Lake of the Woods, LOW Tourism November 6, 2024
"With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water on the south shore of Lake of the Woods, and most have been rewarded. There are limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable.
The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22 to 28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.
Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers. Bring plenty of bait, as you'll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters. Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting. Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes. For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.
This week's hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink. One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish.
On the Rainy River, bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners migrating into the river this past week. Interesting, each night is different, some areas have the small shiners called pinheads, while other areas have the larger minnows.
The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale. There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way. Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15 to 25 feet of water has been good.
Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results.
Sturgeon fishing has been strong. The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24, 2025.
Fall fishing continues to be excellent up at the Northwest Angle too. Points, necked-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now. It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different. In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix. A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation.
Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good. In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective. Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year.
The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing. If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms. The bite continues to be excellent." — Lake of the Woods Tourism, (800) 382-FISH
Wired2Fish November 6, 2024 "How to Find and Catch Aggressive Fall Walleye"
Hobie Wan Kenobi writes that if he had to describe himself as a walleye angler in one word, it would be “consistent.”
Kenobi "I do not catch many big fish, nor am I up on the latest buzz in the walleye world. Most of my fishing trips for walleye produce a consistently average number of 18- to 22-inch eater-size walleye."
It's true, folks love seeing pictures of large fish, and images of modest sized fish get scrolled by faster than Fourth of July fireworks. But in reality, having fish in the frying pan is more important to many walleye anglers than capturing images of big ones. Here are some unconventional walleye techniques Kenobi uses to ..." Learn More >> How to Find and Catch Aggressive Fall Walleye
More Recent Fishing Reports
Lake of the Woods 11-06 • Mule Deer 11-3 • Brainerd 10-31 • Lake of the Woods 10-30 • Sundin 10-24 • Sundin 10-18 • Sundin 10-17 • Crappies 10-16 • Winnie 10-13 • Crappies 10-11 • Grand Rapids 10-10 • Winnie 10-9 • Winnie 10-8 • Ely 10-7 • Winnie 10-6 • Crappies 10-4 • MN DNR Workgroups • Sternberg 7-18 • Legal Bait Transport 6-1 • MN Record Fish • Barotrauma Study 1-25-24 • Fish Consumption • Forward Sonar • Panfish Workgroup • Follow on Facebook
November 3, 2024 "Honoring the Honor-Able"
Well folks, I don’t spend a whole lot of time hunting these days, and when I do, I’m likely to be within a few hours of home. So, for me, last week’s trip to Montana, hunting for Mule Deer was quite a departure from the norm. To say that the scenery was beautiful would be an understatement, “awesome” is more like it. Beautiful sunrises, interesting terrain, a fair amount of wildlife and wide-open spaces everywhere we looked.
To say that the hunting was fabulous would be an overstatement though, truthfully, there were times when we struggled to see much of anything. We encountered other hunters who were frustrated by that, their expectations were high, maybe justified, maybe not. For us, lots of scouting, combined with the help of friends, the hunting was “good enough”. Some days, we didn’t find any “huntable” deer at all, but on a few occasions, we did. So, while the hunt lasted right up until the end of our final stalk on day 6, we did leave the state with the tags of all five hunters filled. I’ve never been with a party of deer hunters in which everybody connected with a buck. So, by my standards, this seemed like a good trip,
For I and Josh, the hunt was over quickly. After spotting two bucks last Sunday morning, we followed the guidance of my son-in-law Austin Jones and conducted a 2-hour sneak attack. Over the hill, down through the draw, and around the corner we went. Then we walked one step at a time, slowly and quietly faces into the wind. Eventually, we snuck up the side of a hill, peaked over the ridge and were surprised by the fact that both bucks that were bedded down exactly where we believed them to be. They ran a short distance through the draw and up the opposing hillside, but to no avail, Josh bagged his first, then I bagged mine, all before they’d moved a hundred yards.
Nothing happened except scouting on Monday and Tuesday. Then Ausin’s hunt ended after another long walk over the hills on Wednesday. On Thursday, Matt and Chris ended the hunt in the same way as Josh and I started it. They also snuck up on and surprised a pair of bucks, eventually bagging both.
Because we spent so much time focusing on deer, we didn’t get too much time to hunt for birds. There were obviously some opportunities though, we spotted random coveys of Hungarian Partridges, quite a few Sharptailed Grouse and some Pheasants. In the few hours we hunted for them, we bagged a half dozen grouse, and a few pheasants, but never had a shot at any partridges.
These days, it seems like every report I write offers an opportunity to discuss ethics and this one is no different. While we were hunting on Wednesday, somebody decided to “teach us a lesson” by letting the air out of our 2 left side truck tires. At first, we thought they’d been punctured by something on the road but couldn’t figure out what it was. After re-inflating them with portable air compressors, they seemed to be fine, but we drove to a service station anyway, just to be certain.
At the garage, the owner, along with a patron listened to my son-in-law’s account of what happened. He said that they looked at each other “smirked” and nodded in agreement as the garage owner said, “I’ll bet you money that your tires are fine and that it was T….. …..n who let the air out of them; he’s known for doing that around here.” He followed up by saying “you boys go on back to your hotel, keep your eyes on the tire pressure, and I’ll bet they’re fine.” He was right, the tries held air and gave us no trouble for the rest of the trip.
On the surface, it appeared that despite the fact we were hunting on “public property”, somebody was irritated by our presence there. One could assume that we were simply being told to stay away from their so-called territory. Something about that notion didn’t seem right to me, and because I was curious, began digging deeper into the story.
As it happens, I discovered an archived article in the local newspaper. In it, was the police report account of a local man, the one named by the garage owner, who’d suffered property damage when someone’s bullet drilled through 2 windows of his expensive vehicle. It’s conceivable to me that in his mind, he is simply getting even, vicariously through visiting hunters, with whomever was the perpetrator of that crime. Without more evidence, there’s no way to connect the rest of the dots, but that’s not the point anyway. What is the point is whether random acts of indecency to our fellow hunters and landowners can be avoided. Whether we, as sportsmen and women can persuade our fellow hunters and anglers to be honorable people.
Can we behave in ways that allow us to enjoy our own outdoor experiences, without infringing on the experiences of others?
If you said yes, then I am with you, I believe we can. But we have to be persistent in letting our friends and family know that “it’s not cool to be a fool!” Aside from being criminal, shooting at stuff that doesn’t belong to us isn’t just stupid, it’s downright dangerous. Whenever one of us does something stupid, it makes all of us look stupid. So, when somebody thinks we’re stupid, and doesn’t want us around their territory, they do their own stupid stuff in retaliation.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be lumped in with either group. Anybody who reads my reports already knows that I welcome tourism, I love visiting with and working for folks from all walks of life and from everywhere around the world. The last thing I’d ever do is to discourage them from coming. And in return, I would really like to feel welcome when I come to visit your area too. All I want is to enjoy the outdoor experience, and ou have my word, I won’t shoot your stuff, I’ll make sure that your gate is closed behind me and I won’t leave your property carrying anything that I’m not supposed to.
No matter whether we’re talking about bag limits, using technology or practicing ethical behavior it all boils down to us being on the honor system. We can pass all the laws we want, establish all the rules that come to mind, and argue about who should do what for whom, but without honor, none if it will work. Honor is something that can’t be bought, licensed or loaned out; you either have it, or you don’t. It’s up to us to figure out we can spread it to our fellow outdoors people.
Okay, so now that Montana trip is behind us, I guess the weather dictates what I do next. I’ll pick up deer licenses for the Hippie Chick and I this week, but I’m not sure if we’ll hunt over the opener next weekend or not. Maybe I’ll take the dog for a walk, or maybe we’ll take the boat out if we get a nice day. On the other hand, maybe it’s time to tune up a guitar and start the music season? Stay tuned, I’ll let you know. 
— Jeff Sundin, The Early Bird Fishing Guide Office Cell Call or Text 218-245-9858 or Email
Wired2Fish October 31, 2024 "Should Professional Fishing Competition Have Age Limits?"
"While some folks are leaning on the simple argument that forward facing sonar destroyed competitive fishing, what seems to be more at the heart of the issue is a lot more young anglers are competitive now than used to be the case.
One person mentioned on a recent post the possibility of having a senior fishing league, or another league with elder statesmen in it. Which is a much more interesting discussion point. But a question popped into my mind about whether professional fishing should have age limits much like other sports naturally do.
So professional fishing has allowed for anglers to fish into their 70s and 80s since inception. To my knowledge no one 90 or older has fished in a professional tournament. But that begs the question should we cap it? And would capping it make the league ..." Learn More >> Should Professional Fishing Competition Have Age Limits?
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