anyone ice fish red lake,L.O.T.W or lake oahe

Trying to plan a trip over Christmas with my 8 yr old. Anyone have any experiences with ice fishing any of these?

Fish Red Lake & LOW many times. What are you looking for?

Probably LOW for the action seems to be better for kids. Last year it was pretty steady fishing all day but a lot of smaller fish. Red is not that steady thru the day unless you hit the rite time which always seems impossible for me. Still can get your fish its just not fast and ferious.

I’ve fished both Red and LOTW. I’ve never had good fishing on Red. I almost always have at least decent fishing on LOTW. One thing to keep in mind with having a young one with is you might want to chose a resort that lets you drive yourself out instead of them dropping you off and leaving you all day. If the fishing is poor you can go back in for a couple hours to break up the day. The only resorts that I’ve been to that let you drive yourself out is Zipple Bay and Springsteel resort.

Most years you will not have good ice yet at Christmas time on oahe. I would take your son to oahe now. She is LOADeD with eyes and in my opinion, they are the least intelligent walleyes in the world. :-).

You may not have good enough ice on Oahe till middle or end of January. Last winter was the exception. Been to Mobridge a couple times. Very fun area. As the prior post states, get up there now.

Adrians at LOTW let’s you drive out yourself. Been up there a few times through Adrians and always had decent luck. We have fished towards the end of January though.

Go read the reports from Red Lake last year at early ice. It was easily the hottest walleye bite around. That would be a no brainer for me, but LOW is always fun too.

Fished lotw last 2 years and it was ok to put it nicely. I’m sure every place is diff within the lake though. I’d suggest doing lots of research before committing. Super frustrating when they stick u in 35 feet of water in a dirty shack not moved for weeks.

Last Christmas break I took a trip to Upper Red with my then 10 year old daughter and 6 year old son. We rented a large sleeper shack from the West Wind Resort and had a fantastic trip. I know ice fishing can be hit or miss and shack placement / movement can be a big factor but our trip worked out great last year. Planning on another Christmas break trip this year if ice conditions are good.
I have also ice fished Lake of the Woods a few times and have done well there too.

If the bite is anything like last year, hit up red lake…When we were there I believe it was the weekend before christmas, and the fishing was awesome…especially when that sun went down I felt like was crappie fishing trying to keep up with both rods…The size was all good too 15″-26″…LOW was all mostly smaller saugers when we were there, but the year before was a lot of good size fish…Look into Freds Beds for a resort also, big clean house and nels will put ya on fish…Either lake is a good bet, as said before watch the reports and go from there….ONLY A LITTLE OVER 4 MONTHS TO GO