Jigging Techniques from a Lake of the Woods Charter Boat
If you are interested in a fun and easy way to catch walleyes and saugers on Lake of the Woods, fishing on a charter boat might be right down your alley. Right now, one of the main techniques to catch walleyes is vertical jigging. This is not only enjoyable, it is effective. There are some nuances to jigging that will help you put more fish in the boat and in the below video, we give you just a few of those valuable tips.
Bump the bottom with your jig. The noise and vibration is sensed by walleyes as they have a lateral line that helps them hone in on a potential meal. They also have an inner ear that can hear different frequencies and bumping the bottom will give noise off that attracts them to the area.
After bumping the bottom, simply lift the jig up and hold it in the strike zone. The strike zone is that area of the water column you believe the walleyes are feeding. Most of the time on Lake of the Woods, this is the bottom two feet.
Shake it! Almost like ice fishing, give your jig lots of vibration that will attract fish as it mimics forage and schools of minnows.
Swim it up. Raising the jig up in the water column sometimes gets walleyes who are watchers to be eaters as instinctively, they strike as the minnow is getting away.
Lift and raise the jig and lower it on a tight line. So much of the time a walleye will hit on the drop. Having a tight line will help you detect these bites.
In the below video, various techniques are demonstrated and explained. While demonstrating various techniques, we actually caught a decent sauger!
Lake of the Woods is one of the few lakes you can jump on a 27 – 30 foot charter boat and fish walleyes. A Coast Guard licensed charter captain takes away all of the worry regarding navigation, lunch, bait, tackle, getting on the fish and even the fish cleaning after the trip.
Most captains have a license that allows them to guide up to 6 customers at a time, which makes this type of boat ideal for the size of the crew. With a cuddy cabin below, a small restroom if needed and big enough to handle the big water this lake is known for are all nice benefits.
If you don’t have a crew of six on a charter boat, which many don’t, most of the resorts will work with you to combine groups so you only pay your fair share. Whether you are by yourself or in a small group, jumping on a charter boat is certainly doable.
If it is just yourself or maybe a couple of you, fishing with people you don’t know can end up being one of the nicest parts of a trip. It is amazing the nice people from different parts of the world you meet while fishing on a charter boat. Long friendships have been formed, in fact, there are many groups who now plan their fishing trips at the same time.
Jigging on a charter boat, as some say, is cheap psychology. Yep, the fishing has been very good, but there is so much more. Being amongst the fresh air. The birds were all around. Ducks, geese, seagulls, terns, pelicans, eagles, hawks, and various varieties of shore birds are common when you are out on a charter.
Charter boats run on Lake of the Woods from the spring when the ice goes out to about the end of October. Summer is a great time to pull together friends and family and experience what many look forward to each and every year.
Lake of the Woods Area Lodging
