On the south end…  Some excellent Ice fishing this week.  Resorts have fish houses out and good numbers of walleyes and saugers being caught.  Most ice fishing taking place between 20 – 27′.  Using the one-two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking with a live minnow for the second line.  Jigging spoons with a minnow head or tail effective for jigging line.  Colors, gold, glow, glow red, pink.  Some jumbo perch, big pike and eelpout keeping things interesting.  An angler caught an eelpout just over 17 lbs this week.  The MN State record, also caught on LOW was 19.67 lbs.  Eelpout or burbot are great eating.

On the Rainy River…   Ice fishing is taking place on the river mainly by locals.  The majority of ice fishing is done on the main lake during the ice fishing season where there isn’t current.  Some nice walleyes are being caught in various spots of the river.  Ice conditions vary greatly, work through a resort for safety.  No snowmobile trail yet, stay tuned.

Up at the NW Angle…  With the border closure, NW Angle Resorts and Community have pulled together and will have a guest ice road across the lake up to the Angle so anglers can drive to resorts.  The NW Angle Guest Ice Road will begin when ice conditions allow, most likely early January.  The snowmobile trail will be staked soon across the lake, stay tuned.  Another option, North Country Air is flying anglers to the Angle.  More info on Facebook at Northwest Angle Guest Ice Road 2020.

Ice fishing has started up at the Angle with excellent reports.  A mix of walleyes, sauger and jumbo perch.  Great morning – evening bite in 15-19′ of water.  Afternoons, 22-26′ have been best.  Communicate with your favorite NW Angle resort for specifics and safety.

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On the south end…  Ice is thickening and making progress.  With safety in mind, resorts have been out checking ice thickness, ice conditions, cracks, and in some cases starting to mark trails.  Each resort fishes a different part of the lake with varying ice conditions and will make the decision when ice fishing can begin.  Some areas have decent ice, other areas still need more time.  As some ice fishing will begin this week for some resorts and not for others, it is important to check with each resort as to when they will start fishing, what is allowed on their ice trail (ATV’s, snowmobiles, etc) and if they have fish houses to rent or only a marked trail in which you would bring your own ice transportation, collapsible fish house, etc.  Resorts and outfitters monitor ice conditions throughout the season daily.  Please stay on their marked trails when it is time.  Trails are marked for good reasons, please stay on them for safety.

On the Rainy River…   The river is covered with ice.  Most ice fishing is done on the main lake during the ice fishing season where there isn’t current.  There can be some good ice fishing on the Rainy, but with current in the river, work through a resort for safety.  Some locals have been ice fishing certain areas where ice conditions allow.  No snowmobile trail yet.

Up at the NW Angle…  With the border closure, NW Angle Resorts and Community have pulled together and will have a guest ice road up to the Angle so anglers can access resorts while staying in the U.S. and not crossing the border.  The NW Angle Guest Ice Road ice access on the south end will be at Springsteel Resort.  Anticipated start, January.  More info on Facebook at Northwest Angle Guest Ice Road.

The Angle is iced over and resorts are monitoring ice thickness.  Initial fishing reports by resort guides checking have been good.  It’s not ready yet, but the ice is coming along nicely.

On the south end…  It’s a waiting game.  Hoping for cold temps and calm winds.  This past week saw some strong winds blow ice around the basin, eating up some of the thinner ice that had formed.  Forecast looks promising to lock things up in the very near future.  Resorts are monitoring ice conditions on Four Mile Bay, Zippel Bay and various areas of the shoreline.  It’s important to wait until they say it’s good to go and stay on their marked trails when it is time.  Resorts and outfitters monitor ice conditions now and throughout the season daily.  Some spearing and angling for pike in back bays.

On the Rainy River…   The river is covered in most places with a layer of ice.  Most ice fishing is done on the main lake during the ice season where there isn’t current.  There can be some good ice fishing on the Rainy, but with current in the river, work through a resort for safety.

Up at the NW Angle…  With the border closure, NW Angle Resorts and Community have pulled together and will have an ice road up to the Angle so anglers can access resorts.  The NW Angle Guest Ice Road ice access on the south end will be at Springsteel Resort.  More info on Facebook @nwaiceroad.

The Angle is iced over and resorts are monitoring ice thickness.  Some resorts have been checking for walleyes in a few spots having good success.  It’s not ready yet, but the ice is coming along nicely.  A complete list of lodging and ice fishing packages available at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com/Lodging

On the south end…  As we roll into mid November, thin ice conditions on back bays as well as the Rainy River have put an end to the open water fishing season.  Big Traverse Bay is still open water.  The hope each year is to have cold nights combined with low wind and no snow early in the season to create a good early sheet of ice.  Every year is different based on Mother Nature of course, but normally resorts will be able to get their smaller fish houses, called day houses, out around December 10th.  A couple of resorts who provide spearing for pike in back bays of course earlier.  Again, this is just an average.  This year could be earlier or later, time will tell, but everyone is watching.

On the Rainy River…   The river is covered in most places with a layer of thin ice.  The fall season ended up with a good number of shiners in the river from the fall run.  The few anglers who fished this past week had some good reports.  We believe there are a good number of walleyes in the river despite mixed fishing reports this fall.  Some anglers believe the sheer numbers of shiners in the river made the bite more difficult.

Up at the NW Angle…  The Angle has a mix of iced over areas and open water.  That is quite typical this time of year.  The ice is forming nicely and the hopes are for colder weather to keep things moving along positively.

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On the south end…  With water temps dropping, some beautiful walleyes caught this week.  Walleyes being targeted using three methods, drifting or slow trolling crawler harnesses, trolling crankbaits and vertical jigging.  Walleyes are located in various areas of the lake, deep mud, shallow water adjacent shorelines and deep water reefs.   As a rule, the larger walleyes have been over deep mud and deep structure.  As fall progresses, walleyes will start getting schooled up in key areas along the south shore, in many cases relating to shiner runs.

On the Rainy River…   Larger schools of shiners showing up in the river this week.  Shiners showing up under dock lights at night and on the sonar of anglers in Four Mile Bay and the mouth of the river.  Nice walleyes caught in the river this past week, but not the big numbers yet.  Most anglers are jigging with frozen shiners.  Trolling crankbaits or crawler harnesses covering water is still effective. Sturgeon activity increased this past week as well.  Various feeding windows throughout the day.  Find a deep hole using a sturgeon rig (2-4 ounce no roll sinker with 18″ 60 lb test snell with a circle hook) loaded with crawlers and/or shiners.

Up at the NW Angle…  Until the US / Canada border opens, guests can travel across the lake staying and fishing in MN waters.  There are boat shuttle / passenger services available to the Angle.  Check with your favorite NW Angle resort for options.

Good numbers of walleyes caught this week up at the Angle.  Walleyes in 10 – 25′ being caught with spinners / crawlers or minnows and trolling crankbaits with some jigging activity on structure beginning as the waters cool.  Muskies and big pike hitting spinners in bays and off of rocky points.  Smallmouth bass on rock structure in 5-15′.  Some big crappies and jumbo perch in the mix week as well.