Lake of the Woods!

Hey everyone. My first post on this site. I’m heading up to LOTW this weekend and launching out of Zipple Bay. I wouldnt consider myself a pro by any means but I’m trying to get into ice fishing alot more this year, hence the trip up north. I’m just trying to get some info (I dont need your honey hole or anything like that) and see what lures, depth, etc i should start with and go from there. I’ll mostly be chasing eyes/saugers, but possible jumbo perch and crappie as well. Any info from anyone that has been up there recently would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys. Tight lines!!

From last year a common theme was reds, oranges and golds for jigging spoon colors from my trip up to Zipple Bay. It sounded like that was pretty consistent year over year

For depths, we did well in low light conditions (very early AM until 8AM then again starting at 4PM to 30min past sunset) in shallower water – 15ft or so. from 9AM to 3PM the bite was better at +30ft. We really only targeted walleye/sauger but did get a couple nice perch in the shallow water in the evening

Thank you for the info! So you suggest mostly using spoons? I have a few buckshot and slender spoons in the tackle box, hopefully those will do the trick. I’ve also heard rippin’ raps. Should I tip them with a minnow head? Nothing? Thanks again for the advice, the fishing community is absolutely great and I love how everyone is always trying to help one another out.

Jake I go up every year and am going up again the last weekend of this month and staying out of sportsman’s resort. I’ve always had the best luck with a red or pink spoon tipped with a minnow head. Also have your deadstick rod rigged up with just a plain red hook with a whole minnow. Last year the dead stick out fished my jigging rod but I did catch my biggest fish from using a UL Rippin Rap. Hope this helps a bit.

That does help KP, thanks! I’ll take as many pointers as I get get. I hope to have a fish fry every night I’m up there.

Anybody else have any info out there? Its an 8 hour drive for me so I want to make the most of it. Thanks!

iceicebaby123 wrote:

Anybody else have any info out there? Its an 8 hour drive for me so I want to make the most of it. Thanks!

this year marked 29 in a row out of Zipplebay. This time of year 1/8oz spoons gold, perch, orange, pink/ white. Dead stick with number 4 red gami hook 6-12″ off bottom allwayse a good time! Good luck.

I was up out of Zipple bay last weekend with a bunch of buddies. We had three houses spread out. There was about 14″ of ice and about 8″ of snow. We also brought the sleds and Otters. We caught a lot of sauger 13″-15.5″ and very few walleye (plenty to eat). We fished 20 different spots. We used 3/16″oz spoons and plain hooks and shiners on the set lines. We fished from a mile out to 14 miles out. No place was better than a few miles right out of Zipple. Most of the fish were caught in the sleeper houses. Great place to go out of. Great people. Good food and beer. The guys enjoyed the igloo bar and the fishing was as good as anywhere we found. I’m sure there was better spots but we didn’t find any.