fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[Walleyehooker]

Fished LOW on Thursday and had limits for the 2 of us in about 90 minutes. Jig and frozen shiner in 23 FOW out from the gap. Friday fish were still going pretty good but had to sort threw a lot of small fish to find some decent walleyes. Moved around a lot more from 27-17 FOW. Never did fish the river but a lot of boats were. Public landing at wheelers point was overflowing both days. Last boat trip of the year at least in my boat.

[CRITTER]

Heading up Wednesday. We have a three boat crew and will be out on the lake from the gap if the weather holds. If you need an update just give a YELL. Good fishing.

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Welcome back to another edition of the Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman. Thank you to all that make this life possible. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, we have much to give thanks about in our humble lives. We give thanks and praise for all we have and all we're allowed to do on a daily basis...we are so blessed.

Before we go any further, we need to remind you all that ice fishing is only a few days/weeks away (depending on what you plan on fishing in) on the worlds best hard water fishery, Lake of the Woods. If you'd like to make a reservation in one of the 4 Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman's Sleeper Ice Houses, please call Janelle Fish at 218-280-1674.

This Fall edition was a tremendous opportunity to live out...Fishing, Duck Hunting and Deer Hunting. Throughout this journey it has presented new challenges and obstacles, which gave me an opportunity to be taken to school and learn every single day.

In this edition we fish and hunt with great friends and take full advantage of all Lake of the Woods has to offer. Jody delivers another amazing brain teaser with Lake of the Woods Trivia, all so eloquently...I love my wife. Reed Realty allows us access to view one of the most desirable properties in Lake of the Woods County. It might be dreaming for us, but it might be reality for you.

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless...

[vman11]

I was able to spend the day on the ice today - Saturday, 11/30.

Ice/Snow Conditions: The ice is relatively smooth. There are the usual broken ice fields and cracks to be aware of, but nothing out of the ordinary. I checked ice thickness in 4 areas and all of my readings were between 7-7.5 inches. I would estimate the ice is 80% snow covered with an inch of snow or less. There are a few clear ice areas. Just enough snow to keep the snowmobiles cool and hyfax lubed.

Travel/Activity: I used my snowmobile and Clam X2 today, but saw many ATV's and a few SXS Rangers out and about as well.

Fishing: I would rate fishing as good. Started in 18' of water and caught strictly walleye. However, the biggest one was 15". A plethora of 8-13" walleye in the system right now. The fish were active and aggressive. Moved to 26' from mid morning through mid afternoon and found again many fish, all being aggressive. A lot of sorting, but here there was a mixture of walleye and sauger. Found a few for the bucket and let go a 22" slot. Moved back shallow from 3-5 and found a hot bite, from 4:15 - 5 PM. All walleye, caught many 15-19" fish. There were points where you couldn't get the jig down fast enough. Again released a 22" fish, and multiple nice eaters after our limit was full.

Lures: Buckshot on my jigging rod and a 1/8 oz. gold open water jig with whole frozen shiner on the dead stick worked well. Since the fish were super aggressive I switched to a Chubby Darter mid morning and that stayed on the rest of the day.

The fish are biting and the ice is in good shape. I have some video and pictures I'll look to share soon. Good luck!

[LOTW_Outdoorsman]

Hope this November 30th, 2 hour ice fishing adventure gets your motor racing for this coming ice fishing season on the Walleye Capital of the World, and right now, the World's Best Hard Water Fishery, Lake of the Woods.

As always, Happy Fishing and God Bless...

Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman

[walleyemaster08]

Well heading out to lotw tommarow. Just wondering how the fishing is? Heading out of Adrain's. Also I was wonder how far you would recommend to go across pine island and how deep.? Thank you!!

[NAMASafetyDirector]

Fishing is good. I would stop in somewhere either at one of the resorts or one of the bait shops and just double check on the conditions. There are staked trails out there right now. Stay on them. Dont venture off on your own. I wouldn't take off any further north than the main group of houses. There's always a few that venture further north but the resorts havent been out that far yet and there are no way to know for certain the conditions out there. Would start out in the 18-24 (if possible)and try it. Evening bite is always good in shallower (12-16). If you stop at Adrians they will provide you with the basic info you need to know to be as safe as possible. Brian is the best source of information on south shore there is so if you talk to him, listen to him and you will be fine! Good luck.

[vman11]

We fished yesterday (Sunday) all day with nice results. Fishing was never "epic" or "on fire" but it was pretty steady all day. Being choosy, we kept 8 nice walleye and 8 nice sauger and released a handful of slots. 21' of water.

We measured 9" of ice at our spot. Snow is manageable but not optimal. We traveled with a tire chained Ranger and we didn't have a problem but it wasn't easy either. Somewhere around 8" of snow. When the holes were drilled the spot flooded.

Chubs and frozen shiners seemed to work about the same.

Flurries of fish would come and go. Midday seemed about the best.

[dust_stl]

Fished sat,sun action was almost nonstop hard to keep 2 lines down. In the 2 days we caught 9 slot fish and lost 3 more slots at the top of the hole! all slot between 20-25! caught 4 bonus fish 2 perch 9 & 13.5" 1 pike 32" and a pout. Didnt catch 1 fish on hook & bob used 2 jig/spoon combos all caught on shiners. And for the tip of the day we where fishing in 24'off adrians trail we had one of the deeper houses in the area and boy it paid off never caught that many slot in 2 days. Good luck all be back in about 1 month!

[GSP4ME]

may sound like a dumb question but ive not fished walleyes much. when you say the jigging spoon and shiner, are you using a whole shiner or just the head? Hooking them through the head or what?

[vman11]

may sound like a dumb question but ive not fished walleyes much. when you say the jigging spoon and shiner, are you using a whole shiner or just the head? Hooking them through the head or what?

Either way will catch fish. I sometimes hook the entire shiner through the middle of the body, sometimes just a half shiner through the gill plate, sometime a full live chub through the tail or just the head of the chub. Experiment and see what works best. All combos will catch fish - it's all about using the tactic that catches fish, not feeds them.

[Rodric Christensen]

2 of us fished from 1:30 - 4:30 12/9 and caught 45. 6 between 21-24. Fished 8:30 - 4:30 12/10 and caught 146. 4 between 20-24. Lots of nice keepers both days, with many smaller ones making up the bulk of the big numbers. Bobber lines accounted for approximately 25%, while shiner heads on jigging spoons 75%. It was a very fun bite for those who like to use electronics to chase those lines coming in and out all day.

[GSP4ME]

wow cant imagine that sort of numbers of fish. Nice Job and thank you both for the help and advise

[Fred3]

Does anyone know what ice thickness we have out of Rocky point currently?

[CANOPY SAM]

Been pretty quiet out of Rocky. I would give Arneson's a call. I'm sure they have current ice reports.

[JakeJ_Mn]

Fought the cold yesterday - took the snowmobile out of Adrians fishing in 23 fow. My new Otter Pro 1200 insulated cabin was worth every penny. Fishing was best between 9am and noon for me. Caught 17 fish - biggest 23 inch walleye - came home with my limit. Jigged gold and pink with shiner heads. It was cold :)just shy of 9 inches of ice.

[GSP4ME]

Thanks Jake. Sounds like a good time even with the cold. Its nice to have someone give real current report

[live4chrome]

What's the ice like?snow depth? We are hoping to take the wheelhouse out weekend after xmas

[Hoey]

We fished Fri and Sat out of Rocky Point. Ice was 12 inches thick with 4 to 6 inches of snow/crushed snow on top. No slush to speak of. The snow would soak up 2 to 3 inches of water around our houses. The snow on the ice sure seemed to slow ice formation. It was -26F on shore and reportedly -35F on the lake Sunday morning. Friday's bite was slow. We did real well on Sat. Many slot fist, biggest was 27".

[Ice-shack]

Fished all day Saturday of of Morris Point with two buddies, sun-rise to sun-set. Best bite was sun up til about 10AM. left the lake with some nice slot fish and a couple good pictures of a 26" and 28 1/2" walleye. Both portables were sitting on a solid 12-13" of decent ice. Cant wait to be up there again in 5 days!!!

[Fred3]

Thanks for the report and current conditions! Looking forward to getting upto the lake place at Rocky pt. Real soon!!!

[dirtking]

Two of us were up 12/14 at noon to 12/16 noon - just short of two days. Pine island area We caught 134 walleyes / saugers - of them 20 were keepers and we threw back a 2 - 20's and 2 - 21's. Lost the last hour of fishing 12/15 to a huge sturgeon that would not fit through an 8" hole. Also caught 1 white fish and about 8 pout - none were too big. Fished 28 fow - would have liked to have been a little shallower? Gonna try that this coming weekend. Here is the only fish worth taking a picture of all weekend.

[CANOPY SAM]

Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! Now that IS a picture worth sharing!

It's right there that you gotta reach down and grab em' by their big ole' snorkel and pull em' up! Although with this guy you may be right. His big paunch might notta come up thru the hole!

[larson311]

You need a 10" auger! What a bummer, still cool though

[dirtking]

Oh - I reached in and grabbed his gills and gave a pull - he was not coming - didn't want to hurt him either, so away it swam... Would have been fun to get a better pic of the biggest thing I have ever hooked fishing - but I do kinda have its pic. Took 2 of us to lift him off the bottom once he was tired and we went 6" at a time up the water column. Amazing the line didn't break as we were pulling HARD on the 8 lb test.

I have to agree with the 10 in. auger

[MN Mike]

Two of us were up 12/14 at noon to 12/16 noon - just short of two days. Pine island area We caught 134 walleyes / saugers - of them 20 were keepers and we threw back a 2 - 20's and 2 - 21's. Lost the last hour of fishing 12/15 to a huge sturgeon that would not fit through an 8" hole. Also caught 1 white fish and about 8 pout - none were too big. Fished 28 fow - would have liked to have been a little shallower? Gonna try that this coming weekend. Here is the only fish worth taking a picture of all weekend.

That's an awesome pic!

Mike

[lilwalter]

First off, that is the best pic I have seen in awhile. Congrats!

Secondly, I heard from a resort that trucks were allowed out of Adrian's today!! It wasn't Adrians that told me though. Don't want to bother the boys at Adrians by calling and interrupting the road construction! Can someone confirm?

[vman11]

I don't think that is accurate. Read Brian Ney's post today on what they're letting out on the ice.

Sounds like SMALL vehicles - not 1/2 ton trucks.

[only ice]

vman your right no trucks yet!

[vman11]

Fished for a bit on 12/21 and again this morning for a few hours out of the Pine Island/Morris Point area. I would rate our success average to slow. We caught fish but many were small. Kept a few, released a few slot fish. Ice is thickening up, we measured 16" under the house. Resorts are doing their best to prep for vehicle traffic by widening roads and plowing wheel house spots.

Cold tomorrow, snow/wind on Tuesday and up and down temps the rest of the week.