« Fishing Has No Boundaries! | Main | Wyomin' Is Callin'... »
Wednesday
Aug252010

Lake of the Woods!

DateWednesday, August 25, 2010 at 12:12PM

Well, I've been on my hands and knees scrubbing out the 2010 Due North Outdoors Lund from Rapid Marine.  That is normally a good thing.  Heck, nothing better than a bunch of fish goo smelling up the carpet AND it's a good sign the fish were biting...  

Sunset on the Mighty Lake...

Last week, I headed up to Lake of the Woods to meet a bunch of fishing buddies. My trip started a day late with the long, lonely ride out from Sioux Narrows, Ontario.  I zipped out roughly 40 miles in a bit of cold and stormy weather, following the sunset west towards Wiley Point.   Think of the ride out as a bit of white-knuckled driving through rock-infested water, rain in my face.  Thank goodness for the Humminbird GPS!

The Route In...

After the adventurous trip in (no rocks hit!), I pulled into the lodge right at dark and met up with the rest of our fishing party. Our goal on the trip was to find Lake of the Woods' biggest walleyes.  Doing so during the dog days of summer can be a littly tricky.  Good thing we had Gary and Chris Morgal along from Northland Tackle.   Turns out Northland jigs tipped with minnows worked like a charm on just about every hump and reef we could find.   Our other weapon of choice?  #5 and #6 Northland blades rigged with crawlers.   Yes, we had a lot of fun on the trip and there are simply too many fish tales to include in this report so, I thought I'd simplify and hand out a few online awards instead.

 

Biggest Lake Trout Award goes to????

 

Jason and Jake McCarthy

Yep, Jason and Jake McCarthy (Of Minnesota's famed McCarthy Auto fame) nabbed this 12 pounder.  Nice fish!

  

Biggest Walleye Award goes to????

 A 30 Incher!

I see a pattern.... and I don't like it! Jason and Jake had the hot hand this trip!

 

Biggest Pike Award???

Jake's Pike!

See what I mean?  Geez, the McCarthy's had an awfully good fishing trip.  Jake's only miss?  A giant musky.  I'm sure he'll get it next year.  Okay, plenty of other awards to hand out...

 

Prettiest Walleye Award goes to????

A Perfect Walleye!

Brett Paul caught this 25 inch beauty.  I believe that was about his tenth fish that day in the 24-26 inch range... 

 

Biggest Smallmouth Bass????

A Monster!

That chunky fish about pulled off Brett's arms!  PS:  He had a great netman on that catch....

 

The 2010 Blind Squirrel Award Goes To???

Scott Fransen (of Ron Schara Productions fame)

Okay, so this award is presented a bit tongue and cheek.  I believe that was fish #173 for Scott on his third day of fishing.  He caught more darn walleyes than all the rest of us combined...

 

Best Fish Pose???

Ron Schara With Another Trophy!These darn Lake of the Woods walleyes are awfully frisky.  Ron had quite the time holding onto this energetic 23 incher!

 

Best Shore Lunch???

A Wiley Point Shore Lunch Spread

Our guides Will and Scott put on a lunch like this each day, first cleaning fish, then making sure we walked away from the campfire with full bellies.  And to think, we were back on the water for the afternoon bite each day, although most of us had a tough time staying awake after such big meals!

 

Best New Bait Testers Award goes to???

 Chris and Gary Morgal of Northland Tackle

I had to keep all pictures of Chris and Gary Morgal to generic shots out of the boat.  Yes, each time I wanted to snap a photo of them,  seems they were testing new (and secret) baits for Northland!  Let's just say they all seemed to work quite well.   Watch for new products in 2011!

 

Best Photograph of the Trip???

3 generations of McCarthys with Ron

There were a ton of great shots from our three days up north, but  this shot had to be the best.  Wally, Jason and Jake McCarthy during a lunch stop.  How much fun to have three generations on the water!  Thanks to all for a great trip up north!  I guess it's about time to start planning the 2011 event...

 

AuthorBill Sherck | Comment7 Comments |

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.