fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[jerkbait]

Jerkbait, I am at home....on Lake of the Woods, My post in no way was negative of anysort to us locals. I enjoy the lake too even when not catching fish. The way people defend the lake like its a living person I tease that they must be getting kickbacks from the chamber of commerce!! I only stated facts that the lake has not been on par with previous years. I am fishing the lake 3 days a week (in different locations as well) and unless you have some magic mystery solution, you are cataching less fish like me this year.....

My response was not directed towards you, it was directed towards the one that was saying he would not come back again because of poor fishing.

[WhiskeyWoods]

Oh sorry then Jerkbait..Ya its slow but I do really enjoy this lake!! You just gotta be adaptable..I am going to be getting really mobile soon to hopefully hit the fish....I think I am going to more pikin' this year too because that is always a blast. Maybe that gentleman was outta line but I do see some side of it. I know what people spend coming from the cities as I have a lot of freinds and family always coming up....if I could catch no fish so that could catch a few more and have a great time I would gladly do so for them....Happy hunting! Twisted- Ya I'm thinking I'm going to have to pull the house to a new locale entirely to change it up....I have heard of decent reports coming from Babblers in portables in deep....

[Twisted]

And some not so deep. It's more of finding the exact location vs. depth right now from what I can see but deeper has beed better I think.

I had a year like this a while back. Muddy water year if I remember. It was dead for me until I hit the exact spot then my pail filled quickly every trip while those around me were still slow.

Lots more competition out there now days with the wheel houses moving around & leaving garbage bags all over. Makes a reef look pretty poor in a hurry.

If this winter fishing doesn't pick up I might have to get a boat!

[maxpower117]

No one told people to stay home,but on to my TRUTHFUL report, maybe I'm not as good as some fisherman, but this was my experience......fished west side of lake on reef all last weekend in 22 FOW, ended up with 2 keepers for 3 of us. Many dinks....My buddies house also did poor, one pike and maybe 2 or 3 keepers Mostly used plain red hooks and threw everything at them jigging...hopefully lake will pick up here if the weather will stabilize...

[Twisted]

Fishing reports please.

[jerkbait]

No problem W-W. I think Twisted is right about finding the right location. I had my step-son try some scattered rubble in 24 fow on Sunday. The afternoon bight was good for him, he had his limit in 2 gours and we had 1 out in 34 fow. Needless to say if he does good again on Saturday I will move my house there. Nobody within 3/4's of a mile too. Good luck all!

[CANOPY SAM]

Has anyone noticed if the light conditions..sunny vs. cloudy...has made any difference in the overall bite for the day?

[ylekiot]

how are off road conditions off long point

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. In this episode the Theis boys from Log Cabin Bait and Tackle let me hangout for the afternoon in their fish house in 17' of water just off of Pine Island, and Walleye's back on the menu!

The pink and gold Macho Minnow and the clear fish scale glowing glitter summer jig from JR's Tackle were the hot lures this evening. The fish were not active at all, tons of lookers until about 5 PM...then the light turned on and it was game on. It's fun to be out there when it happens and this year has been tough, but that's why I live here in God's Country! If you're fishing off Adrian's Road, checkout the 26-28' foot range...I've heard of more Walleyes being caught in those depths than the deeper 34-36 foot range.

Have a wonderful day and thank you all for the opportunity that you've given me...Happy Fishing and God Bless.

[Boar]

That was awsome JP, great job, so the snow depth in that area is tough huh? truck travle a no no? or could he pick himself around?

[wahoo]

Fished Monday, Tuesday, Wed. out of Zippel. 29 ft. East of the Igloo on Zippel's 4th Avenue--altho they were moving their houses. Caught many, many fish Monday and Tuesday but most were small. Wednesday we caught 50-60 (slow for LOW, but some action). ( 2people fishing.) Caught more on fatheads and bobbers than jigs. One slot fish. But we had a meal there and brought back some filets. Using small hooks and 4 lb fluoro.

Some nice 15/16 inch saugers.

BTW--had a Grand slam of sorts, a eye, sauger, tulibee, and northern (actually 2 NP). So, fun was had.

Up next Monday for the week to see how it is.

Boar, didn't fish the gators they just arrived in deeper water on their own nd ate the fatheads. But, a party fishing them in 12 ft caught a 43 and 45 back to back. Another group had 5 slot gators in an afternoon. Gators may start early.

My report for what it is worth.

[Boar]

Hmm dose seem early but cool beans, tha 45 must have been a sow, thats a bigggie. i guesse thats where id bee then cool beans

[marine_man]

Fished Monday, Tuesday, Wed. out of Zippel. 29 ft. East of the Igloo on Zippel's 4th Avenue

The change in depth must have made the biggest difference.. we were in house 124, north of 4th avenue towards the end of the road in 27' and had a very slow day on Monday.. only stayed until 11:00 or so... we weren't marking much of anything.

marine_man

[maanjus11]

Does anyone know if you can drive with a pickup out to the reefs(Garden, Bridges)?

[jerkbait]

Does anyone know if you can drive with a pickup out to the reefs(Garden, Bridges)?

No roads to those places. Need snowmobile or bomber.

[WhiskeyWoods]

Fished yesterday in the Rocky Pt Babblers area and out deep as we could get in mud. Caught lots of saugs and few small walleye. Couldn't be too picky on this trip so we managed to keep 13 over the bucket saugs. My buddy also got a 15 inch perch!! Boy she was fat too, almost thought I was grabbing a smallmouh outta the hole...lol....Everything semed to be steady with no real evening rush but we only stayed till 5:30. Good luck all...

[Twisted]

Fishing was slightly better on Sat but still slow. 30' out of Bablers.

Bring the extention. Lots of trucks spinning their tires in the snow drifts.

[wetaline1]

My buddy also got a 15 inch perch!! Boy she was fat too, almost thought I was grabbing a smallmouh outta the hole...lol....

Is she wall bound?

[Weimi]

Any reports off Adrians road lately? Coming up on Wednesday with the wife and would like her to catch a few nice fish. Last time I was up a couple of weeks ago I was at the end of the road in 34-35 feet and fishing was very slow. Wondering if 28-30 would be better?

[mamohr686]

No resorts are allowing lake access today in baudette. I would guess about 10 inches of snow fell last night, and it's still comming down. On sunday the zones that did ok were way out 18 miles and right at dark in about 17ft of water near pine island. The guys I talked to cleaning fish averaged about 6 fish a day, so its been very tough. With high winds for the next 2 days, it will be a total white-out on the lake. Moving around and trying to find a spot to set-up with a portable or wheeled house is amost impossible unless you have a plow.

[basssmasher*]

don't like to hear that!!

[Capt. H (Ret.)]

Our group of ten went out of Adrian's On Feb. 15th, 16th, and 17th. Fishing was better than I thought it would be. We had our slow times but that was OK. On Sunday it started to snow mid-morning and the wind was out of the south at about 15 mph and we decided to pack up and head in at noon. It was a 55 minute drive in but the ice roads were still good. Once at the resort we decided to head for home as we were to leave on Monday morning.

The roads were snow covered but didn't seem slick if you were reasonable with your speed. We ran out of the snow at Shook's and the drive home was good. I am glad we decided to come home when we did!!!

Mike

[jiggin9]

Fished yesterday out of springsteel on dnr reef. Fishing was slow most of the day with a few here and there to keep a guy interested. It picked up the last hour of daylight. We drove out and took sleds off road since truck travel seemed sketchy at best even before the storm. Wanted to get out to whiskey but decided against it with the forecast. All I can say is hang tight til dark because the fishing got pretty fun there for awhile. Late ice is my favorite time of the season. Makes for a late arrival home but the great fishing makes it worth it.

[northerndave]

Did your group have 2 trucks with trailers, sleds and blue portables?

[jiggin9]

Yeah that was us. We took off closer to the reef and the others setup closer to the road in case fishing was real slow. The weather kept us from moving to whiskey but we ended up with a good pail. I thought it was going to get real bad there for awhile when the snow picked up. How much snow did you end of getting up on the lake? The roads were terrible to thief river. Nice day on the lake though.

[Ballyhoo]

it is between 6-8" of snow in Roseau, with maybe a little more in Baudette.

[northerndave]

We were in that cluster of wheel houses to the south east of your trucks. We pulled out of there around noon with the yellow snow hammer plow truck and a late model crew cab ford. The ancient plow truck had a bright red 4x8 spear house in the back, hard to miss us lol!

We had moved there from south tip Sat morning. It was slow for us and the houses around us but we did manage a slot walleye and a slot pike on sunday before we left.

That mid day weather let off and then it started again during the night. Snowing and blowing like crazy last night and this morning. Most schools up this way are closed today.

I'm guessing springsteel (and everybody else) will be working hard re opening roads tomorrow.

I know I'll have my work cut out for me getting to our houses.

[JakeJ_Mn]

Well, finally home back on the Range. Fished along Wheelers road Friday until this morning in 28'. Managed 12 nice keeps and released several slot fish and about 24 little ones. Conditions weren't great Sunday with the snow and wind. Woke up this morning to a blizzard and about 5 to 6 inches of new snow blowing hard. I plowed the 50 yards back to the main Wheelers Road about 6:30am. We started to pack and get the wheelhouse ready which took about an hour. Visability was about 20 to 50 feet at best. We walked a fair portion of the road back to the main Adrians road in front of the truck to make sure we stayed on the road. Road conditions to the Falls and Orr weren't the best. Started off the lake at 8 am and arrived SAFE at home by 3:30 pm roughly 200 miles total.

[Weimi]

Thanks for the report Jake. Sounds like a rough drive home. Glad you made it safely.

[Twisted]

I'm guessing that it's gonna be a little tough getting around the lake after this last storm. Lots of spinning trucks even before the storm.

Good luck & get ahold of me if you need a hand. I know some resources.....