fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[curt quesnell]

Had the riggers in the boat last weekend and never hooked em up. There are some people out trolling but by far the bait of choice is a hammered gold spinner and piece of meat of some kind. Even the jiggers are in small numbers compared to the spinner pullers.

So much charter boat activity way up north in the shallow water around Garden and north even further. I have no doubt that you can get some fish on cranks in the deep deep but keeper sized fish are really going in 19 feet of water.

Crazy

[Walleyehooker]

Ran downriggers on Saturday and sunday and did OK. Fish seem to be spread out and definitely shallower than normal this time of year. Hope to get back up again in September.

[srj]

Hey Curt, it's gone beyond crazy now....it's just plain weird! Can anyone remember a year when the fish stayed north of Garden so long? Usually the third week of June or so they start heading south. Sure hope they mozey on down south before ice up. It's not that there aren't fish on the south side, but there sure aren't many. I fished north on Wednesday, mostly on the Canadian side and did well. Spent the last hour checking out the Knight reefs and found few fish or boats. I ran around a good bit and didn't see anyone downrigging out in the deep mud. All the charters were way north. Thursday morning I fished from the washout to Sandy Shores. Very few fish and no concentrations found by me anyway. There were about a dozen boats out from the Gap so maybe that's starting to produce some. The water temp has dropped to 67 or so. Best bait at all depths was a jig and emerald, although I caught some on spinner rigs. And a few on lead core. THis has been a very strange open water season.

Hopefully there will be some favorable reports from the Labor Day crowd.

Good luck.

[Barry45]

I am hoping for some info about how wind conditions are. Has it been S/SE primarily or have the W/NW winds been howling? I will be up tomorrow for the week and hope we will not be grounded to 4 mile and the river. Will be staying at Cyrus Resort. I have read conflicting reports that the eyes are at different depths and that spinners and jigs are still hitting and that they are north of Garden primarily? I was up earlier this year and had great success right out of the Gap and Morris point. That would be nice, but I am sure I will make some trips north if the winds cooperate. Any news would be great! Thanks!

[Roger bostic bay]

Hello everyone. was up at sunset for the last 4 days the fishing on the north end of lake is on fire. What a great bite every size fish and lots of all of them.

Be safe everyone:)

[seifjr]

Thanks for the report Roger. Group of 6 coming up tomorrow morning for 3 days fo fishing out of Bostic Bay. Looks like heavy south winds Thursday/Friday with things shifting to the NW on Saturday. We have big boats, but when you say north end, I presume that's Garden, Knights, and Bridges. Anything going on the south shore yet, as I think those winds may prevent us from getting that far north? Any information on areas, depths and techniques to target would be greatly appreciated. We're set up with riggers, lead, and the other typical LOW arsenal. Thanks alot.

Seifjr

[seifjr]

Drove up early Thursday morning and was on the water by 11:30 a.m. Fished out from the LH Gap in 24' for the first hour. Not much going on there, so decided to make the run to up north....wow, that's a haul when the wind is blowing. Unfortunately, I haven't been that far up before and we arrived to only one boat fishing the shallow side of the break that runs along the NW tip of Big Island. We caught a few fish there drifting spinner/crawlers, but it wasn't lights out by any means. Just didn't know where to fish since I was unfamilar with the area. We made the long run back into the wind and fished west of Pine in 14/15' (Jigging)the rest of the evening and did pretty well. Water temps in the 57/58 degree range. We'll be fishing out Cyrus through Sunday...reports to come.

Seifjr

[Hoey]

My wife and I fished for a couple hours on Friday (26th) and picked up enough for dinner, including a nice fat 19"er. On Saturday, we fished 10am to 5pm, went through 6 dozen minnows and finished up with a complete limit of eyes and sauger. Most of our catching was in 14 to 15 fow, drifting slowly with jigs, from Swift to Lambertson. The weather was just about perfect. Our sauger were remarkable, biggest being a 19"er. Walleye were all in the 17 to 19" range. It was fun cleaning these fish in front of the guides.

[hnd]

spent last week fishing the river. we fished near ClementsonAccessOnRainyRiver bay and vidas landing.

lake fish seemingly hadn't moved in as the bay had 0 shiners in it until thurs and then they were real small. apparently any bay between baudette and the lake were full of shiners.

We caught good numbers of fish 12-15" and 20-26.5" the 17-19" fish really aluded us all week. we hit all water depths every day to try and dial it in and never really did. thurs/friday we eventually just concentrated on the deeper water as it seemed pretty churned up so any shiners that were in the water i've heard go deep. Still slower than normal but we finally started catching a few 18's.

pink/gold were the colors we all eventually gravitated to.

convinced if we trailered the boat to baudette we'd of caught more fish.

[jigrig]

I realize that most of you are in hunting mode but I'm thinking about heading up this weekend to fish. I assume that I would be able to fish the river but wondering if four mile bay and the gap are still open? Any reports would be much appreciated.

[curt quesnell]

JigRig, There is quite a bit of ice up there now. For a report up to the minute on the River call River Bend Resort or one that you know along the river..the best info will come from there. It is right on the zero degrees

temp this morning.

[Roger bostic bay]

A view from Bostic Bay . ICE on the big lake as far as you can see:) if the wind doesn't blow for a few days its going to be beautiful.

[vman11]

Very nice!

[nik]

Checked out Graceton Beach this morning. Nothing but ice. There is ice on the river soon. Hopefully it won't be long before we are fishing the big pond!

[2000kid]

How long you thinking planning on coming up early ice!

[Hoey]

The temps are good for ice making. The wind is not. Ice along shore at Rocky Pt and open water as far as you could see to the north on Sunday morning.

[hookie]

Bring on the ICE!!!!!! going to get boring between now and then with Deer hunting being over for me.

[vman11]

OK - made it out today...

A lot of ice for 11/28/14. Found 13" out in 23' of water. Clarity is surprisingly good for all of the wind we've had in November. Same root beer tint but nothing out of the ordinary. I was expecting the worst and hoping for the best, and for once it worked out.

The trail Roger marked out from Bugsy's is very nice. Very smooth ride all the way from the resort to the lake. The lake is staked nicely too, but it is far from smooth. It's literally like a bowl of cornflakes, with some really nasty heaves spread about. Their lake trail is nicely marked and they've been pulling a drag to smooth out the main run but off trail is pretty slow and really bumpy. Can't see the end of the cornflakes, must be 3-4 miles out? No real snow on the lake, a few very thin drifts here and there.

My dad, son and I kept 13 nice eaters, fished from 10:30 - 5pm, biggest at 17". Nice mix of walleye and sauger. Not one after another but consistent.

Resorts are busy moving houses out, quite a few portables out as well. Crazy early ice - last year there was about 8" of ice the weekend of Thanksgiving. Pulled the 8x18 Alumalite behind the Ranger SxS today with ease. With the report of 1/2 ton trucks and wheel houses out on Upper Red, no snow insulation and pretty cold temps the next 3-5 days it's going to be a nice, long ice season.

[vman11]

[ArneRantanenJr]

Went out from Morris Point today. Great place, I forgot some stuff at home but they had what I needed. Lake is so so rough, I can't remember it ever being this bad, they do what they can to make a trail and hats off to them but there just isn't much they can do so make it smooth. Went to the end of the trail and east a little to about 25' and picked up 10 in about 4 hours, biggest was 18 but most were 10-12". Moved in a little to about 23' and fished another 4 hours with another 10 caught but no real size. 5 minute flurry followed by an hour of watching the fish go up and down on the vex. Only caught 2 on dead stick, rest were aggressive jigging on buckshot or some other fluttery type jig, jig hard up to 4' off bottom then wait a few seconds and usually would get them to strike. Frustrating at times but still fun. First time out and beat my previous early ice date by 10 days, can't complain.

[dougger222]

Yesterday fished out of the portable first tried 27 fow 1hr zip, same report as guys around us.

Moved into 26 fow did okay nothing over 15in though.

Last night pulled out the 20ft shack.

26 fish so far today nothing over 15.5in except a 30 in pike.

Yesterday very slow jigging today decent.

We are going to try shallow for some quality.

[LakeofthewoodsMN]

The ice season has officially started! Anglers spent Thanksgiving weekend out filling limits of walleyes and saugers, with some big pike and some jumbo perch in the mix. Depths range from 18-26 feet. Hot colors have been gold, orange, bubble gum, or glow tipped with live minnow on bobber line or a frozen shiner head on jigging spoon. Fish biting light, use smaller presentation. Reports of a strong afternoon bite. A few reports of portables also fishing the Rainy River, 14-18 feet mornings and evenings best.

Ice trails are open and marked out over Pine Island, Morris Point, and Zippel Bay. ATV or snowmobile use only. Some resorts have permanent fish houses out and providing ice transport already. 13-17" average for ice conditions from Lighthouse Gap, 4 mile Bay, Pine Island, and Morris Point. Long Point and Rocky Point area shaping up nicely. Ice conditions vary, safety first. Work through resorts and stay on marked ice trails.

Up at the NW Angle, good ice 10-12" with marginal ice 3-6" in current areas. Trails are being marked this week for ATV, snowmobile, and tracker use. Resort permanent houses by this weekend.

Many resorts are fishing and others will be this week. Great bite continues.

[Roger bostic bay]

How is the spearfishing season going ?

[busse3775]

Fished out of Pine Island this past Sunday in a portable. The ice was very very rough but the resorts are doing an awesome job at making smooth roads the best they can. We drilled a hole in about 21 feet and found nothing but slush at the bottom of the hole. We moved out a little deeper to 23 feet and there was no slush there but also caught very few fish. Moved around in the area trying to find the fish but had no luck so packed up and moved over to Morris Point. Fished in about 23 feet and had a little more luck while trying to stay warm from the strong winds. Ended up keeping 9 fish for 3 guys with a couple that were around 18". Can't wait to get back up there the 19th and 20th!

[live4chrome]

Hearing nothing but bad reports. What gives? Where are all the fish?

[northernfishin]

Fished out of bay view lodge houses on yesterday. Took home 30 for three houses and 9 people. Lots of smaller. None in or over the slot. The bonus fish was a 17" sauger and a 60" stugeon. The sturgeon was a fun one for the whole group. Barely got him through the hole. Pretty slow though.

For those reading the ice being rough... It is crazy how chopped up it was. It was like walking on another planet.

Probably 15" of ice. Small vehicles where driving on adrians road.

[ArneRantanenJr]

3 of us fished the sandbar by Springsteel today. Slower then last weekend but we did manage a few decent Walleyes. The ice is night and day difference from over the Morris Point way in terms of smoothness. It is normal. However the crack is nuts and the ice was really moving today. couple new cracks opened and a few places made ice sheets up 4' or more. Going out in the morning was nice, coming back was a different story and really had to watch where you were as some new cracks opened a foot or more and some spots were sketchy. Big ice shifting close to the island with a large patch of open water where the sheets collided.

[vman11]

We fished out of the Morris Gap area again this weekend, starting about 1PM yesterday through dark today. One house was in 14', the other in 24'.

Kept a total of 12 walleye/sauger between 3 guys. Biggest 17.5". Didn't land anything in or over the slot

Knew of a guy fishing in multiple depths near the Ontario border out of Lighthouse Gap yesterday and the bite wasn't any better.

I would classify the bite as inconsistant at best. Definately slow for early ice.

[CANOPY SAM]

These reports have me really confused. I was really anticipating a good early ice bite, but it hasn't materialized.

V-man, I'm not sure if there is any way to tell, but do you think it's possible that the lower level of the water column is all churned up?

After all the strong wind events we had late this fall I figured we'd have super cloudy water with the freeze up, but the surface clarity is actually pretty good, surprisingly! But maybe the water below a certain depth actually is really churned up, and we just can't see it from on top of the ice?

This might explain the slow and spotty early ice bite?

[vman11]

Not sure, but to your point it would be hard to tell.

I've heard some reports on the West side of the lake that sound pretty good actually. Shallower water, afternoon to dark bite. Everybody is dealing with some sort of shore ice inconveinience so getting to some of the hot spots isn't as easy.