This weekend once again brought me to Red Lake and Lake of the Woods fishing, except this time it was with a group of 12. Our group was made up of fishing guides, friends and family. Our weekend started on Red Lake Friday afternoon in search of those Red Lake slabs. The ice is still in very good shape and off road travel was possible which helped in our search. We started about 3 Miles out and found a few fish but not the typical numbers we are used to finding. We knew we were in the general area and it took a while to find the big school. However, after about 2 hours of fishing, Adam found what we were looking for and it was fast and furious from then on. The first photo is John "buckshot" Blanchard with his first two Red Lake slabs.
The action on Red Lake was about as fast as it can be for the two hours we fished after finding the bite. We used the typical phelps glow jigs and minnows. It sure was fun watching those slabs slam the bait on our MarCum LX-3’s. Despite having the opportunity to do this a lot, it is still exciting watching those crappies come up and slam your bait. This second picture is Adam with one of the bigger slabs of the evening.
From Red Lake we were off to LOTW, where we used Friday evening to get geared up for our long trip across the lake the next morning. Our first stop was on my favorite Rock Reef and there were fish there, but not the numbers we were looking for. It takes a lot of fish to keep a group of 12 busy and our first Reef was not big enough to support the numbers in our group. Also, with the current weather, the big females have not moved up on the reefs yet, so lots of the smaller males is what we were dealing with. The second picture is Tom with one of the few larger females we got this weekend.
We caught an estimated 200 fish on Saturday for our group, with the majority of them being males with the occasional larger female sauger mixed in. The action was not supper fast, but with a little work, everyone was able to ice quite a few walleye & sauger.
The true bonus fish of the weekend were the Perch. We concentrated on areas that have been known to produce large perch in the past and this weekend produced similar results. For the weekend we had 5 perch that would be considered trophy size, with several smaller perch and eater size fish in the mix. The next picture is Adam with a couple Super Jumbo’s that LOTW can produce.
On Sunday I elected to fish the Long Point area because it was a shorter drive by snowmobile and we wanted to get some pike fishing in yet. The bite at Long Point was similar to what we found on the reefs, with lots of small fish but plenty of keeper size fish in the mix. Again, moving around and putting in a little effort payed off as we were able to keep plenty of fish to take home.
We spent the last two hours of the afternoon pike fishing which was slow to say the least. Two hours fishing, not one flag. The best pike fishing is still yet to come this year, but our group wanted to give it a try to change the pace some.
In all it was a great weekend of good fishing and fun. It was kind of a sad weekend also, as it was a going away party for Adam Adler, my guide partner. Adam is moving back to his home state of Wisconsin where I am sure he is looking forward to fishing all the great spots the Green Bay area has to offer. I am sure he will have lots of great fishing reports from Wisconsin for us all. But again, it is still hard to say good bye to such a good friend.
That is it for me for the year, time to get the long rods out and head South. Thanks to everyone for making this ice season one of the best ever!
Couple more Red Lake slabs! My camera died on Red Lake so I am a little short of LOTW picture this weekend.
Great Report…..the best part of it though….I got to experience it first hand instead of just reading about it and thinking to myself how much fun it would be. Scott told me that I was going to learn a lot and that it would change the way I ice fish forever….he was right.
I want to thank Scott, Adam and Jon for doing an unbelievable job this weekend finding fish and sharing tips and tactics, these guys are fountains of information and if you ever had even an inkling to do a guided trip to Red and LOW, Scott is your guy.
The 5 people that came with me included Heidi(walleye-brat), Heidi’s brother(Wade) and cousin(Mark) and 2 of my friends(Kyle and Chirs), everyone had a blast and we all caught plenty of fish and learned a ton.
One last side note….don’t forget the suntan lotion on late season trips….luckily I had some SPF 30 in the truck for Sunday because we all got a little sunburned on Saturday….who would have thought mid March ice fishing and sunburn would go together.
Great job Scott!!
Good luck at Bull Shoals!!
You would think one of those other dorks would have a camera. Oh ya, Buckshot isn’t used to catching picture fish. After the last two weekends, he better get himself a digital!!!
Great report as always!
I forgot to add, we caught all our walleye on LOTW on Glow Devil Jigging Spoons, made by Scenic Tackle. I think everyone learned how important having a good set-up, including the right jigging spoon was on this trip. You got to love those Scenic Tackle Spoons
Man,… What a trip….
Theres nothing that could have made it better except for one more day on the ice. With 12 people we had a good diverse crowd to cover an area. Plenty of sun. And great entertainment. 
It was nice to meet some faces. Buckshots crowd was great to hang out with.
on a visit.
Great last trip with my good friend Adam before his migration back to Wisconsin. Sad to see to him go,…But hey…. Now maybe I’ll get a chance to fish the Fox River Since theres free lodging
Great Time. PLeased to meet the new faces.
Can’t wait for Mardis Gras 2006!
Hey this banana reminds me of someone…..
I’m getting ready to take my computer apart and box it up for the trip to WI, so this will be my last post as a MN resident. Deciding to move and selling our house happened so quick that it’s finally starting to sink in.
I have met a lot of friends in MN during my stay here, including some this past weekend, but in one way or another I’ve always considered WI home. We couldn’t have asked for better weather out on the ice. It was a fun weekend and a good exclaimation point to all the good trips I’ve had fishing and guiding over here. Thanks to all, you can expect to hear from me in WI, 
P.S. I think that banana needs another Jag Bomb.
Scott,
Thanks for all the great reports this season, and good luck during your tournament year.
Adam, best of luck in WI and your move.
Jack…