LOTW annual trip 2012-2013

[MTCOMMER]

Well, myself and 7 other guys headed up to LOTW on Sunday and we returned today.  We stayed out of Zippel Bay, as we have the last 2 years.  Fishing was very slow (compared to what we are used to) and that seemed to be the case for most if not all of the people we talked to in the area.
We marked a lot of fish, and there was a lot of chasing, but it was VERY hard to get them to bite.  We had the most success on a live fathead on the rattle reels or when the jig is not being jigged.  Between the 8 of us, we probably only caught 50-60 fish (over 48 hours) with many of them being 7-9inch walleyes and saugers and also lots of Tullibee's.
The big fish of the trip was a 16" walleye, we were able to catch only 5 "keepers" all others were saugers around the 12-13" range.  Also bagged a 28" pout which was an exciting fight.
Either way, it was a great time and the crew at Zippel is always outstanding.  I cant wait to get back up there next year - we can only hope for a little better fishing.

--- We were fishing in 23FOW.  There were reports of people catching their limits of suagers during that day out in 30-32FOW and then some were catching larger slot fish in shallower, around 15-20FOW, but it seemed to be slow all around, partly due to the recent cold front that came through the area.

[kenhuntin]

I am glad it wernt ya'all that got blowed up.

[redbull135]

Heading up tonight I hope the bite pics up

[MTCOMMER]

Yeah, the explosion happened the morning before we got there - but of course the 2nd night the CO detector was going off, so that had me paranoid, and lets just say, it was a cold night sleeping with the door open.

I am thinking with the warmer weather, the fishing might pick up a little, they have to eat sometime, right?!  If you have a choice, get out near 30FOW during the day, it seems like that was were they were biting a little more.