Lake of the Woods
Fishing Report w/ Curt Quesnell
Could a guy ever get
tired of jiggin up Walleyes of decent size to eat and bigger
fish in the slot to throw back? I think I might have the
opportunity to find out.
It started last
summer about downriggin time, first there was one, then another
then a small pack of launches ANCHORED in 33 feet of water out
in the mud with Jigs and Slip Bobbers hauling in limits every
day. The pack of boats became a fleet of boats and the success
continued. To make matters even worse the bait of choice was
frozen shiner minnows (an unheard of bait for this time of the
year, usually these baitfish are long gone).
What a puzzle,
nobody that I have talked to about this seems to have any idea
why these fish are where they are, biting the way they are. The
only thing they all agree on is that "It just can't last".
It is lasting,
through July and August last summer and since the week before
Memorial Day this summer. As of Saturday a couple of limits
with a couple of extra dinks and throw back slot fish took about
2 hours. My fishing buddy Bob was in the boat next to me and he
hollered over "This spot is 100 yards from our icon from ice
fishing out here last winter". As he said that he set the hook
on a 15 inch Sauger.
Ok now, this is
really wierd! Every good fisherperson I ever talked to has said
there is no perfect spot where you catch fish every time. Maybe
this is as close as it gets. The wind still blows and the water
still gets churned up, it still storms enough to keep you off
the water too often and it takes a day or two to "settle down",
but the fish seem to really want to pile back into this area to
fatten up on old dead shiner minnows.
A couple of weeks
ago there were a few days of real strong winds that turned the
water chocolate milky brown and shut every thing down. The
Charters left the jig-shiner-anchor bite and went trolling
looking for cleaner water and biting fish. They found fish in
far off places called Stony Point, Crow Duck, Garden Island the
usual mid summer haunts never looking back because that easy
bite must be over because "it just can't last".
In the late fall,
Oct and Nov, you cruse the area you will fish and when you see
the clouds of bait fish on your electronics you toss the anchor
and jig for the Walleyes following the food. With this summer
bite you do much the same thing only you prowl until you see the
actual fish tight to the bottom, anchor up and go to work. Like
all jig fishin on Lake of the Woods it might take 15 minutes for
the fish to find you so you need to be patient. If you go an
hour pick up and look for a new spot, you wont have to look too
far.
I didn't invent
this pattern and I was wailing at its demise until my phone rang
and my friend Lynn Hammer gave me the good news as he and his
wife polished off 2 limits of Walleyes and Saugers in about an
hour last Friday. He marked the spot with a buoy, which as
since disappeared into some other zone. Because the marker on
the secret spot was gone we may have stumbled onto a greater
truth. There is no one spot and this school of fish moves
around some.
The fish are
located in 33 feet deep water out from Pine, Morris Point,
Zipple and Long Point. Not 30 feet...33 feet. If you can't
find 33 feet keep looking. This is the area the trollers have
been capitalizing on forever. It is best if you can find the
areas near hard AND soft bottoms.
Fish have stayed
for weeks at a time along the Ontario border out of the Rainey
River about a 3rd of the way out to the 9 footer. Are they
still there? I haven't been there but I think they are.
Another key area where hard and soft bottom junctions have
produced these jigaholics is in the Zipple Bay area out from
"the field". These two places are miles apart yet similar in
description. If you find the deepest soft bottom depth near
hard bottom I am convinced you will find fish ready to give it
all up for price of a long dead minnow. How many of these
places are there in the area? from dozens to hundreds....I hope
to mark many of them on the gps this summer and revisit these
locations this winter.
Fish populations
are off the charts on the big lake right now and , I have heard,
this might have something to do with the unheard of bite that
has been going on and off for a year now. I guess I dont know
why and don’t know that I can ever find out the why, I just want
to find out if I can get tired of jigging up decent eater
Walleyes with some dinks and trophy sized slot fish mixed in.
Keep checkin back
for more reports and who knows maybe I will sell my hammered
gold spinner collection cheap.
Good Fishing
Curt Quesnell
Lake of the Woods
Fishing Report W/ Walleye Jon
The last few
days of June was a prime example of how weather can effect the
fish on LOTW. With last Thursday being a Walleye League night, I
wanted to check the shallows to see if a person could still fish
there without fighting too many weeds, so I headed up after work
Wednesday to quench my curiosity. Well, last Wednesday turned
out to be more of an early season trip than a late June one. A
cold front with temps in the 50s coupled with a good breeze,
made for some pretty miserable conditions, and even worse
fishing. As if that weren't enough, sheets of stinging rain
decided to join the party about an hour or so into the evening.
With only two bites, and no fish to show for it, Sauger Char and
I decided to call it quits for the day.
Thursday saw
slightly improved conditions for the league event, but the
effects of the front were painfully obvious in the results. With
only half the teams catching a fish, and no one reaching the six
fish limit. Our boat managed to find a lot of fish.....just
under the forteen inch minimum. Mike did manage one nice
seventeen incher right after we moved from shallow water out to
the edge of DNR Reef. Naturally we thought we were onto
something since it only took a minute or so to hook up after the
move, but it was not to be with only those pesky thirteen inch
fish wanting to eat after that. As we headed back to the dock
for weigh-in, our spirits were low, but once we got in and
started hearing similar stories to ours, we realized we weren't
in as bad of shape as we had thought. As it turned out, our one
fish was enough to earn us a tie for third for the week.
Friday I took
my neighbor and Char back out where we were Thursday. The
fishing was not fast and furious, but we did notice a marked
improvement from the previous two days, as the weather continued
to stabilize. Minnows were still catching fish, but leeches and
crawlers seem to be attracting more fish as of late. I had heard
that more fish starting to get caught out deeper in the flats
and around the reefs, so Scarface and I decided we would check
it out on Saturday.
With
forecast winds in the 5-15 mph range and more steady pressure,
we were planning on visiting several reefs, but as it turned out
the 5 mph part of the forecast was a pipe dream, so we stuck by
the first small set of rocks that we ventured out to. First we
rigged up some deep running cranks and worked the edge all the
way around, but the wind and swells were making it a rough, wet
ride even at trolling speed. After a quick trade of rods, we
were ready to try a drift or two over the top of the rocks to
see what might be hiding there. It didn't take long for Char to
hook into the first one, then Scarface threw his hat in with
a sauger that taped out at eighteen inches. Char's fish was on a
minnow, Scarface's on a crawler, and I had was pulling a leech.
The first fish in the video is the only fish that bit a leech.
After watching the crawler catch the next four fish, I decided
to switch, and let's just say it worked out pretty good. The
first big fish in the video, just a tad over 28" came within two
minutes of me dropping down a hammered gold spinner and crawler,
the second one, a little longer than the first, came ten minutes
later. It's hard to hear in the video, but what I'm saying when
my back is turned and I'm shoving the rod under the boat is that
the drag isn't working. After trying to loosen it to no avail, I
managed to find the back-reel switch before the line snapped,
and used that to get the pig close enough for Char's superior
netting skills to bring it home. The last one I had to wait a
whole half hour for, and it only taped out at just over
25. After about four hours and twenty some fish, the waves were
taking their toll on us, so we called it a day.....a really good
day on the Pond. Now its off to pre-fish the Strieff's
Tournament for the next few days. I hope all of you who are
entered have a fun,safe tourney, and I wish you all luck.
Double check the drag and keep the rod tip up......WJ
Warroad Area
Fishing Report
w/ Walleye Jon
June 16,17,23,24
The last
couple weeks have been on and off as far as the fish that I've
been finding. Father's Day weekend the kids and I worked the
South Tip down to the north side of Springsteel with decent
enough success at different times throughout the day. Everyone
caught a few fish, and I'm proud to say that my oldest daughter
Mcaulli out fished the "Old Man" on two different occasions in
the past two weeks. Including the biggest 'eye she's ever boated
that came in a hair on the plus side of nineteen inches. Which
brings up a hot tip for everyone……If you haven't already done
it, invest in a cheap digital (with extra batteries) or throw
away camera to keep in the boat at all times. I'll never forget
the fish the kids have been catching, but I regret that I had to
miss those photo opts due to not following my own advice.
Needless to say, I'll be the owner of a new camera before I see
the water again.
After
working a variety of depths over Father's Day with no steady
results, I started keying in on the shallow water next to sand
bars and around submerged weeds. With the exception of Wednesday
evening, the pattern worked very well. Live bait rigs behind a
fairly light sinker did the trick, but I had to keep switching
between minnows, crawlers, and leeches to entice bites in
different spots. I also figured out that other colors can out
fish gold and silver. Which brings me to another tip, When
fishing multiple people in the boat, use different colors and
baits until you figure out what is working the best. I'm as
stubborn as anyone when it comes to my hammered gold spinners,
but I always make sure everyone has something different on when
we start out, even if it's me who has to deal with the weird
looks and snickers as I'm clipping on a white bladed spinner at
the dock. By the way, white was the color that turned out to be
the winner this past Friday, with blue coming in a close second,
and gold only boating two fish….go figure.
Saturday
morning was another LOTW Walleye League event, so Mike and I got
up early to do a little scouting before the 8 am start time. We
worked around some shallower points, and weed beds, and did
manage to find a couple of fish, so we gambled that we could
find six fish there after eight am, and headed back for
check-in. Even though there was little wind to speak of, which
makes fishing shallow iffy at best, we decided to stick it out
during the four hours of league fishing. Our patience worked out
for the best, as the wind picked up enough to break up the
boat's silhouette, and we starting catching fish consistently.
The frustration of reeling in to clean off weeds was more than
worth effort at weigh-ins where five our six fish measured
between 17 and 19 inches, and the sixth one a solid fifteen and
a half. With a first place finish finally under our belts, we
are cautiously optimistic of our chances at a top three finish
at the end of the season.
As good as
the weed bite can be, unfortunately it can be pretty short
lived. With the hot weather, its likely the fish will be
heading out to the reefs and deep water flats to spend the rest
of the dog days, so we'll have to adjust our approach and hope
for the best. I've already been hearing about some good numbers
of fish coming from those areas, and it'll only get better. Look
for me jigging on top of the rocks, working the reef edges with
spinners and plugs, or heading across the baron stretches of mud
with a lead core set-up in the rod holder in the next few weeks.
Good luck, and we'll see you on the Pond. WJ
Fishing Report
6/16/07
Well I finally
made it out for a day on the water Saturday so I thought I would
actually write a report for your enjoyment. The day was
beautiful so my girlfriend Jen and I headed out to Twin Island
to see if we could get some fresh walleyes for a fish fry. We
started the first drift on the west side of the island in 16ft
and drifted into 6ft with no bites. We then moved out to 22ft
and drifted back into 14ft. We did manage to boat one nice 25”
walleye that came on a crawler harness with a gold spinner. It
started to get kind of crowded on the west side of the island
with a lot of boats moving in and very few fish being caught so
we made a move. We went over to some deep rocks by the green
buoy and drifted a crawler and a jig with a frozen shiner. We
got a small sauger, a big perch, a small northern and a keeper
walleye. Lots more fish were visible on the depth finder so we
put the bait away and put on a couple of deep diving reef
runners. Trolling in 24 feet of water with 85 feet of line out
we soon had 3 more real nice walleyes and a big sauger. All
five fish kept were between 15-1/2 and 18-1/2 inches long. Over
all a pretty nice basket of fish in just a couple of hours of
fishing.
Scarface
Warroad
Area fishing report
with Walleye Jon June 7 & 8 & 9
Lake of
the Woods was up to her old tricks this past weekend. From
Thursday through late Friday evening, strong winds created near
unfishable conditions. With the decision to postpone Thursday's
Walleye League until Friday, my partner Mike and I decided we
had to head across to South Tip no matter how bad the waves
were. We had been catching too many fish over to even think
about trying anywhere else, especially with only three hours to
work with. Upon arriving at the dock Friday evening, it was
obvious we were in for one heck of a boat ride, but our stubborn
streaks had already ko'ed our common sense, so when the horn
sounded, the adventure began. The swells were averaging about
four to six feet, which isn't near the worst I've been out in,
but definitely big enough to make us gladly strap on the
lifejackets. Forty-two minutes later we were finally dropping
out lines over the sides of the boat.. The wind direction made
our choice seem logical, although the fish didn't want to
cooperate. The depth finder confirmed that there were in fact
several fish lurking beneath the violent surface, but our
efforts only produced a single fish over the 14" minimum.
Knowing the boat ride back would take even longer than the trip
out, we reeled up and headed south at 8 o'clock. By this time
the wind was subsiding, so we made much better time than
expected. With the additional time on out hands before we
weigh-in, we made a pass over the sand bar by Springsteel, and
didn't graph a single fish. From there, it was over to the
blinker to give it a go as the minutes wound down. The ever
present thirteen inchers made there presence known, lifting our
spirits up until the point of laying them on the tape measure,
and back in the water they went. With our spirits low, and egos
smarting, we headed back in for weigh-in. Our single fish did
manage to earn us an extra fifty-nine points over not weighing
in any, but was disappointing none the less. It was just another
example of how LOTW can frustrate a person. Knowing where the
fish are, having caught them there for a week straight, seeing
them on the screen, and not enticing a bite makes you realize
why its called fishing, not catching. Even with the results, we
never second guessed our decision. Confidence is a big key to
any kind of fishing. If there's a little competition involved,
and you start doubting yourself, you might as well hand up the
rods, put the net away, and save your money.
Saturday
brought some dimished winds, but the previous two days of
churning up dirt and mud made for some tougher fishing. The
Fishing Minnesota crew headed out to try and find enough fish
for our annual fish fry. The boats in our group were pretty
spread out on the west side of the lake, and all manners of
techniques were being thrown at out green backed quarry.
Personally fellow Pro Staffer Curt Q. his brother Matt, and I
headed into the shallow weeds first thing in the morning, and
could not even scare up slough shark. From there we moved out
into some deeper water where my new buddies Brian and Mitch had
found some fish. I believe there was a little more clarity out
in the fifteen to eighteen foot depths we were fishing, and we
managed to put a few in the box, with the inevitable small ones
keeping us busy as well. Since the action was not fast and
furious, we moved on to the north side of Springsteel, fired up
Curt's kicker motor, and threw out some crank baits. The first
pass netted tow nice keepers, plus a couple Big Slimies. We
thought we were onto something and continued to work the area
from ten to fourteen feet. Unfortunately the first pass was the
best of the bunch, and it took a while to catch another keeper,
in between the northerns and tangled lines. We decided to call
it a day at five, and headed to clean our catch for the Big
Feast. By the time all the boats were accounted for and Scenic
Tackle's Jeff Beckwith was finished frying the fillets in his
secret coating, everyone had been through the line at least
twice and we had leftovers. A big thanks to everyone who made
Saturday such a great day.
Sunday saw
even more improved conditions, and it was the kids turn to get
their lines wet. We started out in front of the blinker, where
my daughter Madison hooked a beautiful 17 incher. With five
people in the boat, it would have been impossible to troll, so
the lack of wind made jigging the natural choice. With no other
fish biting where we were, I decided to try Five Mile Reef for
the first time this year. Unfortunately on the way out there, I
ended up with a piece of debris in my eye, and had to cut the
experiment short and head back to the dock to doctor myself up.
At the dock, Mike was just heading out with his family on board.
They headed back up to the South Tip, and discovered Friday
night's fish were still there, and this time they were hungry.
The highlight coming on the very first fish that snapped up the
bait connected to his daughter's three foot kiddie rod. With
Dad's "coaching" the net scooped the nineteen and a quarter
incher into the boat. When all was said and done, they were back
at the cleaning table filleting up one of the best catches of
the year so far, but the memories of the fun day on the water
that were created far out weighed the results present in those
Zip-Loc Baggies. There isn't a whole lot of things in this world
that can make a person smile the way you do when you're watching
a kid reel in a fish…..Have a great Father's Day this coming
weekend, hopefully a million more memories will come to pass on
the Big Pond.
Warroad
Area fishing report
with Walleye Jon June 2 & 3
The fishing
reports for this past weekend were good to excellent. The fish
seemed to be active all over, with some areas doing better than
others. We fished every where from The Blinker up to South Tip,
and caught fish wherever we went. Friday evening we spent some
time exploring some shallow water to see what areas were
accessible with the low water conditions. We found some good
emergent weed growth, but the fish don't seem to have migrated
in quite yet. I would say in the next week there should be good
numbers in those areas, but a person has to be extremely careful
getting in and out. We witnessed a boat trying to come into one
of the weed bed areas under power. Needless to say, it wasn't a
big surprise to see them limping back to the landing with the
aid of their kicker motor without having wet a line. We were too
far away to see exactly what happened, but when we tried to get
over to where they were, the trolling motor bottomed out. I'm
surprised they made it out without help. Luckily, it was very
calm on Friday night, so we didn't have to worry about the waves
bouncing us off the bottom. If its a little windy out, these
areas may put a few dents in the bottom of your boat. After the
exploring was done with, we hung around the Blinker until dark.
It was a C & R evening, and we did enough of both that we knew
if fishing was tough elsewhere on Saturday morning, we could
always come back there for our fish fry entree. Saturday morning
found us headed up towards Elm with a stop at The Sandbar (DNR
Reef). We only made a couple passes there and managed a good box
fish along with a slot fish (or bigger) the broke off. The lack
of fish on the graph prompted a move over to Elm Point, where we
found active fish in 12-13 feet. Although we were getting a few
decent eaters, the number of small fish was a bit frustrating.
The decision was made to work our way over to the S. Tip slow
trolling spinners rigged with minnow and crawlers. Once over
there, we worked a couple areas where the shelf drops down from
8 feet to 12 feet and found the spot we'd been looking for. We
worked the same areas for a few hours, until heading in early in
the afternoon with a live well full of marble eyes. As was
evidenced by the large number of boats, the flashing of nets,
and cries of "Fish on!", we were not the only ones
who found excellent fishing out there. After doing some work
around the camper, and having a bite to eat, it was back up to
The Tip for more of the same. Although the weather threatened us
with a shower, the rain moved south as it neared the lake, and
we continued to catch fish right up until dusk. The evening's
socializing brought news of good fishing from the west reaches
of Muskeg Bay all the way to Rocky Point. Although I did not
personally fish on Sunday, a friend who I sent up to the South
Tip, came back after only a few hours with his family's limit of
fish, and pictures of a handful of low twenty inch slot fish,
that were happily let free by kids eager to see them swim away.
I believe the "Bite" has officially begun, and anyone who's been
waiting for things to pick up, now is the time to bait up and
head out. Until next time, good luck, and good fishing. WJ
Warroad
Area fishing report
with Walleye Jon
May 26 - 27
Fished Thursday and Friday
evening up in the Elm Point area, and both nights were fairly
productive. We drifted and slow trolled spinner rigs in 9-11
feet of water. Most of the fish were quite aggressive, and
really snapped up the minnows. Crawlers did catch a few fish,
but hit with noticeably less force. Hammered silver or gold and
chartruse were the colors of choice, with one or two hitting on
orange. Saturday's weather saw 20-30 mph North winds, which kept
us off the lake all day. By Sunday morning, the winds subsided
enough to head out for our postponed LOTW Walleye League Event
that had been postponed from Saturday. My partner and I headed
back up to the Elm area, and tried to find the fish that had
been there a couple nights earlier. We hooked up with a perfect
weigh-in fish after about an hour of nothing, which I promptly
knocked off Steve's crawler harness with the net. After a few
choice words to myself, and not getting any more bites, we
decided to try out in a little deeper water, as Saturday's wind
had really dirtied things up in the shallower water. We made a
couple passes between Springsteel and Elm in 20ish feet, and
managed to pick up a couple that were under the 14 inch minimum.
I had one more spot to try before we had to report back in, so
we headed in toward the east side of Springsteel. The first two
drifts saw one 17 incher and another about the same that managed
to elude the net. A couple of passes with some light biters, and
on the last drift, we picked up another one right about 17". At
that point we had to head back in for weigh-in. The fishing had
been a little tougher, which I believe was due to the muddied
water, but people were managing fish. I headed back over toward
Springsteel after weighing in our third place catch. Again in
the afternoon we managed to pick up enough fish to keep us from
moving. The twenty-one, and twenty-seven inchers that we hooked
up with kinda helped that decision too. Memorial Day saw a
beautiful morning, and the fish were a little more aggressive.
Unfortunately they were also a bit on the small side as well, so
we decided to call it a day by one pm. With a few more decent
keepers in the box, it was a fitting end to an average to good
weekend on the Big Pond. On a side note, I had friends fishing
further east out by Twin Islands/Long Point, who did quite a bit
better with both the size and number of fish on both Sunday and
Monday. Good luck to all…..WalleyeJon
OPENER '07
Walleye season 2007
is underway and the weather was very unusual for an opener…..it
was gorgeous. There was no snow or rain, warm temperatures and
the fish were biting fast. I spent the opener camping at the
Big Bog State Park in Waskish. The fishing was pretty good on
Upper Red Lake but didn’t measure up the phenomenal bite that
happen last year. We caught a lot of fish but had to work for
them, just like most lakes in MN. We also caught some real nice
crappies; several over 14” and my dad caught one that measures
15 inches.
The reports I
got from Lake of the Woods were also pretty good. I heard good
things from the south shore out of Warroad, the light house gap,
south tip of Buffalo and Buffalo Bay. It sounds like there was
active fish from one end of the lake to the other. My brother
had his two boys out on Sunday and the caught a couple of big
ones, Corey caught a 10 plus pound 31 inch
walleye and Jerry caught a nice 7 pounder. They released both
of them and kept 5 for the frying pan, pretty good for the
opening weekend.
Sturgeon Excursion '07
Sturgeon Fishing in the Rainy River
April 21, 2007
The day
started out beautiful, warm and sunny, for the Sturgeon
Excursion ‘07. A large group of “Fishing Minnesota” sturgeon
enthusiasts gathered on the Rainy River for a weekend of
sturgeon fishing. The river and bay were all iced in on Friday
night near the resorts, but by the morning the ice was gone and
we were able to launch at the Wheeler Point access. I met the
some of the gang for a big breakfast at River Bend Resort and
headed out for our first trip in a boat of the season. I fished
with Curt Quesnell and his fishing buddy Griffin. We motored
towards the lake and until we found a large school of fish on
the
depth
finder, we thru the anchor and started to fish. Nearly
immediately we started to catch fish. The first one was a nice
43-inch sturgeon, then a bunch of smaller ones (mostly by
Griffin), then a couple more in the forties. Most of the fish
were caught in the morning, in the afternoon the wind switched,
the temp cooled off and the fishing slowed as well.
We
motored to the gap in the afternoon the give it a try there but
the gap was still iced over. Along the way we stopped and
checked out a real nice ford pickup sitting on the bottom of
4-mile bay. Story was that if fell thru a month ago and they
couldn’t get close enough to pull it out so the left it until
the ice melted.
In the end we
had boated 12 – 14 fish (I lost count). The biggest were
several in the low 40 inch range. The reports I heard from
other boats was that everyone had a good day, most with 10 to 20
sturgeon boated.
Scarface
Fishing Report
Warroad
3/30/07
Today we headed out of Warroad about
9:00, to a reef just off of the south tip. We fished everywhere from
12 to 20 feet, catching fish at almost every depth. We
ended
up keeping our limit of 16 walleye between my uncles Russ and Darrin
and my cousin Zack and myself. We released 3 that were too big, a
21” and two 24”ers and ended up throwing back dozens of smaller eyes.
It was a very frustrating day
because we lost so many hooks to northerns. My uncle Russ lost at
least 30 dollars worth of Sutton spoons, chubby
darters
and buckshot rattlers to big northerns that he couldn’t get up to the
top. Cousin Zack had a huge northern that I know would’ve been well
over 40” long, he got him up to the ice but it wouldn’t let us get his
head up the hole and eventually snapped the line. Eventually we did
get 2 northern up on the ice a 30” and a 33”.
Overall a great day of fishing.
Hook
Fishing Report
Tip-Up fishing for Pike on the south shore near Warroad
March 17 and 18, 2007
I had a friend
come up for the weekend with his father and a group of friends. It was
a busy weekend for pike fishing; all the hotels in Warroad were full.
We met for breakfast as the Silver Dollar and took off at daylight.
The
day started in pea soup fog that lasted for hours. We drove several
miles navigating solely with a GPS. When we got to our spot we had
the first fish in about twenty minutes, a real nice one 37” long. We
thought the day was going to be more of the same. WRONG!!! It was one
of the most frustrating days I ever had. We ended up catching four
pike between 30 and 37 inches but I lost track of how many flags we
had. We had 30 to 50 flags, maybe more. Fish would take the bait,
run out 20 or 30 feet of line and drop it. There was nothing we could
do. We tried setting to hook right away and we tried letting them
just have it for minutes. The results were always the same.
Sunday
the morning started out real fast we had lots a flags again. In the
first part of the day we caught four fish again. This time they were
bigger. We got a 39”, 37”, 37” and a 28” before 10:00. After that it
was more of the same like Saturday, they would hit the bait, run with
it and we couldn’t hook them up.
The baits we
used were live sucker minnows and a few smelt. We fished in 7 to 11
feet of water, from a foot under the ice to a foot off the bottom. We
shot a lot of video so it will take a little while to get it edited
and posted.
Scarface
Fishing Report
Mar 04, 2007
Long Pt Area
Today I joined a
friend of mine, Gordy Sorenson, for a little pike fishing. The
Temperature was 30 degrees and the sun was shining. We fished the
shoreline between 9 ft and 15 ft.
Only one flag
went up and it was on Gordy’s shallow line in 10ft of water over some
rocks. The set was a live sucker minnow with a single circle hook. We
set up the video camera Gordy set the hook and the fight was on. Soon
he had the head coming out of the ice and the body just kept coming.
When the fish was on the ice it was a MONSTER!!!!! 43-1/2”
with a 20” girth
It was the only
pike we got but it was a pretty good one.
Scarface
Fishing Report
Feb 25, 2007
Long Pt Area
I sat yesterday
out; the weather was pretty bad, with very strong winds. They were
blowing 20+ MPH most of the day with lots of snow.
Today the winds
diminished some but the snow was still falling in the morning when I
took off. I was heading to my usually spot on a spot on in some
rocks. It is a few miles off shore and I would never have found it
without my gps. I drove the whole way with my gps my hand so I could
watch it and stay on coarse. If I took my eyes off the screen for 10
seconds I would be wandering off my trail at a 45-degree angle.
When I finally
got to my spot I fished for an hour and a half without a bite. Then I
caught a real nice 16-½ walleye. The nothing for an hour until I
started cooking lunch, yup Wranglers with the sunflower heater. I
think fish really like Wrangler, as soon as started cooking the a few
fish moved in. I caught a 14 ½ sauger, released a small sauger, and
kept a 14” walleye.
Overall it was a
slow day, I only caught 4 fish over 4 hours. I stopped and checked
with a couple of friends fishing in the pack of houses along the
shoreline, one house was in 17 ft set up in the west bunch and the
other was in 28 feet in the east group. The action was pretty slow in
both locations as well.
Scarface
Fishing
Report
Feb 18, 2006
Yep, same
plan today. I had to be in Baudette to watch a hockey game
at 1:00, so I knew I could only fish in the morning. Was I
worried? Not really. I figured my fish would return at
10:00 again. I got set up about 8:30 and started catching
fish right away. I quit at 10:20 and ended with 4 walleyes
and 2 saugers.
I moved a
couple of house lengths this morning to find some fresh ice and
get away from all the snagged fishing line under my first spot.
Every time I fished over that spot I would eventually snag my
Sutton spoon in some old line. I always got it back but a
couple of time I had to wrap my line around my hand and pull it
to the breaking point.
Wrong,
within 5 minutes I had my Sutton spoon entangle in more line on
the bottom. Oh well, I guess that is the price of fishing in
big rocks.
Scarface
Fishing
Report
Feb17, 2007
Today was a
beautiful day that found me…again… camped out on top of my
school of trained walleyes on some Long Pt structure. The day
started out very slow I sat for over an hour without so much as
a nibble. At 10:00 I had no fish, at 10:08 I had my limit of 4
nice walleyes and was packing up to move shallow.
My
afternoon consisted of watching tip-up flags sit motionlessly.
I set one in 9 ft with a smelt and one in 12 ft with a live
sucker minnow. After an hour and a half I moved the one from 9
ft to 14 ft. I sat for another hour or so with no action and I
had had enough, I quit and went home. Not a good report but
that’s what happened. Maybe next time.
Scarface
Feb 10, 2007
Near Long Point
After missing
last weekend I was committed to giving it a shot today. The day
dawned cold……again…. and the wind was blowing pretty good. The
morning started out at –18 and “warmed” to –5, the wind was blowing 10
gusting 20 when I quit.
The fishing was
great; I went to the same exact spot I fished 2 and 3 weeks ago, a
rock hump off of Long Pt. Not sure if there is anything special about
the spot but it seems to hold fish, at least in the morning, things
really slow down in the afternoon. I lost count of how may fish I
caught, somewhere around 20 I suppose. I kept a nice limit of
walleyes between 14 and 16 and kept one sauger. Ate most of them for
supper, delicious.
I cooked a couple
of Wranglers for dinner with my Vexilar and sunflower heater. Funny
thing, of all the fishing videos I have filmed the one that I have
received the most comments about has got to be the scene where I
showed how I cook my Wranglers in front of the sunflower heater.
People loved it!!!! Today I found a new feature on the Vexilar
FL20……it has a hot dog bun warmer on the top. Check it out in the
video.
The ice, where I
set up, was 31” thick. There was about 6 inches of snow accumulated
over my spot from all the holes I have drilled over the winter, which,
probably made the ice a little thinner than if it was bare ice.
Scarface
Feb 3, 2006
Well, I sat
his weekend out. I was a little to cold for me, as most of you
know it was pretty cold on Lake of the Woods the weekend. When
I woke up on Saturday my thermometer read “error” it was too
cold for my weather station. About 10:00 it had warmed up
enough to read –22 and the wind was blowing 10 gusting 20. I
built a nice fire in the wood stove and stayed nice and warm.
Sunday I had other commitments but it was even colder. The
forecast for next weekend is much warmer with highs above zero,
5-10 on Sat and 10-15 for Sun.
See ya on
the lake
Scarface
1/27/07 Long
Point
Saturday dawned
cold and windy. When the alarm went off the weather man said the wind
chill was 30 degrees below zero….burrrrr. I hit the snooze alarm a
couple of times. I finally hit the ice after 7:30, and headed out on
sled to my rock pile that I like to fish. When I arrived there it was
just before 8 and cold was numbing. I got my otter set up and tried
to drill my holes only to find that the throttle was frozen on the
auger, so I lit the sunflower heater and sat in the silence for about
15 minutes until it thawed.
When I finally
got the holes drilled it was really slow for nearly 2 hours. Then a
few fish started showing up and I managed four real nice walleyes 14
½, 15 ½, 15 ½, 16 1/2 and put back a couple of 13’s. I kept
fishing and only found one sauger. Almost all of the fish came on my
silver Sutton spoon tipped with a half shiner minnow.
Sorry no video
this weekend, way to cold to do any video outside and nearly all the
fish hit my spoon so it didn’t leave any time to turn the camera on.
Scarface
1/20/07 – 1/21/07
Long Point
This weekend found
me again fishing at Long Pt. I wanted to try something new so I left
the shoreline and went to one of the many reefs in the area. Saturday
I went to one of the deep humps and caught a few. I kept 2 nice
walleyes and a 15” sauger. Lost one at the bottom of the hole and
missed another pretty good one when I was trying to set the camera for
a shot (not a good Idea).
Sunday I went back with my brother Jerry
and nephew Chris, we fished a little higher up on the reef. We
started out hot in the early morning catching most of our fish before
11:00. In the afternoon the bite really slowed down but we continued
to pick up a few for the rest of the day. When the walleye bite slowed
Chris went deep to see if there was some saugers hiding off the edge,
it was a good idea but didn’t payoff. We ended the day with 12 nice
walleyes, 2 saugers, a 12” perch and a bourbot.
The best action came on aggressive
jigging with a silver/brass Sutton spoon tipped with half of a shiner
minnow. Almost all the fish came from lots of jigging action with
only a few coming on dead sticks.
The ice is
getting pretty thick, it measures 25 solid inches and the snow cover
is minimal at best. The day was beautiful with temperatures in the
mid 20’s light winds and sunny in the afternoon.
Scarface
Fishing Report
1/19/07
Since that
cold snap fishing has been different. I has been hard to find ANYTHING
consistent. Those in the know swear there is an early and late in the
day bite in the shallow water at Zippel. My friend Bob fished after
work last Wednesday and plucked 15 real nice Walleyes in an hour and a
half just before dark.
17 feet deep
just off of Walleye Ave (Zippel Bay uses street signs to mark their
roads) The thing is the fish were biting when he set up there at about
4 pm.
Friday we both
went back and were set up by 2:30 pm. I was fussing with cameras and
power packs to try to video the fishing and didn’t get a line in the
water till almost 3.
At 3:10 an 18
½ incher smacked my pink and white glow Angel EyeJr. By this time Bob
had caught a couple of small fish that he didn’t keep. A half hour
later I iced a Walleye that didn’t quite touch 14 inches so I grimaced
and tossed him back down the whole. By this time Bob a two keepers, he
had his go-to Buckshot Rattle Spoon in some odd colors that are hard
to find and a small jig below a bobber and had one fish on each.
Another nice
Walleye around 14 ½ inches went in my pail at 5 pm. By this time Bob
had his 4. Little fish took over and drove us crazy till we quit
around 6 pm.
The skys had
cleared and the pressure was rising all afternoon. Back on Wednesday
the pressure was low and it was cloudy. Still a decent couple of hours
of fishing at Zippel shallows. I think on a cloudy day you could set
up in the 15 to 17 foot range and plan on staying there for the day.
You won’t get Saugers but the quality of the Walleyes is excellent
Curt Quesnell
1/14/07 Long Pt
Today found me again in one of my favorite spots off Long Pt. The day
started out cold, nearly 20 below zero but there was no wind so it
wasn’t too bad. The fishing was great; I got my first 8 fish limit of
the year. I ended the day with 4 nice saugers and 4 nice
walleyes. They ranged from 13” to 15-1/2”. It took only 1 hour for the
first seven keepers and 2 hours for the last one. Not too many small
ones today only put back 4 or 5 little ones. I caught most of the fish
today on live shiners, however I did get some on dead shiners (when I
ran out of live ones) and fatheads that my buddy Denny brought over to
me. It looks like it made some ice since last weekend when it measured
15”, the ice today measured between 19 and 20 inches.
Scarface
1/9/07
It's a busy world
up on Lake of the Woods these days.
If you can plan a midweek trip you are sharing the fish with a lot
less anglers. Reports along the Long Point, Zipple, Morris Point and
Pine Island areas are all about the same. It gets spotty on the
weekends while Weds, Thurs and Fri fishing is great.
Turn the odds in your favor by staying focused on the task at hand,
which is putting your bait in front of every potential biter. Watch
your electronics and pull up on all suspended red lines even if the
first dozen or so produce nothing. If you have those "lookers not
biters" coming up off the bottom nose to nose with your bait, give
them something else to consider. Generally downsize and give them less
movement. Be patient, the go time might last only an hour so it is
important to be "at home" and ready when it starts.
This might make a difference of a fish or two over the course of a day
on the ice but when fishing goes spotty like it is it can be a big
difference.
Good Luck and remember to be aware of where you are and condition
around you, stay near the plowed roads with your vehicles. It is
supposed to get MUCH colder this week, that should help with some of
the cracks.
Curt Quesnell
1/7/07 Long Pt
Well what can I
say, today I struck out. I fished for 3 hours in the morning and
never even had a bite. I was in nearly the same spot as yesterday. I
wanted to fish the exact holes again but I couldn’t find them. An
inch or so of fresh snow fell last night; the wind blew and covered up
everything in the area I fished the previous day. Oh well, that’s the
report, not all reports are going to be good ones.
Scarface
1/6/07 Long Pt
Today found me back at Long Pt. I fished in 24 feet of water, using
only live shiners. It was a bit strange today; it was one of those
days that I had all the bites and all the fish I caught were on the
same hook in the same hole. Not even a bite in the other hole, I tried
several different hooks and even ended the day with an identical hook
as the other, but still nothing. The successful hook was a 1/8 oz swim
jig with white glow paint with 2 pink glow dots. I caught a nice
walleye right off the bat, even before I had the video camera set up. Next came a few small ones, then a couple of saugers, one 13” and a
15”. Then some more small ones and just as I was leaving I got a nice
16” walleye. Overall it was pretty steady action until about noon then
it really slowed down to a crawl. When I quit for the day I had fished
from 10:00 to 3:00 and had 2 sauger and 2 walleyes in the pail and
releases another 6 or 8.
Scarface
Jan
1, 2007
Every few days the weather has to turn on us to keep fishing
from
being perfect all the time. Strong cold fronts and Northeast
winds
tamed the bite a bit over the weekend. Things were rockin' up
till
Friday when the slow down began in the teeth of Winter Storm
Watches and Warnings.
Even cold front fishing isn't too bad this year. Pay attention
and
watch for the flashes on the depth finder and you can pull
decent
fish even when the bite is off. We were fishing rocks and our
group
was on a point where we were dealing with depths from 26 to 34
feet in a very small area. Dead sticks were getting the fishes
attention and a bit of movement triggered the bite. Most of our
fish came on bobber lines.
Something odd in my fishhouse. I never had a fish come up off
the
bottom and bite all day. Every fish I caught was suspended 6 to
15
feet off the bottom. It happened 10 times, I caught 4 of the
Walleyes as they roamed past, 2 more rung me up good but never
got hooked and a couple more of the fish just pushed the bait
around and never got serious and a couple more just disappeared.
Thank goodness for my flasher.
On those cold front days when fishing is tough, be patient, and
pay
attention to ANY details you may be given. If the fish dont go
in the morning odds are it will be a mid day thing.
The weather is going to stay nice so get out and enjoy a day on
the ice.
Curt Quesnell
12/31/06 - Long
Point
Today was a bit frustrating. I fished the midday out from long Point.
I sat for nearly 1-1/2 hours without so much as a bite. Just when I
was going to move to a new spot, I caught a 16” sauger and a small
walleye. The graph started showing fish so I decided to stay put. I
caught s few more but missed a whole bunch, the poorest hookup
percentage I’ve had this winter. In total I fished for 3-1/2 hours,
kept a 16” sauger, a pair of 14” walleyes and released 2 or 3 small
walleyes.
Scarface
December 30, 2006 - Arnesons Reef
The Day was beautiful; temperature was warm with a light wind
blowing 5-10 from the east. The heater stayed off all day. I drove
my snocat from Long Pt to Arnesons reef. The going was very good once
you got over the cracks.
I started out about
9:00, setting up in 26 ft and fished there until 1:00. The fishing
was slow at best, but I managed to catch 4 walleyes, keeping a 14” and
a 17”, putting back two that were still pretty nice, but I “knew” I
could do better, they stretched the bucket at 12 ½ inches. The bottom
was very snaggy; I left a Buckshot rattle spoon and a Sutton spoon in
the rocks.
At 1:00 pm I moved
to deeper water, off the edge of the reef, setting up in 34 ft of
water. In about 10 minutes a had a very nice 17” walleye in the bucket
and a bit later an eelpout came slithering up a hole but that was the
end of the fish. I fished another hour and a half without any more
action.
Scarface
Over the holiday
weekend there were not a huge amount of people out fishing. The ones
that were out met with nice weather and good fishing.
The fishhouses are
creeping out deeper, now out to about 29 feet of water. This is
producing nice Walleyes till midday and then an afternoon of pretty
fast Sauger catching big Saugers! A dead stick or bobber line still
out producing the spoons.
Most road locations
are fighting cracks and moving bridges constantly (earning their
money). Other than that, the ice is good the fishing is very very
good.
Curt
12/23/06
I went out of
Springsteel today with Trevor and Terry George. We fished the DNR
reef in about 20 feet of water. I used a spoon and a jig to start out
with but ended up taking the spoon off by the end of the day because
it was producing nothing, Terry and Trevor both used jigs and we all
used fathead minnows. We got there about 12:30 and had one in the
bucket within 15 minutes or so, but didn’t get another bite until
about 3:00. The fish kept biting until dark usually in flurries of
two or three. We put four more in the bucket from then till dark. We
were all using our secret jigs so I can’t tell you what kind of hooks
we used. We ended up catching a total of eight walleye, but only five
big enough to keep. The temperature stayed within a couple degrees
all afternoon about 27 degrees F. with a very stiff cold wind. The
water was kind of murky almost like there was chocolate milk
spilled in the lake. Overall a fun day of fishing.
Hook
LOW Report
12-16/06
Here is the
recipe for success on Lake of the Wood's south shore.
These expansive
flats have fish almost everywhere and if you are willing to do the
work you can stay with the biters and turn the odds in your favor for
a big fish to cap off a great Lake of the
Woods adventure.
Here it is.....
At first light
be drilling holes shallow. I mean 10 feet to 15 feet.
Use aggressive methods, lots of movement with spoons. You will
know very soon if this is the presentation of the day, if nothing
bites in a half hour go the other direction. Jigs under floats
and
no movement. Lake of the Woods "eyes" are known for loving
an easy meal. Sit tight and hang in there until 9:30 then
pack it
up and head deep.
How deep?
If you are a group and can stay in touch, have some set up in 20 to 25
feet and then go to the end of the fish houses set up for the day.
You will be as deep as 30 to 35 feet. If the houses you left in
the mid depth range don't catch fish in the first hour or so have them
join you in the deep and
s p r e a d o u t.
Run a bobber
line or dead stick with a live minnow on one line
and use a spoon with the head of a minnow on the other. Keep
your eyes to the electronics and be patient. Obviously, if you
really start catching a lot of fish on one line or the other...do
I have to continue this thought. Good!
Along about 3 pm
move back to your morning shallow holes and
work aggressively till dark. This can be the best time of the
entire day. Numbers of quality fish and big fish are on the
prowl.
There are lots
of fish there and they make predictable daily movements in and out for
food. If you do the work and are willing to drill a few
holes and move your gear a couple of times you will have many more
good days than bad on Lake of the Woods.
This got long and
became not so much a report on Saturday’s fishing, here is that report
as follows.
Saturday the bite
backed off a bit from the fever pitch that early ice anglers streamed
to Lake of the Woods to get in on. Constantly changing weather
may have been the culprit but the fish took a good share of the day
off. The early morning shallow bite produced nuttin'. The
deep water bite got rolling midday for an hour or so with a noticeable
absence of
Sauger. 8 fish came thru on the flasher about 10 feet up off the
bottom. 4 of them bit (a personal best average for me) nice
Walleyes and one big fish that swam off with my super secret jig.
It
went completely dead at about 2 pm and stayed that way. We
didn’t move shallow till dark because it was getting blustery and our
group had much equipment to haul in.
Fishing Sunday was improving again. Can't wait till next time.
Merry Christmas
Curt
Quesnell
12-10-06 Pine Island
I started fishing at
10:30, caught the first one at 11:00 and had a limit of 14-15 inch
walleyes by noon. I also got one nice sauger.
Fishing from 12 to 1:30 produced only one more walleye. Overall
I caught about 10 fish total in 3 hours all but one was a keeper.
I caught all the walleyes with fathead minnows on a 1/8 oz glow jig
and the sauger was caught on a buckshot rattle spoon with a shiner
head. Overall it was a pretty good day. The ice was 11”
thick and the water was very clear. Check out the video of the
day.
Scarface
12-9-06 Long PT
I fished the midday
for a couple of hours, not a bite. I fished in 15 ft of water over
some rubble, but it was real slow, I never had a bite. The ice was 10
inches thick and was making a lot of noise. I don’t think I will ever
get used to feeling of ice move under your feet. The water was a
little bit milky in color for some reason.
Scarface
October
20, 2006
I
waited all morning for the snow to let up (as was forecasted) it never
did, so I just went. I launched from the wheelers point access,
on the Rainy River, a little after noon. Fished in light to heavy
snow all afternoon, moderate winds and temperatures around freezing.
Grand total…..1 medium sized perch. I went up river near the church
and tried first, had a couple of bites but didn’t hook any, I did see
a few caught in nearby boats. Later I went back nearer the landing, I
tried across from Sportsman’s Lodge for an hour or more. This is
where I caught the perch. Seen 2 walleyes caught nearby. I fished
with 3/8 oz glow jigs in varying colors with live shiners and shiners
pinched in half. In summary a chilly slow day.
Scarface
Sept 4, 2006
Well
I’m back!!!!! I took a couple months off to finish my house.
I had many projects that remained unfinished for the last
eight years. This spring I got the urge to finish it off and
gave up fishing in march and April. I figured I had better
post a new report and video, a lot of people were fearing for
my health, they thought something had happened to me.
We
quit about noon and had 7 in the box that were all 17 to 19
inches and released 6 more that were 20 to 25 inches plus a
few perch and a couple of northerns. In all it was a good
opener with some fresh walleye for supper.
Today we were deep
trolling in the mud off Long Pt. My partner for today was my
father. Weather was sunny with the wind blowing 10 and picked
up to about 15 mph, making for some nice rollers. We headed
north from long point, out about 5 miles into the mud. We
didn't catch a lot of fish but the fish we caught were pretty
large. We fished from about nine o'clock until noon and we only
kept one. We also got 4 other fish that had to go back. One
was 20 inches, one was 23 inches ,one ones 24 inches, and the
biggest was 27
inches. The interesting thing was that my dad caught all the
fish today. The lure of the fish liked today was a number 11
tail dancer, pink on the bottom and green on the top. I tried
every color under the rainbow, at least six or eight different
plugs and still nothing, but that's okay. I'll try harder next
time.
the south shore concentrating on about 20 feet of water. We
caught a lot of fish of all sizes including walleyes saugers and
northerns. We caught several walleyes over 20 inches and also
put back many more are under 15 and we kept six for the
freezer. In all it was a wonderful day. It's always special
and you can fish with your mom and dad and catch a nice bunch of
fish.
Bridges.
I pulled up to the north hump at bridges and worked slowly
across the top with the electric trolling motor. We had five
fish before we finished the first trip across the top of the
reef. We worked back slowly across the top and by the time we
got back to where we started we had two more, a wonderful start
to the day. We covered most of the top of the reef looking for
some better fish, but they were hard to come by. Jerry
schooled me pretty good this morning catching five for every one
that I caught. He was using a jig and a leech, I was trying of
very small
silver spinner and a leech, I did switch to a jig after a while
but it didn’t help much for but a jig seemed to be what they
wanted. The fish were mostly small, lots in the 12 to 13 inch
range. We did keep six on the North hump between 15 and 17
inches. What I lacked in numbers I did make up for in size
scoring a real nice 26 inch walleye.
South
hump at bridges and immediately found fish there as well. We
caught the last two keepers there to fill our limit of walleyes
and decided we'd head out to the mud to try some deep trolling
to pick up couple of saugers. We stopped in the middle of
nowhere, my secret spot, between Garden Island and Lems Reef.
We trolled in 36 feet of water running about 2.75 mph and we let
out anywhere from 125 feet to 150 feet of line. Most of the
fish were caught with about 130 -140 ft or so feet of line. The
crank bait of choice for today was a blue colored # 11 tail
dancers. I have had good luck in this spot at other times. We
thought this would be as good a spot as any to start, we hadn’t
trolled for very
long when we started catching fish, the only trouble was they
were all too big with the biggest being 27 inches long and
really fat. 
One
interesting thing from today was while we were trolling out in
the mud we caught a lot of spiny water fleas on our line. This
was the first of the spiny fleas that I have seen this summer.
Not sure what it means but it is interesting. 
throttled
back, dropped down off plane only to hear BOOOOOOOOM……rumble
rumble rumble. We looked back to see an ugly dark blue
thunderstorm lighting up the sky. We put down some bait and
worked the first spot trying to see which way the storm was
tracking. 
to small rollers so Todd put down a Taildancer 11 and I put down
a Reef Runner. We trolled for a couple of minutes and I got a
nice 15-1/2” we continued south and pulled a 23” and a 26” and a
few smaller ones.
things started to get desperate, I ran out of coffee, so I tried
my T8 kicker and it started. Hurray!!! So I sat and fished for
a while with little motor purring away. I set the hook in my
biggest fish of the year, a real nice 29” walleye with one of
those little bulbous growths on her left side near the tail. 
Fishing
is great! Lighthouse Gap, Morris Point Gap and down to Zippel
Bay are packed with boats and it seems the every one is catching
fish. Not the big slot fish one right after another like a week
or so ago but good solid keepers perfect for the frying pan (15
to 17 inchers.). A gal from Iowa came into the Zippel Bay Resort
with a 33 incher Saturday, It was spawned out so it was just a
bit on the skinny side but still a monster big fish (I saw the
pic)
full of action, though it did not produce much for us. From
8:15 until a quarter to 9, we could barely keep our lines in the
water. I would need more than just my fingers and toes to count
the amount of fish that I missed jigging my spoon. The fish
wouldn’t really bite, it seemed like they would just gum the
minnow and not let hook get in their mouth enough for us to
catch them. We made a lot of fish a lot fatter this morning.
We did manage to get 2 walleye, 2 sauger and a perch out of the
whole ordeal. After that, the fishing died until about noon,
then the fish started biting every once in a while until around
1:30. We picked up another walleye and 2 big perch and threw
back a few smaller fish. After that I knew that the last few
times I had been out there the fishing didn’t pick up at all
from 2 until dark, so we decided to make a move to a little
shallower water. We found a spot on the GPS where there was a
14 foot hump on a 15 foot point so we decided to fish there for
the “night bite”. The alleged night bite didn’t happen
there. We kept another walleye and a perch from then until
dark. We took home 4 walleye, 2 sauger and 4 perch, today was
like every time that I have fished so far this year, not fast
and furious but we brought home fish. Fishing today
over to Miles Bay to try some familiar spots, again it was an
assortment of bass, perch, crappies and rock bass and a couple
of keeper ‘eyes for supper. 
Along the way we stopped and caught some more bass and northerns
on our trek north. 
Once
into Whitefish we headed to the Three Sisters Island area and I
jigged up one very nice Laker. I think it is my biggest ever, a
34 incher that went nearly 14 pounds. After that we headed to
the beach on Timber Island for a bit of lunch and fished o
ur
way back to the portage on then to the cabin.
walleyes in
Ontario. We drove several miles north in Lance’s beautiful 2007
2025 Lund Pro V with a 250 Hp Mercury Verado, to our first
stop. I was very impressed with the Verado, it was extremely
quiet and very smooth running and smooth shifting. The first
stop was similar to all the rest, small reefs that rose to 22-24
ft surrounded by 28-32 ft of water. ALL of the spots held
