Still good fishing on Lake of the Woods

On the main basin, fish are being caught in 18-34′ of water.  Some nice saugers of all sizes up to 17″ being reported.  Reports of a decent morning evening bite in 15-20′. Glow white or red and gold hot colors. Overall some anglers limiting out, others able to catch enough fish for a fish fry. Fish are finicky, must jig and work for them.  Some big pike showing up at Morris Point, Zippel Bay, Swift Ditch, etc.  Work through resorts and guides this time of year for safety.

The Rainy River is iced over and being fishing by locals who know the ice.  Checked the river this afternoon and found open water as far to the east as you can see from Birchdale landing so about 1-1.5 miles to the east. Looks open slightly on the Canadian side so it shouldn’t be long for that landing to be open. Franz Jevne landing is open water as far as you can see west and east. Franz Jevne landing has about 25-30 yards of ice left on shore but boats are already being pushed off into the water. A couple more days and it should be open up to Birchdale Landing. Open water spring fishing is coming fast. We will keep you updated on open water progress in reports and on Lake of the Woods Tourism Facebook page. Safety first. Most anglers fishing the lake.

Up at the NW Angle, fishing has been good with a morning evening shallow bite in 12-18′.  Fishing in the mud and sand in 22-24 feet. Gold, pink & red working best. resorts finding crappies steady. When catching crappies from deeper than 30′, keep them as they have a hard time surviving release.  When you have your fish, stop fishing crappies as mortality rates can be high in deep water.  Small jigs or spoons tipped with minnow head or tail is working great. Ice fishing through March (depending upon weather), walleyes open to April 14.  Spring open water reports on the Rainy River just around the corner