Into the New Year we go sportsfans…  North-bound and hammer-down.  We’re not trolling across the ice, but the movement of our shacks is replicating the action of a skipping rock.

“Which way did we go?  Which way did we go?”  This seems to be a common theme of late, here in the office, as we try to keep up with the daily movements of our guide team.  They’ve been fishing a lot of clean ice out in the flats and the most recent surge has put us 8-9 miles off-shore in thirty-something feet of water.

This big push took place over the course of about one day when the guys moved 24 fish houses and popped open about 35 new huts.  Not a whole bunch of down-time when you’re making those sorts of strides.

Sauger city for the most part, has been the result, with your occasional walleye in the mix.  But really more of the same from what we’ve been seeing these first few weeks on the lake.  You are catching a few to eat, a few to take home, and more predictably having a whole bunch of fun in the process.  If there were a “laugh meter” in the lodge at night, we’re pretty sure it’s been red-lined on more than one occasion.  Good times…

What’s next?  Keep fishing.  In the rumor-mill last night there were whispers of “what’s happening on or near the reefs?”  Something we haven’t got a handle on yet.  With a strong emphasis on the word yet…

For you ice fishing historians you may recall that at least twice in the past twenty years we’ve found ourselves “fishing north” shortly after Christmas.  Just sayin’…
Set the hook…Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hello Sportsfans…  And welcome , as always, to the weekly ramblings as it pertains to Walleye / Sauger fishing on “L” “O” “Dub”.  Ice fishing…  Ice fishing…  Let’s all go ice fishing!

It was another banner week for early season angling activity.  Good ice conditions and many outdoor enthusiasts visiting, to come up and test the bite…  Yet it was the fish that left us wondering which way did they go?!  Not a whole bunch of highlights to reel in…

Right now our guides have the shacks spread far and wide in search of what appears to be culminating in a tough December bite.  The likes of which we have not seen in several years…  From the west end of Pine, calling it 16-18ft, and then stretched out all of six miles off-shore to the thirty-foot flats, we’ve been bouncing back and forth waiting for something to perk our interest for a more concentrated effort.

So far not so good…  At least not by December standards…  We are seeing enough fish being caught for a fresh evening meal.  Mostly saugers…  We are seeing enough fish being caught to take a few home to share with family and or friends.  A few walleyes in the mix…  But far and wide, across the board, it’s been a month of below normal Lake of the Woods fishing standards.

What’s next?  Good question.  And we have some thoughts…  One of which is putting a positive spin on the challenge and continuing the great chase!  Our guides are relentless in their pursuits, seek the utmost success for our guests, and will continue to search far and wide for the best bite that LOW has to offer.  And they’ll do it by moving shacks and fishing one eight-inch hole at a time.

That’s ice fishing my friends!

In closing…  Just a quick shout out to ALL who made December good times fun for Ballard’s Resort.  So many return guests during the early season…  We appreciate your patronage and look forward to having you join us each December!

Merry Christmas from your friends at Ballard’s Resort, and don’t forget to…Set the hook!

Hello sportsfans…  And welcome to the weekly twist at Ballard’s Resort.

Wow.  Let’s get a recap on this past weekend.  The doors blew open on Thursday night and the ice fishermen came charging in.  It was our first big test of the new winter season.  We put some good numbers of anglers on the ice and tested our pods of shacks stretched out on the west end of Pine.

The outcome was…  Let’s say…  Mixed by Lake of the Woods standards…

Best scenario we had one report with five guys catching 80-100 fish in each of their two days on the ice.  And that was absolutely best scenario.  Deeper water.  Mainly saugers.  Lots of little guys in the mix.

Not best scenario?  Two guys fished all day, caught a dozen fish, and put four in the pail.  As they stated: “The beer was cold, and so was the fishing”.

Back when Kate was born circa 1990, I remember it being roughly the same time frame in December, the walleye / sauger bite was nothing short of tremendous.  Over the course of a day we iced walleye after walleye and sauger after sauger to the tune of countless fish.  Again, it was early December and the fish gods were smiling.  Oh the memories…

The lake that year was like a skating rink.  Smooth as glass.  So much so that when Jeff pulled in to chat with us, he miscalculated his breaking ability with the wheeler…  And used the side of the fish house to bring him to an abrupt halt!  More memories…

Also in recollection was the bitter cold we faced that day.  But the fish didn’t seem to mind.  They were hungry.  An exact below zero temp doesn’t come to memory.  But hello the ice was shaking, moving and popping that day.  At one point it felt like a mild tremor was moving across the lake, and it shifted the shanty about two feet.  Additional memories…

That celebratory evening (Kate being born & incredible fishing) was spent “visiting” the neighbors up and down the river.  Won’t go into details there…  We’ll leave those memories in the vault!

Shall we get back to the present?  Yes.  It was a rough start for our first “big weekend” of the season.  It was kinda like watching our starting line-up get rocked on the mound, but a few batters offered some offensive highlights.

We’ll keep moving…  We’ll keep fishing…  We’ll get ‘em…

Set the hook!!

Hello Sportsfans and welcome to the weekly post here at Ballard’s Resort.  If word has not yet drifted your way, YES, we have dropped the green flag and started another season of ice fishing adventures here on Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods.

Exciting!  Always good to get an early start…  Nick and the gang had the shacks moving early last week and we put our first groups on the ice last Thursday.  An early challenge has been the ice conditions.  Not a lack of ice per say, but the actual surface shape of the ice.

During the initial freeze-up on the south shore we incurred prevailing north-western breezes that stacked ice / broke ice / stacked ice / broke ice continuously.  The end result brought lots of shelf ice both above and below the surface of the existing freeze.

So what are we working with?  Right now we’re running with about 12-14 inches of ice.  Up-side?  Down-side?  We can obviously get around with the ATV’s and passenger haulers.  But the amount of time it takes to groom a trail, lay out areas to set houses, and get positioned to travel has been quite tedious.  Bottom line our guys are getting the job done, but it’s been no easy task making trails to get to the fish.

The bite?  As mentioned we just started a couple days ago.  Traditionally, Justin T. and the boys from the Faribault area roll in early season to “test” the fishing for us near the south shore.  Once again they made the trek up and were here to give chase.

Mixed results…  Our guides have now stretched the houses from 16ft of water on out to about 27ft.  This puts us anywhere from 1/2 mile to 4 ½ miles off-shore.

Shallow water fishing has been tricky at best and not as productive as one would think.  Reason being…  Again it’s been a battle with the shelf ice that’s actually moving around under the solid sheet that we’re sitting on.  Sounds weird…  But it’s happening.  You drill some holes, start fishing, and then whammo a chunk of shelf ice moves through and plugs your ice holes.

With that being said…  It appears as though we have found better fishing further out in the deeper haunts.  Yesterday 26-27 feet was fair by LOW standards, and most of our anglers had success.  The catch has been predominately all saugers with the occasional walleye mixed in the bunch.

As we move through the week…  So go the fish houses…  On the move…  The chase is just getting started…
Set the hook!!