Tag Archives: minnesota fishing

Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge Fishing Report 1/24/2014

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Decent bite this week 28 feet of water jigging with a chubby darter or buckshot tipped with a minnow has been successful this week.  Average size walleyes have been 17-19 inches. Get into the action. We have fish house rentals available until late March. Give us a call 800-772-8411 or reserve online.

Ice Conditions
Currently we have 35 inches of ice in the areas we fish and travel.

Trail Conditions are good in the area.
The wind and snow we are getting today will make them drifted but the groomers will be out again soon.

Ice Road from Young’s Bay to Oak Island
The ice road is good. It is nice and wide so even on the windy days it is still open. Come on out.

27 inch walleye
Tom Schaber caught and released this lunker.  27 inch walleye caught on a stop sign lure.
27.5 inch walleye
Tony Edwards from Omaha, NE reeled in and released this big 27.5 inch walleye in fish house #19 in 27 feet water on glow with red dot jig.

 

Don’t let winter pass you by!  

Book your winter ice fishing package today 800-772-8411!

Lots of Big Walleyes

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Lots of Big Walleyes

We have been seeing a large amount of slot walleyes in the 24”-26” range this week. So pump up your arms!

Anglers are still getting some nice eater sizes too, but definitely lots of big ones to catch and release.  The best bite has been in 24-27 feet of water. The water is clear for Lake of the Woods standards. Anglers also finding several suspended walleyes 3-4 feet off bottom so bring the vexilar!

Ice Conditions
Currently we have 20-22 inches of ice in the areas we fish and travel.

Trail Conditions
Groomer was out today grooming the trails around the Northwest Angle. A fresh grooming will be done today from Wheeler’s Point to Oak Island, Wheeler’s Point to Warroad and the following day from Wheeler’s Point to Baudette. Most lake trails are groomed 1-2 times a week based on conditions and traffic.

Plowed road from Young’s Bay to Oak Island.
Road is in great shape! Take a ride out!

Don’t let winter pass you by! Give us a call to book your winter getaway! 800-772-8411 or request online at www.oakislandlodge.com.

Nice size walleyes!

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Nice size walleyes at Sportman’s Lodges!

70% Walleyes, 30% Sauger mix in ‘21-25’. Walleyes have been real nice size, 17”-19”. A few nice perch and pike have been found too.  The bite was real active on Saturday, slowed a bit with the fierce cold front that has been moving through, but anglers have still catching some nice fish. Good runs reported between 8am-10:30am and 2:30pm-5:00pm.  Pink 3/8 oz jigs tipped with a minnow has been the hot lure.

Ice Conditions
17-20 inches of ice in the areas we travel and fish right now. All of our houses are just off our groomed snowmobile trail.

Trail Conditions
Lake Trails
Fresh trail grooming will be done this week on the trails from Wheeler’s Point to Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge and Wheeler’s Point to Warroad. As always, watch for the caution areas.

Ice Road
Ice road from Young’s Bay to the island is in good shape.

Happy New Year! From the Sportsman’s family to yours, we wish you a healthy and happy 2014.

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Catching holding strong! It has been a great December for walleye and sauger fishing in our neck of the woods. A very active bite and many big fish and big catch days.  The best bite right now has been in 23’-28’ jigging with gold or pink jig, stop sign or #32 macho minnow tipped with a whole minnow or some anglers are swearing by just the minnow head.  Drop your line to about 6 inches off bottom and bring along or rent a vexilar for the best experience.  Vexilar rentals are available at the lodge, but are in high demand so be sure to call ahead to reserve.  Try jigging with one pole and dead stick with the other to see what technique works best for you.

Ice Conditions
Current ice depth in the areas we travel and fish is 20-23 inches. Our houses are situated just off of our groomed snowmobile trail.

Jaedin Johnson 8 years old caught this 27.5 on a shiner and a pink jig

Landen Johnson 4 years old caught another keeper on a gold jig dead sticking! He loves ice fishing!

25 inch walleye Travis Herber and Alex Williamson They also caught some nice eaters few 22 inch and 26 inch walleye. What a trip!

Trail Conditions
Lake Trails
Fresh trail grooming will be done this week on the trails from Wheeler’s Point to Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge and Wheeler’s Point to Warroad. As always, watch for the caution areas.
Land Trails
Continue to be groomed and are in decent condition.  Click here for more details.

Don’t let winter pass you by! You still have time to make your winter ice fishing reservation. We ice fish until March 31.  www.sportsmanslodges.com 800-862-8602

We Open for the Season Tomorrow!

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Ice Fishing at Sportsman’s Lodges Starts Tomorrow!

Fishing
Pre-season reports are great! Water is clear and the bite is active. We have had a hot bite between 8am-10am and late afternoon between 3pm-5pm in 21’-23’ of water. Pink Swedish pimples and 3/8 oz long shaft gold jigs tipped with a minnow have been working well. Nice 13”-18” walleyes have been found.

Ice Conditions & Trail Report
Currently we have 10”-15” inches of ice in the areas we travel and fish and 14-15 inches of snow. The snowmobile trail from the Northwest Angle/Young’s Bay has been marked. The ice road has been plowed just today but vehicles are not allowed out for another 4-5 days once we get a few more inches of ice. The snowmobile trail is also marked from Baudette to Oak Island. This trail will be dragged tomorrow and grooming will begin as soon as we get a few more inches of ice.

 

75-100 Fish a Day!

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Fishing in Minnesota has started out with a bang this year! Lots of walleye action! Mix of 12”-28” has been coming through the holes. Jigging in 20’-24’ of water, gold and pink jigs tipped with a minnow and a handy vexilar/fish finder has brought anglers the best luck this week. Check out the pictures of some of the action below and on our Facebook page! We always love to see your photos, so be sure to tag us or send them via email.

Mercedez Stangland with 29 inch walleye caught on 12-8-2013

Mercedez Stangland with 29 inch walleye
caught on 12-8-2013

DeWolf Party 12-6-2013

DeWolf Party 12-6-2013

Dave Santelli with 23 inch walleye

Dave Santelli with 23 inch walleye

Richard Stangland and 23 inch walleye

Richard Stangland and 23 inch walleye

Ice Conditions
Current ice conditions in the area we fish and travel is 11”-13”. It has been very cold, but we would like to see it warm up a little bit during the day to make us some good quality ice.

weather_12-10_to_12-19-2013Ice Road
Adrian’s, who maintains the ice road out of Four Mile Bay reports 7 3/4 to 9 inches of ice on the bay and 10 to 12 1/2 inches on the lake. ATV’s and Snowmobiles only allowed for now. It looks like it will be another week or so for trucks.

Trail
We have a foot of snow on the trails right now. On the lake we do have some spots with bare  ice, so be on the watch for them.  The crew is planning to make their first check and stake the trail to Oak Island later this week. The Lake of the Woods Drifters reports the land trails are being checked and grooming will start very soon. Click here for more trail updates.

For reservations and more information contact us today at 800-862-8602 or click here to book online.

Ice Fishing Season Starts Friday!

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Minnesota Ice Fishing Season Starts Friday!


Updated 12/5/2013

It’s GO TIME!
The first day of our 2013-2014 Minnesota ice fishing season starts tomorrow! We have 11-12 inches of ice were we travel and fish from the south shore (Sportsman’s Lodge Rainy River location) at this time and making more as I type, the thermometer currently reads 5 below and the week ahead looks like we will get a lot of the same! Our Oak Island property reports 4-8 inches of ice. They plan to open up in 7-10 days or so.

Snow
We did get some snow yesterday, about 8-10 inches on the south shore and 5 inches up at Oak Island and the Northwest Angle. Will this affect the ice? In a sense yes, it will slow the building down a bit, but we do not anticipate it slowing it down very much. It sounds like we did not get nearly the snow as most of the state. We measured that we made an inch of ice within the past 36 hours. Most of the snow has been blowing around the past few days. There are areas with 3 foot drifts and areas with bare ice. Like always we have a few slush spots and areas of caution, but we do every year. That is normal. Rest assured we check ice at least a few times daily and safety is always our first priority. If you do plan to venture out on your own, we suggest making sure you know where you are going and staying on marked trails.

For reservations and more information call 800-862-8602 or log on to www.sportsmanslodges.com. We still have openings for this weekend.

Minnesota Ice Fishing
Minnesota Fishing

Ice Fishing in Minnesota

Forecast Looks Cold!
Highs in the twenties today and tomorrow we are going to start dipping below zero for the week ahead.  Perfect for ice making!  We are getting some snow now and it sounds like a possibility of another 3-5 inches tomorrow.

**Please keep in mind we only report in the areas we travel and fish. The entire lake does not freeze equally. If you venture out on your own, know where you are going and stay on the marked trail. Safety first!**

Ice Roads
The ice road near Wheeler’s Point/Four Mile Bay access has 8 inches of ice and is allowing ATV’s and snowmobiles at this time and through the weekend.

Getting Ready for Ice Fishing

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Getting Ready for Ice Fishing

We are busy getting ready for the ice fishing season. It won’t be long!

Current Ice Conditions
We have had some cold days but also have battled some wind lately, so at this time only the shallow bays have a sheet of ice over them. The good news is the water is cold and the forecast keeps getting colder. The current forecast is calling for highs in the teens and twenties this week and lows in teens and single digits with less wind starting tomorrow. We just need 10 cold days with low winds for the first few and we can easily make 10-12 inches of ice. Stay tuned! We will continue to keep you updated. Do you have your reservation in? Book online or call 800-862-8602. Our season runs from early December through the end of March.

New Villas
Our new 3 new villas are nearly complete. They will be ready to rent in early December. You will enjoy these brand new comfortable accommodations. Full kitchens, log furnishings, flat screen TVs, 1-2 bedrooms per bathroom, most with gas fireplaces and awesome views. For more information, click here. These new units are filling up fast, make your reservation today.

Christmas Shopping Done Easy
Sportsman’s gift certificates are great for the outdoor person on your list. Sportsman’s gift certificates are always the right color, size and price. Certificates are available to use at any of the three locations and never expire.Order yours online today.

working_on_finishing_touches_in_villas

Working On Finishing Touches In Villas

Villas soon complete

Villas Soon Complete

New Villas

New Villas

Ice on Shallow Bays

Ice On Shallow Bays

Fish Houses Are Ready

Fish Houses Are Ready

It’s Freezing Season

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Soft water fishing has pretty much come to a close this week. A few hard core anglers are still out, but for the most part we are getting ready for hard water! It is time to start stocking the tackle boxes and re-stringing the poles.

11-12-2013-freezing-up

It Won’t Be Long Now!

We have had some real cold nights earlier this week that froze up some ice sheets on the river and some of the larger bays. Unfortunately, most of those have dissipated, but that is typical for this time of year. It is still early. The water is cold and ready! If we can get 10 days of below zero weather that usually sets us up with 10-12 inches of ice to kick off the season. Typically we start ice fishing in early December. It won’t be long, we can’t wait!

Lots of projects are going on at the lodge this fall at Sportsman’s Lodge Rainy River location.
Three New Villas are being constructed and in the completion stage. They will be ready to rent in December. Stay tuned on our Facebook page for pictures coming soon! Our 3rd floor of motel rooms is getting a face lift, some new fish houses are being built, landscaping in front the lodge main entrance has been re-done, the lodge was freshly painted on the exterior and new shingles were put on the lodge room wing over the summer too. We are excited to show you are new improvements!

Winter Reservations
If you haven’t made your reservations for winter yet, now is the time! Give us a call Sportsman’s Lodge 800-862-8602, Sportsman’s Oak Island Lodge & Eagle Ridge 800-772-8411, Sportsman’s Sleeper Division 218-634-1589 or request online. Ice fishing season starts in is less than a month!

11-14-2013-freezing-up-2

Freezing Up!

 

Walleyes, Muskies, Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike take your pick or try them all!

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Now is a great time of year for walleyes, muskies, smallmouth bass or northern pike fishing near Oak Island Minnesota and the Northwest Angle of Lake of the Woods. The muskies and northern pike have really been hitting on spoons and buck tails, the bass on shad raps and the walleyes are hot on gold spinner or orange and pink 3/8 oz jigs tipped with a minnow.

The best locations for walleyes have been either south of Oak Island in 20’-25’ of water or areas around Tug Channel and Falcon Island around points and in depths between 10’ – 20’. We have recently seen mainly nice good eater size walleyes between 14”-18” caught a few slot fish 19.5”-28” but overall nice size fish for a delicious walleye shore lunch. As for muskie, northerns and smallies…areas on the south side of Oak Island, around Skeet, and the west side of Falcon Island are all good places to try.

Monster Crappie Guide Joe Cooper

Monster Crappie Guide Joe Cooper

Guide Joe Cooper NW Angle Area pictures courtesy of Steve Worrall

Guide Joe Cooper NW Angle Area pictures courtesy of Steve Worrall

A look ahead…
Fall foliage, hunting seasons, and excellent walleye, crappie fishing will soon be upon us. Make your reservations now and fall into walleyes with our great fall rates!