Arvid's Fishing Report

It’s been awhile, but conditions on the river are good enough to be out doing some boating and a little fishing. Water is still very high and some accesses are still not usable.

Two of the Bosch Boys, Earl & Steve, have been in town for a few days doing a project getting ready for the next winter test season. Can’t believe we are already mentioning that word – winter. I fished with them the past two evenings. Thursday, Steve fished with George and Earl was with me. We had lot of action and Earl and I caught an assortment of fish; walleye, sauger, red horse and two small sturgeon. We kept a dozen alley fish; those that you’re not to proud of, but meet the bucket test. You just don’t want to show them off and use the alley going home.  Friday, George couldn’t go, so Steve, Earl and I fished my boat. The wind was blowing, fortunately out of the south. It took two anchors to keep the boat in place. We fished by the airport in 14 foot of water. The action wasn’t quite like the evening before, but we kept a nice 19″ walleye and five alley fish. The excitement, however, was when Earl, who had never seen the river without ice, tied into a 60″ sturgeon. After what seemed like an hour and without a net big enough to handle the fish, Steve brought it in over the side of the boat. It’s the largest fish my little boat has seen. It was a good time.

Earl with his 60″ Sturgeon

Steve with his “Wall of Shame” Sauger

Wednesday was the 17th annual Lake of the Woods Take a Kid Fishing day. Like most years, about 100 kids are treated to a day of fishing by community volunteers. The event is headquartered out of Sportsman’s Lodge where the kids are checked in, assigned to boats and at the end of the day treated to a great meal. This year, with water conditions the way they are, a lot of different options were used. Some boats went to Zippel Bay, some to Long Point and some to Red Lake. The past couple of years I have been used on an as needed basis for late arrivals. My plan, this year, if needed, would be to fish the Ludlow Island Lake from shore for bluegills and bass. Lake Ludlow is a put and take lake and was stocked about two weeks ago. The big concern there is the mosquitoes, but somebody had stopped a couple of days earlier and said they were not bad. When I arrived at Sportsman’s I was told that I would be needed and after telling them what I had planned; was promptly assigned four kids; Paige, Kylee, Ethan and Chase. We packed up and headed for Ludlow. If that wasn’t going to work, the plan was to continue on down to Red Lake and use the fishing pier. It was a nice, sunny day with a good SE breeze. When we arrived at Ludlow, Topper was there with Skyla and  Grant and were busy catching fish. We got my four kids set up and the action was steady. My kids were keeping track of the number of fish they were catching and the final total came to 60, that included 3 rock bass. Topper and his kids fished a few spots around the lake and they caught some nice bluegills and largemouth bass. Just to stir things up, Topper told my kids that his two caught 61. We kept 8 bluegills, in the 8″-9″ range. Topper’s kids kept 12, all about the same size. They were nice bluegills no matter where you’d go and not a mosquito, just a few horse and deer flies. All the boats that fished for walleyes caught some fish; some did better than others. The best was probably my neighbor, Jeff, who fished up at Long Point. They kept only 5 walleyes, but had caught several slot fish, a couple in the 25″ range. Another successful Take a Kid Fishing day.

Paige

Kylee

Ethan

Chase

Lunch Break

Lunch Bread for Topper, Skyla and Grant

Water on the Rainy River continues to rise. At Loman, 20 miles west of International Falls, the water was 3 feet over highway 11 and has closed the highway. At Manitou Rapids, down river from Loman the river is at 21.54 feet beating the record of 21.04 set during the historic flooding in 1950. The cause is remaining effects of snow melt and recent rains. All that water will come through Baudette and other than a few docks most everything on this side of the river will be ok. I understand that the lake is up 1-1/2 feet in the last week and will continue to rise as the dam at Kenora can’t release water as fast as it’s coming in down here. That means that the South Shore of Lake of the Woods could have some issues. Take a Kid Fishing is Wednesday. It will be interesting to see where most of the boats will go.

Referred to as Swenson’s boat house on Baudette Bay

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Peace Park boat access on Baudette Bay 

Fishing Pier by VFW

There is an old Johnny Cash song, “Five Feet High and Rising”. Well, I think the Rainy River must be five feet above normal and is still rising with more water coming from up east. There are lots of stories of pulled docks, docks under water , and boats hitting logs out by the lake. Very little boat activity on the river. Our Senior Boating program has cancelled pontoon rides. There’s no telling when we’ll be back to normal on the river.

There has been some fishing on the lake and the bite, at times, has been good. Most are fishing in the Zippel Bay and areas over west. Earlier in the week, Diane and I went with Don & Sue one evening out of Zippel Bay for a couple of hours. We didn’t really get into the fish, but kept four small walleyes and a sauger. Released one slot fish, several little ones and a nice small mouth caught in 25 ft of water. It was a nice evening to be on the water.

Don with a nice smallmouth

Water’s above the retaining wall at Willie Walleye Park

Lot of Water coming through rapids at Clementson 

The 4″-5″ of rain east of here last weekend has made a mess of the river. The water is very high with lots of debris. Two Senior Boating pontoon trips were cancelled because of conditions that was determined not the safest to be on the river.

Uncle Noie and Janice were here for a visit and a few days of fishing. we fished out of Zippel Bay State Park and water conditions were good. On Wednesday, the nicest of the three days we fished, fishing was not so good. We spent 3-4 hours trying a number of different things and different places and kept two small walleyes. The only excitement was a 5-6 lbs Burbot that Janice caught. Thursday was rain and drizzle most of the day. We fished for two hours late afternoon and kept nine  walleyes and released a 21″ that Janice caught. Friday was a little breezy and we fished for about four hours, drifting in water from 15-22 feet. That’s what most boats were doing; some were anchored up. We kept five walleyes and three saugers; released three slot fish; Diane had a 24″. There was not a lot of catching going on that we could see and one would expect better fishing at this time of the year. We had enough for a good fish fry and a limit for them to take home. If you’ve read this far you would have concluded that we were bested by the gals.

Janice’s 21″ walleye

Janice’s big Burbot

Diane with a nice 24″ walleye

It isn’t often that we get a run of nice weather over a holiday weekend, but we did. It was warm and sunny for four straight days. Even the thunderstorms that were forecast to develop one night didn’t happen. There were enough nice fish in the river that we didn’t bother going anywhere else. Jonathan and I fished each day and caught enough for a couple of meals and a limit to send home with him. Water conditions have improved; clarity is good and current has eased up some. We even fished the middle of the river in 14 foot and caught nice  fish, including 31″ and 37″ sturgeon. Jonathan caught a 24″ walleye, the largest for the weekend. Even though the trout trip didn’t materialize, we had a really nice time and it’s was probably as good of walleye fishing that Jonathan’s had in quite some time.

Jonathan with a dandy 24″ walleye 

Jonathan and Britta are here for the weekend. This was going to be the trout trip, but thing didn’t work out for the Detroit crew, so we are going to walleye fish. That’s probably ok, because the ice just went out of the trout lakes a few days ago and fishing can be a little spotty for the first week or so after ice out.

The DNR fisheries crew has been  busy with their sturgeon tagging program and are presently setting nets below the Clementson Rapids. We drove out there Friday morning to watch them pull a net. They determine the sex, measure, tag and release it. Some have already been tagged and they get the information they want and release it. Oh! my, a lot of big fish. While we were there they tagged the largest that they have ever tagged; a 72″ length, 30-1/2″ girth, Which according to the chart would be about 105 lbs. That’s about 15 lbs. over the State record.

After lunch, Jonathan, Britta, Diane and I fished the river from 3:00 to almost 6:00. The weather was great and the fish cooperated. We kept 8 nice walleyes and 1 sauger; released 4 small walleyes and 1 walleye about 21″. A fish fry is on the menu for lunch today.

One Big Fish; a 72″ Sturgeon

Britta with a nice walleye

Jonathan with a 19″ walleye

Sunday was a beautiful day here in the North Country and Grandma Diane and I fished the river for a couple of hours in the late afternoon. Even though she’s much more of a “fair weather fisher person” than I am, she’s still my favorite fishing partner. River conditions are much the same as they’ve been; strong current and lot of debris floating by. There are fish to be caught; mostly spawned-out females, so it’s difficult to catch enough for a meal. Diane and I caught seven walleyes; six were slot fish from 20″ to 23″. Don and Sue were close by and did about the same. Should be good river fishing for a while yet.

Diane with a nice 23″ walleye

Don with a 26-1/2″ walleye

Jeff and I fished the river Friday evening for about three hours. The current was a little stronger and there was more grass and leaves than the day before. Fishing was about as good, but not as many big fish. We were able to keep six walleyes and must have released about 10 slot fish; none over 25″. Jeff had the best bait; a gold spinner and was ahead six/zip before I caught one on a jig. A light breeze died to nothing and it was a very nice evening. Looks like we are in for a pretty nice weekend.

Jeff with a nice slot fish