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2008 Year End Newsletter
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Hello friends, it was another high water year on Lake of the Woods in 2008. Hi water is a little bit better than low water because it means that we can get into the more shallow parts of the lake a little easier. Places like Obabikon Lake, Caribou Lake, and Burrow Bay, for example. The walleye and smallmouth bass fishing were as good or better than I have ever seen in my fifteen years on Lake of the Woods. I caught and released three walleyes over 28 inches in 2008. I have only caught one walleye over 28 inches in my previous fourteen years on the lake. I have also heard from many of the Moonlite guests talking about catching and releasing bass in the 17-19 inch range, and walleye in the upper twenty inch range. The weather never really got very hot at all in 2008. The weather stayed reasonably cool and not as windy as usual. This made for some very comfortable fishing during the hot part of the summer and for most of the 2008 season.

I have already started to mention how good the Walleye fishing was in 2008, but it really was outstanding! Walleyes were biting well starting on the opener, which is always the third Saturday in May, and this lasted virtually all season long. The surprising thing about the walleye fishing in 2008, is that the majority of the walleye were caught using jigs on reefs or drop offs, and not trolling the sand beaches which is usually a much more productive approach, especially early on. Most of the reefs near camp held some really nice schools of walleye, which was great because you didn't have to burn up a lot of gas to get into the walleyes. We still caught plenty of walleyes trolling, but jigging was producing better in 2008. Minnows seem to work the best early on, but I always like to have two types of live bait in the boat if possible, because I believe that it is good to give the walleyes two options when it comes to "live" food. Leeches and crawlers both work very well on Lake of the Woods walleyes as well as minnows. Most of our Moonlite guests found it reasonably easy to get enough walleyes for shore lunch or dinner in 2008. Brightly colored jigs including white and glow in the dark worked great, tipped with some form of live bait. 1/4 to 1/2 ounce jigs worked best depending on the wind. Hammered gold and silver trolling rigs worked the best, if you tried trolling. Also, many of the Smallmouth bass type crank baits worked well on the shallow water, aggressively feeding walleyes. Shads, jointed shads, wiggle warts, and rattletraps, can be casted or trolled along rocky, weedy or sandy shores. Silver, fire tiger, red, crayfish, black, or any combination of these colors will work on walleyes.

Northern Pike fishing in 2008 was typical Lake of the Woods, which means that it was pretty darn good! As the old saying goes, "if you found the cabbage weeds, than you found the northern." This held true in 2008. Northern pike can be just about the most predictable species we have in Lake of the Woods when it comes to the best structure and the best type of weather to fish in. The simple answer is cabbage weeds and overcast skies. If you are fishing the cabbage and the sky is overcast, you can just about be assured of a few northern, hitting your lures at any moment. Because northern are almost always in the cabbage weeds, I do recommend lures that have very few hooks on them, or lures that go through weeds with out getting hung up. Examples of this type of lure would be spinner baits, buck tails, or floating plugs that don't sink too deep when you twitch them. I also love spoons in the spring when the weeds are not too thick because spoons do get hung up, but they are also deadly on northern pike. Northern are a blast to catch because they fight hard, and the big ones are very strong. You can really feel their strength when they start peeling line away from your reel once you have hooked a decent sized one. A lot of people shun northern as a food fish, but they shouldn't, because northern taste great, as long as they are filleted properly. Learning to Y-bone a northern is a little tricky at first, but once a northern is Y-boned, it taste almost as good as a walleye. Some people say it taste just as good as walleye. The best eating northern pike are the 23-27 inchers. Cutting up smaller than 23 inches, and the fillets are too thin. Cutting up larger than 27 inches, and you are cutting up a protected breeder.

Musky fishing in 2008 was good, but because the walleye, bass, and northern fishing was so good, and also because I only had a few guests that focused on Musky, it was hard for me to tell if the Musky were really on the bite in 2008. I did hear some good stories, saw a few photos, and had my share of large follow-ups, but I really didn't hear or see any really huge monsters that were landed in 2008. Because most people fish for walleye in the morning and cast for bass or northern after lunch, this leaves very little time to experiment with musky fishing. You think that you have all day, than before you know it, the day is over. Also, when the walleye, northern, and bass fishing is really good, most people don’t want to switch over to a fish that you may or may not see all day. Furthermore, not everyone has all the extra gear it takes, which is required in order to make a reasonable attempt at landing a legal musky. I say, “attempt” because most of the really big musky have had some experience with being hooked and they know, from experience and from instinct, how to throw the hooks of a lure. This is not to say that it is impossible to catch a really big musky, only that it is a very big challenge, and there can sometimes be very little action, for the amount of time spent pursuing this great fish. When you do get a really big musky to hit, however, you never forget those moments! Even if you don’t actually land the fish and get a photo, as long as you get to see it close up in the water near the boat, that is all it takes to get someone addicted to musky fishing. Lure choice for musky is similar to northern pike; however, you should also throw some lures, which would be considered too big for northern fishing. It is a lot of work to throw big plugs, but it can also pay off in a big way. The best structure for Musky fishing is again similar to northern pike fishing, only it is also much more complex. Musky love the cabbage weeds, but they also like reefs, drop offs, and saddles. A saddle is a shallow spot between two islands.

Smallmouth Bass were also outstanding in 2008. It seemed as if almost every rocky shoreline, rocky point, or island held at least one bass, and most spots held more. From the first day of the fishing season, until the fish fly hatch, we caught some very big smallmouth bass. We had to catch and release a lot of these because the smallmouth bass season doesn’t open until July 1st. This is because the smallmouth bass do most of their spawning in the month of June. The Ministry of Natural Resources only allows anglers to take two bass under 13.8 inches, until May 31st. From June 1st- June 30th bass are catch and release only. From July 1st anglers can catch and keep 4 bass of any size. Any bass less than 13.8 inches is usually a male, and not a spawning female, so it is a good way to help the species during their spawning period. Because we had a cool spring the fish fly hatch was almost a month behind schedule. This is because the mud at the bottom of the lake has to reach a certain temperature before the fish flies will hatch. This gave us a few extra weeks to catch the big smallies before they gorged themselves on fish flies. Once they gorge themselves on fish flies, the bite does tend to slow down a little, which was noticeable. You could still catch plenty of smallies, it’s just that the average size of the bass was a little smaller than before the fish fly hatch. A lot of 17-19 inch bass were caught this season, those fish would range from 3-5 pounds. I like to throw crank baits on the rocks for smallies, the same ones I mentioned in the walleye section of this letter. Lake of the wood’s bass love crayfish, so you must always have a handful of crank baits that look like and swim like a crayfish. It’s not the only thing they eat, but it is their favorite food. Some folks say that bass tend to taste a little fishy or muddy when compared to a walleye or northern, however, if the walleye and northern are not cooperating, a few bass for shore lunch is better than a jam sandwich.

Because of the cool weather this summer, crappies never really schooled up on the brush piles like they do normally, so we never really saw any big stringers of crappies brought in this season. We still caught many a random crappie however. Perch were a little more accessible than the crappies, and we are still seeing more perch than ever, with out gill worms, which is really nice. Crappie or perch are always an added bonus when you are trying to catch shore lunch for a group of people.

I would just like to thank everyone who came up to Moonlite Bay Camp in 2008! We are now taking bookings for the 2009 season. Bookings are first come first serve, so please don’t hesitate to let me know your vacation dates, as soon as you know them. Email is the best way to reach me. My email address is mike@moonlitebaycamp.com. You can also phone my dad in Florida at 239-947-9085. We will be at the Omaha Boat Sports and Travel Show at the Qwest center in Omaha February 26th- March 1st 2009. We will also be at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show March 4th- March 8th 2009. Hope to see you there!

Good Fishing,

Mike and Tasha

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