Lake of The Woods MN Ice Fishing Report

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. 

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 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 for those who wish to do so. We are a simple phone call or click away from getting you set up and fishing on beautiful Lake of The Woods. 

BIG SALE EVENT

River Bend Resort is hosting a “Media Ice Camp” for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers January 29th – February 1st

This group is home to the best and most well-known outdoor media in the industry. We thought it would be fun to invite you to be our guest during this event. You can meet and speak with these folks and have a lot of fun fishing and sharing stories – who knows, you might just wind up in print, on the radio or on TV … or all the above! 

Cost for this 3-night 2-day outing is $390 per person plus tax. That is a 25% savings. Give us a call while we still have availability and let our agents know you would like to participate in the “AGLOW” ice camp.

Photo Winner … Steve Simon from Bemidji (this week’s cover photo) landed this whopper 29” walleye fishing in 32 feet of water 12 feet off the bottom! He was using a green forage mineral jig tipped with a minnow head.  

Until next week … Keep a Tight Line! Bugs & Fishes ≤º))~{

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