My son Cole and I spent the weekend at the Wigwam Resort on Lake of the Woods. Lake of the woods is one my favorite destinations because no matter what the conditions, you can always get fish. This weekend would be no different.
We arrived at the resort at 5 PM on Friday and immediately dropped the boat in the water and headed out 7 miles. Why seven miles? Well, we headed to the same spot I always fish this time of year and it proved to be a good decision. After setting our first downrigger in 33ft of water I was feeding out the leadcore rod and Cole already was reeling in a nice 18 incher. There was not a boat within miles and the weather was perfect for trolling.
We worked this particular area for just over 2 hours and easily caught our limit of keepers. In addition we caught a couple nicer fish that we released but nothing over 22 inches. The action was pretty consistant with our downrigger/Berkly Flicker Shad combo producing as well as the Leadcore/Deep Little Ripper combo.
It was a great evening on LOTW. The winds were calm and the mid 70’s temp made it a nice night for trolling. Cole kept very busy pulling in fish as we were pulling 5 colors of lead plus our leader. He was beat at the end of the night from pulling in all those fish!
On Saturday morning the wind was blowing strong out of the South so we opted for a nice Wigwam Breakfast before heading out. That was a good idea! At about 10:30 we headed out and were joined by Mike W and Jon J in his Ranger.
With the strong South wind we opted to fish a little closer to Pine Island. Per Tom’s (owner of the Wigwam) recommendation we headed over to the Washout near Morris Point. This proved to be a great idea. As we set up in 22ft we had 3 fish in the box before we could get our second line set. This pace continued pretty much all day into the afternoon. The stong winds made the fishing tougher but the fish were really on the chew. We easily kept a limit of fish and were confident we had plenty for our group for supper so we headed in early.
We estimated we caught 30 plus fish in our boat. We kept enough to eat but released plenty of nice keeper size fish. I know Jon and Mike did the same. In all the fishing was excellent and you didn’t have to go far to get them.
On Saturday downriggers seemed to outproduce the leadcore set-ups. By far the best baits were the Berkley Flicker Shads in almost any color. As you can see, not all the fish are trophies, take a look at this little guy that slammed the Flicker Shad!
I want to give a big thanks to the people at the Wigwam. They do an excellent job taking care of you. Their Charter boats were running Goose hunting/Walleye fishing combo’s this weekend and I know there were some very happy customers that got in on some good goose hunting and then got to spend a 1/2 a day fishing yet.
We had an exellent Shore Lunch on Saturday night. There is nothing better than fresh walleye with Gina’s potato’s, WOW are they good. I know this is one trip that my 8 year old son Cole will remember for a long time. Even though the weather made things tough, it is still Lake of the Woods and the fishing was excellent! Coles biggest fish on the weekend was around 25 inches but unfortuately dad forgot the camera on that one. We did get plenty of these 18 inch walleye.
Thanks again to eveyone at the Wigwam for a great time!
Great report Scott
, the little guy sure had a big smile. 
I hope you guy’s do this trip again next year because I’d be able to sign up.
Looks like the kids had a great time Scott.
Gotta get up someday!
Here is Mike with one from Monday morning. Most of the fish we were getting in my boat were smaller eaters which was just fine! That fish fry hit the spot.
We got into a decent bite up river out of Clementson access on Sunday when the wind kicked up. Trolling shoreline with cranks put walleye, sauger, pike, and smallies in the boat. Guys were dragging in an occasional sturgeon in the main channel, so that bite was starting to take off too.
Guys who are headed up in the next week or so should be really hitting the bite good. Just going to keep getting better!
-J.
Great report Scott!
Those smiles in those pictures say it all!
Great report Scott
Looks like Cole is quite the stick.
John
Nice report Scott. You guys really had those fish dialed in. Thanks to Wigwam also. Great place to stay and you couldnt be closer to all the action. Those guys seem to be really tearing up both the geese and walleyes right now.
If anyone is interisted in making a trip up there I might be going back up towards the end of september. Hoping to key in on the walleyes moving into the river at that time. Might even try a little goose hunting.
Great report Scott. You and cole really showed how it’s done. As one of those guys who got to go on the launch saturday,, I can say that they put fish in the boat for everybody. If anybody wants to do it the easy way, you won’t be disappointed. Billy and Kevin at Wigwam will put some meat on your table, and I second the vote for Gina’s special Taters. You can’t beat that southern cooking influence! Jon, Thanks a million for inviting Judy and I along for that clementson trip, we both had a ball, catching plenty of a wide variety of fish. Sorry I missed you guys monday. All in all a great weekend at LOTW! Nate
Great report Scott!
You must have been a proud Papa! Those trips are fun!
Here is a little taste of goose hunting up at LOTW. Hopefully one of the gals will chime in with the detail of this photo and hunting up there. Looks like a good morning for these guys.
Hey everyone.. the shiners are starting to come into the river. Soon, the walleye will be coming into the river.. will you keep you posted on the bite. This morning, the geese hunters were all in with their limits by 7:30 AM. I will post some pictures next week. Now they are all out fishing for the rest of the day!
Last weekend was a great weekend. I want to thank the IDA guys for coming. The wind was a bit brutal, but we managed to get out there. We had great music, good company, and alot of fun! Looking forward to another get together. Judy
Happy Bday judy.