River Bend Resort Lake of The Woods, MN Ice Fishing Report January 12, 2023. With this past week’s weather, some on social media reported the bite waned just a bit. However, you wouldn’t get many of the River Bend Resort guests to believe it. There has been a good bite with lots of larger fish caught. A weather front moved through, and that my friends, created another nice bite which landed quite a few slot fish and many trophy walleye in the mix.
Following the ever-moving giant schools of fish, River Bend Resort moved its icehouse fleet once again. We are now approximately 4.5 – 5 miles out in front of Pine Island hugging the Canadian border to the east, sitting over 32 feet of water on 24” + of ice. We are still seeing 30 – 40 fish being landed daily per person with reports of some anglers landing that in an hour.
The nice thing about the how the fishing has been over the past few weeks is that a mixed bag of fish is being caught daily. Walleye, sauger, jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional sturgeon are all still in the mix.
Large eelpout has been on the hook since the first day one the ice. That continues and for the eelpout fans, that has been quite the talk. Because we are following the schools, we are seeing a catch of walleye that spans the size spectrum. Most anglers are saying many eaters in the 13 – 14” range with several slot fish (19.5” – 28”). The larger 28.5+” fish are also being put on the ice with very good consistency.
Not much has changed over the past week in respect to the technique. The most successful anglers within our fleet all have landed larger trophy walleye by calling them in. If you remember from last week’s report the art of calling in a big walleye is simple.
While using the ‘ol “one-two punch” of a jigging rig and dead stick. Set up your jigging rod with a rattle spoon and your dead stick with nothing more than a blood red hook and live minnow. Set your dead stick several feet above the bottom – keep an eye on your electronics so you can adjust the depth as needed.
Pound the mud bottom with the rattle-spoon a few times then lift and jig slightly. This gives fish the idea that something just popped up out of the mud.
Larger walleye will come cruising in several feet above the bottom looking for what is causing the action. They will see the live minnow on your dead stick setup and strike it almost every time.
What has changed? Just a few days ago it was discovered that many of the fish being caught have been stuffed with crawfish. This means they are sucking them out of the mud. Also lends to why the pounding of the mud with a rattle spoon is calling them in. This presents a new technique.
In addition to using colors of gold, hammered gold, glow (red, pink & green), white and yellow switch to anything that resembles a crawfish. Color and actual look. Pound the mud with that and fish will be landed.
Beginning January 9th River Bend Resort started offering a very generous mid-week sale. When you book a mid-week ice package (Sunday – Thursday) at either the Walleye Inn or River Bend Resort, you will receive 10% off fishing only packages and 15% off all-inclusive meal plan packages.
Book your ice fishing trip now! Don’t wait! River Bend Resort can set you up easily with just one call to our booking agents. We offer a variety of ice fishing packages that will suit any level of ice fishing experience and will fit any budget.
You can find our offerings as well as pricing by clicking this link. In addition, we do offer online booking. We are a simple phone call or click away from getting you set up and fishing with us on beautiful Lake of The Woods. The only thing missing is you!
Photo Winner … Nick Kaiser of Wheeler, WI – our cover photo for this week’s fishing report – showing off a 29”, 8-pound trophy walleye – Nick won a River Bend Resort gift certificate … Congratulations Nick …
Until next week … Keep a Tight Line! Bugs & Fishes ≤º))~{
