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2007 Year End Newsletter
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Hello Friends, the 2007 fishing season is now complete. A big thank you goes out to everyone who came up this season. The weather in 2007 always kept us guessing. Before we opened up in May, our area was experiencing drought conditions. With very little snow or rain all winter and during the first part of spring, this translated into a very low lake level for Lake of the Woods in May.

Because the lake was about four or five feet below it’s average depth when we arrived in early May, we decided to rebuild the four outer cribs and the deck of cabin #1. The cabin, which is built on the water, sits on nine cribs including the two cribs which support the deck. The four outer cribs, in the deeper water, were the four cribs that were in the most need of replacement. One of the cribs had actually fallen over at some stage, before I owned the resort, and someone had jammed an old railroad tie into the two cribs surrounding the fallen one. The railroad tie bridged the gap caused by the fallen crib. It has all been replaced by brand new treated lumber, and as many of you noticed, the outer deck, as well as the cabin itself, is as solid as a rock.

Just after we finished building the new cribs and new deck on cabin #1, the rain began to fall. It fell, and fell, and fell until the lake rose up to normal depth. Like I said before, the lake was about four or five feet below normal depth, so for it to climb back to normal depth in a little over a month’s time, that was a heck of a lot of rain. It must have rained almost every day for a month. With all that rain and run off, the lake became very murky in June and the first part of July. This seemed to affect casting in a slightly negative way on the main lake; however it didn’t seem to affect trolling or jigging.

About early or mid July the rain finally stopped, the lake cleared up slowly, and the fishing got really good! Besides the rain, the run off, and a few scorcher days in July, the weather wasn’t too bad in 2007. The wind was not as strong and steady as some of the last couple of years, which was a nice change.

Walleyes were biting well from the get go. Trolling live bait with a walleye spinner was the most common approach, early on. Minnows always work exceptionally well in the spring time and early summer. Minnows are also bait which we can get at a moments notice, because they are sold very close to camp. Minnows work well all season long, but there are times when other types of live bait will work just as good as or even better than minnows. Night crawlers and leeches for example. Some of our guests leave behind extra night crawlers and leeches every year. I always try to give them away or use them up myself if I get the chance. When I was using up some crawlers that were left behind this spring, I caught and released a beautiful 26.5 inch walleye on a spinner rig. With night crawlers, you hook the nose of the crawler two or three times and let the rest of the crawler dangle behind the hook. You do get bit off a fair bit, but usually the walleye will suck in the entire crawler, hook and all. I have not spent a lot of time fishing crawlers and leeches, but I do intend to mix them in, along with my usual live bait, which happens to be minnows. If anyone wants to try crawlers and leeches next season, I suggest purchasing them fairly soon after you cross the border into Canada, because I may not be able to get you any once you are at camp.
Around Early July, many good sized Walleyes were taken on medium to small sized crank baits, thrown up on various shorelines. These shorelines contain rocks, weeds, and sand. These walleyes are very aggressive because they are up shallow actively hunting baitfish, crayfish, leeches, insects, etc. These walleyes tend to be a little bigger and stronger than your average deep water walleye, however, they are usually a little harder to find. After dinner until just before dark is one of the best times to try and find these actively feeding, shallow water walleyes.

Smallmouth Bass are probably my favorite fish to catch on Lake of the Woods. Sure, northern and musky get a lot bigger and stronger than smallies, but pound for pound, a smallmouth bass will out fight them all!
Crank baits are my favorite way to catch smallies. Some of the best are crayfish, rattle trap, wiggle wart, and shad raps. Some of the best colors are crayfish, fire tiger, red and silver. Medium sized and small sized cranks work the best with most of these running at about five to seven feet in depth. You should have a few that run shallow and deeper as well. Also don’t forget soft plastics and spinner baits, I don’t have a lot of experience with the soft plastics, but I know that most of the tournament fishermen use them. The best month for small mouth bass is July with August and June coming in a close second and third respectively.

When you are out smallie fishing and the bite is on, don’t forget to always throw a cast just behind your partner’s lure when he has a small mouth on. This fish will sometimes attack crank baits in number, and you will often be able to get a double hook up of if you are quick and accurate enough with your casting skills. This can be a lot of fun when it happens, especially if both of the fish are good sized.

Serge, our main guide, and I were out fishing for Small mouth bass in late July when Serge hooked into a nice one. I could tell that it was big by the way it fought. I got the net ready early because I did not want to lose this one. As it got close to the boat, the fish stayed down in about four or five feet of water, then all of the sudden it shot straight up to the surface and went air born to the tune of about four or five feet high! At the top of its jump it spit the lure. Because I was ready, I had just enough time to try and fling the net underneath this flying bass. I thrusted the net out as far as I could, and the 19.5 inch smallie landed right in it! I almost bounced the thing right back into the lake because I was using one of those rubber nets, and they can be a bit bouncy, but it managed to stay in the net. Serge was about as excited as I have seen him in a while. He even gave me a high five, which is really rare for him.

Northern Pike were plentiful as usual in Obabikon Lake. We are also seeing larger pike coming out of that part of the lake. On the Main lake and close to camp the northern fishing was a little tougher in 2007. The main reason for this was probably the murkiness of the water due to all of the run off during June and the first part of July. We still caught some trophies as well as a good number of slot sized northern, but the concentrations of northern were not as plentiful in the main lake. It seemed as if the northern were a bit more spread out in 2007. Also, not many people actually target northern on the main lake and around camp. Many people just as soon go musky fishing on the main lake than go northern fishing, which basically means throwing a slightly larger lure in general. You will still catch a fair number of northern with musky sized lures, but probably not quit as many, if you just threw northern sized lures only. Still, if you found cabbage weeds, then you also found northern.

Another fantastic area for catching northern on Lake of the Woods, which is accessible from Moonlite Bay Camp, is Whitefish Bay. To get there, you have to head directly east from camp under Rabbit Island, past Elm Portage, until you reach Turtle Portage, just before Hay Island. Turtle Portage is marked very well and it has a mechanical rolling portage whereby you load your boat onto a lift, tilt your motor up, and roll your boat over a small hill into Whitefish Bay. Whitefish bay’s water is very clear compared to the stained water around Moonlite Bay Camp. Even though it looks like a totally different lake, Whitefish Bay is still part of Lake of the Woods, and the northern fishing can be dynamite! It also has some pretty good bass fishing and there are supposed to be monster muskies up there, although, I have not seen one yet. Even though it takes a little work to get your boat into Whitefish Bay, it can be worth it if you like to catch northern. There are fewer weeds in Whitefish Bay; however, if you see any weeds at all, they must be fished, as almost every weed patch up there holds fish.

Musky fishing in 2007 was standard Lake of the Woods, which means it was very good as usual. Musky and northern inhabit many of the same types of structure in the lake. Cabbage weeds, reefs, saddles, etc are good structure for both species; the trick is to find out were the big girls lay. Since most people catch and release muskies these days, it is fairly hard to get a lot of photos to post on the website, but we do get a few each season. Muskies are less predictable, more elusive, larger, and much more difficult to catch than northern. For all of these reasons, musky are extremely exciting to catch or even just to see follow up to the boat! I had a very large musky take a buck tail in late July with such force, that when it turned, it snapped the swivel on my leader. The swivel on a leader rarely breaks, but this fish had some big shoulders on her. This also points out the need for very high quality equipment to be used when fishing for musky. Although in this case I am not sure it would have mattered. I will remember that strike for a very long time, even though I didn’t land the fish.

Crappies and Large Mouth Bass were hot and cold in 2007. Always an added bonus to any fishing trip if caught, these two species always provide a bit of extra entertainment for the groups who find them. Crappies were caught in Obabikon Lake and in Miles Bay. Large mouth bass were caught in small numbers in heavy weed cover in certain parts of the lake.

That wraps it up for another season at Moonlite Bay Camp. The 2008 booking schedule is now open and ready to be filled. Please email or call if you would like to book a trip in 2008. Please remember everyone will be required to have a passport in 2008. The U.S. Government is still fighting about how long of a grace period there should be for overland border crossings, but I would still suggest that everyone who is coming up to fish in Canada, get a passport as soon as possible! Passports are not cheap, but they do last for ten years. Please remember that this is the U.S. Government that wants its citizens to have passports to re enter their own country, it is not the Canadian Government that is forcing this on Americans.

Have a happy healthy and safe holiday season and we will see you in 2008.

Mike and Tasha

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