I've showed some stuff from prior spring and winter lake trout trips here.
For those who don't know where....just 1 hr 10 min N of Baudette, MN....and 5 miles N of Nestor Falls, ON. Lake of the Woods on one side of the road...Crow lake (Kekagi lake) on the other. (lake is in central part of map)
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)A great place to take a canoe also....10 X 20 miles with hundreds of islands to protect from wind. You'll need to ararnge Crown Land camping.
This year was a waiting game with the ice. We have to plan in advance and you just never know. Last year we went up on May 23....and you know it...the lakers were already deep....water was 53 degrees. Still catchable...but we want that ice-off, shallow laker bite. Missed it again this year too. The ice was only off the SW end of lake....3x5 miles of open water....water temps about 39 to 45 degrees.....not quite warm enough yet for those shiners to come shallow and spawn....dragging along the lakers into the shallows. So another year of trolling for 'em.
Last weekend found them in 20-50 ft of water and they were hitting #9 Raps being trolled quite fast at about 10 ft depth. A hard "wall slamming" hit was the rule. We rigged up the down-riggers, but never used 'em. Fish ranged from about 5 lb....
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)Notice the float ice in the background of that pic....
to about this 12 lb'er your's truely caught (and consumed tonight)....
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)We took home our 4 fish.
Guess what else was hitting....the Muskie bite was phenomenal. Pops caught his first ever Muskie just shy of 10 lbs (yes, this is a very poor pic...but I was shaking from the adrenaline, he's gonna kill me for such a lousy shot)....
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)Yours truely landed a 4 lb'er too(my first!). We had another 3 Muskies on and up to the boat. Had another 5 "bite offs" that were presumed Muskie hits. All in the same 20-50 ft water on Raps at 10 ft. Probably lost $60 of raps to the Muskie and none to the trout. The locals tell us that they go wild now on shiners before they come into the shallows to spawn (need alittle warmer water for that).
You ever see the pics/clips of Orcas beaching themselves to take a sea lion off the sand at the water's edge? Well, the Muskies were doing the same with baitfish...watched a fish come right into rocks flop around with head in cranny of rock, bait fish jumping out of water to escape...over half of Muskies body exposed out of water. Was absolutly phenomenal!
All in all, a great place to fish smallies, muskie, and lakers (no Walleyes...you gotta go accross the road for that). And all accesable by canoe if you desire, to keep costs down. If you figure out how to get a Crown permit for that area...let me know. Locals tell me it's difficult, in order to steer you towards the resorts...truth in that? I don't know? If you want to keep it cheap, you can stay in Baudette, MN and just drive the 70 minutes each day.
Crow Lake sunset.....now I'm dreaming of the fall laker bite!
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)Now get out there and "get you some"!
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Crow Lake Lakers (Read 3870 times)
