On Thursday morning the 6th , my friends Larry , Dave and I left a cold -20 Brainerd for our annual trip to Lake of the Woods. This year we decided to add a day to the trip and stop off at Red Lake to fish for the famous crappies we know are there. Our plan was to meet our guide , Pat Foster , in Waskish and head out for our day on the ice.
It did not take too long to get settled into a warm house and start in on the action. As I was setting my first line I had something hit my red depth finder. I quickly got a minnow hooked up and had a 3 lb. northern to the top of the hole within a minute. It was probably a good thing to get this fish away from our area and let the crappies back in. We soon had the first of our targeted fish out of the lake.
The fish were on slow day bite and we had a few in the pail as we waited for the evening which is considered the better time for these fish to feed. We did not hit the magic 2 lb size but had plenty of fish at 1 lb 6 oz to 1 lb 12 oz. They sure filled up our pail fast.
We did not have a large number of distractions from the crappie bite but did get a couple of walleyes and another northern to keep us busy. Our day ended up a couple short of our 30 fish limit but because of the size of these fish we had plenty of fillets to take home.
The best lures seemed to be red or blue glow ice jigs tipped with a minnow. My favorite was the 1/8 oz red Techniglow Flyer. We were in 14′ of water about 4 miles out on Hillman’s road.
Nice report Dean, what are Pat’s house’s like?
We stayed in one of his sleeper houses. It was a 7′ x 14′ wheelhouse with a “V” front. Very clean and well lit. It was set up with 8 holes and 4 bunks. Had a 2 burner hot plate for cooking also. He has 12 volt lights set up for use both inside and out.
Pat seems to be having fun with his winter job. We hope to get up there again in February or March.
Dino
Thanks for the report Bud. Some real nice crappies there. Sure makes winter go by faster doesn’t it. Been doing any ice fishing around your neck of the woods? Thanks, Bill
Dino , any size to the walleyes ? Can you keep walleye on Red lake ? Thanks
The walleyes we caught were 17″.
You cannot possess walleyes on Red Lake at this time. They must be returned immediately to the water. We were checked by a CO and the first thing he looked for were walleyes. Next was to check our license. Then he wished us a good day and was on his way to another house.
There have been discussions about opening the walleye season again , possibly next year.
Dino
Dino , We are planing a trip to Lake of the Wood in March . Do you think the Crappie fishing would be as good in March ? How would a guy get a hold of Pat Foster if a guy were to talk the rest of my party into it on the way up or way back from LOTW ? Thanks Dino
Pat did say he will try to stay on active fish till the ice gets too bad to get out.
I will get his phone numbers and send them to you.
Dino
Thanks Dino .