Has anybody braved the media hype and gone up to lake of the woods recently? Looking at heading up this weekend and looking to hear if off road travel in a vehicle is possible yet or if travel is still mostly confined to plowed roads.
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IDO » Forums » Fishing Forums » Ice Fishing Forum » Lake of the woods late ice pike 2020
Has anybody braved the media hype and gone up to lake of the woods recently? Looking at heading up this weekend and looking to hear if off road travel in a vehicle is possible yet or if travel is still mostly confined to plowed roads.
I’m thinking about heading up tomorrow. I know to stay shallow but is closer to the river the best bet? I’d appreciate any info that folks are willing to share.
Also it looks like I’ll be solo if anyone is interested in tagging along.
Zoom in on a satelite map and look for any rivers/creeks that feed into the lake, then go setup in like 8-12 feet of water out from those rivers/creeks. They move up all those rivers/creeks to spawn. There’s quite a few between Warroad and Rocky Point.
Easy to access areas would be out of the river in warroad or zipple bay. If you’re by yourself that may be the best bet. I’ve never fished either of those areas, but I know others do.
Biggest challenge is probably getting out there depending on conditions and what your vehicle situation is.
I’d call around to bait shops and reserve some big suckers too, sometimes there are shortages of those to go around.
Philtickelson has some good advice. I have fished out of warroad before and done pretty good. Usually a nice road out of the public access but not sure what conditions are for off road with a vehicle. Another spot to check is the Swift ditch access, don’t know of they drove vehicles out of that one though. My buddy was up this past weekend and said there was still quite a bit of snow so you may be limited if you don’t have a tracked vehicles. You could always go in 4 mile bay as well. Use the Adrian’s road and fish off of that.
Swift ditch access has been good as of Saturday. Talked to a guide that uses that access
Due to the current situation please consider traveling across the state for a fish. The LOW area has very limited medical facilities and staff. A little sacrifice by each of us can go a long way.
Thanks
Swift ditch access has been good as of Saturday. Talked to a guide that uses that access
@coletrain27 Are you saying this access is good for a 4WD vehicle or is some type of tracked UTV or vehicle needed? Trying to decide if we need to bring a side by side.
The guide we were gonna use said there was 30” of ice at swift ditch access and they were driving trucks and suv’s no problem and there wasn’t hardly any snow on the ice. We had to cancel our trip because the casino closed for our lodging
We are going to try it next weekend if there is no state lockdown. Always wanted to try it and with the border closed, nows the time.
It’s been very good so far. Swift ditch and warroad river gave up 4 fish each yesterday, largest was about 39 but FAT, and today zippel bay has coughed up two smaller 36inch ish fish. Still waiting for the big one. I’ll fish Morris gap area if zippel is slow
I don’t think there is anything wrong with getting outside and fishing somewhere around home. But the people that continue to travel across the country or across the state is going to be one of the reasons we get a shelter in place order. Just stick around home. Don’t have to lock down yet, but some common sense goes a long way.
@gillgetter1 Many people out on the ice?
Also, what has been the bait of choice or does it more boil down to availability?
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