River Bend Resort Lake of The Woods MN Ice Fishing Report January 19, 2023. This week our icehouse fleet is located four miles out from Pine Island on 34 inches of ice sitting over 30 to 32 feet of water still over mud. Mixed bag catch continues daily with large numbers of fish being put on the ice.
Moving to smaller jigging spoons has been landing the larger fish. Spoons and typical L.O.W. colored jigs are still producing great numbers. Wonder Bread or clown (white with colored spots), chartreuse, glow red and gold have been good colors. Try glow colors on cloudy days or during low light. Gold or silver on sunny days.
On your second line, use a “dead stick” set up. Rig a live minnow on a plain hook and sinker. Set anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet off the bottom and let the minnow do the work for you. By having the minnow higher in the water column you are increasing the odds for a better reaction from larger fish. Trust your electronics. Keeping an eye on reaction, depth and the occasional “pass through” will give you many clues to your daily set up.
With nearly 3 feet of ice and a mixed bag of fish, Lake of The Woods ice fishing is in full swing. Anglers are reporting a very nice daily catch with many fish being put on the ice. The mixed bag has included walleye, jumbo perch, sauger, eelpout, pike, crappie, tullibee. The number of fish caught varies with the engagement of attention to detail.
Where the lake is not yet finicky, the extreme rapidly changing daily weather patterns will create a slightly different bite pattern each day. This is happening not only day to day but also throughout the day – on any given day. We are seeing a fluctuation in temperatures that will range 40 to 50 degrees within a 24-hour period. Then toss in a front that brings with it -26º below zero, snow, and blowing winds and you have the recipe for changing bite patterns.
Lots of smaller fish continue to be caught. Getting past those smaller fish, many anglers are finding nice keeper eaters along with very nice slot fish (walleyes 19.5” – 28”). Trophy walleye over 28 inches continue to be landed daily.
Though the technique has remained the same a few anglers have found that using a glow chartreuse demon eye – yes, a crappie jig – is landing the most fish the fastest. In addition to that, the houses that separate the lines in the water are also producing a better catch. Instead of having everyone fishing the same depths both on the jigging rod and the dead stick, have everybody keep a separation of 1 to 2 feet. This tactic is fantastically simple yet extremely effective for the most obvious reason … you are now fishing a much larger area of the water column. Most all the larger trophy fish including walleye, eelpout, and white fish all have been suspended. Some as far up as 19 feet while fishing over 30+ feet of water.
River Bend Resort
803 Main Street W
Baudette, MN 56623
www.riverbendresort.com