Lake of the Woods walleyes after dark? Try it!!!

Many of us have taken the ever so famous “drive to Lake of the Woods” in search of the Minnesota state fish also known as the marble eye. On this trip I found myself along with my brothers and a couple friends trying to decipher through numerous fishing reports and bait shop chatter about “where to fish”. Lake of the Woods is a giant, enormous fishery that makes decisions like this sometimes difficult. Should we go deep in 33 feet or stay in like 29 feet? The reports were scattered however mostly leaning towards the deep water. It did not take long and a decision was made, we were going to fish LOTW at night and stay in shallow water for what he had intended to be called the “hog hunting mission”. Whenever I am fishing and include the word hunting, it typically means I am targeting big fish and hoping to capitalize on a only a few chances in hopes of big fish. While making this decision we also had intentions of fishing the day-time bite in hopes for some fish to eat.

We arrived on LOTW on Sunday, January 13th and started fishing around 2:30pm. With the decision to go shallow we found ourselves in 19 feet of water next to some rough ice within 3/4 mile of pine island. We immediately starting catching small 10-12 inch walleyes on red glow/firetiger jigging spoons tipped with a minnow head with an occasional small sauger mixed in. It didn’t take long and we had a couple 15-17 inch walleyes in the bucket for table fare. The action was not fast and furious but consistent, the sun began to set and we were all anxious for the first after dark bite. In the meantime seeing the train of vehicles migrate across the lake into shore around 5pm is really not a good feeling knowing that LOTW typically has a better day bite. Patiently waiting we had a bite on a set line with a medium shiner and a plain red hook set about 3 inches off the bottom . At about 6:45pm my buddy Brad was ready to cross the eyes on what we had hoped to be a monster; the fish hit the floor of the house and we had a dandy 23″ walleye on the board. I must admit; not quite the size we were looking for, but considering everyone else had gone in for the night it was a success. We continued to fish the rest of the evening landing two more fish in the 22″ category with the same strategy.

Monday morning came soon with no other bites overnight on the rattle wheels. The sun came up and the fish started to cooperate. The five of us started to catch small walleyes with an occasional 15,16,17 and 18inch fish mixed in, just steady enough to fill up a few limits of eaters. Considering the fact that most people were fishing in 29-33′ of water with limited success we were content to stay put and once again go after the night time big fish. Darkness was upon us and again the primary method was a plain red hook, however we also had numerous demon style glow jigs down with a fathead or smaller shiner. The jig method proved to be the ticket when my little brother Andy got on the board at 7:23pm with a 25.5″ tanker that I would have bet was longer than 25.5″ due to its thickness and big head. Once again our theory of shallow water big fish was working slowly. I was in contact with other friends who were employing the same big fish strategy and they had two fish over 27 inches at this point. The rest of the night we were able to pick up 2 more fish that went 22″ and 23″. Amongst the other fish throughout the night we had two fish break the 10 lb monofilament leader on our rattle wheels- they felt like heavy fish but we will never know! Quick tip on your rattle wheels- instead of dacron braid or monofilament use fly line for backing in high viz colors. Fly line allows you to see what is going on in the dark and is faster get back down the hole with less tangles. The fly line is also great for fishing with beginners as it is easier for them to see if the fish is taking line or holding steady. I would not say we hit the home run with a 28-30″ class LOTW monster but it sure beat sitting in a motel not fishing. Give Lake of the Woods a shot at night, with a little bit of confidence and luck might you just hook into one of the biggest walleyes of your life.

Jigging a spoon/minnow head our last morning I noticed a VERY large red line on my Marcum LX-7. I attempted to coax the fish numerous times with no luck, a bit frustrated I decided to jig very fast and erratic. I barely finished the second pump on my Tuned Up Custom Dead stick rod and my rod was working overtime peeled over all the way to the ice. The battle was on with a large fast running fish! After a ten minute battle the LOTW gator took a swim by the hole, from first glimpse it would be my biggest northern through the ice if I did not lose him. My reel was taking drag like crazy spooled with Sufix 832 ice braid. I felt that I had a good handle on the fish with the braid, a few minutes later I had my hands on a beautiful personal best 38.5 inch LOTW waterwolf. For anyone that follows any of my reports you are well aware of the fact that I am a big fan of the Tuned Up Custom Rods, in this case I was not sure what the dead stick would do with such a large fish, the rod handled it perfectly with plenty of give but also backbone to keep the pressure on. This picture was taken with a cell phone and with the help of Ron Hustvedt-WriteOutdoors he touched up the background on the picture which gives it a unique look! Good luck fishing and hopefully you too can get a LOTW waterwolf while chasing the ever so tasty walleye!