where should i go from here....will post pics

[FrontenacPike]

As i am writing this i am staying in a sleeper on URL, we check out this morning. The fish on red have been far and inbetween. So far all weekend 25 eyes and a 10lbs pike. I was hoping fellow fisherman could point me in the direction of a hot bite. My buddy and I Have the portable with and have 5 days to chase the fish. Any fish info would be greatly appreciated. At the end of the excursion and when i get home i will update with what was working and pics. If anyone has some info on LOW, Winny, Leech, or anywhere up north please shoot us in the right direction....Thanks everyone

URL report it seems the eyes are being finicky at best, yes we have 25 but that was 5 guys fishing hard 24-7. There is a night bite that happens from midnite to 3 am....rattle reals!!!! Durring the day there are plenty of lookers but they would come up / sniff ur bait and bolt. The lure of choice was anything small with a full ( very lively) minnow.

Help steer us in the right direction i will update this nightly.....thanks everyone in advance.

[zepman]

Lake of the Woods.

[katophil]

Leech

[Deitz Dittrich]

FP- lots of options. You could stay on URL. I was up there for the new year and kicked the tar out of the walleye. I was on the south end, semi near the res line. 14-16 feet of water. I did best on 1/8 oz rattle varmint in perch color with a minnow head only. I caught nearly every fish I graphed. which was 36 in an afternoon just by myself.

Option #2- LOW, is there a better fishery? Your dang near there already.. My dream trips have always been hit the day bite on LOW and then drive back for the evening bite on URL.

#3, Leech has been a great fishery this year as Katophil states.

#4, along similar lines to 1 &2, Blackduck and surrounding lakes.. change plans and try for perch and gills and crappie in that area during the day and then head back up to URL..

[Jarrod32]

You could also try Big Winnie for a perch bite and some walleye early morning/evening...

[FrontenacPike]

On the drive up here we actually stopped in the hotel at shooks....everyone knows the place i am talking about, you look once you look twice and think is that really a hotel why isnt there ANY vehicles and why does it remind of a scary movie? Too keep it short it is $52 plus tax for two guys to stay there. She also told me that they rent pull behind sleepers ( wow great idea). I grabbed a card from her and some time today i will look up her HSOforum and crunch numbers to get the best bang for the buck.

Right now URL is pretty slow, i've never seen a slower bite on red. Today we are fishing the morning in the sleeper and checkout is noon.....from there we are heading in what ever direction you post. Great stuff so far guys i will keep everyone update with fishing reports.

[Hazzard]

Lake of the woods has been on fire this year!!

[only ice]

your 45min away from LOTWs. Lots of places to stay in town or up by the lake.

[FrontenacPike]

deitz thanks for the info we are staying at shooks right now. Tomorow we are going to take you up on option 1. Who's ice roads did you use to access the south side of URL?

[Deitz Dittrich]

The one closest to the reservation line. its a new one. I cant for the life of me remember the name of it, but I do know its the last one.. JR's is the second to last. There are at least 3 guides that head out of the one I did. As I said, its brand new, and really only have a frame set up.. But the guides that go out of there have huge roads plowed out already. Chad Benson was the guide I talked to up there who plowed most of the roads I was on.

[herefish101]

Lake of the woods, hands down the best fishing lake around. too bad it's so far away. But your so close how could you pass it up, I wouldent, especially with time to burn.

[HNTNBUX]

Get as far away from others as you can. Go small and think crappie jigging style, very slight wiggle when they come in. Wiggle and "slowly" pull it away if they don't hit almost right away. I used a 1/16 lindy flyey, 1/8 buckshot and crappie size demon. Two weekends ago in the sub-zero cold Friday half day 28, Saturday slept in and got 58, Sunday four hours 19 and a 36" pike. All of these were daytime bankers hours fish. No night fishing. Good Luck.

[FrontenacPike]

Deitz we tried and tried to find that place but we coukdnt find it. We found JR's and continued on but we wound up twice in someone's driveway. It was getting late and we decided to turn around and fished JR'S. We first went to the spot that they recomeneded. It was 5.5 miles out due northwest. We fished @ 16 feet and found 5 slot fish biggest being 20 inches. We then took their road that went due west....no good. Then we tried 3 other spots and it was slow. We finished the day with 9 eyes and 1 snake. We stayed away from others and threw every presentation at them we could, but the fish werent around. Tomorow we are going out of Hillmans, we have several spots that have produced in years past. After tomorrow i'm going to search these forums for a hot bite up here, LOW, LEECH, WINNI..ECT. Deitz thanks for the advice i just wish the place had some road markings and i think we could of found it.

[katophil]

see post above

[Bassinbob84]

Leech has been good

[bak2MN]

Get to LOW yesterday we caught a 25,21,19.5,19.25,18.5,18,17.5,15,and a bunch of good eater sauger. And that was btwn 7:00 and noon. before we left. 2 guys.

Awesome!!!!!!!!

[soldoncass]

The access is called carsellas I think and I believe there are maps on Chad Benson's web site, on how to get there. Do a search....I looked at a lot of sites around there yesterday, (or Sunday) so I'm going by memory here. It sounds like the bite has been spotty on url since the cold front before new years. We were up there then ,out of Morts,and everyone we talked to then were talking about the finicky bite. We (2 guys)only iced 30 eyes in 3 days, with around 20 misses. I went to a glow hook on a deadstick, with a liphooked fathead, to improve my hook-ups. Still had to let them take it awhile then....A funny story I "have to" share.... we had 1 eye that went from one hole ,to another,to another, to another stealing minnows....before we nailed him (educated 19"er). Just don't give up....keep trying spots, it can switch to a good bite quickly. They have to eat sometime..........enjoy your time up there.

[bak2MN]

I cleaned one over new years that had 16 minnows in it!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Sorry I sent you on the wild goose chase.. Carsalas is right.. thats what its called.

[FrontenacPike]

Dietz dont worry about it i appreciate the advice anyday. I really wish Carsalles had some road signs and we could of found it. It gets a little scarey when u head so far down that road and reservation territory is so close.

We fished URL Hillmans this morning...3 slot fish and we left. After that we headed south to Leech and fished the south public access. We caught our fair share of small eyes and perch. We even got advice from a couple locals that there is a night bite. Fished until 8 pm but nothing to brag about. Tommorow we are leaving walker and going to Winni. One of my friends gave me a tip atta High Banks we are going to try, will post more tommorow night.