Full service ice fishing makes ice fishing possible for the young, old, disabled, and just about everyone.  What a great way to enjoy a Minnesota winter than catching walleyes, saugers, perch, eelpout, pike and a variety of other fish with friends and loved ones.  Many think of ice fishing as sitting outside on a bucket.  Not at Lake of the Woods.  The resorts like to take great care of guests and make their ice fishing adventure easy and enjoyable.  From heated resort to heated fish house with the holes drilled and set up on top of the fish.  This is ice fishing Lake of the Woods style.

Resorts and outfitters across the lake offer full service ice fishing.  In some cases, the resort or outfitter will transport you out to your fish house.  In other cases, when the ice is thick enough, you can drive yourself out on plowed and well maintained ice roads.  There are plenty of options.

Ice fishing in the winter is done in primarily two areas, on Big Traverse Bay and up at the NW Angle in the northern part of Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods.

Big Traverse Bay is the large part of the lake that extends about 30 miles north and south by about 25 miles east and west.  This is big ice!  The small businesses that provide ice fishing services do a great job of tracking down and staying on walleyes and saugers.  In some cases, you may be close to shore, in other cases, you may be miles off of shore.  The goal is to provide a safe and enjoyable experience with the intent of getting you on good fish of course.

The NW Angle also provides some great ice fishing.  The Angle is the area that if you drive there, you actually have to drive 40 miles through Canada before entering back into MN up at the Angle.  The other option is to take the bombardier service across the lake which keeps you in Minnesota.  This is called the Lake of the Woods Passenger Service.

People often wonder why ice fishing is so popular at Lake of the Woods.  One reason it is full service ice fishing and really takes the work out of it.  In addition, millions of walleyes and saugers doesn’t hurt.  The behind the scenes infrastructure make ice fishing easy for just about anyone regardless of ability.  With this being said, ice fishing is warm, simple and easy.  The thermostat is set at around 70 degrees.  Most only have to be in the cold a few steps into ice transportation and a few steps into the heated fish house.  As the saying goes, there are two things you need to think about when you participate in full service ice fishing, “what should I wear and what should I eat”.  Everything else is taken care of for you.

Families, couples, business groups and long time friends take advantage of these fish houses out on the ice.  In between bobbers going down, good conversation, good food and even good drink is part of the atmosphere in a fish house.  For some it’s the fishing.  For others, it’s the social aspects.  Either way, it is a great way to spend a beautiful winter day.

Sometimes it helps to actually see how it works rather than read about it.  There are many ways resorts transport you out on the ice to their fish houses.  Some even let you drive your own vehicles on their maintained ice roads.  Here is one example just to give you an idea.  The video below gives you a nice idea about Full Service Ice Fishing on Lake of the Woods.  If you would like to check out more info, a list of resorts and sleeper fish houses or even check out their websites to check on dates, pricing, etc., check out the Lake of the Woods Tourism Lodging Page. 

 

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