Lake of the Woods Walleye Opener: Post-Spawn Tactics & Gear

With another ice out, another open water season is upon us.

The opening week on Lake of the Woods is a great option to kick off your season. It not only puts the fish in predictable locations, but the fish are fresh and generally in a biting mood looking to chow down and recover from the spawn. With water temps moving out of the 40’s, this puts Walleyes in post spawn locations for much of the lake. For main lake females, this puts them out on the first breaks almost exclusively. Your looking for 18-22 ft on most of the main basin. Males may be a bit more scattered and slightly behind the females but not by much. While most of the time we think about the spawn as being upriver, or shoreline related, LOTW main basin walleyes will also spawn on main lake rocks. Making the first breaks off main lake rockpiles a sneaky option. We have had some amazing days in the early season without another boat in sight.

One of the great things about the post spawn patterns on Lake of the Woods is there is no reason to make it complicated, there are a couple simple options we use to chase down some of the best fishing of the year.

Mastering the Vertical Jig Bite on LOTW– Lake of the Woods is still one of the places you can hang a minnow over the side of the boat and catch a pile of fish. Fish are fresh off the winter season and are much less sensitive to boat pressure. As the season progresses they can get spookier, but early season doesn’t need to be complicated.

We are not talking about finesse jigging here, jigs from 3/16 oz. to 3/8 oz. like our Shiner Jig and Teardrop Jigs are perfect options here. Premium jigs with premium hooks will simply put more fish in your boat all season long.

Colors – start with a confidence color and go from there. We really like pink, chartreuse, glow, blue and combinations of those. But any colors may be the best on any given day. Post spawn fish are hungry and bright colors work well this time of year.

Bait – there is no reason to get much fancier than a frozen shiner. Day in and day out Lake of the Woods walleyes love shiners. Live minnows will get bites as well but will rarely out-fish a frozen shiner. Going in through the mouth, out a gill, then back through the body will keep them on reasonably well. The keeper on our Shiner Jigs are perfect for hooking the lips to for added retention.

Cadence – hanging a minnow, literally means hanging a minnow. Hold the minnow 6-18” off the bottom and let mother nature do the work. The natural movement of the boat is all that is needed. The water is still cool and the fish while hungry, are not at peak metabolism by a long shot. Make an easy target for them. Check bottom occasionally to know where your jig is at. Let your rod tip load on a bite and all that is needed is a gentle lift to set the hook.

The Ultimate Rod & Reel Setup for LOTW Walleyes – while a lot of people think of vertical jigging rods as shorter compact rods and 1000 size reels to maximize sensitivity, that is certainly NOT the best option considering what modern rod technology has to offer. With modern rod & reel technology, you can move to longer rods that are extremely lightweight, balanced and sensitive, but have better length and action to optimally hook and hold a wider range of fish. This is going to maximize your success.

We feel the sweet spot is 6’10. We have blanks from St. Croix, North Fork Composites (Loomis) and Rain Shadow ready to build you the perfect all purpose jig rod. XF tips that are perfect for eater size fish, but have the backbone needed to handle the slot and over size fish you can expect to get into on Lake of the Woods. 6’10 is also a great option as you move to pitching targets with FFS or swimming a minnow. That length helps you cast with surgical precision. ¼ to 3/8 oz jigs are right in these rod’s wheelhouse. Day in and out I’m reaching for a 5/16 oz Shiner jig this time of year.

Reels – We like 2500-3000 size reels with 6:2:1 gear ratio. The days of needing a 1000 size reel are over. Modern 2500-3000 reels have more line capacity, bigger spools, cast better, have better drags and are surprisingly lightweight. We are fans of Daiwa & Shimano but there are a lot of quality options out there. In most cases we recommend starting at Daiwa Fuego or Exceler or at Shimano Miravel.

Line – 8-10 lb. braid with an 8-10 lb. fluorocarbon leader is tough to beat. Braid will maximize your sensitivity, and fluorocarbon is nice and abrasion resistant. I also think the stiffness of fluorocarbon helps get the jig to hang horizontally better. Brightly colored braid (green, yellow, pink) enhances the line visibility for detecting up-bites (slack line) or bites on the drop. When fish push back shallow we might switch to a good co-polymer for pitching, but braid wins fishing vertical.

Non-Live Bait Options – Sometimes you run out of bait, sometimes you don’t have bait, sometimes you don’t want to use bait. Fortunately, some options can be as good or better than live bait.

Lead Core – Pulling cranks along the first breaks can be a deadly way to locate and catch the bigger fish in the system. At times the fish can be somewhat spread out. Working the breaks at 1.8 – 2.2 mph can be a very efficient way to cover water. Nothing fancy needed here, # 5 or 7 shad style cranks in a confidence color and get to work. Custom colors are a great way to show them something new. There are a lot of days we start with Lead Core and never stop. This bite can be amazing.

Rapala Glass Shad #5 are tough to beat all season long. Our go to colors.

Dropshot – if you come from the bass world, a dropshot is nothing new to you. If strictly a walleye chaser, then possibly in new territory here. A dropshot is simply a hook you tie on with a dropper weight, that you can use with live bait or plastics. The dropper length sets the distance your bait is off the bottom when held with a tight line.

This is a great way to artificially hang plastic, with the subtle movements cold weather walleyes like to target.

We like to use minnow style (shiner imitators) like our 110 Minnow, or a a Z Man or Max Scent minnow. While plastic alone is often enough, adding scent like RJ’s Magic Fish powder is a great way to entice and extra bite or two on the tough days. Drop a a packet into your favorite soft plastic the night before and you’ll be ready the next day.

We use a #2 VMC Neko or #2 Owner cover shot hook and thread the plastic on, the keeper will help you get a little extra life per bait. If we need maximum action we will nose hook with a #2 Owner Mosquito. ¼ to 3/8 oz. dropshot weights are ideal here. Try to keep weight on the bottom and just move the bait on the slack line.

Lake of the Woods has a slot limit, all fish 19.5” to 28” must be immediately returned to the water. Our LOTW Pro Walleye Bump Board made by Fish Bumper helps to quickly identify slot fish easily ensuring as fast as a release as possible.

This beautiful 26”+ Lake of the Woods slot fish couldn’t resist a shiner hung on a Shiner Jig

Ready to Tackle the Opener?

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Good luck and stay tuned for weekly fishing reports!!