Ice Road to the Angle

BigWerm wrote:

Anyone heard from their resorts about the road getting shut down? I have a buddy that works up there that said the Red Lake Band owns the land the road goes over and their land is closed to non-essential travel due to Covid, even there where no members live. So lawyers are getting involved, but sounds like it will stay open. Probably just a money grab, but I’d be pissed if it screwed up my trip so thought I’d let you know.

Sounds like it was potentially a rumor….I sure hope it’s not an issue. We hit the ice Friday afternoon.

I was curious about this as I am heading up there next Wednesday. So I messaged the Northwest Angle Guest Ice Road on FB and here was their response.

“That is a rumor that went wild. We did have some conversations with our partners regarding the land portion of the road but we are operating as usual and this page alone will be your source of truth for relevant information pertaining to the operation of the ice road.”

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/nation-world/cut-off-from-the-usa-by-canada-minnesotas-northwest-angle-builds-a-22-mile-ice-road/89-ad869f5e-6313-4e32-8b43-3f9b67077a7c
Saw this on the local news today

We just got back today. Road was good across the ice. A couple of small ridges and one spot with a bridge but it was easy to move across. The road through the forest is a snowmobile trail they widened that runs along tribal land. It’s a little bumpy but altogether good. No way you could get a wheelhouse through there though. Too bumpy and it’s pretty narrow.

Fishing was pretty good for us, too. Flag island resort did a great job of getting us out early. Best bite was early morning. No monster fish but a dozen in the slot with a 25” as the largest. Also got a 40” pike on a tip up which was a blast.

Sure hope they don’t need this road again next year but it was great to get up there.

Anyone have NW Angle ice fishing resort recommendations?

Matt, glad to hear you had a good trip. Do you recommend Flag Island?

I’ve always fished out of Baudette but want to take the ice road as I have never been to the Angle.

We can go during the week and looking at the week of March 1.

Jim wrote:

Anyone have NW Angle ice fishing resort recommendations?

Matt, glad to hear you had a good trip. Do you recommend Flag Island?

I’ve always fished out of Baudette but want to take the ice road as I have never been to the Angle.

We can go during the week and looking at the week of March 1.

We like Flag island a lot. Good people, pretty good accommodations, and good food. They treat us well.

The key is to get them to take you out early. Most groups want to leave at 8am. They will usually do 0630 groups though if you ask. The early morning bite window has always been best for us.

Never heard a bad thing about any of the other resorts either. I don’t think you can go wrong.

Thanks Matt. I definitely want to get out early with sunrise at 7:00 AM in early March. I called them and said if they were busy they woulddo a 6:30.

Jim wrote:

Thanks Matt. I definitely want to get out early with sunrise at 7:00 AM in early March. I called them and said if they were busy they woulddo a 6:30.

Tip the guys and you should be all good. They won’t be busy during the week. Weekends get crazy and it can be tough. We always try to fish Sunday and Monday when everyone else has headed home. They’ll usually move you if the bite is slow, too. We brought the k drill so we could move around outside.

PM me and I can give you some other tips. If you have an Engel get your own bait. Without suckers and shiners last weekend we would’ve struggled. They only have fatheads up there usually.

I heard from one of the resorts up there this morning that the ice road might be over by the end of this week. The land trail is turning into mud…
I’m running up to Oak Island next week but my plan is to run the ice up from the south shore.