Lake of the Woods - Zippel Bay Fishing Reports

[dougger222]

This Winter one of my guests at the sleeper helped one of resort drivers get unstuck. As a token of his gratitude he gave the guy a tow rope. That guy in return donated it to the fish house!

Going up Mon-Wed next week.

[Waterdog504]

I was up to Zippel for my yearly trip March 3rd-6th... We had a group of 8 people (Qty. 2 four man shacks). Fishing was seemed a bit slow compared to last year, but some what steady for all of us. Each night we cleaned between 15-20 keeper fish, half eyes and half sauger. Walleyes were all 14-17inches and saugers all around 14 inches. I did however catch a nice 26" Walleye Friday morning around 9:30a.m. That was the big fish of the weekend. Nick had us out on Big Fish and the fishing was slow for others, the guides stated that we had the best luck amongst the people that were out that far on Big Fish.. We had a great time and cashed in fifteen 30packs between the 8 of us so it turned into a great weekend and a long drive back to Vermillion, SD on Sunday!! Good luck to all the rest of the year and i can't wait to get back up there next year!

Also i would like to add a pic of my 26" greenback, how can i add it to this post?

[gigidy]

450 cans of beer ,3 days up north ,8 guys ,thats 19 cans of beer a day per person,youuuu batttteerrr pickem upin daaa pace alittle ,your slaaaakinininininininin

[Waterdog504]

I think I forgot to mention one guy only drank whiskey the whole time and we had several other bottle's of liqid power !!

[dougger222]

Waterdog, to upload a pic hit the fifth icon above the posting box. Very easy to do.

[stealth3350]

just got back... sat morning was not fun getting out of the driveway as it was driftted shut..but sat caught 13 fish for the wife and i...bucket fish. and one 17 incher and a jumbo perch.. sun today fished the morning nothing.. we packed up the wheel house and brought her into the bay for next wknd.. never know with warm temps this week, better safe than sorry.. we whent back out for some pike fished 3.5 hours 1 flag. i had live decoys and a 1 week old dead sucker... HOLY [PoorWordUsage] did this thing stink!!! well thats the one we had a run on.. but the pike spit it out cause the t stopped spinning when i got there... probally tasted like a** lol

[Fish Taco]

Report. Fished Darange road out of Zippel houses the 9th-12th. Slowest bite ever for our yearly trip. Fished hard for 12 hours a day for 4 of us. 26 fish thursday, 16 friday and 10 on sat. Kept less then half. That's how it goes. Maybe better luck next year. Always a good time.

[Hoey]

Two of us arrived on Thursday night and setup on Da Range. Fished Friday, by 10am or so, we had 6 walleye (2x16" & 4x15") and 5 sauger (13" to 14"). Things slowed down a bit through the day. Landed a 7lb northern. Toward evening things picked up, added a couple more sauger and a 19" eye. Last fish of the day was a 33" pout. Overall caught 7 eyes 15 sauger. Fish dinner at Arnesens.

Woke up Saturday to the wind whistling and shaking the house. Up until noon, fishing was pretty good. Kept one 17" eye and 5 more sauger. Overall caught the one eye and 15 sauger. But nothing really to speak of after lunch. Dinner at Sportsman's.

Sunday morning was very slow. Only two small sauger. Headed out by 11am.

Terry with the Walleye Inn fished near us. Happy 50th!!!

[Walleye Inn]

Hoey, we had about the same luck fishing as you we ended up keeping 8 walleye /saugers pretty slow for low standards. hoping to get around more next weekend the snow should settle and will finally get around some nice to meet you guys fun to compare notes out on the ice.A guy from Hawley caught a 33" walleye on sat about 11:30 a very nice fish I guess that is what keeps us coming back!! good luck to all Terry

[cal456]

Fished Da Range east end. Started Friday night at 10pm nothing until 7:05am rattle reel went off. 15" sauger steady bite all day Sat. Caught are limit for 4 people of saugers real nice size 16", multiple 15"ers and 14 and 13's. Only 1 16" walleye also let a 6 pound ealpout go that was suspended 8' off the bottom. Only suspended fish i could get to bite. Had to catch 4 for every 1 keeper. Only one vex in the house dead sticks doing almost as well as jigging. Buck shots not working, would scare the fish away and a lot of time they would hit one of the dead sticks. Sized down to a glow red forage minnow and that did the trick. Sunday morning was Slow only fished until 11am. Only caught 3 but real light bite missed about 6.

[MNfan]

Walleye inn do they still have all the roads open did not make it up last weekend? Do you fish in the house in your avitar we saw it a couple weeks ago but nobody was there? Is Nick moving the houses in closer yet?

[dougger222]

Up in cabin 7 right now, been out for 2 days now fishing and moving around quite a bit.

The sleeper house is out on jackfish. We got about 30 total fish yesterday mostly saugers. Got a few out by the rental day houses on 5th street but not a lot of size to them.

Today we moved around and tried four spots mostly out deep. The fish house again provided the best fishing. There are very few fish houses out by it.

There has been a hatch of some sort out deep in the mud, we saw one walleye with one in it's mouth. Lot's of fish on the Vex with only a small percentage willing to bite.

Going to head out in the early morning for trophy.

As far as the fish houses very few private houses left and quite a few rental which most are in deep water were the hatch is.

The roads are mostly open with some standing water on it.

[Waterdog504]

Here is the 26" I caught out of Zippel Bay Friday March 4th...

[MNfan]

Thanks dougger heading up tomorrow.

[Walleye Inn]

mnfan yes we fish in that house, have been up last two weekend usually head out around noon on sunday will be up friday night or saturday early, roads were very good last weeken 36" of ice should be able to move around I am going deep somewhere by myself and see if that will help has been a tough winter moving with all the snow I will be pulling the walleye inn off on sunday but if in the area stop and will let ya know how we are doing good luck to all Terry

[dougger222]

We tried Trophy for about an hour and didn't catch anything yesterday morning. We then put about a half hour in out towards the the corner of jackfish/5th and didn't catch anything either. Talked to the guy who was fishing across from us on Trophy and he said the same thing. He didn't do anything out on big fish which is the deepest water Zippel has roads to.

Decided to cut our losses and head out early for a half day on Winni. Glad we did too. 6 hours 3 guys 3 limits of perch all nice sized. I also landed 2 3 pound eyes and 1 1.5 pound eye. Of course they had to go back but sort of sad the two biggest eyes came on a lake we couldn't even keep them.

Slower fishing these past fews days should bring on a good bite this weekend one would think.

The best bet may be out in 30-32ft of water were there's not alot of people fishing.

[Walleye Inn]

MNhunter where are you didn't see your house and camper on bobber on the way back in last week I will be up in the walleyeinn this sat am not sure where I will be out deep probally??? Have missed you every trip up have been up on weeekends and I know you can go during the week which would be nice!!If your up stop on in Terry

[fishgutz77]

We fished on lunker in 29 fow and released two just over 23" and kept 12 sauger on tues.

back to the shallow house to sleep in 21 fow and in the morning caught 3 nice 17-18" keeper eyes and back out to the deep for the rest of the day and more sauger and some nice eyes on lunker. Fried up some sauger for dinner and then caught some more nice eyes to keep with no more over fish on wednesday.

the last morning of thursday dead sticks and rattle reels worked best as fish seemed put off by any jigging. Glow pink stop signs, plain red hooks, we ended up with 11 keeper eyes about 20 sauger and only the two release fish. eratic fishing as fish would come in schools and then be gone. a great trip for the 4 of us in the sleeper house.

Weather was great and things are getting sloppy already better get up there quick as travel will get tricky in the next week or so.

[mnhunter 3815]

ya we been comming up during the week.i tried to come up on a few weekends but got tied up.sux we didnt meet up this winter.im heading up tomorrow to fish a little then pulling my house off.ill be up there atleast 3 more times with the wheelers.next winter i hope we can get together.take care terry see ya next winter.

[Walleye Inn]

MNhunter it was slow out deep this weekend caught 27 kept 8 sounded like 24 ft had some nicer fish in it good luck and be safe will catch you next year for sure or maybe sneak up again this year Terry

[kye1020]

fishgutz77 we had the same situation this past weekend. Fished on Sauger St. Saturday and Sunday. Caught 4 eyes and kept 3 between 15-17" Caught maybe 15 sauger and only kept 5. Was up with a friend and we brought the wives for thier first trip to LOW. We all had fun even though fishing was "slow" Dead sticks was the best producer. They seemed to be "scared off" with any type of jigging. Roads are getting rough in the bay but are still decent on the big body. Slow going pulling a wheel house thats for sure!! Had a blast for the last trip to LOW and already cant wait till next year!!!

[mnhunter 3815]

sure thing.im heading up in the mornin to drink then pull my house off friday afternoon.im planning 2 trips with the wheelers tho.not sure when yet.

[JBMasterAngler]

Just got back from my 1st every trip to LOW. Our sleeper was on the "honey hole". In 2 days me and my dad caught 32 fish. 25 saugers, 6 walleye, and 1 tullibee. Kept all 6 eyes (biggest being 17), 4 saugers, and the tullibee (which I caught at the very end after we had everything packed up and ready to go). Noon seemed to be the best time. Almost every fish came on the rattle reels. Red hooks were key. Road was in very rough shape, and they are not recommending wheel houses. Was a great trip, and am probably going to make this an annual trip

[JBMasterAngler]

Forgot to mention the highlight of the trip! Only minutes after checking into the ice house, my 3 year old daughter drops my pole down the hole After a couple minutes of trying to snag it I give up...I figure before we leave I'll try to use the underwater camera and give another go of snagging. The next morning my rattle real goes off and I bring in a sauger, problem is he wrapped up into my other rattle reel. Not knowing this at first, my other reel goes off so I turn around and try to bring in the fish, thinking I have a sturgeon on the other end! All of a sudden I bring in the same sauger (who unknowingly fell back down the hole as I brought in the 2nd reel). In the tangled mess of line I notice the gold 1/8 oz lindy flyer that I had rigged on the pole that went down the day before! So I keep on bringing in line and HOORAY! I got my pole back!

[bturck]

JB What are the odds of that happening. Nice to get the equipment back for sure. Ya I'll bet you thought you had a hog on for awhile.

[Beaver15]

Good story JB. Reminds me of what happened to us 2 yrs ago on LOTW.

My dad, brother, and I are on our annual trip ice fishing on LOTW in a sleeper house through Arnesen’s Resort. It’s about 7 pm, and the fishing for eyes/saugs has shut down like it always does. We always keep the lines down just for the heck of it in case a pout or two decide that they’re hungry. Anyway, I’m frying up fish on the stove for supper, when I hear what sounds like a scrape on the floor of the sleeper. Then I hear a splash. Yep, I look over and my rod is gone, down the hole. Oh well, it’s not one of my prized rods, things happen. We have a chuckle and I’m back to frying fish. About 45 seconds later, dad says that his bobber is down. He sets the hook, and slowly works the fish up, it’s pretty heavy he says. Dad gets the fish in the hole(it’s a pout of course), I hear the fish splashing and dad says “Hey, it’s got two hooks in it’s mouth……..….and there's two lines!!” Of course it swam over to dad’s line and wanted more after it pulled my rod down the hole. I grabbed the extra line, and hand over hand, pulled my rod back up his hole. I’m sure it’s happened to many others, but it’s a pretty funny story we’ll tell for quite a while.

And the very next day, I pull up a nice 28 ½” on the same rod that went down the hole the night before. Never forget that.

[fishgutz77]

Too funny!

[fishing-g]

a few years back on red a couple buddies of mine lost a crappie rod with 4 pound test down the hole not paying attention when playing cribbage and endulging in some adult beverages. about two weeks later my brother and i were up in same house in same spot i hooked into a large fish. after some time and a lot of effort i got the fish turned up the hole. when my brother reached in and pulled it up the hole he said look at all the line around it. i grabbed the line and pulled my buddies rod up the hole. the fish was a 421/4 northern. has made for quite the memory

[lichen fox]

It's official...it's a go for the trophy ice out pike tourney this saturday and sunday! Who's fishing?

[child23]

Me and a buddy are going to give it a go this year.