice than I did!

[HorseshoeChain]

Fished Fri-Sunday. March 19-21

Cold front came through. Fishing was slow. Really high winds Fri. and Sat.

Sunday was beautiful, and fishing started to improve.

We did ok with a couple nice 'eyes each day. Saugers were fewer -except in deeper water (32-34 ft) and then mostly small ones.

Ice is going fast!! It's black and rotten. Most places, when you auger, it comes out in chunks instead of shavings.

We drove around a lot on Fri. but by Sunday, most places weren't allowing vehicles out.

Cracks are moving a lot.

At least one truck and one 4 wheeler went down. -drove right into holes and cracks.

4 wheelers should be ok for a little bit yet, but drive SLOW! The old roads are especially bad, with cracks forming in them that go un-noticed because of the general roughness of the roads.

Some accesses are completely shut down already, and if there's a couple days of nice weather, like yesterday, the thing will be over VERY soon!!

I wouldn't count on getting out next weekend.

[brmuskie]

Fished Friday and Saturday out of Graceton - 30 inches of wet soft ice. Fishing was SLOW - lots of small saugers. 7 guys - kept 10 on Friday and 7 on Saturday. One 26 inch walleye released on Sat.

Drive slow and be very careful out there. With all of the changing temps - cracks are changing every night and they are hard to see.

[Rodric Christensen]

fished tuesday the 23rd approx. 5 miles out from morris point in 32 ft. of water. we did ok. 2 of us ended up getting our limit, but it was nothing fast and furious. one here and there all day long. released one 22" and a couple dozen little cigars. the ice seemed fine for 4 wheelers yet. the previous afternoon we had tried north of pine towards the gap in 19-28 ft. we drilled a couple dozen holes -- never marked a fish and the water was dirty.

[2121 WARRIOR]

you must have been with daryl...i talked to him after monday...tell him hi from phil!

[vman11]

Rodric - can you give a couple more details on your locaton and ice conditions north of Pine Island? How deep were you or how close to the island did you get?

I'd like to get to that area but we're not going to push our luck. Hopefully the cooler weather these next few days won't change the ice a ton from when you were there.

[fiskyknut]

Luck pusher? I once was a stick pusher. Plain lucky.

[WallEYES]

I get enough exercise by just pushing my luck................

[Fatty152]

fished out of graceton tonight and the heave closed up by the planks.....and we needed the planks when we went out.... either way its hairy but all of the ice outside the heave seemed good to go........ we made our way for pike up by twin trees and although there are areas that look bad, there are areas that are fine....it is not for the novice either way

not much going today but a few flags and a chunky 37

Jim Komar

Cutting Edge Outdoors

AM1250 WSSP Milwaukee

www.smokeysmuskieshop.com