Lake of the Woods reports?

[sledman]

Anyone have any Lake of the Woods fishing reports? Plan on heading up to Morson this weekend and hope the fishing and weather cooperate.

[Obabikon]

I haven't been out yet, but I was told that they were catching walleyes deep. 20+ feet...

The weather has just now turned nice... should be stable for a few days, which will definately help the fishing. This weekend will be a good time to come.

[Rgate]

Weather was great on Sunday - walleye fishing was OK - we caught walleyes in about 18 feet, a few smallmouth and lost a muskie. The guys from Iowa fished the island right in front of the resort and caught quite a few big walleyes - up to 8 pounds. They fished the same place last year, every one else thinks it's too close - not enough of a boat ride. The largest fish recorded on the opener was 9 pounds. Late afternoon and evening seem to be the best time.......Good luck.

[alanb]

Just got back late last night. We fished the islands on the north end of Miles Bay from Smokehouse Island west to Horseshoe Island north to the peninsula shoreline from Saturday through Tuesday (5/16 to 5/19). Extremely slow opener with winds ranging mainly from the northwest to southeast over the 4 days. Low temps ran from below freezing on Friday night to 40s. High temps ran from low 50's on Saturday to upper 60's Monday and Tuesday. Woke up Saturday morning to a 1/2" of snow and frozen pipes. The real warm weather arrived as we were leaving Morson on Wednesday.

Very cold water temperatures the entire time. Very erratic locations for the walleyes. Hardly anything shallow. Found most eyes around 20' to 30' on the bottom with crappie and had to fish a very slow vertical presentation with a jig and minnow. It wasn't until Tuesday after 4 pm that the water warmed enough in the shallow bays for the fishing to turn on. We were trolling Husky Jerk cranks in the centers of the bays in 8' to 10' of water. We caught a lot more Northerns (almost all were in the mid 20" range) over the entire trip, especially Tuesday night, than Walleyes - the Northerns were very aggressive with the largest being 31". Once the shallow bays started to warm up I did have limited success with a 1/2 oz bottom bouncer with a Money Minnow rigged weedless and got a Northern and Walleye in some reeds.

Bottom bouncing with crawlers on spinner harnesses did nothing. Plastic twister tails and leeches on any color jig did nothing. I suspect if the warm weather that arrived on Wednesday sticks around a few days to warm the water, fishing over the US Memorial Day weekend should pick up.

Thanks to Obabikon Bay Camp for all their help making our trip very smooth and enjoyable. Their new cabin looks like a first class place to stay - it has an awesome southern view of Obabikon Bay.

Best of luck to everyone in the weeks to come. I hope I gave some good info to help you out.

Alanb

[BB3]

was just there Sat thru Weds. Did pretty good jigging w/minnows in 25-30'. Most walleyes were 12"-15", with a few over 20". Also picked up a few bass,crappie,and n.pike all in the same spots. Water temp was 47 so should get better in a week or two. I'm going back Fri- Mon and try again. Do you have a place up there? Supposed to be nice this weekend.
http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/images/misc/progress.gif

[Rgate]

Had a good opening week on Lake of the Woods out of Morson. Here is a link to some big walleyes caught wednesday - http://buenavista.livejournal.com/

[Obabikon]

I finally got to go out fishing yesterday. We did really well... caught six walleyes over 22"... biggest being 27". Only one fish between 16-18". If it weren't for the crappies, we would've had a hard time finding lunch. But, anytime you're catching big girls, you can't complain.

[Fireman13]

Fished out of Buena Vista this weekend. Mostly West of there. Four guys caught 200 walleyes in two good days. Lots of 15" - 18" fish, a dozen 19" - 23", a 25", 26", 27", 29", 29.5" and a 30". the 30" wnet almost 11 lbs. Most in 11 to 19 feet. Females just coming around after spawn.

[Tony Shirley]

I finally got to go out fishing yesterday. We did really well... caught six walleyes over 22"... biggest being 27". Only one fish between 16-18". If it weren't for the crappies, we would've had a hard time finding lunch. But, anytime you're catching big girls, you can't complain.

Hey Jared rember me tony make sure u set me up with jason g in mid july

[aggie kolisnik]

I'll finally be able to get some fishing in, I will be heading to Bell Island Outpost(saboskoshing bay-across from the SE end of Mcphearson Island)
Some guests will be arriving on Sunday morning, so I have saturday evening to relax and fish. I hope the weather co-operates. I'll post the results of the weekend on Sunday nite when I get back. Have a great weekend everyone. A.K.

[MN_Moose]

I finally got to go out fishing yesterday. We did really well... caught six walleyes over 22"... biggest being 27". Only one fish between 16-18". If it weren't for the crappies, we would've had a hard time finding lunch. But, anytime you're catching big girls, you can't complain.

Obabikon, what's the water temp?

[Obabikon]

Water temp's still pretty cool. But had climbed over 55 degrees last I checked...

Obabikon lake always warms faster and Miles bay always stays cooler.

[Dark Diz]

Hi All, first post, hope its a good one.
I have use of a cottege (belongs to the in-laws) on Taylor Bay (between Morson and Bergland), was wondering if there are any good spots around that area that can be fished from shore or close to shore (Unfortunately, I don't have a boat...yet ;)).
I CAN get hold of a canoe, but paddles only, clearly not big enough for me, gear and 3 kids to go very far.
We tried from the rocks last year, many snags, only ever caught one fish, a fairly small Walleye.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated, as we will be there this weekend.

Thanks

Diz
:help:

[Dark Diz]

Oh well, guess the fish never heard of Taylor Bay, not even a nibble all wknd :(. Fished from the shore into what seems like good structure, used everything from crawlers to cranks, tried out in the canoe in the middle of the bay (about 18' depth) with a short-tailed jig... absolutely NADA.

Wife managed to tip the canoe though, luckily it was as she was getting out of it in about 2' of water. The look was priceless... Oh for a camera!!!

Back up in a few weeks, maybe the luck will pick up.

[Shorelunch]

Hi All, first post, hope its a good one.
I have use of a cottege (belongs to the in-laws) on Taylor Bay (between Morson and Bergland), was wondering if there are any good spots around that area that can be fished from shore or close to shore (Unfortunately, I don't have a boat...yet ;)).
I CAN get hold of a canoe, but paddles only, clearly not big enough for me, gear and 3 kids to go very far.
We tried from the rocks last year, many snags, only ever caught one fish, a fairly small Walleye.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated, as we will be there this weekend.

Thanks

Diz
:help:

Diz, we had a family cabin on Taylor Bay for many years - we're now out of Hanson Bay. You should be ok (though not ideal) with a canoe. Typically with a normal spring the bay is great to fish - this year has been different. Also, the bay is open to the NW, so if the wind is in that direction, you may be shore fishing. On the east side of the bay, there's a large weed bed - try jigging or throwing crankbaits on the outside edge. The west side can also be very good. On the west edge of the bay, where the sand shoreline meets rock, that whole side of the shoreline up to the point can be really good fishing. You can jig or cast crankbaits there too. Heck, just trolling the middle of the bay can be good. Watch where the boats are.

As far as other spots, they're a bit out of canoe or walking range. There's a spot in the bay to the east (Miller Bay) that' called "Shirley's Rock" but unless someone marked it with a jug would be extremely difficult to find without a GPS. It couldn't hurt to walk the beach and say hi to folks. I would bet if you ask, a cabin owner or two would take you out with them. Pretty friendly folks over there.

One final option would be to call over to Buena Vista resort a go fishing with a guide for a day or 1/2 day. If they're booked, I'm sure they'll refer you to another good guide.

[Dark Diz]

Hey thanks Shorelunch. Yes, Taylor Bay is a little slice of heaven, I absolutely LOVE it there (cottege belongs to my in-laws). I know EXACTLY where both spots in the bay are. This wknd past the wind was from the NE predominantly, we tried between the island and the East point (thats where the cottege is, we were about 30m off the rocks... still nothing.
If you have the coords of Shirley's Rock, I have a Garmin? Much appreciated

[Shorelunch]

Hey thanks Shorelunch. Yes, Taylor Bay is a little slice of heaven, I absolutely LOVE it there (cottege belongs to my in-laws). I know EXACTLY where both spots in the bay are. This wknd past the wind was from the NE predominantly, we tried between the island and the East point (thats where the cottege is, we were about 30m off the rocks... still nothing.
If you have the coords of Shirley's Rock, I have a Garmin? Much appreciated

I do . . . but it' 2.5 hours north of me right now. Sorry. Since the pine flys are now out, the walleyes should be coming on the sand. Otherwise, canoe west to the other bays and try the points. I've been fishing points the past few weeks with the best success.

[Dark Diz]

Thanks anyway. I'll post again to let you know if I had any success. Now I'm REALLY chomping to get back up there :)

[newfishinguy]

June 8-12 stevens bay lotw-
Its friday night and instead of fishing im wearing a red wing jersey and skipping fishing!! fishing report since monday goes as such
mon-rainy and cold but northerns were biting hot and heavy-occasional smallie and they were very big avg 16 inches. My brother and i caught 15 fish in a couple of hours with one being 33".
Tues- cold and rainy again but still good northern action, nothing really big though. Brother caught a 39" and a 35" musky on smallie gear. Total catch was 67 fish, breaking down as 2 musky, 3 walleye, one perch, 6 smallies and the rest northerns, mostly 18-27".
Wed- partly cloudy with sun and wind, fishing ok but spotty. guys in camp hit muskies while smallie fishing with a 47" being the best and a 22" smallie in the cabin next door.
Thurs- Sunny most of the time with winds also. caught 43 fish wiht most again being smaller northerns.
Fri-until hockey game- 10 smallies and 3 dozen northerns from 22"-30".
Go wings

[Dark Diz]

Ayone been on the SE side of the lake lately? Will be up to Taylor Bay Tuesday for a WHOLE WEEK!!!!!!
Any reports?

Thanks

[maverick]

I was up to LOTW last weekend. We fished Miles Bay out to Stairway and all the way out to Tod's Island and Firebag. Fishing was tough due to the bi wind they had the week before and the fish fly hatch. The water is really stirred up, but is settling and the hatch should be done, so the fishing should get better. We did manage about 40 walleyes per day, but we had to really work for them. We found fish in 18-30 feet of water with most of the active ones in 16-23. The good news was that we had awesome weather with sun every day and temps in the 70's and no wind....Good luck up there...

[Shorelunch]

Well, the wind kept on blowing. We were up Thurs - Sun and the wind howled Thurs - Sat but was managable n Sunday. We kept near the Sunset Channel area most days scrounging up a few walleyes at 25'. Sunday we were able to fish the humps west of Sunset and also fished the humps south of Dawson channel. Did much better on Sunday. Still found the fish at 25'. Mostly caught them on jigs and Gulp, but caught a few trolling spinners.