fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[Hoey]

Looks like the lake with receive an inch or two of rain followed by some heavy winds over the next couple of days. Let er rip!!

[vman11]

Still looks pretty icy. Nice week of 60's and low 70's coming, with overnight lows above freezing. No big rain in the forecast.

It will not be ice free but hopefully there will be some more room out past the gaps.

[BringtheDynia]

I was was watching the melt from space, but as of today I had to cancel my reservations to Boarder View so no need to watch anymore. Found out my boat will not be done as promised to make opener. Hope that the river and lake clears out for everyone and you slay them. Good Luck to all.

[vman11]

Any reports guys?

We fished the river and it was poor for us. Witnessed a few caught but it definately wasn't hopping.

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to the next episode of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. Before I start, I must say thank you to all those who make this possible...it truly is because of you that we get this opportunity. The Minnesota Walleye fishing season is back upon us on Lake of the Woods and our fishery is in prime form. With the late ice thaw, the Walleyes are just a few weeks behind schedule, which is to our advantage.

The female Walleyes have been stacking up in Four Mile Bay after the spawn, but we see them moving out to the lake with in the next week. There might be another wave coming out again, but right now that's total speculation. The 12-14 foot range most definitely produced the most fish in the bay, but come next week, we might see the fish in the 18-24' range on the lake in the gaps (Morris and Lighthouse).

The Pink/Gold and Chartreuse/Gold 1/2oz rattle jig by JR's Tackle produced the best in the bay and the river on these days because of the current flow and the water clarity. Earlier in the spring while the flow was down the CoopDuster and River Dancer by Tom's Tackle ruled the roost. The bait of choice should be the frozen shiner, but the live Rainbow and Chubb minnows have also been effective.

Thank you for your continued support of Lake of the Woods and the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman...Happy Fishing and God Bless.

[srj]

Sure is quiet on the board! We were up from Fri night to Mon afternoon with quite a crew---9 big people, 2 very little people, 2 dogs and 3 boats. For a long weekend, it wasn't very busy on the east end. Maybe the reports of dirty water kept people away, or maybe gas prices? The water had some very dirty areas like the river, 4 mile and Bostic, where the cabin is. We drove to Wigwam one day and only saw 2 boats on the bay. As River Bend reported, there was lots of stuff floating. I had to fend logs off a couple times and actually pulled the anchor because a giant floater was taking aim at the Yarcraft.

Most of the group thought the fishing was terrific. We had quite a few fish over 24", with a 29 and 29 1/2 the two biggest. Four of the group caught personal bests, which was really great. A fair number were caught pulling shadraps between 7 and 12', but most fish were caught jigging in less than 14'. We only had 2 spots with lots of fish--most of the "normal" spots had few or no fish. The big pack of boats was in front of Lighthouse from about 14 - 23'. By Sunday the boats were moving around a lot. Kind of breezy but no rain and not to cool. All in all, a great holiday with family.

Anybody else? Curt, Todd, Fisky, anything happening down your way?

p.s. We had Cyrus cook our fish on Sunday. They did a great job.

[TyGuy02]

It has been pretty quiet, especially for the zipple, rocky pt and west end. I don't think I've seen a report other than from baudette. Our group has a launch out of zipple for 2 days this weekend but I will enjoy it for a relaxing trip.

[cbrooks]

Me and another guy drove up there for the day on Sunday, launch out of rocky point. We tried shadrapping(nothing), tried pulling spinners with worms(nothing). Then we anchored in 30 feet of water with frozen shinners and had lots of luck. We caught 22 fish over the slot with 29 being the biggest. We limited out pretty easy. Most of the fish were too big or too small but the action was steady. Good luck to anyone heading up that way

[jerkbait]

The people that are going out are doing good. So I have heard, have not been out myself yet. I think the goofy weather that we have had this year is playing a big part in the motivation of people.

[toddb]

Srj,

Warroad has been so so for me. Not big #'s for me but quality keepers. No problem getting a limit last couple trips and a fair # of 20 to 25" fish. Have been getting quite a few pike pulling #6 hornets and also jigged up 2 mid 30's today. Got a few on Whiskey this am along with a sumo perch. Sounds like south tip was rockin last week, but wasnt today. One here one there, slow...

Another week and deeper water should start pickin up

[curt quesnell]

Fishing out of Long Point kept getting better through the weekend. 14 Charter boats were huddled around one of the small reefs in the area sitting on top of a bunch of fish of all sizes. I think every one was sitting still and jigging.

By Monday fishing was about as good as it gets this time of the year. Here is the video we shot Monday.

http://youtu.be/bJwJ9KM08K4

[Redline]

Anyone been up to the Canada side yet? Cliff Island area.

I'll be up there in a week and a half. Wonder what depths I should look at first.

[Bandit]

We were out in front of twin trees on the 26'th in 16 fow with a pile of other boats, and never saw a fish caught. Moved every 15 min and ended up in 22 fow about a half mile west of the pack and hammered them. Gold jigs, frozen shiners, and move till you find fish. Ended up with 12 eyes between 17 and 19 and six saws between 13 and 15 in 3 hrs. Pretty good fishin if you ask me.

[Redline]

Where is everyone??? This place has never been this dead before.

[cbrooks]

Went out last Sunday again and hammer them. Same spot last weekend with a bunch of other boats. This time caught a nicer size of eaters. Our biggest fish was 3 26 inchers.

What i notice with the bite is the fish are there but biting extremly light. You have to be attentive with the rod. The only thing that worked for us is jigging with frozen shiners with a silver jig. The fishing shut down from about noon to 3....then it was right back to constant action. Caught a few suspended 6 to 10 feet off the bottom. The particular spot seems to have current where i have been anchor that drops into 30 feet of water. Maybe thats the difference. Alot of the fish had milt this time around. I'm guessing its the tail end of the spawn. Water temp was 53 degrees when i got off the water. The fishing is excellent but very light biting. Be sure to have plenty of bait. Lots of pesky little saugers stealing bait. Good luck to anyone fishing in the near future.

[SHANTY]

Thank you for the report! This forum has been dead!!!!

I will be up this friday with my dad! Hopefully we get into them!

What seems to be working the best: jiggin or trollin?

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Just got back from a week of cabin cleaning up on Oak Island ...the Big Thumb Angle Outpost is ready for business.. Okay, there wasn't just cabin cleaning...fishing is insane on the north end. Wiggles says that the Walleyes are snapping on the south end off the Big Pine 12-18' for all who are coming up this weekend. Make sure to have your frozen Shiners and be ready to jig with either a slow drift or anchor method. Happy Fishing and God Bless...

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to the next episode of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. Before I start, I must say thank you to all those who make this possible. In this episode you'll witness Canadian Walleye fishing, and hear the report from the Minnesota (South side) of Lake of the Woods from our great friend and fellow Lake of the Woods Captain, Shane "Wiggles" Burk.

The past few weeks I've had the opportunity to fish the Canadian side of Lake of the Woods from Burton Island to Deep Water Bay, while I was opening up the Big Thumb Angle Outpost on Oak Island in Minnesota's Northwest Angle. We found Walleye, Smallmouth Bass and Perch anywhere from 8 - 27' off the rocks/gravel...It was awesome! Wiggles has been posted up on the other side of Pine Island during that same time period, and the Walleyes are snapping. Anchored and jigging from 8-24' in the Gaps has been the most effective method. Trolling along Pine Island with number 7 plugs, and drifting with spinners have also caught fish...the method is all up to you.

Congratulations to Phil Hathaway from the Twin Cities for correctly answering last weeks Lake of the Woods Trivia question...Lake of the Islands...enjoy the hat Sir. For this weeks Lake of the Woods Trivia question, please send your responses to [email protected], and good luck!

Thank you for watching and visiting our tremendous fishery...Happy Fishing and God Bless!

[srj]

Fished Thursday and today noon. Fishing was very good, not great. It just doesn't seem like the first week of June on LOW. You can't just anchor up and expect to windmill fish like most years. Some, but not lots, it seems. Very few charters hanging around the south shore the last couple days. From the radio chatter, it sounded like most boats were north. A small pack of boats in front of both gaps but not lots of nets out. We caught fish on cranks in 7', in 13' and 18' but not lots. Nice fish, however. Jigging in 13 - 28 produced fish but not lots. Some slots. Bouncing with spinners/crawlers worked on the rocks and gravel but not lots. Nice fish.

On any other lake it would have been a bonanza, so no complaints. Just "different" this year.

Oh yeah...........would somebody send all the floaters and deadheads up north. Lots of ugly stuff from Zipple to the gap.

[Shane683]

Fished 6/4 - 6/6 with Ballard's and fishing was very good. We mainly fished in the Knight/Bridges and Garden areas. Anchoring and drifting jigs with frozen shiners. We C&R'd four over 25" with 30.5" being the biggest. Thanks to Ballard's for the great service!!

[fins_n'_feathers]

Got to the big lake about 3:30 Friday night, threw the anchor out in 18fow off of pine and caught a ton of 8- 10 inch walleyes and saugers. At about 6:00 nice keeper walleyes started to bite and we limited in a short amount of time. Saturday we had to work for them but we worked deep, about 28' and got our sauger and then moved shallow and got our eyes right in front of pine about 18 fow.

[fishgutz]

Awesome report! I'm heading up on this Friday and I'm hoping the stay put at 17-21 foot of water in front of Pine Island!!!

[srj]

Back from 3 days at the cabin.............it's a strange year on the lake! There are still some fish along Pine and a few here and there, but it's starting to look like last winter as far as the fishing. Wednesday there were 3 boats in the Zipple area and 2 of those were on the Big Rock. Not a boat from the breakwater until the Field, where there were 2 more. Weird. No boats from the breakwater to the Morris Gap, where there were 3. A small bunch along Pine and a small bunch in front of the Gap.

No charters in sight. All the charters were north.

It just doesn't seem possible that a large percentage of the fish left the south part of the lake............but they sure were slim last winter and seem pretty slim this early season too. The water is clean, temp in the sixties, should be snappin.

Thoughts?

[maxpower117]

Must be zebra mussels. They usually take the blame.

[2thepointsetters]

Headed north from Pine to check out a few reefs and found very good fishing. We caught about 50 percent walleye sauger mix. Lots of slot walleye with a 26" being the biggest and kept nice 17" to 18 " walleye and the sauger we kept were 14" to 15". Didn't keep track of how many fish we caught but we have gone through 11 dozen shiners in 12 hours fishing. Jigging in 26 to 33 feet of water has been best. All jigs are were working equally. Here are a couple of Tj's fish

[shamrock7]

Nice boat

Glad you guys did well.

[2thepointsetters]

Nice boat

Glad you guys did well.

The boat is great! We broke in your new downriggers for 30 minutes and boated half a dozen fish with them.

(We also tried out your new BBQ with New York strips and had great dinner)

[rcguy]

Hi all –

2 of us are staying at Steve Sweets out of Baudette next week for the first time. We are looking for some ideas on areas to start fishing for walleye. We are experienced boaters that usually fish around the Kenora or Morson areas but decided to try the MN South Shore for the first time.

I’m guessing our best approach is to target humps and reefs out in the big bay dragging leeches and minnows around. We may try bottom bouncing crawlers or trolling either with or without lead line too.

So, do we study the map and pick out a few humps and target those areas or should we stick close to shore and fish the shoreline or head north all the way up to the islands? If you are fishing the humps, how far out are we to go – 5 miles, 10 miles? We would like to stay within MN on this trip.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

[srj]

Rcguy, I'm Steves neighbor. You've got one of the best charter guides on the lake in Steve. He will tell you what is going on.

The south shore bite has not been it's normal self this year. Hardly any boats jigging the deep mud, hardly any charter boats on the south side. "Up north" had been crazy good.......but Monday-Tuesday turned pretty bad. However, the fish are there and it should fire up again. There's been a decent bite real shallow on the south shore pulling cranks and some caught with bait.

Check the map, there are very few humps until you get way north, basically only the Graceton rockpiles.

Maybe by the time you get there, the south side will be full of fish. But again, Steve will know what's happening.

Good luck.

[jarod duane]

Get up north Knights bridges even all the way to Lil' oak psas tgarden. S shoe has been tough. Theres fish but Can seem to find any quality. all dinks.