09/01/2026
Nobody plans a week on Lake of the Woods for the smallmouth.
Then they hook one over a boulder field in eight feet of water and the walleye rods stay in the rod holder for the rest of the afternoon.
Clear water, rocky shorelines, thousands of islands and reef systems. Spring fish sit shallow on gravel and boulders in three to ten feet. By July they spread out over points and offshore rock in eight to twenty five, and a calm morning on topwater out there is the kind of thing guys are still talking about at dinner. In the fall they group up and feed hard before winter.
Save this one. It is the fish most people up here underestimate.