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2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info


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Me and a couple buddys just got back from LOTW last night. Didn't fish yesterday because of the WIND! But tuesday and wednesday we had good sucess out of Morris Point in 16-17 FOW anchored up and vertical jigging spottails,,,I was using the pink glow fireball jig. Lot's of small fish in the mix, but we ended up keeping limits of the bigger ones up to the slot including some nice saugers. Pretty rough on wednesday though!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Fished Fri & Sat and had great success out on the lake. The wind blew Sat and confined us to the river where there are not many fish being caught. I think if there is going to be a run it will occur later...

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A couple buddies and I were also up on the Northwest side (Ontario Mostly)... fishing was pretty decent Thurs, Fri and Sun - Sat was too windy!

Pretty much just normal jigging with some twister tails was doing the trick. Didn't seem to matter the color etc.

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Daily Fishing Report (10-14-09): Today we should see some snow showers with temps nearly steady in the mid to upper 30s with winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph…there will be a 40% chance of snow. Tonight should be variably cloudy with snow showers; low near 30F with winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph…there will be a 60% chance of snow. Tomorrow we should have variable clouds with snow showers that will mix with rain showers later, high around 40F with winds SE at 5 to 10 mph…there will be a 60% chance of precipitation. Tomorrow night we should see rain and snow in the evening transitioning to snow showers late, low 32F with winds S at 5 to 10 mph…there will be a 50% chance of precipitation. Friday we should see both rain and snow, highs in the upper 30s and lows in the upper 20s. It should start to slowly get constantly warmer for a few days to follow. Today’s fishing report will come from our guides (Tom Briggs, Billy “The Sniper” Kloos and Kevin Olmstead) and be no different than yesterday’s report, besides for this. The south west side of Pine Island is really producing some nice looking fish. You want to be about 200 yards directly west of the “Big Pine” in 14 to 18 feet of water…anchor and jigging with Chartreuse, White/Gold or Gold jigs with frozen shiners as bait. The balance of the report will match yesterday’s report, so here we go. The fishing has been turned down a notch with this cold weather we have been experiencing of late. We have been finding some nice looking fish from Lighthouse/Morris Gap all the way through Four Mile Bay and into the Rainy River. The best method of catching those big buggers right now is anchoring and jigging. When jigging you will want to be using a 3/8 or ½ oz. jig and orange, chartreuse and white with frozen shiners have been the golden ticket! Shiners are being caught in the river, so they’re here and the Walleyes should also be there. I think we may just have to let this cold front take its course and the fishing should be rocking again in no time. With this cold weather the fish will be moving out of the deep water looking for a little bit warmer water and rocks to feed. As I always say though, when fishing the rocks, be ready to donate some tackle…risk and reward! The Shiner run will last till the middle of November, so if you don’t want to travel far and you want to catch some big fish, book today at the Wigwam Resort and experience some of the “BEST FISHING IN THE WORLD”! All this great fishing will take place right in front of the World Famous Wigwam Resort, in Four Mile Bay, right at the mouth of the Rainy River! 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!

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

Jean-Paul Tessier aka Wigwam Fisherman

Wigwam Resort

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  • 2 weeks later...

LOW Fishing Report (10-27-09): Today will be mostly cloudy, high 52F with winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Tonight we will have cloudy skies, low 39F with winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Wednesday we should have cloudy skies, high around 50F with winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Thursday should be cloudy again with highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 40s. Today’s fishing report will come from Tom Briggs and me…the fish are still hanging out in the same places and they are gulping down all the shiners making their way into the Rainy River, which is plumping them up very nicely. I heard today that Knights Reefs are producing some great looking Walleyes right now. The word is that there were a few launches up on Knights Reef and they caught 60 slot fish (fish that had to be thrown back 19-1/2” to 28”)…very impressive. If you don’t feel like going that far, or can’t drive the boat 20 miles to Knights, you will still do great on the south west side of Pine Island and Morris Gap. You want to be right out from Morris Point Resort and about in the middle of Morris Gap in 19 to 24 feet of water. The method of fishing will be anchor and jigging. The best colors have been Orange and White jigs with FROZEN SHINERS as bait. The frozen shiners are out fishing live bait 3 to 1…that is my experience. The other hot spot is Lighthouse Gap where I have been able to catch fish in 19 feet to 31 feet. A few nights ago, I had the opportunity to go fishing with Tom Briggs, Rick Amundson and Scott Olmstead, and 27 foot right on the US/Canadian line was the “Golden Ticket”. We were catching 18” Walleyes one right after the other from 4 PM to 6 PM. Everyone should mark that one on their radar. The most successful jigs were Orange and Chartreuse…as always we were using frozen shiners as bait. I went to Graceton Reef and gave that a shot this weekend and we got on a number of nice Small Mouth Bass hanging out in the rocks. The best method of catching those big buggers right now is jigging. When jigging, you will want to be using 3/8 or ½ oz. jigs. The Shiners are still being caught in the river, but the majority of success has still been on the lake right outside the gaps (Morris and Lighthouse). The Shiner run will last till throughout November, so if you don’t want to travel far and you want to catch some big fish, book today at the Wigwam Resort and experience some of the “BEST FISHING IN THE WORLD”! All this great fishing will take place right in front of the World Famous Wigwam Resort, in Four Mile Bay, right at the mouth of the Rainy River! 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!

10-24-09+JP+W.JPG10-15-09+Alex+Fishbaugher.jpg10-20-09+Alan_29_inch_1.JPG

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

Wigwam Fisherman aka Jean-Paul Tessier

Wigwam Resort

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Thanks for the report. Tell Tom that he needs to put up a webcam on the baithouse overlooking the dock and out into the bay!!

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The larger golden shiners outfish the small frozen shiners all day long for bigger fish. They seem to keep the small saugers away as well.

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I was out there over the weekend and they haven't come in. they still seem to be in the big lake in 25-30 feet of water.

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I was up sat and sun, wasnt the best weekend. Couldnt get on the lake till late sat. afternoon. Its was windy to say the least, blowing 25 out of the NW. Tried the river but didnt doany good, only a few small ones. Got out in the gap around 400 and fished 23-27 ft and nothing. Sunday was a little better and got over to Zipple. Set up in 18 ft just west of the rocks and did ok. Didnt set the world on fire but got some fish, biggest was a 25.5" with a few in the 17"-19" range and the rest were 15" or so

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Wind on Saturday limited fishing to the river and there are not

alot of fish in the river. Fishing with the Kainz crew so while we sat there bouncing jigs and catching dinks I had to listen to "we should pull some lead thru this stuff, I bet we would do good" over and over again from Whitetips (FM handle).

The lead rods were stowed away in the back of one of the

storage compartments behind the crank baits so I resisted until

Chinese water torture won out and I figured it would be a good

way to pass a couple of hours until we could set up for the

evening jig bite. I knew it was the thing to do so off we

went to pull some lead.

Within 2 minutes we were reeling in a 24 incher, then another,

then a couple of solid keepers. We make 6 passes and caught

at least one fish every pass, the best was 4. In just a couple

of hours we released 7 fish in the slot and had 6 good keepers.

Finished off the limits with jigs right up till dark.

A pretty rocky day pulled out of the fire by trolling lead core. According to Whitetips, "Fall fish in the river seem to love lead core when they dont want anything else"

Fish bit for about a half hour in the Morris Point Gap on

Sunday, 6 nice fish, then it died.

Good fishing all!!!

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good morning Curt

we ended day(sun) anchored up where ended sat. quick flurry again at dusk and was able to finish off with as many fish as the governor says we can have. everyone arrived home safe and with a meal. thanks for sharing the weekend.

K2

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Good times at L.O.W this weekend indeed. Too bad mother nature had to screw the water up out in the main lake, but we salvaged a really tough bite into some pretty decent fishing really. Slow for in L.O.W terms...great fishing if it were on 90% of the other lakes in Minnesota.

Saugeye????

LOWSaugeye11-8-09.jpg

24.5 river eye on lead.

LOW11-7-09.jpg

Q with a 25 in jiggin' eye

LOWQuesnell11-7-09.jpg

Q with a FAT 25.5 river lead eye

LOWQuesnell211-7-09.jpg

The first photo is of a fish I caught out in the lake on Sunday morning...Saugeye? It's the first time i've caught a fish on L.O.W that made me really wonder what species it was.

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Boat Chips; def: A trifecta blend of flavored chips hermetically sealed in a tupperware container for perfect boat-ready crispness, all while providing the variety any chip connoisseur appreciates...delicious with a cajun turkey sandwich and beverage of choice.

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Usually upstream. Speed always changes but a good rule of thumb according to Rick Thompson "the trolling guru" is 2 MPH:) Right Rick?

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Upstream. We caught fish as slow as 1.9 and as fast as 2.3 mph. Gotta make sure the baits are diggin a little (at least every now and then) or you just won't get bit.

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Hubby and I will be heading to LOW on Fri after work. Will be staying up by Arnesons again (friends have a cabin there). Gotta catch up with Gurney and the gang and do some fishing possibly on the lake or maybe try on Rainy River..(depending on the weather/winds) character0052.gif character0052.gif

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3 of us fished Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. We fished some in the lighthouse gap and spent about 2/3 of our time in the river. The fishing was very slow! The resort area at the mouth of the river was like a ghost town. No one was staying there, very few fishermen anywhere. I guess I'm done until the ice gets here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Daily Fishing Report 12-9-09: Today we will have scattered flurries and snow showers…cold, with wind chills approaching -15F…there should only be a high 6F with winds N at 10 to 20 mph…there will be a 30% chance of snow. Tonight should be cloudy and cold, with dangerously cold wind chills as low as -25F, low -11F with winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Tomorrow we should see snow flurries or snow showers…very cold, high 6F with winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Tomorrow night we should have on and off snow flurries are possible along with variably cloudy skies, with wind chills approaching -25F, low -7F with winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Friday should again be cloudy with flurries, highs in the low single digits and lows 1 to -3F. Saturday we should have a few snow showers, highs 2 to -2F and lows -8 to -12F. Sunday we should have times of sun and clouds, highs in the upper single digits and lows -2 to -6F. As of this morning we are currently looking to start moving the houses out this Friday/Saturday and start fishing on Sunday. We plan on moving our houses out on the big lake and plan on catching some nice Walleyes out there. Please keep checking the report daily, because things always change, but as of this morning this is what we are anticipating. We look forward to seeing all of you up here very shortly. 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!

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

Jean-Paul Tessier aka Wigwam Fisherman

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Current report from Walleye Retreat-

December 8, 2009: Very cold last night with a low of minus 18. Pete checked the ice today- we have 6" on the bay all the way to the hump and then 4" of ice on the lake out to about 18-20 feet of water. Amanda and Brent rode their sled onto the lake and then parked and walked the rest of the way setting up in 14' of water. They had a steady bite and said the Vexilar had lots of action the entire time. They came in with their limits of walleyes; all measuring 19 to 19 1/2". They used frozen shiners on jigs. We have a group checking in tonight that are going to fish with portables tomorrow. We anticipate putting a few fish houses on the lake in a few days as the temps will be staying cold.

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do you think there will be driveable ice by the 26th? Want to get the sleeper out that weekend for some good ol fashioned fun.

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By the 26th youll be able to drive a 18 wheeler out n should resemble a version of ice road truckers out there,you'll be fine. Good luck

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