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Walleye and Sauger Bite Very Good


LakeofthewoodsMN

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On the south end...  Walleye and sauger fishing continues to be really good.  Most walleyes are spawned out and feeding nicely.  Great reports by resort charter boats and others across the lake.  A nice mix of eaters (under 19.5"), slot fish (19.5" - 28") and a good number of trophy fish (over 28") caught this past weekend.

The combined limit of walleyes and saugers on the MN side of LOW is 6, with up to 4 of the 6 being walleyes.  One trophy over 28 inches is allowed.  All walleyes 19.5 - 28 inches must be released.

This is the time for jigging.  Most anglers are anchoring up and vertically jigging with a jig and minnow.  The best jig colors... gold, orange, chartreuse, pink or a combo of these colors.  

Tip jigs with live minnows or frozen emerald shiners.  Quick LOW tip... Place the hook of the jig through the mouth of the minnow, out the gills, slide the minnow all the way up to the jig head and hook the minnow through its midsection.  This will get you hooking more fish.

Depths again varied from shallow to deep, depending upon where you were fishing.  Most walleyes in that 8 - 30 foot depth.  Watch  your electronics for fish.  Not every fish in the lake is feeding on the same forage, hence, varying depths. 

The pike continue to be active.  Back bays and shoreline structure are the best spots.  As the waters continue to warm, lures such as inline spinners, spinnerbaits and crankbaits are producing more pike.

On the Rainy River...   Walleye anglers are finding some nice walleyes in the Rainy River.  Some walleyes will make their way back to the lake after the spawn, many will stay, some for a while, some all year.  

Anchored up or slowly moving upstream with a jig and minnow are the go to techniques.  Trolling crankbaits is also working nicely to find fish or fish walleyes spread out on a flat.

The river is a slow rolling, relatively small water nice for boats of all sizes.  There are 42 miles of navigable waterway from the mouth at Wheeler's Point east to Birchdale.

The sturgeon season will re-open again July 1st and will continue through May 15, 2024.  

Up at the NW Angle...  Great walleye fishing this past week.  The jig and minnow is again the way to go in this cold water.  Points, neck down areas, flats with some current, and areas with shoreline rubble holding nice walleyes.

As is normally the case amongst the islands, a variety of fish are being caught while fishing walleyes.  Saugers, pike, smallmouth bass, crappies, jumbo perch and an occasional muskie.  Lots of action.

Three ways to travel to the Angle...
 
1.  Drive 40 miles through Canada and re-enter back into MN at the NW Angle.  
2.  Avoid customs by riding the Lake of the Woods Passenger (charter boat) Service which transports you across the lake to your favorite Angle resort and keeps you in Minnesota.
3.  Take your own boat 42 miles across the lake.  
 

29 inch walleye Arnesen's Rocky Point 052023.jpg

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    • JerkinLips
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    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
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