Category Archives: Weekly South Shore Fishing Report

Fishing, Fireworks & Lake Time

June 29, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

It’s that time of year when it is time to sit back, take in some lake time and reel in the walleyes. The forecast is looking much better too! It has been a little windy and rainy here lately. The Baudette area is also gearing up for their 4th of July celebration. If you haven’t made plans yet, come for a visit. Lots of events are planned for the whole family.

Fresh Walleye YUM!
Nothing beats fresh walleye! Enjoy a shore lunch midday on a nearby island where your guide will fry up your morning catch over an open flame and serve it with all the fixings. Another great option is enjoying some of your fresh catch in the bar as an appetizer. We will do the cooking and the dishes!

Jay Swanson from Argyle MN 27 inch walleye released. Guided by Captain Dave McDougall

Olson Group guided by Captain Darryl

So what is hot and what’s not?
The best fishing has been in the northern reefs of Big Traverse using gold, pink or white/silver spinners, a 2-3 ounce sinker and a night crawler or leech. A mix of approaches including anchored and jigging as well as drifting or trolling depending on the wind speed for the day have both been successful. A combination of shallow and deep depths 12’-16’ outside of Pine Island and Zippel Bay and 26’-30’ further north near Garden Island, Little Oak and Bridges. The water temperature has been between 66-70 degrees this week. The best advice I can give you is? Get here now!

4th of July Celebration is Monday
Are you ready? We are! Enjoy fishing, lodging, camping, musical entertainment, full service bar, game room, indoor pool and 3 dining venues at the lodge. The Baudette/Lake of the Woods Chamber of Commerce and area businesses have a lot of fun planned, parade, vendors, fireworks, 5k and entertainment to name a few. We have some construction we are working around in town right now but still lots of room for all of the events. Click here for the full schedule of events. Lodging and fishing still available! Give us a call 800-862-8602.

66 years of fishing Lake of the Woods!

June 22, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

Check out one of our long time guests, Fran 90 years young. Fran has been coming to Lake of the Woods since 1950 and to Sportsman’s since it was built in 1971. Her first trip was on her honeymoon. Fran doesn’t miss her annual fishing trip with guide Tony Beckel and she still has the touch to real in the walleyes. We can’t wait to see you again next year. Nice catch Fran!

The bite on Lake of the Woods continues to be good despite a few storms that passed through last week. The current water temperature is 66.5 degrees. Drifting with a spinner and 2-3 ounce sinker in 18-26 feet of water around Garden Island and Graceton Beach has been good. Plenty of 17-19 inch walleyes are being caught along with some larger walleye. Worms are being favored but leeches and minnows are not a bad idea to bring along too depending on the day. Guided trips available. Enjoy your summer and wet a line today.

Rob Close from Ellsworth WI reeled in a nice 23 inch walleye released. Guided by Captain Cam

Fran Wittfoth from Holland, MN 27 inch 8.5 lb walleye released Captain Tony Beckel

SUMMER HOT DEALS! SUMMER HOT DEALS!
The weather is warming up and so is the hot deals! Sign up here to receive hot deals right to your inbox.

4th of July Celebration
Walleyes, Fireworks, Parade, Entertainment and Summer Fun!
Click here to read all about the activities planned.

First walleye caught was a 30 inch 12.86 lb. walleye

June 17, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

What a catch! Most anglers fish a lifetime and never hook a 30 incher. That was not the case for Nate Nygard guided by Captain Baihly Hontvet this past week.

Nate had never caught a walleye before and boy was he surprised when the first one that grabbed his bait was a 30 INCHER!! What a catch! It even got better; the next day he also caught a 24 inch walleye! Needless to say he is hooked and can’t wait to come back. We have seen some really great fishing so far this summer we can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store. Check out Nate and his catch!

Nate Nygard 30 inch 12.86lb walley. Guide, Baihly Hontvet

The Scoop

Best fishing has been in 14’-28’ this week on the northern reefs and outside of Pine Island and Zippel Bay. Drifting using 3/8 oz. gold or pink/silver jigs tipped with a minnow or gold, orange or red/white/silver spinners, 2-3 ounce sinker and a leech or night crawler. The current water temperature is 67 degrees.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s!

Don’t forget about dad! We have gift cards and lodging/fishing packages available starting at just $247 per person all month long. Click here to order your gift card or here to book your reservation. Sportsman’s Lodge 800-862-8602 Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge & Eagle Ridge 800-772-8411.

4th of July Celebration
Join us and the Lake of the Woods area for another fun Independence Day Celebration. Vendors, parade, games, entertainment, fishing, relaxing, boating and much more! Click here.

Lodging, camping, charter fishing, boat rental and docking available.

Lake of the Woods South Shore Fishing Report June 8, 2016

June 8, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

GOOOOOOOOOOOD Fishing!

Check out this slideshow of all the great pictures from the past few days.

Walleyes are hungry and anglers are finding lots of nice fish. Depths between 16’-28’ drifting along Pine Island, Zippel Bay or the northern reefs have been good spots. Gold or shiny jig tipped with a minnow or spinner and 2-3 ounce sinker tipped with a leech or a worm are working best. Water temperature climbed a few degrees this week to 63.

Father’s Day is June 19
Don’t forget about dad! We have gift cards and lodging/fishing packages available starting at just $247 per person all month long. Click here to order your gift card or here to book your reservation. Sportsman’s Lodge 800-862-8602 Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge & Eagle Ridge 800-772-8411.

4^th of July Celebration
Sportsman’s Lodge and the Baudette area are great places to celebrate Independence Day. Check out all of the events and fun planned.

Lake of the Woods South Shore Fishing Report June 1, 2016

June 1, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

Summer is here!
Summer fishing has kicked off and the guides are hot on the walleye trail. Soft water guided trips are available through October. Walleyes are hugging rock edges in 15’-26’ right now. Anglers are having the best luck anchored or slow drifting using a 3/8 oz. jig and a minnow or 2-3 ounce sinker and spinner tipped with a crawler or leech. Gold is always a go to color on Lake of the Woods. Other colors that are working well are pink and orange. The current water temperature is 61 today. Water temperature spiked to 66 a few days ago but has been averaging around 62 the past week.

Look at this Walleye! Jason Parker 27 inch released. Guided by Captain Dave McDougall

It’s a double! Denny & Mike 28.25 and 28.5 inch walleyes. Guided by Captain Mike Marquardt

Berry Picking, Golfing, Live Entertainment, Beaches, Lake Tours and Much more!
Check out all of the things to do in the Lake of the Woods area.

Father’s Day just around the corner!
Don’t forget about dad! We have gift cards and lodging/fishing packages available starting at just $247 per person all month long. Click here to order your gift card or here to book your reservation. Prefer to call? Sportsman’s Lodge 800-862-8602 Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge & Eagle Ridge 800-772-8411.

Lake of the Woods South Shore Fishing Report 5-26-2016

May 26, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

The Bite is on!
We have been enjoying great walleye fishing this past week. Check out these pictures! Shorelines 12’-28’ have been producing well using a brightly colored jig and minnow. Some anglers have been anchored and others drifting. The water temperature is warming up. We have warmed up 7 degrees this week, currently sitting at 62 degrees. The guides are hot on the walleye trail.

100% Walleye Guarantee
Charter boats are the best way to navigate the south shore waters of Lake of the Woods and with our 100% walleye guarantee, no equipment or experience is required, how can you go wrong? Click here to learn more.

It’s a double! Maria and Rod reel in nice walleyes at the same time. Guided by Captain Dave McDougall

25 inch walleye Dave from Dubuque IA 25 inch walleye released guided by Captain Mike

Celebrate Father’s Day all month long
Packages and gift cards available.

Did you see what was caught at our Sturgeon Tournament this year?

Joe Anderson 70.5 inch, 28 inch girth lake sturgeon caught on the Rainy River Lake of the Woods, MN at Sportsman’s Lodge 5-6-2016

It’s Fishing Time

May 20, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

It’s Fishing Time!

Sportsman’s Lodges on Lake of the Woods, MN specialize in lodging and guided fishing trips. Learn more about Sportsman’s Lodges fishing packages today.

Lake of the Woods South Shore Fishing Report 5-17-2016

May 17, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

Lake of the Woods South Shore Fishing Report 5-17-2016

Opener Recap & this week’s outlook
Another year is underway! It was a cool and windy start to the year with even a few snow showers mixed in but anglers found some walleyes. Walleyes are hugging the shallow shore lines and biting on gold, pink or orange jigs tipped with a minnow. Drifting or trolling in bays, Light House Gap and the Rainy River are all hot spots. For a no hassle approach to a fun day of fishing, jump on a charter boat! Groups of 1+ welcome. The boat holds up to 6 passengers and includes a guide, use of poles, bait, tackle, onboard restroom, assortment of pop and water and fish cleaning. We have lunch options available too including our world famous shore lunch.
The current water temperature is 50 degrees. The Rainy River’s current has slowed down quite a bit since last week. The weather forecast looks beautiful for the week ahead.

Northern Pike
Anglers are reeling in some monster pike right now! Pitching dead ciscos with a bobber on a quick strike rig on bottom or just 6 inches off bottom is working well to lure in these monsters along shorelines in weedy bays.

Spring Specials through May 26!
Up to 20% off summer lodging and charter fishing packages May 13-May 26 and lodging packages starting at only $40 per person per night now through May 26. It’s fishing time! *plus tax and based on double occupancy Sportsman’s Rainy River location

Share your pictures with us!
Recently fished with us or on Lake of the Woods? Email, Facebook or Instagram #sportsmanslodgelow your pictures to us and we will share them, we love to see your pics!

Sportsman’s Lodge Lake of the Woods Sturgeon Tournament & Walleye Opener Report 2016

May 9, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

Sportsman’s Lodge Lake of the Woods Sturgeon Tournament & Walleye Opener Report 2016

The 10^th Annual Sturgeon Tournament is in the books & Walleye Opener is this weekend!
What a year! Over 200 sturgeons were caught over the two day, 50 boat tournament including an unofficial state record sturgeon! The two day tournament started Friday, May 5 running 8:30am – 4pm and Saturday 8:30am – 3:00pm. The weather was warm and a little breezy but the wind was in our favor keeping the river nice and calm. The tournament is a catch and release tournament spanning over 1.2 miles just in front of the lodge on the Rainy River and just around Wheeler’s Point. Check out this hog! The recorded largest sturgeon on record with the Minnesota Department of Natural resources is 70 inches in length and 26.5 inch girth. On day one of the tournament this 70.5 inch length and 28 inch girth whopper was caught by Joe Anderson and his boat mates. What a catch!

Joe Anderson 70.5 inch, 28 inch girth lake sturgeon caught on the Rainy River Lake of the Woods, MN at Sportsman’s Lodge 5-6-2016

Musical entertainment, lots of fish stories and a banquet rounded out the festivities on Saturday. Thanks to all the participants it was another great year. We are looking forward to 2017. May 5 & 6. The tournament is already full but you can always contact us to be added to the waiting list or just come up and give sturgeon fishing a try. It is a lot of fun!

Check out some of the action and for more action click here. Congratulations to all the Winners!

10^th Annual Sportsman’s Sturgeon Classic Tournament Results
Day 1 1^st Place and the unofficial Minnesota record sturgeon 70.5 inch length, 28 inch girth Joe Anderson from Murphy Lake, MN – $2,150 cash plus $500 bonus for the record breaker. Day 1 2^nd Place 64.75 inch length, 25.5 inch girth Mike Denuccie from Nashwauk, MN – $925 cash
Day 1 3^rd Place 64 inch length, 26 inch girth Joe Lorenzen from Felden, MN – Sturgeon Rod
Day 2 1^st Place 63.5 inch length, 23 inch girth Dave Clement from East Grand Forks, MN – $2,150 cash
Day 2 2^nd Place 62 inch length, 22.5 inch girth Mark Sage from Grand Forks, ND – $925 cash
Day 2 3^rd Place 59.5 inch length, 21.5 inch girth Brandon Lunski Grand Forks, ND – Sturgeon Rod

Other Prizes over Two Days Longest Eelpout 19.5 inch Danielle Denny from Blufton, MN – Prize Pack
Longest Bullhead 12.5 inch Joe Lorenzen from Felden, MN – Prize Pack
Longest Sucker 24.5 inch Jill Strom from Eveleth, MN – Prize Pack
Powder Puff 58 inch length, 23.75 inch girth Cindy Hunter from Grand Forks, ND – Prize Pack
Kid Division – Largest Sturgeon caught by a kid 29 inch length, 12 inch girth Prize Pack
Best Boat – Zach Omdahl – PowrTran Kicker Steering

Over $7,000 worth of cash and prizes were awarded. Thank you to the contestants, staff and sponsors for making this such a successful event. Bryan “Beef” Sathre, Icatchandrelease.com, Rapala, Northland Tackle, Fish Addiction TV, 13 Fishing, Glacier Fish Houses, Lake of the Woods Tourism, St Croix Rods, SpeedyWorms.com, PowrTran, Fibertech, Dak Shack and Airwave Pedestal Seats.

Sturgeon catch and release season is open through May 15 and then re-opening July 1.

Walleye Opener is this Saturday May 14

It’s that time of year again! Time to start reeling in the walleyes again! The river and the bay are full of fish and we think it is going to be a great opener. No boat, no equipment? No problem! We have charter trips available starting at just $112 per person per day including a full day trip aboard a 27’ Sport Craft, experienced guide, us of poles, bait, tackle, assortment of pop and water and fish cleaning. Lunch? Sure we can take care of that too! Ask about our shore lunch and box lunch options.

The bite
Shallow shorelines between 6’-20’ are going to be the best using a jig and a minnow or a jig and a spinner. Gold is always good as well as pink and orange in the stained Lake of the Woods waters. Drifting or trolling is going to work well. If pulling crankbaits is more your style that should produce some nice fish too. The current water temperature is 55 degrees and the current is normal. Northern pike season is also open and Lake of the Woods has a huge population right now of trophy pike. Pitching dead ciscos with a bobber on a quick strike rig on bottom or just 6 inches off bottom are great ways to lure in these monsters along shorelines in weedy bays. Get your fishing buddies together and get ready for some fishing! Lodging starting at only $45* per person per night and guided trips are available. Call 800-862-8602 or book online here.

*plus tax and based on double occupancy Sportsman’s Rainy River location

Spring Specials through May 26!

Up to 20% off summer lodging and charter fishing packages May 13-May 26 and lodging packages starting at only $40 per person per night now through May 26. It’s fishing time!

Lake of the Woods & Rainy River Fishing Report May 3, 2016

May 3, 2016 by Sportsman's Lodges

Few more weeks of sturgeon fishing, 10^th annual tournament is this weekend!
Water temperature continues to warm up. We are currently at 49 degrees today and the week’s forecast looks beautiful and much warmer!

Sturgeon Fishing
It was a breezy weekend and the bite dipped this past weekend. Some anglers say that your bait must stay in the same spot without any movement to entice these bottom feeders to go to the smell. Some movement by the sway of the boat can confuse them. That could have been the reason for the dip in the catch rate this weekend. Anglers still caught some nice 40”+ sturgeon. The successful anglers also noted they used 2 anchors, set up in or near a hole in the river bottom in current, added a shiner to their gob of worms for some added smell hooked into their 3/0-4/0 circle hook and 3-4 ounce no roll weight and did not try a new spot until at least an hour had gone by. There is a lot of fish moving around, give these tips a try and give it a shot. When you reel in a 65 inch prehistoric dinosaur it will all be worth it!

Check out this video for more sturgeon fishing tips!

The guys from The Simple Outdoorsman joined us last week. Check out a few of their pics. These guys got into some nice fish. Be sure to check them out on facebook and like their page.

Check other their video below!

Right now through May 7, you can keep one sturgeon within 45”-50” or over 75” with a Minnesota fishing license and $5 sturgeon tag. Sturgeon tags can be purchased at the lodge, online or anywhere that sells Minnesota fishing and hunting licenses. May 8-15 is catch and release. The season closes May 16-June 30. These fish are fun to catch and release or very tasty smoked. Lodging, Guided Trips, Boat & Dock rentals available.

10^th Annual Sportsman’s Sturgeon Tournament is this weekend!
Fifty boats and over 100 contestants will battle it out over this two day event. We usually see over 100 fish caught and released over the two days including winners in the 65”+ range. The tournament runs Friday, May 6 8:30am-4pm and Saturday, May 7 8:30am-3pm. The bar is a great place to stop by after the tournament to hear about the action, grab a beer, food and listen to musical entertainment. The tournament is full for 2016 but lodging is available starting at only $45* per person per night. If you have never fished for sturgeon or just would like to learn more, stop by the bar. Most anglers in this tournament have been doing it for 7+ years. They have a lot of good tips and great stories to share. The weather is looking great and we are excited for our 10^th year! Good luck anglers! It is going to be a fun weekend!

*plus tax and based on double occupancy

Northern Pike bite is heating up!
Tributaries and bays along the river are great spots. Anchored and casting out a jig tipped with dead bait and bouncing off the bottom has been producing some huge pike. Some anglers are having great success trolling with crankbaits too. Lodging and guided trips are still available. Click here or give us a call 800-862-8602.

Walleye Opener is May 14
Up to 20% off summer lodging and charter fishing packages May 13-May 26 and lodging packages starting at only $40 per person per night now through May 26. It’s fishing time!

Check out the fishing action on our Dock Cam!

Photo Contest!
Submit your summer photo from a trip to Sportsman’s, tell your friends to vote and you could win a free night lodging at Sportsman’s Lodge! Click here.