Lake of the Woods Fishing Reports by Curt Quesnell

[curt quesnell]

Welcome to this new Lake of the Woods Fishing Report. I will fish Lake of the Woods until Freeze up this fall and a couple of weeks after that right we go right back out on the new ice.

This time of year, things are changing from week to week faster and more radically than any other time I can think of. The fish seem to move quite a bit but not very far and the fish are on the bite. If you find them and put something they want in front of them they will smack it good. This weekend we were sitting on top of a bunch of 13 inch Saugers for a while and most of the bites were big and on the hook set you would guess a much bigger fish was knockin.

For the second week in row a buddy of mine was pulling spinners in 25 feet of water backtrolling with big bottom bouncers and crawlers. Nice fish came fast. This would be a good thing to try on those sunny, hot, still days. Use your electic motor, kicker or even your main engine. You have to be moving at a pretty good pace so go as fast as you can while keeping in contact with the bottom. Using 2 ounces of weight with your line at about a 45 degree angle you will have a good speed.

I talked to Nick at Zippel Bay today to find out what the pros do when it

gets hot and still. He was on his boat when I called, he had just tossed the anchor and they were going to jig for a while. He had been pulling spinners until the wind quit completely (with those big 30 footers it is hard to move slow enough to use spinners in the deep water). He was setting up in 30 feet of water over gravel bars. Other boats in his fleet

were out downrigging doing pretty well.

Last week I talked to Charlie Kasberger from River Bend he told me that his

boats would bait fish and would not use downriggers unless it really became

necessary. Sunday one of his fleet came buy us with 6 balls down. The heat

and calm is changing things fast.

Finally, a very good target this time of the year are reefs. To fish rock piles effectively you will want to move around. If it is calm enough you can use your electric motor and move very slowly from spot to spot or anchor up work one spot for 15 minutes and pull the anchor and move. Two, actually three locations are best bests.

First, reef edges- the deepest water right on the edge, your LakeMaster chip will show you where that is. This is my first choice for a couple of reasons, fish are moving on and off the rocks all day and the steepest drop off to deepest water is the main route they take. If you can drift

up or down this area you should, not many snags here.

Second, fish by slowly moving or anchor up on steep drops on the reef, again you will easily find these area on your gps with mapping chip. Fish

lay up in ambush in the nooks and crannies and banging a jig will get the

fish interested (remember they are on the reefs to feed)

Third, fish the tops of the reefs, they will look like fried eggs on your gps, you will want to fish the "yolk" the very top. Anchor and jig or move

very slowly around with your electric and stay right on top. This last weekend we were trying to get anchored on one of these plateau areas and missed by 10 yards. We were right on the steep slope we picked plan B and fished for a half hour with only fair results. After moving off to a different area 3 boats moved in on the reef and threw a marker right on

the hump we misses by so little. Two of the 3 boats were moving slowly with electric trolling motors the third anchor up. All 3 boats were releasing big fish soon and often. If there was an edge I would have given to to the boats moving slightly. Maybe a dozen fish in and above the lot in just a couple of hours. Reef fishing in July and August, it's hard to beat.

Finally, you can drift with spinners up and over these reefs, I used to do it all the time. The loss of tackle is overwhelming. I dont mind losing some sinkers and spinners but the time wasted tyings line really takes alot of the fun out of it. It produces but all three of the above mention

methods can work just as well.

That's it for now. Things will change from week to week and I will try to stay on top of it for you.

[pooly_31]

awesome report! hopefully this becomes a regular addition to the forum, thank you!

[Walleye Inn]

Nice report Curt, coming up out of wigwam on sunday til tues with my son and Dad ready right now sounds like will have to bring everything in tackle box cause you never know what the want.Hope to bottom bouncer spinner them or jig but if we have to will downrigg em too.

[jiggin9]

Great report, Curt. Very informative. Those are all great tactics for tight lines on LOW. We snuck up to the lake last Wednesday with great results. It wasn't long and we had our limits of dandy walleyes and saugers. We tried jigging first but switched to drifting spinners due to the wind. Heard great reports all over the west side of the lake. Sandy shores, blinker, springsteel and South Buffalo were all producing. It's definitely nice to avoid the crowds and go up to the lake during the week.

[bearberg]

Thanks Curt, appreciate the report

[Jiggin Machine]

Outstanding report. Please keep it up.

Thanks, Curt

[curt quesnell]

Since I was off the water last weekend I don't have any first hand information to tell you this week. While I was putting the weekend fishing show together last night I realized what an interesting time of the year this is. Things wont change much for the next 30 days or so. Weather moving in and out may put fish off the bite, dead calm may slow things down but, you can pretty much count on the fish to be be in places you are catching them now until the end of August and into September.

The first and best places to check now a days is the deep mud, reefs and

the mid range depths from 15 to 23 feet up in the sand and gravel. You can pull crankbaits at all three of these places with most likely the best results, Pulling spinners or anchoring up with jigs will be big producers in the mud and on the reefs, those mid depth fish seem to like something moving.

I know this is brief but it is all that really needs to be said. Find locations like this and you will be close to success. I am going to be doing as much of this as I can this weekend too. Good Fishing everyone

[curt quesnell]

I watched some guys fishing a mid lake reef Sunday. Boy, they were doing it just right and it was working for them. Using the kicker motor to slowly move from spot to spot, off the edge and back on the reef again moving just fast enough to keep the spinner blade moving. There was a breeze but not so much to make boat contro tough. They caught many fish and many BIG fish.

We were anchored on the reef catching some nice fish but nothing like these guys. Dont know who they were, but it was really fun to watch them do it up right and see the benefit.

Reefs in mid summer....it hard to beat.

[curt quesnell]

I have some new information. It will be on the weekender of North Country Outdoors Radio tomorrow and thru the weekend but here is what I found out today.

Not earth shattering but the trolling bite had kicked in big time this week so summer pattern fishing has arrived, I just got off the phone with Charlie Kasberger from River Bend he was on his boat and had to stop talking to deal with fish every few minutes. I will have that phone call on the weekend show . There are big fish on the

reefs and plenty of them and my Newfolden fishing spies wailed on decent

fish pulling spinners in 22 feet of water last weekend fishing out of

Warroad.

Trolling around all of the reefs, and you dont have to be close to them,

just get to the deep water 33 feet or more is important. You can also

get into the deep water almost every where and just start fishing. Pick

a point on the horizon and just....go. Any and all colors and shapes and

types of crankbaits are doing the job, change every 10 minutes till you

get something working. Speed over 2.5 are best, make sure your baits are

tuned and running straight to avoid tangles. Good fish too many in the

slot and some above.

I talked about reefs recently and I can still tell you that this is the

place for whoppers. We anchored up Sunday morning for a couple of hours and caught 7 Walleyes, 4 were in the slot, 1 was a 30 inch fatty the two we could keep were 17 and 19 inches. I told you about the 3 guys

moving around using the kicker motor backwards slowing covering the entire reek with spinners and they smoked em good. Two boats pull crank

bait behind riggers right over the top of the reef and they both regretted it with some major rock issues, be careful with that.

Finally, dont leave the mid depth yet either, as I said above there are

still plenty of nice fish left in that 22 foot range. Quick limts of

nice fish if you get in the right areas.

The weather should be nice....good fishing

[walleyejon]

I'm one of those edge of reef spinner guys you mention. Not the same boat that was by you, but basiscally the same tactic. Here's some numbers for you from last Saturday:

2 guys

9 hours on the water

4 dozen nightcrawlers and 3 dozen leeches used

22 fish over 20 inches; 1-29, 2-27s, 3-26s

The hand clicker we use in the boat to keep track of how many we catch said 101 at the end of the day...and I know I missed a few.

With all the good days I've had on LOW, it was in the top ten best ever for sure....maybe even top five. Good luck to all.

[curt quesnell]

There are many big reasons to fish around and on those reefs this time of year. There are lots of them, find one thats not too busy and try to

figure it out. They dont give up the fish easily but what you can get is

worth the effort..Thanks Jon. Lets do a show next week on this topic?

[srj]

Hey Curt, Monica and I fished a few hours each day Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday we caught a bunch on a reef not far from you pulling spinners and Thursday caught a bunch flatlineing plugs in 24' in the same area. The same days my neighbor had his charter boat downrigging mid-lake on Wednesday and had a quick trip with nice fish. Thursday he was bait fishing up in the islands and another trip with lots of fish and nice fish. The bite is on everywhere it seems...........except maybe the jig bite. THat seems rather inconsistent, at least compared to the last couple years.

[curt quesnell]

Not the biggest fish you will catch all summer but very solid keepers are there to be had in 20 to 25 feet of water around Warroad, Long Point, Zippel Bay, Pine Island. Try to find a gravel-sand-mud mix and pull spinners or crankbaits on a drift or slow troll. Thank Walleye Jon

Berns, Bruce Knutson and Lynn Hammer for this info....

[walleyejon]

Anytime my friend. If any of you are looking for some fairly "lazy" fishing, drifting or slow trolling those spinners on a 3/4 to 1 1/2 oz sinker (depends on your speed) with a crawler or leech in the 20-25 foot range as Curt mentions is about as simple as you can get......Plenty of time to make empties should the urge strike you and just about zero chance of a snag. Keep the tip up, and good luck.

[curt quesnell]

How would you like to be a Charter Boat Captain the morning after 50 mile an hour North winds on Lake of the Woods? I talked to Charlie

Kasberger from River Bend Resort a few minutes ago, for tomorrow NCOR

program, and he was part of group of 7 Launches out trying to figure

our where the fish got blown to.

Sounded like an all start cast. Charlie, Nick Painovich, Blaine Lemm

and 4 other top Captains on the hunt with rigger balls down. I bet this

story has a happy ending. Listen to North Country Outdoors Radio tomorrow and follow along.......

[curt quesnell]

I found myself fishing alone on Saturday morning. It was nice enough and I was ready for adventure. Since I did not put downriggers on the new

Crestliner yet I grabbed a couple of lead core rods and headed Northeast outof Long Point. I went thru the first pack of boats about 8 miles out and kept a heading toward Garden Island. Finally, I saw a few charter

boats on the horizon and stopped a couple miles short of them to start "pulling lead".

While tying on a yellow #5 Shad Rap I was working the formula you need to know to fish with lead core....33 feet deep, the Rap will dive about

6 feet so I need to get down about 27 feet with lead, 5 colors plus a little more so 160 of line out......I think?

I've had lead core rods for 5 or 6 years but mostly when I fish with lead I am in someone elses boat, only a few times have I done this on my own. After 10 minutes of nothing I reeled in 160 feet of line to find mud on the bill of the yellow Rap....too deep, change color for a shallow running silver blue Shad Rap that should run only a couple of feet so I let out 170 feet of lead......after 10 minutes....nothing. The lake sures seems big when you are trolling with one line and your confidence level is zero.

Next a Wonder Bread Reef Runner and 175 feet of line.....zilch. Then

a black Reef Runner with silver trim and 180 feet of line out...2 minutes

later a big bender and a 24 incher in the boat. Not wanting to tangle the treble hooks in the net the fish was brought on board by a very careful hand under the belly and the fish never moved until it was unhooked and swam away (very cooperative fish). The presentation was duplicated 180 feet back and just a very few minutes later the rod is doubling over again and an 18 inch Walleye went in the live well, then a 16 incher. Man I am feeling pretty good.

They kept comin in, another 18 incher then a couple of 22s...then something really big. After cranking for quite a while I noted only 6 feet left on the line counter so as I peeked over the side of the boat to have a look the Reef Runner popped loose and the fish swam away unseen. This method of fishing really tires out the fish, it did not bother me to not have to wrestle this fish on the floor and try to release it...but it was big.

One more 15 and half incher and my Limit is done, about an hour after I

got the first fish. With the bonus Sauger in the livewell and 4 nice Walleyes, 4 released biggees, the monster that got away and at least 10 minute lost untangling 2 treble hooks in my minnow net(GRR) I went in for lunch....

Sunday I put the riggers on the boat so it might be awhile before I break out the lead core rods again, but I will be a bit more confident

the next time.

Nice weather is forecast for this upcoming weekend already, this could be a very long week.......

[Tip Up Rookie]

awesome report! I am coming up on Friday morning and can't wait!

[Walleye Inn]

Curt great report, we too ended up about 8 to 9 miles out from long point and the fish are definetly out there after dialing in the downriggers and finding a real ugly green and black shad rap they liked it was pretty busy all afternoon on sat and all morning on sunday. We ran the riggers at about 22ft with no. 7 shad raps and whata great weekend weather wise.Have been up last 3 weekends and the fuel budget feels it but it is hard to stay away from grreat fishing like there is on Lake of the Woods!!

[curt quesnell]

It's amazing what a change of tactics can do. I have been enjoying a great honey hole for the last couple of years. All by ourselves anchored up and jigging with frozen shiner minnows. The last month has been much slower and mostly Saugers. I just poked the first holes in my new Crestliner and put on the downriggers.. trolling pretty much the same area as the "secret hot spot" Walleyes and big Walleyes ruled the day.

I cant wait till Sept so I can toss the anchor again....but until then.....

[curt quesnell]

Sorry it has been too long since the last report. I went trolling a couple of weeks ago and will stay with it for a while. There is a

big fleet of charter boats sitting on top of a huge school of fish 8 to 10 miles NE of Long Point. They have been there for a while and fishing is great most days. I went out there and pulled lead core a couple of weeks ago and it was good.

On a windy day it is a long, wet and bumpy ride out there so I looked for a closer place. I mounted downriggers on the new Crestliner

and decide to just go out and troll.

Before I go any further let me tell you something that may mean something. We have a spot that we have been jigging for a over a year,

just a random spot out in the mud, lately we have been catching only Saugers, very few Walleyes. We started trolling near this spot with crankbaits behind the rigger balls......Mostly Walleyes, nice big ones and plenty of them. If we anchor up and jig right back to Saugers.

If you find areas of change from hard to soft bottom, either near rocks

or in the middle of no where, areas like the mud line off of Long Point, or Zippel or even Pine Island, the same areas you would anchor and jig

try pulling something thru there a little faster. A spinner at .5, leadcore at 2 or riggers at 3 I think you will find nice Walleyes close to home.

Good Luck

[srj]

Curt, we fished Monday with the strong SW blow near your place. Lots of fish in the 31 - 33' range downrigging. Nice fish. Kind of weird out there---only 1 other boat in sight.

Word was that a pair of nice crappies were caught over the weekend on a nearby reef.

GOod luck.

[curt quesnell]

If you catch a Crappie on LOW's south end, it will be a big one.

Steve you are correct, boats go by us all day, nobody stops. OK with me I guess.

[srj]

Tuesday/Wednesday there was a good downrigging bite in 26 - 28 feet on the south shore. Nice fish and lots of em. The sauger were running a bit small, however. I tried bait fishing over a large group of nice eyes, but only caught sauger. Tried anchored with jigs (frozen shiners, leeches, crawlers), bait rigs, spinners....no walleyes. Dropped the balls back down and fish right away.

Good to see fish moving back towards shore.

[curt quesnell]

I noticed that too. Saugers on jigs, good Walleyes on the Cranks and Spinners.

[curt quesnell]

Had a short trip out last weekend with a boat load of little kids ( 10 and under). Anchored up in the hot spot and jigged up 14 Walleyes Saugers and 1 big Perch in 2 hours. Time to sharpen the hooks on your jigs..

[Sutty]

Hey Curt I drove by you and waved. I was running through there with the crestliner with the riggers. Looked like the kids were having fun.

[Walleyehooker]

Im headed up for the weekend for a few days. Weather looks nice with light winds so far. Leadcore and cranks and jig rods in the boat. Sounds like the south shore bite is improveing.

[curt quesnell]

We were catching fish, singing songs real loud, laughing like crazy people. it was a fun couple of hours.

[curt quesnell]

I heard all kinds of good news over the weekend. First, an early Shiner run in the river made "live" Shiners possible and restocked the frozen

Shiner supplies. This will also suck the fish into the shallower water

along Pine Island and, eventually 4 Mile Bay and the river.

Don't head for the Wabanica Bay Church quite yet. The fish are still very

much in the lake and still deep. The feed bag is strapped on and the fish are on the bite. We were anchored up in 30 feet of water

far away from any other boats jigging up very nice Walleyes and Saugers along with about 6 big Perch this weekend. Fishing as good as I have seen it.

The best part is...this is just the beginning. Go fishing!

[curt quesnell]

As good fishing as I have ever seen on Lake of the Woods this weekend and probably faster fishing than I have ever seen. Fishing the area we have been fishing the last couple of years anchored up in deep water, jigging with frozen Shiners. Very good quality Walleyes and Saugers along with a few Jumbo Perch. It happened so quick I spent most of the weekend doing fall chore stuff. It would have been fun to keep "fishin Perch" and done some catch and release on the fat Walleyes we were catching but in water 30 feet deep I think it is pretty tough on the fish.

I saw the DNR test nets out a week ago and the guys running the nets are saying there are probably more quality Saugers in the lake now than there have ever been. Only a few boats out all weekend.... If you put

the boat away already you are missing out on some great, great fish.