LOTW?

[Huey]

Anybody speared on Lake of the Woods before? Any tips or advice?

I'm renting a spear house at Zippel Bay resort this Sunday. Never speared there before. I'm excited to see some big fish.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Huey

[bassNspear]

i have never been there, but have heard alot of awesome reports of people over the years seen alot of fish.

Shoot some photos and hit us with some information!

[Gordie]

huey are you renting from kathy hull? I guy I met up there last week said she has got it togetther for spearing. she features gary hull decoys in her houses

as for any tips the color pink and white

[terrible_fisherman]

I used to spear up there during the Xmas break when I was in high school. The water can be kinda murky at times in that bay but typically good enough to see. From what I remember, if you are using live suckers at all, make sure to bring a few of them. The times I have been up there, the pike came in fast and drilled the decoys a lot of the time before the decoy even moved or reacted. I also agree with using red, white, and/or pink as they used to hit our fakes when we had those colors down too.

[Central Bassman]

Had a few buddies go up there over xmas and do some tip up fishing for pike. They did really good and side that it seemed like the fish were moving good on the flats.

[mnmuzzleloader]

Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods, Roseau 30-40” protected slot, 1 over 40”

it always looked like a great time but I thought I remembered them having a slot limit on them I just looked it up and here it is off the DNR site. This will be your biggest problem Not getting one between 30-40, Kind of makes spearing a little tough, but if you get clean water you should have a blast?!?!?! Good luck you should see some awesome fish!!

[MN Mike]

Back in the mid 90's we speard on L.O.W's 4 times, once at Zipple, 2 times in front of Warroad and one other time at Elm Pt.

Our best outing was Elm Pt but there are people that go out in front of Springsteel and do well.

From what I remember the water clarity was alway ok but the bottom was soo dark it made it tough to see the fish come in no matter what time of day and how BIG they were, seems to me Zipple was a bit more sandy and a lighter bottom ( if I remember right ).

The slot does make it tough if your going for 1 over 40 but when those big girls come in and attack your decoy, makes you dang near jump off your seat!

Mike

[Huey]

The slot does worry me some. I'm going to check with the resort and see what they say about how to best judge the length. I used to do some late winter tip-up fishing near Warroad and there were a lot of 37-38-39" fish. I marked a stick at 30" and 40" that I'll bring with to set by the hole. I won't throw unless I'm sure the fish is legal. I just hope to see some huge fish. Even if I don't stick any, it will be a thrill to see them come in.

Thanks for info, guys. I'm pumped.

I'll give you a report next Tues or Wed.

Huey

Ps Elwood- I'm renting a house from Zippel Bay Resort.

[Gordie]

Huey good luck and take rod set up with power minnows or gulp smelt and hang on.

[Fish Toys]

Huey we love pictures!

[Huey]

Good idea, Elwood. Thanks.

I'll bring the camera and hopefully get some good pics for you guys. I love see the pics and videos that get posted.

[57johnson]

Gary Hull is highly recommended. You get to use his decoys in his houses and he has always placed high in the NFDA carving competitions. Check it out at hulldecoys dot com. He is based out of williams very near zipple. Also I have had the best luck with orange and chartreuse colored decoys on LOW. I have speared zipple and found you see a lot of little ones in the bay, but the big girls are out in the lake but you won't see as many fish. As the slot goes if the fish Makes you soil your shorts it's probably a taker/wallhanger. Usually you never get to see the whole fish before you need to make a decision, so I look at the head first to get a judgement. The 40's are awfully wide in the head and have a lot of pike bacon on the belly.

[merkman]

Well Huey?

Are you back yet?

[bassNspear]

i was thinking the same thing.

[Huey]

I'm back. Nothing exciting to report. I spent Sunday in the spear house but didn't see a single fish.

Here's some pics.

At Zippel Bay, you can drive to your fish or spear house. They said take a left at Harpoon Ave. Sounded like a promising spot.

The house was set up in about 5' of water over clean sand and next to a pressure. Right away I thought what Fish & Fowl had posted about pressure ridges being structure.

The water was stained but fairly clear. It was sunny and most of the day I could see fairly well. I tried just about all of my decoys. Finally I settled on a yellow/orange bear creek pike rigged BnS style with a sucker below it. No fish to report. The walleye fishing was slow Fri + Sat so maybe the pike were in a funk too.

I did get a 23" and a 39" pike jigging on Friday. The big pike the Big Fish $, well at least from the guys that would pay up. The round thing by it's eye is the jig.

The drive home last was long. I got to see a nice sunset at Red Lake.

I wish I had seen some of those big LOTW pike. It was still a fun trip. Next time I'm going to rent a house from Kathy Hull, maybe in a couple weeks.

[Huey]

Merk- I forgot to add that I saw one of your brother's decoys for sale at a gas station in Blackduck.

[bassNspear]

huey, still looks like a great time out there! Thanks for sharing the photos

[Central Bassman]

Great pic Huey!!! To bad you didn't see any big ones!!!

[Gordie]

huey thats the same jig that the eyes were biting on a couple of weeks ago in 16 fow out by pine island. we werent lucky enough to score any pike thou.

I find it funny about the colors that is used up there cause I really dont use them in to many other lakes. guess that means I'm always ready for LOTW