Our group just returned from fishing Lake of the Woods and we concentrated our efforts on the east end of the lake, near Pine Island with some reef fishing mixed in.
Thursday afternoon/evening my friend and I arrived and it was decided with the lack of time we would search the shallow waters off Pine Island that proved so well for us last year. We concentrated in the 15-18′ depths and we were quite rewarded with a nice limit of 15-17″ fish for a meal. Our hopes for a night bite was unsuccessful.
Friday came and it was obvious this was our day to make a long run to try out the action on the reefs. We unfortunately did not locate the groomed snowmobile from our location as we hoped and it was a long “baja” ride north. This ate up a lot of our time due to horrible ice conditions (mine fields of chopped ice) all over the middle of the lake and we could not fish as much water as we hoped. We didn’t find much action on the reefs, but when we slid into deeper waters (30′) we found much steadier action and some decent slot fish.
Saturday arrived and we knew by the forecasts that we best not travel far from home. It was decided we would return to the shallow waters and go for the best. The NW winds were going to be incredible and that will mean white-out conditions. The morning before the front’s arrival was pretty darn good, and even throughout the day after the winds blew hard. We didn’t have any problem catching our limit of walleyes with a couple saugers to boot. Some more slot fish were caught and released.
I cannot begin to explain how pleased I was with the Otter Lodge thermal. It handled the fierce conditions with ease and we heated the shack with a (small) Mr. Heater Buddy for almost the entire trip and toasty stayed warm.
Unfortunately this wasn’t the trip for the big walleyes we dreamed of, but we caught plenty of fish to keep us entertained in the elements we faced. We found there was no need to go far when great fishing can be had close to shore!
With the stable weather conditions we caught plenty of fish on aggressive jigging and deadsticks, but after that front it was time for small presentations. I resorted to pink/white glow jig commonly used for crappie w/ small minnow on a deadstick that turned out to be a killer presentation. If you see fish cruise in and peek at the lure and swim away, it’s time for a change!
Some wise words here Chuck. Seems like your LOW experience started off like most people’s this year, but you made some shallow water and presentation adjustments to track down some fish and extract the best experience possible. Congrats on the fishing and good job on workin’ for it!
Joel
Thanks for the LOTW update… Nice work!! Got some good fish! Fished through the cold in that Otter thermal!!! On low heat the whole time I am sure too… this house still amazes me!!! My dad is going up Saturday, so hopefully I will have another report for everyone!!
Fish on!
Jake