Category: Catch of the Week

Hello Sportsfans… And welcome to the latest and greatest here on Ontario’s Lake of the Woods!

We’ve wrapped up the 2014 summer season at BBI (Ballard’s Black Island). Now let’s have a fall recap for September and October.

Have you ever wondered about our fall fishing and hunting opportunities? Well… Here are some first-hand accounts of what we experienced.

Gosh… Let’s see… Where to start… The first couple weeks of September brought about some big weather changes. Unseasonably cool, wet, and windy probably sums it up best. But, resoundingly, the fishing held on with the ups and downs of the barometer. Specifically the musky fishing.

It seemed as though the “casting presentation” went later than normal into this fall. Steve C’s group… Mike M’s group… Nik F’s group… Most chased musky by casting big baits well into mid month and the results were positive. Quite a few sightings and some decent fish boated. We didn’t have anyone crack a 50+ this fall, but there were some good mid-40’s held in front of the camera’s.

Are you wondering about the fall walleye run? Sure. Let’s talk. On a scale of one to ten (ten being the best) we could honestly rate the action somewhere around an average of A- to A to A+. It was pretty darn impressive. Just tremendous numbers of fish providing moments of non-stop action.

We’ve probably beat the drum on Boomstick and the west end of the Sunset enough this summer season, but boy was it good this fall. Anytime you can boat 150-200 walleyes in a single day we would rate that as A+ angling on LOW (Lake of the Woods). Wally’s group was in on that action… Along with Mike C and Dwight L who also had groups enjoying the show.

And how about that run we had in the Comegan?! Whoa! We camped in that channel with Karl K’s group… Kurt G’s group… Lonny’s group… It was a spectacle. Talk about wind and walleyes hey guys!

Beyond the walleye and the musky, which held the majority of our fall focus, there was also some minimal time spent chasing smallmouth bass and northern pike.

When Fletch’s group rolled in on their late Sept trek we were more than ready to try those bass on the reefs. Right out in front of camp… And boy did we pound em. Big ‘ol brute bronzebacks. We were jiggin tubes and twisters on the tops and it was a free-for-all. Good times. And there was a 19-incher ( about 4 ½ pounds) that highlighted the day.

Autumn is such a great time to jig those smallies…

As the season rolled to October it really became a “multi-jigging season” for all species including those monster pike. More times than not when you’re fishing the points and deep channels that’s where you’ll find those toothy critters also chasing prey. You can be innocently jigging away for walleye, and then all of a sudden BOOM!! A twenty pound pike crushes your jig.

That’s part of the excitement with the fall fishing… You never know what’s going to bite next!!

What else might you expect in the fall? Well, so much to do and so little time as it seems. We jigged, as mentioned above, about every specie swimming including some dandy crappie and perch. There was bear hunting, duck hunting, cool night bonfires on the beach, and just about everything in between.

It’s hard to do it all in September / October, but we certainly tried! And as we left the island for the year, you can be assured that there will be many more great adventures in the seasons ahead.

Set the hook!

Walleyes are going literally gangbusters on the rubble points and shorelines. Crazy crazy crazy!! It’s been just a total numbers game. And with fall coming why wouldn’t it just keep getting better!! Gosh, let’ see, so many groups having 100+ fish days. Where can we pinpoint? Well, Miles has been pretty decent. But Boomstick is still quite good. And then there’s always the Peninsula to cruise along points. Here’s a sleeper! Late afternoon yesterday Wally and I snuck out at about 430p and fished the NW side of Ballard’s Black Island. Jigged a shiner minnow in 14-21 feet of water on a rubble shelf. Caught over 25 walleyes (largest was 25 inches), caught about 12 dandy perch (largest was 13 inches), and then boated one very angry pike (was probably a fifteen pounder). And we did ALL OF THAT in about an hour and a half. How’s that for catching fish within eyesight of the island!!

Sportsfans hello from your friends at Ballard’s Black Island.  It’s been a couple of weeks so let’s get everyone up to speed.

 

The last two weeks in August proved to be very much “Lake of the Woods-ish”.  Meaning?  Yep, we got em.  And we’re talking walleyes by the boat loads, monster muskies ripping at rods, and bass and pike to go with.  We can quote Bernie (recent guest) when he said: “it’s seems like every island you go around, you catch fish!”

 

There are 14,000 islands on LOW.  And oh so many places to catch fish.

 

What’s the latest and greatest?  Well, yes, September is upon us.  Transition time if you will.  But there really haven’t been many changes lately.