Tim Ellerbroek, Jesse Cooksley, and I just got back on Monday from a fishing expedition to the ocean like waters of Lake of the Woods. Unfortunately, one member of our four man group couldn’t make the trip due to an untimely death in the family. So we were a group of three. We fished out of Lyon Sleepers with Tim Lyon and his group of helpful staff. Tim and his staff were very accommodating. They were prompt when picking us up and dropping us off with the bomber. They checked in on us often during the day to offer tips and to hassle whoever was missing the most fish that day. Minnows and the cleaning of fish for taking home were also included daily. They staff even charged our electronic batteries and brought us some sodas when we ran out. The sleeper was clean and we stayed extremely warm. Tim has been a professional guide on Lake of the Woods for over 30 years and really knows his stuff. I would highly suggest booking a trip with Tim if you are up for roughing it for a few days. Give him a call at 800-664-3735 or check out their website for more information www.lyonsleepers.com. Make sure to tell them that Spike sent you!
We were fishing 2 miles out from shore so we weren’t fishing as far out as many of the resorts. The depth that we were fishing was 28 feet. We didn’t have 100+ fish days that you often hear about, but did catch approx. 30-45 fish a day with three guys. The majority of the fish caught were smaller walleyes and saugers. These fish made for great eaters. It was awesome pulling a fish out of the water and tossing her on the cast iron skillet. We did manage to catch 4 fish in the slot with the largest being 27 inches caught by rookie Jesse Cooksley. That fish hit a glow jig about a foot off of the bottom with a full minnow with a bobber dead stick close to dusk. The glow jigs out produced spoons in the lower light hours. We did do well with jigging spoons tipped with only a minnow head also. The hotter spoons, were stop sign in red and gold, gold mimic minnows, gold and orange Swedish pimples, and vmc rattler in glow red. 90% of the fish caught were within a foot of the bottom with the best bite “about a beer cans height off the bottom”.
The only fish that we caught after dark was an eelpout that we had the guide clean and we boiled and seasoned it. I would compare it to cod opposed to lobster but it wasn’t too bad. So the night bite was pretty much not existent, something to consider when deciding if you want to stay in a sleeper or simply do day trips onto the ice and stay on shore. Wishing great success to those with upcoming trips up north!