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Posts: 261
| Howdy,
Due to the record high water levels on Lake of the Woods right now, I was hoping that some of the LOTW veterans who fished up there in 2014 could offer some tips to those of us who are facing high water on Lake of the Woods for the first time.
Any insights or experience that you can share for how extremely high water impacted your fishing patterns and boating experience would be greatly appreciated.
Take care,
Ruddiger
Edited by Ruddiger 6/6/2022 7:59 AM
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Posts: 1196
| As anytime on a shield lake watch for rocks. I've only been to Lake Of The Woods once in 1993 and it was a high water year.
rocks that would showing on your map as sticking out of the are just under the surface. As far as fishing goes it changes the places where you find current. |
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Posts: 32800
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I talked with a couple folks who just returned, and they said the big issue is the shoreline and places to land a boat are altered so much. As mentioned there are a ton of new hazards. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | Go with a rental. m |
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Posts: 2237
Location: SE, WI. | Having GPS, and a map chip is crucial. Stay on the main track while navigating. idol in and out of fishing spots, back to main track. A trimmed up lower unit could help idling in and out  Back during the flood year, fishing for skis was tough. You could literally fish in the woods. It was 4’ over norm. This year sounds higher…..yikes! Think we caught 11 musky in 12 days. One of our worst trips. Just simply more water for them to hide. JD
Edited by jdsplasher 6/6/2022 11:53 AM
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Location: Contrarian Island | We had a a decent 6.5 days in 2014. 18 in our boat to 52" we didnt really fish any differently. Maybe some reefs we didnt fish simply from them topping off deeper than in a normal year |
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Posts: 2237
Location: SE, WI. | Another Hazard with this high water will be Floating Debris. Big floating Bogs, Logs, trees, even piers that let Loose and currents will carry around. JD |
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Posts: 306
| IMO it's partly a math question.More water,more spots,more dispersion.By and large though a 'good' spot will still be a good spot.For me in these conditions,it's usually early season that is the most difficult.Lots more shallow water spots and the 'dispersion' thing is troublesome.Water temps matter more early.
As to hazards,watch out.Right now floating debris is unreal. |
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Posts: 167
| Be careful around any rocks that you can see. The largest part of them will be under water. Also, PLEASE when leaving any resorts drive SLOW. We all have docks barely above water and your boat waves don't help the situation. Otherwise, fishing has been very good. |
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Posts: 490
Location: NW WI | I've never been there or on any Musky water that's been that high. So, question: Do the muskies not follow the food chain into the flooded woods? I just ask because in my experience in high water, alot of the bass and pike typically move into that flooded brush and trees, easy to target but hard to angle. |
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Posts: 2237
Location: SE, WI. | Another item you should consider is a Bug Suit. At least the bottom half. I can only imagine with all the standing water, the skeeters, black flies and deer flies, will be at Large.I pretty much wear my bottom bug suit all day long. When a 48+ comes a following, you don’t want 3-4 black flies buried in your sock, chewen your ankles, trying to swat or doing the 2 step trying to shake them;) JD |
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Posts: 306
| Oh plenty follow or disperse into the new water no doubt. Not sure its a ‘follow the food’ thing though. Probably a part of it but on the Woods there’s ‘food’ nearly everywhere all the time.I feel it’s a temporary thing as to expansive shallows and most will depart as the season progresses. |
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Posts: 309
Location: Selkirk, Manitoba | Was just out for there the past couple days, mix of fishing and helping a friend with his docks (Clearwater area). Water temps 52 out in Ptarmigan and 59 highest temps found in back bays (will be rising quickly now with the nice sunny days we've been having). I wanted to target pike given the cool temps and unlikely as one would think there were still some scarred up big ones in the back bays tight to the old cattails. There is pretty well zero green weeds still given temps and late thaw, but will pick up rapidly now. Walleyes in spring patterns still, also weeks behind. Smallmouth staging and readily biting. The debris is still bad but likely will start getting sorted by the wind. When we were out the poplar seeds actually were a major issue as far as bunging up braid.
As far as musky, keep in mind that there are no visible sand beaches now but it "was" there - (turtles are not too happy about it) There are some sand bars /isthmus areas underwater with old reed lines and such that we effectively targeted for pike that would likely be good in muskie dense areas (we fished areas that are devoid of muskies in LOTW given the high pike populations, including one lake that is normally inaccessible by boat but is now with high water).
Bring a bug jacket and repellent. Travelling at dark at speed a bad idea for awhile, so start and end your fishing early.
Edited by Angling Oracle 6/9/2022 2:51 PM
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Posts: 3518
Location: north central wisconsin | As in 2014, which like Brad was a great lotw year for us, there will be areas of pronounced current as outflow starts to outweigh influent, and levels start to recede. It is structure. There are presently 10's of thousands cfs pasing through lotw(over 28k to be exact) vs a fraction of that on a normal year. In addition to rocks/floaters, current can also be a hazard in certain areas at times, so be cautious.
Edited by Reef Hawg 6/13/2022 11:40 AM
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | Just returned from the Angle.
Fishing was actually pretty good considering the water temps and high water.
Water temps were in the 65-67 for pretty much the entire week. Late week (July 7, 8) water temps started coming up to the 70-71 range.
Water level was about 4' above normal.
The good was that all the broadleaf cabbage beds had a few feet of water above them and made it easy working jerk baits over the top. Also a lot of the normal shallow saddles that would be chocked off had just the right amount of water to hold fish with submergent vegetation. The bad was many traditional good spots were not holding fish while some were. Made for wasted time fishing all the spots until we dialed in a milk run.
The rock bite was slow due to the cooler water temps but the jerk bait bite was really good and most fish we encountered were eating away from the boat.
Weed growth was good and water clarity was also good.
Current was not ripping early in the week but about the time the water levels apparently crested (mid week) the current areas really picked up. Saying water should start dropping about an inch a week now unless a big rain storm hits.
Fishing was better than in 2014 but as I recall the week we were there in 2014, the spawn was late and the week had very little wind and blistering hot days. This high water had a consistent pattern for us and most of our fish came from broadleaf patches related to current, or weed saddles with about 7-10 fow over them.
Lake didn't look much different than normal other than no sandy bays exposed and some of the mid lake structure was under water.
Bugs were not any more prevalent than past years. Mayfly hatch was in full swing last week.
We ended up with 20 for the week with 50.5, 49 and several other upper 40" fish, and lost (as usual for lotw) several large fish that nipped baits.
Raised about 10-12 fish a day lots of big fish in the system right now!
Bucktail bite was just kicking in as we left and top water bite was actually pretty good.
Ed |
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Posts: 1
| Heading up to the NW Angle next week. Anyone have any recent reports for up there? TIA |
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Posts: 2237
Location: SE, WI. | Here you go musky man; Just got back Saturday after a 12 day stay. Boated 32. Not a bad trip considering conditions... 10th -16th was clean water, and lighter winds. Sunday the 17th, 2 tornados rip through the woods. 1 hit grassy narrows resort, shutting down their resorts power for 2-3 days. Other tornado went through just north of cushings/ lilly area. Monday the 18th, we fished that area. Saw many tree tops floating around, along with whole pine trees drifting. Saw the island where tornado went through. About 15-25 trees were broke in half. Navigation was touchy. A lot of other debris in the water. leaves, pine needles, branches. Every island has several trees now laying in the lake. The high waters, flooded roots, now the strong winds, trees just could not handle the conditions. Along with the strong winds, the waves pounding the shore lines, along with 4-5 inches of rain, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, caused many of the bays/coves to muddy up! Water clarity took a hit. Many, probably half of our fish were beat up from spawning still. When we arrived, 1 resort owner asked if we saw their pets by the pier. Yes, a 50+and another were still spawning the 10th of July. I'm sure the high water levels played into the delayed spawn for many fish. I talked with others about their catches, and yes, there fish were scared up also. I think because of the late spawn, our biggest fish seen were in coves and bays . I'm sure the transition to rocks has started, as we raised several on reefs. reef fish seemed done with scaring and spawned earlier. Our resort did a Great job with catering to its customers by building ramps to the piers. This picture is from after the tornado's came through, along with the several inches of rain couple days after. After Talking to other musky guys, fishing was tough for many, only seeing 2-5 fish daily. All patterns seem to work. Guys were jigging deep and getting fish....20-40' current areas. . Also casting Jerks, Bucks, topwater, cranks, all took fish. I think our best day, we moved 10-11, caught 7 of those! Feel bad for these resorts....first Covid, NOW this high water has got to take its toll! Thank them for what they DO! JD
Edited by jdsplasher 7/27/2022 5:14 PM
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