Lake of the Woods, Mn Walleye Report 12-19-04

Finally!!!!!!! I was able to feed my ice fishing fix as a couple buddies and I made our way to Lake of the Woods on thursday night. We decided to fish both friday and saturday, but chickened out sunday. Temps both days were very cold, sigle digits or so, with strong winds. When we left saturday night it was -7 at 5pm and forecast for -20. There is not a lot of snow on the lake, mainly bare ice, and one could travel easily. The ice over Pine Island where we fished was 8" or so. The resorters were saying that there was a little less in the bay. There were quite a few areas marked off where people went through the weekend prior. Resorts were using their small S-10 and Geo Tracker style trucks to pull people out in trailers. There even appeared to be some open water in the river yet off Wheeler’s Point.

The fishing friday was great. We were set up in 22′ and caught over 80 fish. We were able to keep our minimum size to 15" on the walleyes and sauger and managed to keep our 3 man limit. The biggest fish of the day was around 18-19". No monsters, but lots of action and made for a good meal that night. Saturday the fishing was quite a bit slower. We only kept 9 fish and threw back about twice that many. As usual it seems about 1 in 3 fish is over 15", and about the same ratio walleye to sauger.

Jigging spoons and bobbers pretty much split the fish 50/50. The best spoon was a gold 1/8 oz Angel-Eye with a minnow head. The best under a bobber was a small glow jig. The fish shyed away from the bigger jigs, but wanted a little glow there. Most all the fish were within a foot of the bottom. If you marked a fish on the FL-18, you usually caught it. The fish were rather aggressive as many times we caght a fish that had another minnow in its mouth and their bellies were full as well. The front that rolled in may have played a big role in their activity friday and lack there of saturday.

Don’t forget about the new regulations that went into effect on 12-1-04. The limit is now 8 fish of which only 4 may be walleyes. Also, all fish 19.5-28" must be released and 1 over 28" is allowed. If you are planning to head up to a resort, be sure to make reservations soon as they are booking fast. Good luck and be safe!!