fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[rcguy]

Thanks for the information.

We will certainly talk to Steve Sweet and ask about where he is taking his clients. Sounds like we may be burning a bit of fuel to get where the fish are. I’ll be sure to give a quick report on if/where we find them on our return. Hopefully we won’t have to fight a big north wind…

Good fishing.

[Barry45]

We were up from the 23rd - 27th of June and we were catching mostly slot fish. We did manage to get some nice eaters like this one though. The hottest area seemed to be from Knight and Bridges islands to Oak. If you want the good action you are going to have to go the long ride--but it is fun.

Enjoy and good luck,

Barry45

[vman11]

Fished yesterday from mid morning to mid afternoon out of the Rocky Point area. I am new to lead core this year so we decided to target fish with this tactic.

Before we went deep, we long lined in 10-20' of water with only a few pike to show. From there, we aimed towards deep reefs in 28-35 feet of water.

Instantly we started catching fish, both on top and on the edge of the rocks. Used Shad Rap 5s and 7s, but the Flicker Shad seemed to be the most consistent. Kept 10 nice eaters and released 3 in the slot in relatively short order.

The mayflies were out in full force, and the fish were gorging on them. The gob on the cleaning table is from one fish. Overall the radio reports were pretty slow. However, we heard of a good bite out at 16 mile while in the fish cleaning shack.

[rcguy]

We stayed at Steve Sweet’s rental cabin just outside of Baudette – it was an excellent place to stay. The 3 bedroom cabin was very clean and modern. It has a nice dock and fish cleaning house on site. The cabin is sheltered just off the main lake up a creek with access to the lake through Morris Gap.

Fishing was good over the 5th – 7th of July. We fished the 9 footer and 29 footer reefs and caught fish both on top and off the sides of these humps. We fished the mud out a few miles from Morris Gap using jigs with leaches catching fish. We fished along the south shoreline to the west of Morris Gap dragging crawlers on spinner rigs or jigs with either a frozen shiner or leech. We caught walleyes here too.

We caught a bunch of bigger walleyes up to about 25 inches and some smaller fish less than 14 inches that were released back into the lake too. On one of the bigger walleye’s there was an 8 to 10 inch Lamprey attached to its side. Never have I seen that before.

We went home with our walleye limit and a couple of bonus sauger.

All in all another great trip to LOTW!

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. Before I go any further, Jody and I wanted to thank each person and business that has given us so much...it truly is because of you that we have this opportunity. In this episode, Wiggles delivers another stunning South end Fishing Report and Jody delivers the trivia all so eloquently.

The Walleye, Smally and Muskies are hungry and feeding relentlessly on those fish flies and crawfish right now, but the crawlers are tasting mighty good to the Walleye especially. The jig bite is back out front in 32.5'...the rattle jigs are producing more in my boat...frozen shiner scales are thick in my boat...

Thank you for all your continued support and as always, Happy Fishing and God Bless.

[Kaz]

We fished Friday and Saturday, both out of the Gap on the line out to 30+ ft. and out to Garden north of Little Oak with the fleet, but not much was biting. It was like "Bumper Boat" as probably 15 charters and another dozen smaller boat jockeyed around within a 1/4 mile of each other.. Marked lots of fish but they must of been to full and had Lock Jaw.. It was the same with everyone. The surface was covered with May Flies and some other small bug that must of been what they were feeding on. We did manage a single limit with Crawlers on a harness and spinner and two on frozen shinners and a gold jig. The one good thing was there was no wind and the trip was smooth both ways at 27/30 mph. It was still a good time at the "Woods". The "Sporty" ran well too...

[srj]

Hey Dick,

Not the L-O-W bite you are used to in mid-July for sure. It surprises me a bit how little has been said on this forum about the "missing" south side bite. It sure looks odd seeing so few boats from Zipple to the Lighthouse gap. And some days NO charter boats are south. The crazy good bite that had been going on up north has only has only slacked off a couple of times in the last 6 weeks or so. Sure miss the jig bite off the south side.

Last week I spoke with a fisheries tech doing creel checks at Arnesens....he didn't think the bite was off at all on the south side. Oh well. I'm just glad the wind has been down this year, making for runs up north for us little boat guys ok.

When are you heading up again?

[curt quesnell]

Sorry I missed you Kaz. I was up at Starren Shoals for a bit on Saturday, maybe I saw you?

Steve, My HotSpot on the south end is NOT hot, just terrible. The reefs are almost making up for it. The rocks out of Arnesons and Long Point are really good now, seriously good, and they are taking a beating with fisherman. Lots of fish and lots of big fish.

Hopefully the minnows come back to the south end of the lake this fall.

[bopper4]

I hit knight and bridges on Sunday and if was slow compared to what it had been. Headed west, could not believe the circus on 16 miles and didnt see many fish caught there. Ended up getting all of our fish pulling cranks off the edge of the rocks

[slammer]

Wind was nasty today. Can't remember it being this cold in July. Fished the river between baudette and the lake and managed a few eaters. A couple nice slot fish also. A couple dozen boats scattered along the way. Felt like fall weather. All fish (5) were caught in 18~20 ft with spinner/crawlers.

[Double A]

Wow. Fished out of Arneson's. Got blown off the lake by rain, wind and lightning 3 times on Thursday. 5 foot swells so only able to be on the lake a couple hours on Friday. Not really dangerous, just very hard to fish. Landed a few eaters. 2 slot fish. 22 and 23".

Worse Saturday so we went south near Bemidji. Cold front was brutal on the fish bite.

Caught fish on chartreuse jigs with frozen shiners, crawlers and leaches.

[slammer]

How far out are the fish? Sounds like wind again for this weekend. Don't care to venture out too far if its blowin.

[srj]

What a couple of perfect days on the big lake...Wednesday and Thursday...little or no wind and temp in the 70's. Doesn't happen too often. And then the great bite to boot! As Curt and others have mentioned, large groups of fish way out in the mud being caught with varying methods. Lots of slots and good numbers of keepers too. But there are still fair numbers of BIG fish on the rocks here and there. Not many boats on the rocks the last few days. Friday with the wind blowing I downrigged fairly close in north of Morris Pt with a decent bite. Hope those fish keep moving to the south. Sounds like the start of next week will be real nice again with a little more heat. Sure been strange with the water temp now in the 60's.

[crittermo]

hi, i'm up for the week and staying on sabaskong bay for the first time. i came up to fish mainly for northern but i'm having a really tough time finding any. i'm sure the 95 degree days aren't helping. can anyone point me in the right direction for this area please, and maybe a hint of what they are biting on. i've been trying spoons, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits with no luck. i'm finding weedbeds, water up to 8-9 feet close to the weedbeds but only small fish and not many. i've tried islands, points, cuts, rocks, etc. and still not finding much. any help would be great. i only have a few days left. thank you

[CANOPY SAM]

crittermo. The big pike are likely out deep right now, hanging off deep sunken rock piles, other deep (20-30 ft) structure, and are likely even cruising the deep basin in the cooler water.

If you have the equipment, and the electronics to help you find the right stuff, you should try casting big lake trout jigs, or big plastics to weed clumps, deep weed lines, and rock piles in 20+ feet of water.

Work the deep pieces of structure, run and gun from one to another, and keep going till you connect. You may not catch numbers of fish doing this, but the ones you do catch will be pigs!

Catching trophy pike at this time of year can be tough. Focusing your efforts on deep, cold water structure will at least put you on the playing field with the bigger pike.

When you're finding nothing but smaller fish in shallower water, go deeper!

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

[slammer]

Fishing was slow last weekend. We were rigging and covered a lot of depths and areas. A few slot fish but mostly smaller eyes and saugers.

[curt quesnell]

It gets that way in August somedays. It is a big lake and sometimes you just dont have enough time and you have to pick your spots and that doesnt always work out

[walleye 4 me]

anybody been out around rocky point the last few days? how's fishing been???

[curt quesnell]

Troll the deep water in between the reefs. Very good results with that tactic lately..

Good Luck

[bak2MN]

Fished out of Arnesons Resort for our family annual trip minus my oldest son due to Soccer. fished part of Friday an all day Saturday and caught 26 between the three of us. With y Personal best A BIG FAT 28.5 incher!! Ate a pile of fish. Did not fish on Sunday due to wind . But made it out this morning till noon to finish off our 6 limits(mom,dad,and nephew also were with) to take home. All with live bait around one of my new favorite reefs!!!!

[Scott M]

Fished around Zippel Saturday before the big storm came through. Took a while to dial them in but found enough fish for us to take a few home. Mostly eater saugers and walleyes but a couple slot fish mixed in. Lil Ripper in Blue and Chrome was the hot lure; 5 colors out and about 2.5 mph. over 25-28 feet. Might have been deeper too but we kept it in that range.

[Barry45]

I am happy that the majority of us fishermen and boaters on LOW are responsible enough to respect and have some understanding of "the big pond". I read a story in the Minneapolis Tribune today about some gentlemen that were out this week that had a fatal trip. I do not profess to be an expert on boat safety, but I would like to think that I am very careful, and I strive to be very safe particularly when I am out on LOW. I think and I have witnessed some folks out on the big pond that do not take the possible dangers of being on a Lake that size very seriously, but I definitely do. I think that everyone needs to have a very strong fear of just how bad it can get on LOW when the weather changes, and if you do not take precautions for disasters. Also, it is very important to make sure that your vessel is in good running order.

I am sorry if I went on here, but I cannot strive enough just how important it is to be safe and plan for what can be a disaster on a Lake the size of LOW.

[srj]

Wow. Sure is quiet here. Wed/Thurs report.....Wed, light N winds, boats scattered all over and the fish seemed to be too. Couldn't find any of the huge concentrations of a week ago, just a few fish here and there. That was downrigging. Most of that out in the middle. Found a surprising number of fish on the rocks agreeable to spinner/crawlers. Gotta love it this late. Thurs pulled plugs out of Long Pt. Nice fish and lots of them, mostly in 35 - 36'. Also caught some on rocks but not as good as rocks farther north. Best plug pulling for us was in the mud but in the vicinity of rocks. Still hoping lots of fish make it to the south shore before too long.

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. In this episode we head north to the Islands for some extraordinary days of fishing for Walleye, Perch and Crappie. This September the Walleyes, Black Bear and Geese have been on my radar and the guns are back in action.

Wiggles delivers another fantastic fishing report for the south end of Lake of the Woods and Jody teases you brain with another Lake of the Woods Trivia question. The Walleyes have been hanging out on the lake side of Pine island in 22-28' of water...Fall fishing is expected to be fabulous on the Rainy River this season.

Thank you all for watching and we hope you enjoy the journey...Happy Fishing and God Bless.

[vman11]

Fished today out from lighthouse ago and it was good. 3 person limit with slots sprinkled in, 26" being the biggest. An orange jig and frozen shiner worked the best.

Quite a few little sauger to keep you busy and steal your bait. However, there is a nice bunch of 16-19" walleye to fill the box.

Limited success in the river and bay so far, your safe bet is to anchor around 25' out from the gap. Report today was there was less quality fish in the 27' range. Bait shop said the shiner run has been "usuall" and they're expecting to continue to see more as the fall progresses. 54 degree water temp.

[kfk]

A friend and I fished in about 30 ft. yesterday near the border and the fishing was fantastic with very large numbers of saugers and walleyes. We caught alot of small fish but also some very nice fish with a number of slots and a limit of nice keepers. We fished from about 9:30 am to 2:30 pm and the action was so fast all day that it was almost hard to believe. Pink jigs and spoons tipped with either live or frozen shiners both worked well for us.

[CANOPY SAM]

Took my eldest son and a good friend up to the lake yesterday afternoon, after church, for just a quick late evening trip.

Started in 21 ft straight out of Warroad with little or no activity. Gave that depth a little look-see for about 20 minutes then moved into 19 ft.

We fished from 4 to 6:30 and ended with 3 limits of walleyes and sauger, and released numerous smaller fish, but overall the quality of fish was very good. Caught a few slot fish. One 27", one 26", a couple 25"s, and a couple 22"s. Caught two 19-inch walleyes that had to be pushing 3 1/2 - 4 lbs. each. Absolutely gorgeous fat healthy footballs! Also caught a few very impressive 17-18 inch saugers.

Pretty stiff cold wind out of the west, despite the weather man saying it would be relatively calm. We used nothing but fresh live shiner minnows, and had more bites on two minnows vs. one.

Also, had one very strange and extremely rare thing happen. While we were fishing, probably 1 1/2 miles off-shore, a young Speckle-belly goose slowly made it's way, swimming, right up to the side of our boat! We actually picked it up out of the water! The goose had evidently been shot over by the Springsteel cattail sloughs, and had been blown by a stiff west wind out into the lake. The bird was near dead, so it was a little sad to see his fate drowning slowly in the lake. I suggested we dispatch the bird and take it home for supper alongside some fresh walleyes, but my boat partners were concerned about what the DNR might say if we came in with a dead goose in the boat, so we just let it go and watched it drift away to the east.

I've heard a few reports now of Speckle-bellys in northern MN. Must have had a few blow over here from the west with the last powerful wind storm?

Anyway, the reports you're reading here are truthful and accurate. The fish have definitely got the feedbag on big time, and by all accounts it looks like we're going to have a great fall, and early winter bite!

I'll try post a couple pics in a little bit.

[oboyoboyoboy]

3 of us went out yesterday afternoon out of Rocky. Breezy west wind. We tried the riggers for a bit from twin islands and east with not much luck. Then we ancored in front of long point in about 28ft. It wasn't too long and we had a nice mix of 15 walleye/sauger in the cooler and released some little ones and a few slots. Ran out of frozen shiners so we tried mister twisters. Didn't take long and we had the last 3 fish for our limit. White twister with a double tail worked best. Best jig seemed to be bright green/yellow/orange. Gold didn't do quite as good as usual. Pulled the boat out for the season but if I were to go again I would start with the plastic and not hassle with the minnows. Well I'd bring some minnows just in case but it sure is nice to not have fish steal your bait or not to have to re-bait after catching one.

[vman11]

3 of us also headed out yesterday, but landed out of Wheeler's Point. Fished from 9 until noon and filled the box with our limit. It was cold, and it was windy. Fished out from Lighthouse Gap in 25' with frozen shiners and orange, pink, and gold/pink rattle jigs. Only one slot fish. Water temp was 54 degrees.

Heard that the bite in the river picks up right before dark. Otherwise a majority of the fish are still biting on the lake.