Great ice fishing continues on Lake of the Woods. The key depth’s are 28 – 31 ft with glow red, pink and gold overall best colors. Walleyes and saugers mix with some jumbo perch, eelpout and sturgeon as well. Most fish on the bottom. Electronics really help your catch rate. Live emerald shiners available. 20″+ of ice on the lake in most areas.
The Rainy River has been good for walleyes. More of a morning / evening bite. Know the river or use a resort or guide for safety. The snowmobile trail is staked from Wheeler’s Point to Baudette on the river. Do not deviate from trail unless you are familiar with ice conditions.
Excellent fishing continues up at the NW Angle. Reports of 20 inches of ice in areas traveled by resorts. The ice road from Young’s Bay to resorts on Flag Island and Oak Island is open to vehicles. Resorts are fishing in 21-28 feet of water with a nice walleye and sauger bite. Best colors include glow red, pink and gold. Big crappies, 12-16″ in good numbers being caught in Ontario in 28-34′. Crappies caught in 25′ or greater have high mortality rate, thus keep up to limit and move on to another species. Walleyes and perch biting very well. Work through resorts and stay on ice road. Resorts and ice fishing reservations at http://www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com/Lodging. Check out the Lake of the Woods Tourism Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/lakeofthewoodsmn for day to day reports.