Arvid's Fishing Report

On Monday, Willard and I hooked up the boat and headed for Gull lake in bluegill country. It was a nice day, but a lot more breeze than we were expecting. We fished the middle of the afternoon;  not the most ideal time but we caught plenty of fish, but not the big ones that we were looking for. We also caught two walleyes and that was a bit of a bonus. It was nice to spend a day fishing bluegills.

Fishing on Lake of the Woods has been slow on this end of the lake. I understand that there has been an afternoon bite way out in 34 feet of water. The river seems to have a lot of small fish. Hate to say it, but Fall isn’t far off and fishing will change.

It has been a great berry year with lots of nice blueberries. After a couple of years with none, it was fun to be picking again.

Willard with a nice bluegill

This year again, Bud invited his BTS drivers for a fishing trip on Lake of the Woods. We took a launch out of Sportsman’s with Ralph as our guide. Ralph also does some driving for BTS in the winter so it was one big happy group. We left the dock shortly after 8:00 and headed for an area off the west end of Garden Island. There was a light NE breeze that died to almost nothing by mid-morning. The fish never did get going and it was a struggle to catch enough for shore lunch. We drifted and used everything  and every color, but not much worked. We even had to resort to the down-riggers or we would have been a little short for lunch. Even down-rigging wasn’t very fast; there were several launches in the area that were strictly down-rigging and they were not doing all that well. We went to the State Recreation Area on Garden Island for shore lunch. We all had our fill of fish along with fried potatoes, onions, bacon, beans, bread and butter; can’t beat a meal like that. After lunch we made a few drifts off a reef west of Knight Island and caught one slot fish and three for the cooler. It was a beautiful, comfortable day on the lake and we all had a good time.

Bud with the first fish of the day

Ralph  & Sheldon with a 27″ & 22″ double 

l-r   Terry, Don, Jeff, Sheldon, Ralph, Arvid, Bud

Jodi and Scott left today for their Wisconsin place. It was nice having them here and we enjoyed having good weather. We fished a short time each day for sturgeon and for the three days, we caught nine, but not quite the one we hoped to get. Wednesday forenoon, in just a short time, we caught three sturgeon, a small walleye, a sauger and a redhorse. Scott caught a 36″ sturgeon; an inch short of his largest, but it gave him quite a battle that he enjoyed. Jodi caught her first sturgeon the other evening and with the knack she has for catching big fish, I was sure that she would tie into a big one. It didn’t happen this trip, and they both have that to look forward to sometime.

The Battle

The Reward – Scott with a 36″ sturgeon

Jodi and Scott are here for a short visit. Scott would like to catch a sturgeon larger than the 37″ one he caught four years ago, but all we’ve been able to get is the little guys. In four two-hour sessions, we’ve caught six sturgeon, three walleyes and one smallmouth bass. The largest sturgeon is 31″ that Scott caught this morning. We’ll have a couple of more chances and maybe get a bigger one.

Scott with his 31″ sturgeon

Scott with a nice 18″ Smallmouth

Terry and I spent Friday on the river fishing sturgeon; I’ve been after him for a long time to do that. After being out-done a bit when we fished Red Lake a few weeks ago, he said that he needed more practice. Well, he’s been practicing and he got the best of me on Friday. We spent most of the day, starting a little after nine, taking an hour or so for lunch and quitting about six when some rain was coming. With the two sessions, we caught nine sturgeon, four walleyes and two suckers. We kept one walleye, about 15″ and released the others. We measured three of the sturgeon; 30″, 34″ & 47″. Six were just those little guys; about 12″-24″. Terry caught seven of the sturgeon, including the 47″. Being a perch, bluegill and walleye guy, he was impressed with the strength of the fish. All the sturgeon were released as Terry wasn’t interested in keeping one and didn’t have a tag. He was quite concerned that I wouldn’t be real accurate in writing about this, but I’ll give credit where credit is due.

Terry with a 47″ sturgeon

Terry with one of the little guys

Blandin consultant, Karl, was here Monday for a mid-day meeting with our broadband committee. He came up early enough to get in a couple of hours fishing sturgeon before the meeting. We fished from 9 to 11 and caught five sturgeon. Karl caught four of them; including a 49″ keeper that kept him busy for a good twenty minutes. He had stopped at a bait shop and got a tag; just in case and lo and behold, he needed it. If you’re thinking that I’ll start a new career as a sturgeon guide; I’m not. I went out after supper for a couple of hours and didn’t get any….

Karl with his 49″ sturgeon; quite a fish.

Julie, Megan and Matt are back in Indiana after a very nice week with us. We didn’t do a lot of fishing; just enough for some good fish fries and almost a limit for them to take home. The to-do list had a few things that got done and you wonder where the time went.

On Saturday, Megan, Matt and I trolled the river’s shoreline for an hour, looking for a northern or smallmouth, but not a hit. That’s all we did over the weekend. On Monday we waited until evening to go to the lake. We tried pulling crankbaits different places and caught a smallmouth, a pike and five nice walleyes. About the time the sun was beginning to set, Julie and Diane were busy taking pictures. Julie began posting one on her Facebook page and, as I understand it, you can post where you are. She began a search and it automatically popped up “the middle of nowhere”. We all got quite a laugh from that and if this is the middle of nowhere, it’s not a bad place to be….

On Tuesday, we took a ride from town the lake and fished for a couple of hours. Not much going on and not many boats in the area. Megan caught a nice 19″ walleye right away and after that if was slow. We caught four more eaters, a smallmouth and Diane caught a big white sucker on a crawler harness. The walleye that Megan caught was enough to overtake Matt and win the contest that the three of them had going. He wasn’t too happy, but he’ll get over it.

Julie’s picture of  “The Middle of Nowhere”

Megan’s 19″ walleye

Matt with a smallmouth

Julie, Megan and Matt are here for a weeks vacation. Hard to believe, but Megan’s been married for almost a year and just finished her first year of teaching. Matt is going to be in grade 10; has been busy with summer football and is looking forward to the fall season. We wish that Darlis and Chase were here, but I guess somebody has to stay and work.

There has been some awful thunderstorms rolling through the midwest the past few days, but we’ve had nice weather. Take a Kid Fishing was Wednesday and it was a beautiful day. While fishing hasn’t been great; it’s been good. There are still some fish in close and most boats caught fish. We have fished the past two days and it was nice on the lake. Thursday we fished the afternoon on the outside of Pine Island, drifting in 15′-17′ with frozen shiners. We kept 9 saugers, 4 nice walleyes and released a number of small ones plus a 23″ slot fish. Friday wasn’t as good and we didn’t see a lot of fish being caught. We kept 2 saugers, 4 nice walleyes and released several little ones. The three of them are having a contest; some formula of total inches of fish caught and kept. After two days, Matt is in the lead. We’ve had two good fish frys and are having a good time.

Julie with a nice walleye

Matt with a nice 18″ walleye

Megan with a nice 18-1/2″ walleye

On Saturday, my friend, Terry, from Bemidji and I met at Red Lake for a day on the water. We hadn’t fished together for quite a while and giving each other a lesson was long overdue. The weather was nice; warm, a bit breezy, but sunny with a few clouds. We put the boat in at the Tamrack River at 10:00 a.m. and started out fishing to the north. Reports from Red Lake were like Lake of the Woods; very good. After making three or four drifts and only one sheephead and a little walleye, we were quite disapointed. We came back and anchored up by the mouth of the river and caught three nice walleyes. Terry called a friend (thank goodness for cell phones) and found out the fish had moved down the south shore. A half hour later, we were anchored up in six feet of water and for the next couple hours we had steady action. We had our eight nice walleyes in the box and released several small walleyes and a 20″ & 22″. We pulled crankbaits back to the river and caught and released a small pike and seven nice walleyes. It turned out to be a good day. As for those lessons; I think Terry has lost his touch just a bit; maybe he’s been working too hard or maybe he’s wondering if that new boat will catch any fish.

Terry with a nice Red Lake Walleye

Uncle Noie and Janice were here for a visit and three days of fishing. The weather was great and the fishing was good. We fished about three hours each day in  the Morris Point area and mostly anchored up in thirteen to fifteen feet of water. We used frozen shiners on various jigs for bait. On Monday, we kept 10 walleyes; five saugers and released many small fish; no slot fish. Tuesday, we kept only five fish, but released numerous little ones. We also relased a 25 inch pike that Janice caught and 24″ and 28″ walleyes. Wednesday were kept nine walleyes and one sauger. We released a few small fish and seven walleyes from nineteen to twenty-three inches. We had fish fries and sent a limit of fish home with them. It was a good time.

Noie with a beautiful 28″ walleye – his biggest ever

Janice with a nice 21′ walleye

Diane’s 24″ walleye