Lake of the Woods Tackle List

[jpsted]

Making my first Canadian fishing trip first week of September to Lake of the Woods. Would appreciate any help/insight to a tackle list, and more specifically weights/sizes.

I've covered all the basics shad raps, crank baits, bottom bouncers, spinners, spoons, harnesses and some plastics/tubes. Spent two hours today at Bass Pro browsing but didn't pull the plug on many as I kept debating and doubting myself on sizes.

We'll be fishing smallies, walleye, northern and perhaps musky (but that would likely be by accident). I plan to use a combination of spinning and bait casting reels which I've currently got loaded with braided line anywhere from 10-20lbs on 6'6" med/heavy action rods.

Was thinking about buying a heavier combo as well.

All thoughts, tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[skiroule]

Well this question got my attention. I have a feeling this won’t be your only trip to the area.

My wife and I have fished the Canadian side of the lake a lot this year but this is the first year we have spent much time on that side so we’re considered novices by the locals. Even so, we’ve caught a lot of fish but as non-experts all I can tell you is the type of tackle we have been using.
Both of us are using Garcia Vendetta medium heavy and heavy rods (7’ and 7’6”) with Garcia line counter reels and 15 – 18# braided line. We use quite a bit of lead – typically 1 ½ - 2 oz. bottom bouncers. We run spinners almost exclusively. The rigs I make up are pretty simple: Short leaders (2 – 3 ft.), big blades, and big hooks (biggest I can find). This fish up there are very aggressive and don’t seem to shy away from the bigger stuff. 95% of the fish we catch are lip hooked so they’re really smacking the bait. As far as color, you usually can’t go wrong with hammered gold or flashing gold blades. On some days I’ve had good luck with neon green (both sides). We prefer live minnows but plastics can work well. A friend was using a 5” Gulp minnows last weekend and the Walleyes were after it like crazy. I also know guys that have had a lot of success pulling Raps over the reefs (especially for Northerns). It’s all good.

We’re both very quickly bored with jigging so we always troll unless it gets so rough that drifting is the only option. Yeah, we get snagged some but it’s pretty much rock so you can usually backtrack to get un-snagged.

Sorry for rambling on but I’m heading back up tomorrow and the thought of some nice fish coming into the boat gets me going.

It sounds like you're pretty well prepared. Good Luck and Have Fun!

 

[G]

Keep it simple. Hammered gold anything and FROZEN shiners. That is really all you need.

 

[jpsted]

Thanks for the input guys, very helpful. Surprised neither of you mentioned any crank baits so won't worry beyond what I already have on those.

Re: gold blades, hammered or otherwise...I was going to pick up some gold hammered spoons as well...thoughts on size? I have some one ouncers but thinking of grabbing some larger ones as well, 1 1/2 - 1 3/4oz. Too big?

 

[Hoosier]

I'm actually heading up there this weekend. Never been there. I was told reef runners and hot n tots work well, but my guess is it comes down to preference.

Is it muddy-colored water? Curious why you suggested gold. Also, what are frozen shiners?

We're not staying here, but there is a link with some tips I fouhnd:

http://www.witchbay.com/pages/lake-of-the-woods-fishing-articles-amp-tips.php

Most of the camps we've gone to previously are fly-in places in Northern Ontario or Eastern Manitoba. This is the 1st drive-in place we've gone to in Ontario. I haven't gone with in a while (family goes every year). My gear is more suited to northern and walleye way North, but I'm sure I'll catch on as we go. Just not sure I have heavy enough gear for this lake.

 

[G]

The lake is at record levels this year. I mainly fish the south side and I was just there last weekend. Because the lake is about 2 and 1/2 feet higher than normal the fish are scattered and a little harder to find than usual. However the weather has finally settled down. If you believe that fronts affect fishing there has been one after the other after the other this year. It has been mid 80's daytime all week and is supposed to stay that way all weekend. The black flies were bad last weekend out on the water so bring something for that. Also 85 degrees on the water will make it necessary for some good sunscreen. If you are going to drift over reefs bring lots of tackle because you will lose stuff. Again- hammered gold. Frozen minnows because that is what most of the resorts use on their charter boats. Jigs and spinners with big hooks as was mentioned before. I can't imagine using anything over an ounce but I have no idea how you fish. I hope you don't catch any fish and never come back. Just kidding. Those of us that live close to LOW know what a great place it is. I haven't fished anywhere else for 10 years. There is LOW and then there are MN's other 9999 lakes.

 

[skiroule]

Something to Look Forward To

Got up here mid-afternoon so we had some time to sample the lake. It seems like the bigger Walleyes are definitely moving onto the reefs. We only fished for about 2 ½ hours because we wanted to get a little early evening “deck time” relaxing. Spectacular evening!

Pulled in some nice Walleyes – kept 6 in the 17” – 24” range. Kept hooking some decent Northerns. Got this guy in about 12ft of water. Not a monster but a heavy, healthy fish and he gave me my money’s worth. He went back to get bigger.

 

[Hoosier]

We are staying at Tomahawk lodge. My brother handled the arrangements and I know very little about this lake. Most of the group drove up today. I am flying Sunday with my 95 year old Grandpa, who cant handle the drive but wanted to go. He has probably spend 3 years of his life in a fishing boat but hasn't gone in a while due to health.

Cant wait to go. Thanks for the tips.

 

[skiroule]

We are staying at Tomahawk lodge. My brother handled the arrangements and I know very little about this lake. Most of the group drove up today. I am flying Sunday with my 95 year old Grandpa, who cant handle the drive but wanted to go. He has probably spend 3 years of his life in a fishing boat but hasn't gone in a while due to health.

Cant wait to go. Thanks for the tips.

Can’t blame you for being excited. It’s a pretty special area. It’s incredibly scenic where you’re headed and you will find fish. You’re staying about 50mi. North-Northeast of us (We fish out of the Morson area). The forecast for next week is pretty much all sun with maybe an occasional T-Storm.

Not sure why gold consistently works well. It just seems to be something they like. Grub makes a great point – keep it simple. If it weren’t for the risk of losing it, we could literally go out with one rigging setup most days. We’ve caught Walleye, Sauger, Perch, Northern, Bass, and Crappie on the same rig on the same day.

The water in most of the lake is dark but not necessarily murky, although it has been messed up some this year because of the high water. It will be clearer where you’re headed.

Let us know how you are doing!

Jpsted : I don’t know why gold hammered spoons wouldn’t work for Northerns. You could try a couple of bigger spoons and if they are not working, switch em’ out. You know what they say though: Big bait, big fish.

 

[jpsted]

Hey, that's a decent fish Skiroule! Fun catching those!

Went to Bass Pro today but in Co. Springs, CO, so it's outfitted slightly different than those in the midwest (geared for fishing out here which of course entails a lot of trout). They didn't have any pre-tied harnesses with big enough blades and hooks for my liking so going to go ahead and just tie a bunch myself. What have you been using to tie your leaders, 10-12 lb mono?

 

[skiroule]

Hey, that's a decent fish Skiroule! Fun catching those!

Went to Bass Pro today but in Co. Springs, CO, so it's outfitted slightly different than those in the midwest (geared for fishing out here which of course entails a lot of trout). They didn't have any pre-tied harnesses with big enough blades and hooks for my liking so going to go ahead and just tie a bunch myself. What have you been using to tie your leaders, 10-12 lb mono?

!

Thanks! Love it when they're taking the drag out.

Believe it or not, up here we're using 17# Trilene for leaders. We could use lighter in hopes of saving the sinker but most of the time it's the sinker that's snagged anyway. My wife tried a ready-made spinner setup with a steel leader today and it worked pretty well (found some big blade setups at Cabelas - check them out online). She didn't lose any more tackle to those pesky Northerns. It was kind of overcast today so neon green was the ticket. Got the smorgasbord today - Walleye, Sauger, Perch, Crappie, Smallies, and, of course, Northerns.

By the way, the weather in early September can be fantastic. Hopefully that will be the case for you.

 

[Bradzoo]

jpsted, not to change the subject much, if your in the Springs have you been up to 11 mile Res, to fish for Northerns there used to be some good sized ones in there when I lived out there. Hooked my first on a fly rod fishing for trout in the river down from the Res. well actually I was bringing the trout in and the Northern hit it and all I got was the head of the trout. After that we changed tactic's and brought in the heavy gear and caught Northerns up to 36", but that was in the early 80's.


Kelly, Glad your getting some relax time in, the new job is keeping me hopping not having any vacation time sucks and they've had me working Sat. for the pact 5 in a row haven't been to the cabin since June

Bradzoo

 

[jpsted]

Thanks for the tips skiroule, I will definitely check out the Cabelas set ups. Out of curiosity, have you ever rigged a bottom bouncer with a short leader and attached a floating or shallow diving crank? Someone recently suggested to me that I try it up there, just hadn't really thought about it before.

Bradzoo, I've been out there but not for a number of years and wasn't fishing northern at the time. I actually don't fish a lot out here and when I do it's generally stream or cirque lake fishing for trout with the fly rod. It seems I generally save most my fishing time when I'm back in wisconsin. In fact one of the old timers working in bass pro this weekend was telling me he's been pulling large northern out of 11mile and pueblo reservoir lately.

What were you doing out here in the 80's, military?

 

[skiroule]

Out of curiosity, have you ever rigged a bottom bouncer with a short leader and attached a floating or shallow diving crank? Someone recently suggested to me that I try it up there, just hadn't really thought about it before.

I have not heard of that specifically. Seems like it would be pretty hard to do - at least for me. In no time, I would have the bouncer and the crank hopelessly snagged on the bottom. I do know that some guys have run a standard drop sinker with a crank. Seems like it would be really hard to control the depth. if I had to run that deep I'd be busting out the lead core rod.

Brad, hopefully you'll get your cabin time in this winter. It seems like the summer is going 100 mph. Trying to get up north when I can, also have some important project work going on at home, plus the normal home duties. Oh, and there is that work thing that we seem to have to do. The trips north have be great and very relaxing. Jpsted is timing his trip almost perfectly, the fishing is coming on strong and probably will continue to do so. We went through 5 dozen minnows this weekend. At 1 - 2 fish in the boat per minnow, that's a fair number of fish. We were very happy with it.

 

[skiroule]

Tackle Comparison

Just a quick last word on tackle comparisons. On the left is a typical crawler harness we might use on the south shore of the lake. On the right is a couple of Cabela's steel leader rigs like my wife was using this weekend. Definitely using bigger stuff on the Canada side.

 

[G]

Hardly enough room for the crawler on that crawler harness. Big hook - big bait - big fish. There are 30 inch walleyes caught every day on the south side of the lake. Steel leaders OK if you are going for northerns. Otherwise you don't need them. However you have a nice hammered gold spinner on one so I will let it pass. You are catching the weather absolutely perfect.

 

[skiroule]

Yeah, sorry, the photo is a little misleading. There's actually about 6" of line between the hooks - standard Tom's Tackle stuff. I have caught some nice high 20's Walleyes on these things about 5 mi. north of Zippel Bay but they're probably better suited for Mille Lacs. What you say is true about the bait size but I'm still amazed that a 10" Sauger will attack a 4" minnow.

Unfortunately I'm back at work today but my wife opted to spend a few more days up there. Apparently she prefers the weather up there to the heat and humidity of the city. She was kind enough to send me this photo this morning. She is just too good to me.

 

[Bradzoo]

Thanks for the tips skiroule, I will definitely check out the Cabelas set ups. Out of curiosity, have you ever rigged a bottom bouncer with a short leader and attached a floating or shallow diving crank? Someone recently suggested to me that I try it up there, just hadn't really thought about it before.

Bradzoo, I've been out there but not for a number of years and wasn't fishing northern at the time. I actually don't fish a lot out here and when I do it's generally stream or cirque lake fishing for trout with the fly rod. It seems I generally save most my fishing time when I'm back in wisconsin. In fact one of the old timers working in bass pro this weekend was telling me he's been pulling large northern out of 11mile and pueblo reservoir lately.

What were you doing out here in the 80's, military?

Ya I was in the Air Force stationed at Lowry AFB in Denver, but spent as much time as possible in the mountains, backpacking, fishing, hunting. It was a good time, seems kinda funny now with all the technology we have, but I used to head to the mountains almost every weekend leaving Friday after work and not coming back until sunday night and for the most part nobody knew where I was, besides just saying I was heading to the mountains, because for the most part I never had a planned destination.
Sounds like your gonna have a nice fishing trip, listen to Kelly and you'll be catching fish, have a good time it all about the memories!



Ya Kelly I know its already Aug. and I have more insulation to put in and wiring, plus heat and trying to get the sauna, guess I'll have to prioritize on what is most important and work down from there. Plus I still have to put the sticker kit on the old TX, I'm thinking I need a clone or 2.

Bradzoo

 

[skiroule]

</SPAN></SPAN>Jpsted, not sure if you will be checking back but I hope you’re getting fired up for the trip. Fishing has been very good and there is no reason to think it will change in the near future.
</SPAN>
We went up last weekend and did pretty good, caught a lot of fish. No monsters – our biggest Walleye was 27” and we got several in the 22 – 24” range (like the one in the photo). Beautiful fish! We released everything over 20”. My wife did pull in a 19” Smallie. She wasn’t amused by my comment about her having a nice bass.
</SPAN>
Took my neighbor along this trip. He is a very good fisherman and he tried a bunch of stuff, including the very thing you mentioned: a floating Rapala behind a bottom bouncer. He didn’t do all that well with his experiments and in the end he kept coming back to a spinner and minnow. We were all fishing with some form of neon green.</SPAN>

We thought it was weird that people kept asking us if we were fishing 24 -30 of water but we caught most of our Walleyes in 12 -15 ft. Maybe they are just everywhere right now. Perch seem to be coming on strong and are a little deeper.</SPAN>

 

[skiroule]

This has happened to me before. I can't seem to edit posts with links. It just shows up as a blank entry. Bad enough having one photo of me, much less two. At least the fish is an improvement.