Lake of the Woods Smallmouth Bass report 6-21-04

Just returned from our annual family trip to Lake of the Woods at Mead’s Spruce Island Camp, and all I can say is that I sure love those beautiful broad shouldered bronze back smallmouth bass! The smallies quickly became our primary target on this year’s trip as we timed it right around the spawn of these fish. Lake of the Woods smallmouth bass regulations state that the smallies are for catch and release only until July 1st and all smallies prior to that date shall be returned to the water immediately. With 8 days on the water at our helm and two boats, we had the opportunity to explore on all kinds of water. The weather overall for the week varied greatly from cool 40 degree nights and rain to 70 degree sunshine filled cloudless skies and calmer winds. The water temp for the week seem to stick right around the 60-63 degree mark, which gave us the opportunity to go and dig out some female smallies from their traditional spawning haunts and return them safely and quickly back to the water.

Shallow expansive dark bottom bays that were warmer and less wind deceptable were the best areas for consistent action for our boats for the week. Throw some basket ball sized boulders and a little vegetation in these 1-4 foot depths and you had yourself a sure bet to get bit. Every fish that we boated throughout the week had a full spawn of eggs in her that she was ready to let loose when the time was right. Some areas of the 6 mile perimeter bay had fish that had already spawned out and had only smaller males guarding the shallow nest and the other end had fish that were ready to spawn which seemed like any minute. Small newly molted crawfish were the bulk of the smallies diet through out the week; so “matching the hatch” really favored to the extremely light and precisely placed hair jigs of Jimmy D’s. Small 1/16th oz black and brown Jimmy D’s hair pigs clearly became the best choice of these feisty fish as the fish wanted a ultra slow drop and nearly motionless pull along the bottom right in within the rocks.

About mid week, we decided to have a little fun and hold a small “DeZurik Invitational” catch and release tournament. Longest fish for the day takes top honors and bragging right until nest year. About midday, Jimmy D (my father) held the lead with a nice fish tipped the tape at 19”. My brother Tony later pitched a light texas rigged YUM Garret Tube to the shallow 2 foot depths for a nice 19-1/2” fish to take the overall win for the event. Lots of 18-19” fish show themselves on this day only waiting for a couple days later to have a couple 20” smallies show up in each other’s boats. Pitching these light jigs meant calm winds and high skies for the best and most consistent action to boat these sluggish territorial fish. When the weather cooperated and the bite was on 75-100 fish per boat per day was not uncommon. I have not met a single angler that has ever had the chance to get sick of smallies willing to make your arms ache at day’s end!

As for the walleyes, the bite appeared to be a bit off from the majority of anglers we talked to. We took a couple half days and targeted the walleyes and the best approach we found was longlining light jigs and plastics right along the weed edges or slowly trolling lindy rigs with small YUM 3” walleye grubs or livebait. Both appeared to get the job done in either case. The best depth for these fish was 7-10 foot along weed edges and down a bit deeper in the 15-20 foot ranges. Our time was limited chasing ol marble eyes as we all looked forward to boating some nice big female smallmouths.

As for Mead’s Spruce Island Camp, another great year of exceptional hospitality and spaciously spaced private cabins. We all saw plenty of deer, bald eagles, beavers, and even a close up of a swimming cow moose!