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2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info


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How is the staked trail running up north?? Only have sleds and hoping there is enough snow on the lake soon to try and make a run up. How far out is the furthest driveable road from the gap go as of now?

Xplorer

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not sure how far adrians road goes out now. we were at 9 miles out on Thursday and Friday. fishing was slow by LOTW standards but we still took home 14. a word of caution if you are coming up. follow the cones on the road and pay attention to where it detours. two vehicles fell in a pressure ridge/crack on Friday and from what i was told it was because they drove where it was marked not to. Cones were knocked down from people probably driving too fast and then people end up where they shouldn't.

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Just got back from LOW. Before yesterday they had a few inches of crusty snow on the lake. Last night is snowed a couple inches, may seem like more but the drifting makes it seem that way. Coxy is right, Adrians road suffered a big crack down the middle of it for about three miles. Pay attention to the mark cones. Fishing was alright. I was about a mile passed the end of the road. The road is about 10.5 mile out passed pine. Good luck to everyone.

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Finally! 4th trip out on LOW and we finally got into them. 2 of us out of Adrians. Plain hooks on the sticks and gold slip jigs 34.5 feet. All 16 fish between 13 and 18''.

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Had moderate expectations for the long weekend with the cold front coming through. Went outta Rocky Point, got half limits both Saturday and Sunday and some really nice jumbo perch. Biggest perch I've seen since Gogebic, Michigan, just under 13 inches. A couple slot walleyes, a pair of pout, and some tullibees. Ate fish for dinner each night. Marked a ton of negative fish that I couldn't coax into biting. Best action was on my smallest buckshot spoons. I'm sure it'll only get better when the weather flips. Had the cleaning shack mostly to myself so I felt pretty good about the weekend. Also glad to have use of a permanent when the wind was ripping Saturday and it was -15 on Sunday. Left Monday morning, truck started (woo hoo!) and read -24, wind chills about twenty degrees colder.

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I own a Salem Ice Cabin,just bought it in May and have only had a chance to take it out once this year. I sure do like it. Wondering about inserts for the ice holes. I ordered 4 inch inserts from Coates RV in Hugo, MN and found when using them the 4 inch were too short. I have a friend who bought some 9 inch inserts for me and cut them to 6 1/4 inch, haven't used them yet but think they will work. I also applied a clear sand sealer to the wood on walls in my Ice Cabin...brings out the wood grain and looks nice, sewed some camouflage curtains for it. I love my Ice Cabin and hope to use it more. I am new to this ice fishing, would appreciate any tips or advice you have also on using your Ice Cabin.

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Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. In this weeks episode the fishing was a bite slower, but were still getting a lot of lookers which leads me to believe, we might have biters pretty soon. Lots of small Sauger, but I personally witnessed the Pink Charmer in prime form tonight just as the snow started to fall. 5 Walleye in 2 hours of fishing this evening, but the guys next door only had 2...lots of lookers though.

We're fishing in 35 feet of water heading to the bowl, but heard through the grapevine that 28' of water has been showing some promise this week. Bring the glow colors for the overcast days, but always have a little gold with you, and when the sun peeks out get that gold on. 1-3" is where you want to be, but reel up to those suspended fish you see...big Walleyes roaming.

Happy Fishing and God Bless!

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Spent the weekend out of Zipple started 27 feet on sat got 16 or so fish all in the cigar size only one nice sized keeper. Sunday went out to 30 ft got 3 more real nice keepers and a couple cigar fish, not much else to say.

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Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. In this episode, the Cropduster and I headed north for a few hours of fishing on Sunday afternoon. Thank you to everyone that has visited us this winter, it's truly because of you that we have this opportunity to try and live a life worth living.

What we found on our journey north was many Saugers and a few large Walleyes hanging out in the deep mud off the rock structures. Many of these active fish were just 1-3 inches off the bottom, and many were regurgitating bugs and had beat up bottom lips. I could only imagine those beat up bottom lips came from digging up the bottom for those bugs. During the evening we move onto the rocks and caught a few smaller Walleyes, but had the best success deep.

I hope everyone enjoys the fishing report and the ministry. We are all servants in one way or another, and I am humble and honored to be yours on Lake of the Woods. Happy Fishing and God Bless.

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We will be coming up next week Thursday and I am curious how much snow do you have on the lake? Will we need a snowmobile or will the Jeep be able to get us far enough away from the pack?

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Just wondering if there are any reports out of Babblers? How is travel off the trail with truck and wheelhouse?

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Fishing on Crow Lake Nestor Falls, Ontario Canada,yesterday. Heading out to Whitefish Bay LOTW this afternoon. Ice conditions are perfect no slush.

Had a great time fishing yesterday. I made Paul take out all the comforts of home, packed a lunch and coffee. He drilled me a few holes and off he went to find fish on his own. I relaxed in all my comforts and when he finally came to join me for coffee I was distracted and lost a fish. He did catch a fish, but it was all about me yesterday. He will tell the story that by the time he pulled everything out and set me up to fish, the day was over. And that is why he could only catch one fish. Well we are going to give it another chance today. — at Nestor Falls, Ontario Canada. Heading out to Whitefish LOTW.

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Heading out to Whitefish Bay LOTW today. No slush, perfect ice fishing conditions. Fished out on Crow Lake yesterday. It is going to a high of 8 today and 28 above F by Saturday.

Had a great time fishing yesterday, for Lake Trout on Crow Lake. I made Paul take out all the comforts of home, packed a lunch and coffee. He drilled me a few holes and off he went to find fish on his own. I relaxed in all my comforts and when he finally came to join me for coffee I was distracted and lost a fish. He did catch a fish, but it was all about me yesterday. He will tell the story that by the time he pulled everything out and set me up to fish the day was over. And that is why he could only catch one fish. Well we are going to give it another chance today. — at Nestor Falls, Ontario Canada. full-1729-29827-getattachment.aspx.jpg

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was up 2 weekends in a row first trip stayed at zipple and second at bayview needless to say I will never drive 6.5 hours to fish the dead sea again!

I would cancel your trips if you have them planed and get a rental someplace closer to home the fish are not biting up here.

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Sorry your trips were so bad Acemac. Fishing has been slower on LOW this year. Does anyone have any better reports, specifically off Adrians road? I'm bring my brother-in-law up on Thursday. He's never been to LOW and I talked up the lake for years, hope the fishing is at least fair.

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was up 2 weekends in a row first trip stayed at zipple and second at bayview needless to say I will never drive 6.5 hours to fish the dead sea again!

I would cancel your trips if you have them planed and get a rental someplace closer to home the fish are not biting up here.

WOW! Pretty arrogant to tell people not to come up. Just because you don't know how to catch fish up there doesn't mean people shouldn't come up and catch fish. I'm sure the resorts love it when people say junk like that.

Grow up Acemac!

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Acemac,

Why would you run 6.5 hours two weeks in a row? Granted fishing is a little off this year compared to prior years, but for most people it is better that most other lakes in the state. I am taking another trip yet this year to LOW. If we catch fish great. If not, the kids still will have a great time spending time with each other as well as us adults. I sure wouldn't cancel based on the chance (likelyhood) that we don't hammer them!

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Well said maxpower117. While I agree that fishing as been off this year LOW is still the best hard water in the state. If Acemac is only concerned about bringing home fish, go to the fish market and buy some. As for myself I'm headed up this weekend for 3 days of fishing. Plan on fishing Stoney pt, 16 mile reef, elm pt. on Friday. Gull rock area on Saturday. Don't have a plan for Sunday yet. It's gonna be a blast! I'll catch some fish too!

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Went over to LOTW caught quite a few crappies, not any size. Caught a few pike, not bad for 3 hours this afternoon. No slush, lots of ice. It was great to be out fishing, the weather finally warmed up a bit. Going to try Whitefish Bay LOTW tomorrow.

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, we should'nt be harassing a guy because of what he feels. I like LOTW too but something is amiss. Shiner run has been dwindling the past few seasons, and you are only fooling yourself if you think fishing has been good this year. Saying LOTW is the best lake in the state is also an opinion. I would say "the best hard water lake in the state" varies with given time frames... I hate to say it but Red lake has been the top lake this year from all the reports of my friends who fish that lake extensively.....and the nice pics they send me!

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I totally agree with you. The fishing for a majority of the people this year has been way below par, for LOTW. We have a group with 6 house in all and in different locations on the lake. I would say that one of the houses have someone in it 6 days a week. I also believe the very poor emerald shiner run has something to do with it. Fish usually follow their pray. Also now that the mayfly larva have hatched. I think that has given the fish an alternative food source at this time as well.. I also agree telling people to cancel their trip is a little harsh and a matter of opinion. IMO go have fun spend time with family and friends enjoy your time on the hard water. If you catch fish that's a bonus and will just add to an already fun experience. That's why they call it fishing and not catching..

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IMO go have fun spend time with family and friends enjoy your time on the hard water. If you catch fish that's a bonus and will just add to an already fun experience. That's why they call it fishing and not catching..

Nuff said, I totally agree.

The weather is in a warmup pattern, chin up bobber gazers.

It is a HUGE lake and it holds HUGE fish....

You can't catch em if you aren't there.

smile

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6 of us were up this past weekend fishing in portables. Yes it was very cold but we were just fine once the heaters got going. we fished Thursday out of Adrians, 34'. caught about 20, kept 7. Went over to the Babblers Friday, fished in 31-34' moved 3 times. really slow. caught about 15 kept 5. Went out on Cyrus Road saturday. 33' caught about 90. Kept 36 to fill out on a take home limit. Tons of little walleyes/saugers. Normal LOW tackle used. Gold/pinks/shiny jigs, bobbers and jigging worked about 50/50. Had a great trip with the gang! Can't wait to get back up there.

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