fishing reports 2020 Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports & Info

[Hoey]

My wife and I got out for 6 hours on Saturday.  First two spots, we marked no fish, caught no fish, and saw one caught.  We started off on a 17' to 25' mid-lake reef, nothing.  Then went to shallower rocks, 15' to 20', nothing.  Proceeded to work 18' all the way into 4'.  Picked up a couple of ripe males, one of them a slot.  Then back out 10" to 16' were we seemed to have the most marks and bites.  The fish seemed to very hungry and scattered.  If you got a bite and missed, they'd be back.  We ended up with 4 for a meal.  One released female, 14" was the size of a smallie, fat and deep and she had un-finished business.  Seemed half caught were ripe and others showed signs of spawn completed.   Water temps ranged from 38 to 42.  Weather-wise, it was probably the finest opener you could imagine. 

Happy Mothers Day!!!  We stopped to have lunch with my Mom on Sunday.  

[PRO-V]

Bite was real slow and spotty today on the south side. Finally went out to 32' and caught 6 sauger and 3 walleye in the afternoon. Surface temp out there was 35 degrees. Saw the last of the floating ice NE of us.

[PRO-V]

Resorted to searching with crank baits today. Real poor. A 17.5" smallmouth, 23.25" walleye, 12.5" perch and a 12" snot rocket. Our other boat got 2 walleye off Pine. Got blown off the lake in the afternoon.

[srj]

What a couple perfect days for LOW on Monday-Tuesday. Fish seemed to be biting well from shallow to deep and from the south side to up north.  Caught fish from 7 - 28 feet in good numbers and sized from small to large. There seemed to be a lot more fish on sand and mud than rocks. Quite a few males caught near rocks were full of milt. Biggest an 28 1/4. Most on jig and minnow but some on crankbaits. Sure a big pack of charters hanging around the Knight Island shoal. Warm, calm and no bugs!! Hope Memorial weekend winds stay light.

My new to me Ipilot Link Bluetooth remote somehow changed to German, Dutch or some other language on the display. Anybody ever have that happen?

Good luck this weekend.

[Hoey]

SRJ - Thanks for the report.  I heard the bite was very-good to excellent, off the rocks/reefs, in the mud/sand.  I will be at the lake fishing this weekend.  

[DRAGFOOT]

Sweet! Heading back up tonight through the weekend. Bringing the wife and little one this time instead of my buddies, hopefully the weather cooperates.

[srj]

Once again incredibly  nice weather...especially the light winds. Is this really Lake of the Woods? Our annual family get together produced lots of fish in several locations from the gap to way north. Lots of nice fish but no big girls, a 25 was the largest with 4 boats fishing. Mostly jig and minnow, some on crankbaits. The water is up 6 inches or so and really warm-as high as 74 in Bostic and 60's in the lake. There were even some mats of green stuff floating around. Not sure what that stuff was, seems way early for a signicant algae bloom.

Other reports?

Good luck.

[Hoey]

SRJ - I have one, a report.  Wife and I fished 3 hrs on Friday afternoon off a nearby reef.  Reports were hot and heavy.  Not for us.  Fish seemed to be scattered and hesitant to bite.  Lost many at the bottom and on the way up.  We released everything.  On Saturday, we traveled to the south shore of the angle and ended up with our eight, nice 17 to 18 inchers, plus many slots, 22, 23, 25, 26, etc...  We got better at hooking the fish towards the end of the day.  We were fishing jigs with chubs/fatheads and some shinners.  The hard hookset was not working.  Just lifting the pole tip upward after the initial bite worked much better.  And we were traveling back by 4pm.  Fish for dinner.  On Sunday, looking for three fish, we headed out to another local reef with some threats of weather.  Found nothing and headed back up to the angle.  The low winds made it possible for long travel runs.  We found out the fish have tails, and they used them.  They were not where they were.  We ended up finding some to complete our limit.  

The white/yellowish stuff floating on the surface was pollen.  The fish were off the reefs and in the mud feeding on various hatches, small bugs, gnats, and the beginning of the muffle head hatch.  

Other reports included other, off-reef-bites that were productive and  some were doing well pulling spinners in 10 foot with leeches and fatheads, while the pile of 60 to 70 boats off Twin Island did well early in the day and later in the afternoon.  I am looking forward to another meal or two and the next trip!!!

[Hoey]

SRJ - If I recall correctly, you run a Stratos.  Was that you that stopped and talked to us?  

[srj]

Hoey, sounds like you had a good time. I no longer have that Stratos-I love most all boats but that 326 and I did not get along although it did a great job during the Streiff tourney in the big blow. I have a black with silver Lund 189 GL now and hopefully for a long time. What are you in...I would enjoy running into you on the lake. Was the Stratos dark blue with a Yamaha 150? Our family had one on the water this weekend and on Sat we all were north. Most of our fish up there were caught in 6' or so pulling cranks in the sand/rubble. Some on jigs deep. Most of the south side fish were on jigs.

[DJ_Slick]

Fished out of the gap on Saturday as it was only a half day for us.  Bite was slow.  Nothing at all drifting, even though it was a dang slow drift.  Moved a half mile, anchored, and ended up with enough for dinner, but that was it.  Launches (and lots of other boats) were running to Knight and Bridges.  Heard the launches were on the move to other parts of the lake by late morning, so we assumed the bite there had slowed compared to earlier in the week.

Sunday we went west to Long Point.  Again the bite was slow for us.  Saw the floatilla by Twin Islands, but didn't keep moving west.  Just sat it out by the green buoy until mid-afternoon and headed back with enough for dinner and a couple for the freezer.  At least the rain went around us and the clouds knocked a little of the intensity off the sun.

Nothing big either day.  Bites were generally light both days.  From what we heard, the bite was scattered and moved around.  If you got lucky and happened upon a school, you were able to do alright, but it was a crap shoot.  In the past, days without wind have always been a slow bite for us.  In 20+ years of fishing LOW, the number of good days we've had when the lake is that still is in the single digits, and usually involves mid-summer downrigging.

[srj]

DJ, there were a pile of Sportcrafts and other boats on the shoals at Knight on Sat. Also on the west end of Bridges and up at Little Oak. They did move around quite a bit. It is kind of a bummer that there are not enough fish on the south shore to keep the charters happy. It seems the charter fleet heads north earlier every year. It sure was a lot more fun and cheaper when the south shore bite lasted all summer...…...tho you had to move deeper as the year progressed. The new LOW DNR Large Lake Specialist will have his plate full...hope he comes up with some answers to the changing bite.

Good luck.

[Hoey]

SRJ - The visiting Stratos, what you describe 

On 5/30/2018 at 9:18 AM, srj said:

he Stratos dark blue with a Yamaha 150?

sounds about right.  I do not really recall.  The driver had dark hair, demonstrated extroverted characteristics, and did not hesitate to drive up to us and ask questions.  

 

On 5/30/2018 at 9:18 AM, srj said:

What are you in...I would enjoy running into you on the lake.

621 Ranger, 300 Yamaha, red, gray, and black if I recall correctly.  

[srj]

Hoey, not our Stratos guy, for sure.

[Hoey]

Fished Thur, Fri, Sat.  Thur started off around mid depth, mid lake humps/reefs.  Nothing there.  Moved towards shore and found the bottom full, carpeted with fish in 14 to 16 foot, no bitters for jigging, and continued into 5 foot.  Moved 3 miles down, out from a creek mouth.  Found fish in 7 to 8 foot on spinners and fat heads.  Ended two short of our eye limit.  

Fri - Drifted across a large, mid lake, deep basin reef, three times with spinners, marked very few fish, no bite to remark upon.  

Sat - Hit some shallow areas on the way to the creek where there were many boats.  We were only catching 12 to 14 inchers.  Then back to the 7 to 8 foot out from creek.  Got our last two.  Many of the 12 to 14 inchers were here too.  Towards the end of the day, the 17 to 19 inchers moved in.  

Heard that Sat bite on the reefs was rockin.  We missed by one day.  Reports of unlimited slots and upper range keepers.  Father's Day coming up and I will be hosting my FIL and BIL.  Fish have tails and they use them.  I wonder where they will be?

[ifishwalleye]

I fished a full day on Friday and for a few hours on Saturday. Started on Knight and tried various depths with no bites!  There were other boats around and I only saw a few small fish being pulled in. Went up by little oak and pulled gold spinners with crawlers. We caught good numbers but nothing big and of course lots of small fish. Ended up getting a limit of 14” to 17”. They sure tasted good.  We drifted from 12’ out to 20’. There were lots of boats moving around, which tells me that is was a tuff bite. 

On Saturday we fished the mud in 30’. Vertical jigging frozen shiners. Caught mostly saugers with a few small eyes mixed in. I did hook onto a 26” walleye, which is the only slot fish that we caught.  

Good Luck!

[ifishwalleye]

I’m heading up for the weekend. Looking for a fresh report. 

Thanks

[srj]

Fished Wednesday and today. Weds was pretty good from the field to Long Pt. Scattered pods of fish, fro 10' to 28'. The spinner bite is starting....about my favorite method.  Bigger fish were shallower.

Today in the hurricane, I pulled cranks in 12 -18' on the Canadian side. Not hot and heavy, but a decent bite. Go away wind.

Good luck

[Hoey]

Wow - 7 days of posts gone.  Seems like more than that.  Oh-well.  My next trip is a week and a half away.

[DRAGFOOT]

28 minutes ago, Hoey said:

Wow - 7 days of posts gone.  Seems like more than that.  Oh-well.  My next trip is a week and a half away.

Me too, going up for the week of July 4th for cabin projects and fishing and maybe some trail riding on the SxS. Oh, maybe some R&R and Coors Light too.

[PRO-V]

Dragfoot, where do you go trail riding up there? South of Roosevelt?

[DRAGFOOT]

14 hours ago, PRO-V said:

Dragfoot, where do you go trail riding up there? South of Roosevelt?

I haven't done it too much to this point, still trying to find my way around. All I have done so far is go from my place at Wabanica Bay to Pitt and then took the Pitt grade 20 miles in or so.  I've also covered all of the dirt roads around there.

[PRO-V]

Thanks Dragfoot. I've been around those roads, Faunce to Norris Camp area. Just seeing if there was anything I was missing.

[ifishwalleye]

Hi, I’m looking for a recent report. Thank you in advance!

[Hoey]

I have not fished since Father's Day weekend, so I have nothing to offer.  By the end of this coming weekend, that will change.  Yippie!!!  Happy Fourth!!!

[Razzle]

Fished up at the angle over the weekend.  Pounded the eyes with spinners and half a crawler or gulp leech.  Any humps in big water is where we found fish.  18 - 26 feet.  Gold was the best color, orange and chartruese also caught fish.  28" was the biggest.

[ifishwalleye]

Hi, I’m looking for a fresh report for this weekend.

Thanks in advance!

Good Fishing!

[fisherjmb]

My parents were up yesterday and Wednesday and they did pretty good. Out in the mud in about 33-34 feet. Lots of boats were trolling but they did well looking for pods of fish and then spot-locking over the top of them and jigging with leeches and frozen shiners. 

[Hoey]

ifish let us know how it went.  I was up two weeks ago and found fish just about everywhere, mud, reefs, deep and shallow flats.  My next trip is either the later part of this coming weekend or the following.  We have a Friday wedding to attend.  

[ifishwalleye]

We fished N. Of little oak in 25 to 27’ with jigs/leeches. Had limits in a little over 2 1/2 hours. 

 I’m heading up on Friday. Probably going to pull some cranks. 

If anyone has some info later in the week it would be much appreciated. 

Thanks!