Lake of the Woods wolf hunts

Hi all,

I had a great time this past week with Alen and Rolando of HUNT TV. They were here chasing the elusive timber wolf with me. We had a fun 4 days in the great outdoors and Rolando got a shot at a really nice looking wolf on the morning of day three. They got some super footage of the animal, but unfortunately the shot wasn't clean. Although no good hunter likes it when this happens, the fact is that it does. The guys were pumped at the opportunity though, since John Hunt had been after a wolf in Thunder Bay for something like 10 - 12 days before he finally got one. Personally, I learned even more about these awesome creatures and will be excited when next winter rolls around and I get to apply my new knowledge in some more fantastic Lake of the Woods wolf hunts.

Winter is Fantastic in Sunset Country

Winter has been going swiftly here in Sunset Country. We have been enjoying one of the mildest winters we have had in the past few years. This should bode well for the whitetail deer herd in the Lake of the Woods area. Fishing has been great all winter long. Walleyes, Crappies and Lake Trout have been my main targets so far but I'm looking forward to the awesome pike fishing that late season ice usually brings. Before that happens though, I'd like to let everyone know that some new friends, Alen and Rolando of HUNT TV will be here this week to do a little wolf hunting. When they heard of the success that Dan and Chris of Minnesota had hunting with Jeff Gustafson and myself, they couldn't wait to come and take a crack at this amazing winter sporting opportunity. Check out the pictures from our endeavors on my new wolf hunting page at www.wildaccess.ca

Reel Weeds really work

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to let you all in on a fantastic new product that I got a chance to try out the other day. It's called Reel Weeds. This is a portable structure system for ice fishing. The Reel Weeds look similar to our native "coon-tail" weeds, they are weighted on the bottom, come with 40' of line and an ice free float. Very simple to use, just drill a few extra holes and drop them down. The attraction of green weeds under the ice, especially on barren mud flats, is incredible.

I was out fishing crappies the other day and was using my usual run and gun approach. Drilling a line of holes, quickly checking them with sonar, and fishing those I marked something. After some time I had several nice fish on the ice but couldn't find a large concentration of them. They where scattered though the area and holding tight to bottom. I thought this might be the right time to try out this new "structure on a string," and I'm glad I did. Going back to where I had caught a few fish in one area, I popped a few more holes with my new Strikemaster Solo auger and dropped the Reel Weeds down. I flipped open my portable shelter and sat down to wait. I didn't have to wait long though. The fish started moving in right away. I wish I had an underwater camera with me to watch the action, but I settled for red bars on my sonar rising off the bottom to eat my lure. I was using Jason Durham's "piggy back" spoon idea, where he takes a Northland forage minnow spoon and replaces the treble hook with a small tear drop ice jig. The fish seemed to like it and so did I, great idea Jason!

With enough crappies for a fine meal I headed for home but I can't wait to try my Reel Weeds out again. If you like fishing crappies or perch, check this product out at www.reelweeds.com I think I just might have to try them around my shack next time I'm at the walleye hole..... I'll let you know how it goes.

Ice Fishing and Wolves

Happy New Year!

Here we are, the ice season is upon us. We finished up the fall whitetail hunt with some great success. Although there were no "monster" bucks this year, we had a great hunt with some very solid animals being taken. I wrapped up my season by taking a nice 40" bull moose on the last day. I'm looking forward to some winter pursuits now. I've been out a few times for some ice walleyes and man do they taste great. My Dad and I caught some nice crappies the other day, they were pretty finicky(like crappies usually are) but we found that tiny glow Northland forage spoons would tempt a few bites.

This week I have plans to do some lake trout fishing and I am also setting up for the first wolf hunt of the winter. This should be very exciting, the wolf population is very high in the region right now and there has been a lot of activity in some of the areas I like to hunt. Check out this picture I got the other day from one of my trail cameras.

Hello Fall !

Here we go! It's my favorite time of year on Lake of the Woods. Fish are putting on the feed bags before winter, so pretty much everything is biting. Muskies are high on my hit list along with walleyes and crappies. Whitefish and ciscos are getting set to spawn and the muskies are stacking up waiting for this annual feast. A trolling approach lets me contact a lot of fish and allows me to put clients on the muskie of their dreams, even those with limited experience. With plenty of fish in the current areas close to Kenora, you can get into a hot bite very quickly. Of course, having a enclosed top and a heater in my boat definitely helps with the comfort level on those less than perfect days.

Whitetail deer hunting is my other great passion. I have been guiding clients to some fantastic bucks for the last ten years. Remote areas of the lake offer some great opportunities, and I have been working hard for years scouting the perfect spots to place baited stands for my clients. We have a great track record, so look me up on my website www.wildaccess.ca for some more pictures and info.

Duck, goose and ruffed grouse hunting round out the options for this season. It looks like we are going to have some good numbers of birds this year.

What better time to book a trip to Lake of the Woods than right now.

Summer wrap up.

Well, it seems that another summer has come and gone. While the weather wasn't always the greatest, the fishing sure was. With cool temps thru mid summer, walleyes stayed shallow for quite awhile longer this year than they have in the past couple of summers. Once they hit the mid-lake humps the action stayed hot all summer. The numbers of 1 lb to 2.5 lb walleyes in Lake of the Woods is just astounding. Smallmouth bass were a little different this year. It seemed that they were constantly on the move. Transitioning from classic summer points and rocks to the shallows and back with every little swing of the thermometer. At times they could be a little hard to pin down, but when you got on them, it could be bronze back bonanza! I spent quite a bit of time this summer fishing for largemouth bass with some great results. These fish just seem to be getting bigger and bigger in this system. While not found in large numbers, there were some huge fish coming to tournament scales this summer, 5's, 6's and a 7 lb 10 oz brute recently brought in to a Sioux Narrows tournament. Pike, with ever steady numbers, have enjoyed the slot size regulations, showing an average size better than any time in the past decade. With muskies, crappies and lake trout cruising these waters, there is no better time to be on Lake of the Woods than right now.

First win of the year.

Returning home from the giant waves of Lake Michigan, Jeff and I didn't have much time to spare but were right back on the water for the annual Falcon Lake (MB) Bass Challenge. Though the bass on this lake were still transitioning from wintering grounds to pre-spawn staging areas we managed to catch 25-30 fish. Jeff was nailing them with his favorite cold water suspending jerkbait, and I caught the big fish of the day (4.01) classically dragging a tube up a sandy transition. We held off all other competitors to take home the win.