Lake Suggestions

Hi all,

My wife and I are looking to head to Canada either this summer or next. We’ve got an 18-month-old in tow. Ive got a 16.5’ Lund Classic with a console and 50hp Mercury.

I’m wondering if you all have any suggestions on a lake or area we should consider. We’re coming from the Twin Cities…so Ontario is likely the province. A beach would be a must for the little guy…even if the water is cold. Trails for hiking close by would be a major plus as well.

We were looking at the Sioux Narrows area as a possibility, but a smaller lake might be better for our situation. I’ve never been up in that area and have only ever flown into Lac la Croix before.

Thanks in advance!

I have stayed at Crawford’s, but it looks like you are looking for a place like Totem’s on LOW. I have always heard good things about Totem’s and Yellowbird. You can usually find a place to fish out of the wind. The 16.5″ shouldn’t be a problem. This area is in Ontario.

https://www.totemresorts.com/lodging

I sent you a message.

IMO, for an area that’s easy to get to and offers a wide variety of resorts and lodging options, Minnitaki Lake near Sioux Lookout. The lake has walleye, pike, and even some decent smallmouth action for extra entertainment.

Getting there is not that difficult, but it’s far enough away that I doubt you’re going to feel crowded. It might be better to break up the drive by going as far as Frostbite Falls / Ft. Francis and then overnight and continue on the next moring to arrive by check-in time. We used to overnight at the Falls, but now I like to get across the boarder and stay in Ft. Francis.

Sioux Lookout has a swimming beach in town and most resorts have their own.

It’s relatively narrow, so wind in most places only becomes an issue if it’s really windy and from a bad direction. It’s pretty well mapped, so navigation isn’t a huge issue. The fish are pretty much everywhere, there are some better-known spots but if you make a good prospecting effort, hard to believe that you won’t find a good sport of your own.

We decided to rent one of the island cabins with Totem 7/25-7/29. Should be a lot of fun!

Any big suggestions on getting through customs smoothly? We’re also thinking about driving part way the day before. Any good places to stay in International Falls or just over the border?

I know I need a manual bailer for the boat and already bought a set of flares. Any sneaky boat regulations that might be easily missed?

Thanks for all the help!

Talk to the resort. They should be able to fill you in on everything you need. Just tell them this is your 1st trip to Canada.

When we go to Canadian, we pack our trucks and boats in an organized way that it’s east to take everything out at Cust as they go through it. It’s really no big deal and remember, they are doing their job.

Most of the time going through, they ask a pretty standard list of questions- where’s your destination, how long, anything to declare….. be respectful and honest and they generally treat you the same way.

Randomly, they take 1 out of X amount of vehicles to look through. If they sense something isn’t right or it’s your lucky day, they go through your stuff. Don’t be alarmed if your escorted away from your boat and vehicle while they search. We’ve been separated and questioned and have just been almost waived through. Some people over-react and that just escalated things.

Suggest bug screen netting for the kiddo. Anywhere out of the wind can be brutal at times.

Most of my experiences I’m different provinces have been great. Show respect- receive respect type of places. I have never done a high end resort, either simple rough cabin or tent camping.

Expect things to be more expensive than here. Last couple times gas, beer, and a few other things were way expensive compared to here

Have a great time and enjoy it!!

Jason Stegenga wrote:

We decided to rent one of the island cabins with Totem 7/25-7/29. Should be a lot of fun!

If you are talking about LOW and its the island I am thinking of that is going to be quite the hike with that boat! We camp on an island near there and its a 22 mile boat ride one way from Sioux Narrows. We all have boats over 18 feet and 30 plus gallon gas tanks and need to add fuel before the return trip.

Totem has 3-4 island cabins right by the resort. We’re in one of those…should be nice for the family. We can just boat over to either Totem or Yellowbird and use the amenities as well.

Suggestions on areas to fish for walleye and smallmouth in that area? Since I’ll be solo…fishing musky seems a little dicey, but I might bring my gear.

Jason Stegenga wrote:

Totem has 3-4 island cabins right by the resort. We’re in one of those…should be nice for the family. We can just boat over to either Totem or Yellowbird and use the amenities as well.

Suggestions on areas to fish for and smallmouth in that area? Since I’ll be solo…fishing musky seems a little dicey, but I might bring my gear.

Do you have a GPS with either a Navionics, Lowrance or Lakemaster chip thats recent? If not, try to get one as they should have that area mapped well. There are a lot of reefs so that would be where I would start.

I do have navionics on my Lowrance units. I’ll definitely take some time to download that entire area before we head up. Drop shot fishing is about my favorite way to catch smallmouth. I figure that will probably be effective with the clear water in that area.

I figured rock reefs would probably be good spots toward the end of July. I would assume points on the islands, especially wind-blown, would be great areas to Target as well. I’ve seen a lot of posts about Yellow Girl Island and bay. That looks like a little bit of a ride, but not terrible. I’ve got a 21-gallon tank. It would be great if there were areas closer, but I can do some traveling around.

Its really a beautiful area. There are lots of current areas due to the river flowing through too. We havent explored that part of the lake much since we are in drive mode to get to where we camp, but you should have a blast!

For the border crossing – bring an original birth cert. for the kid, not a copy. We got a stern warning when crossing back into the US with our 1 year old. Otherwise just relax and answer their questions truthfully.

I don’t know much about Long Bay and I don’t think it gets fished much overall. Mostly people driving through it to get to Yellow Girl and the Sunset Channel. Yellow girl is where you’ll need to go to get into a big walleye population, also the Whitefish Narrows/Rendezvous Pt area to a lesser extent but it’s a few miles closer. If you do make the trek to Yellow girl, pop back into Bear Bay for smallies.

Go east under the highway to Lobstick for bass, it’s a shallower weedy section known for good numbers of bass – actually used to be a decent population of largemouth in there but not sure how that is now. There’s also the Whitefish Dam in that area which is a dam so always has fish of all species around the outflow.

Captain – were you thinking of their French Portage outpost? Do you crownland camp in that area?

tswoboda wrote:

Captain – were you thinking of their French Portage outpost? Do you crownland camp in that area?

Wiley Pt is the one I was thinking of. Yes, we camp on Crown Land near there. It will be interesting what we will find since its been 3 years since we have been there and I am sure very few people have been there.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Wiley Pt is the one I was thinking of. Yes, we camp on Crown Land near there. It will be interesting what we will find since its been 3 years since we have been there and I am sure very few people have been there.

Sweet, is there a lot of established sites in that area? I’ve made dozens of day trips in my 17′ tiller and always thought it’d be nicer to just camp right there.

Had buddies go up there last August when everything opened and they said it was a little quieter but fishing was pretty much business as usual.

tswoboda wrote:

Sweet, is there a lot of established sites in that area? I’ve made dozens of day trips in my 17′ tiller and always thought it’d be nicer to just camp right there.

Had buddies go up there last August when everything opened and they said it was a little quieter but fishing was pretty much business as usual.

There are a few. I know the guys that I go with who have gone much longer than I have, said there are a few around, but Ive only been to this one spot. I know when we have been going out and about we have seen a spot or two but its rare to see other campers TBH. Houseboats show up every year however.
The last year we went we had bears infiltrate camp and we have an electric bear fence.
We’ve had some absolute fantastic fishing and some ho hum fishing. We go mid June.

Appreciate the insight.

tswoboda wrote:

Appreciate the insight.

THe biggest thing is finding a good spot to pull the boat up to. This one is a fairly protected one so its very nice. If you find sand somewhere that would be ideal, but everything is that shale rock and nothing seems real protected from wind so the boats can take a beating. We bring old conveyor belt or a barn stall matt to put under the bow. I know I searched google maps one time and you could find photos that people had uploaded, but it seems likes its gone. There were quite a few photos on various islands around, but I cant seem to find them anymore. Or maybe it was google Earth???

Oh I know all to well how few sandy shorelines there are… can never find one when it’s time for a potty break. HA I’ve always gone July/August and it’s 100% musky trip, we stay at the Angle and day trip up to Big Narrows area just south of Wiley Pt. Fishing sunrise to sunset and we always find one of those sandy bays to beach the boat and take a nap mid day. The thing is those sandy bays are always thick brush on shore with nowhere clear enough to set up a tent. I’m sure just chock full of skeeters at prime time too!

tswoboda wrote:

Oh I know all to well how few sandy shorelines there are… can never find one when it’s time for a potty break. HA I’ve always gone July/August and it’s 100% musky trip, we stay at the Angle and day trip up to Big Narrows area just south of Wiley Pt. Fishing sunrise to sunset and we always find one of those sandy bays to beach the boat and take a nap mid day. The thing is those sandy bays are always thick brush on shore with nowhere clear enough to set up a tent. I’m sure just chock full of skeeters at prime time too!

I tell you what, our trip usually coincides with a bug hatch and that is some of those unreal bugs I have ever seen. Mosquitos havent been too bad, but we have a screen hub tent we bring with so that really helps.

I came across this very well done video of a boat tour up the Eastern side of Lake of the Woods starting at Wheelers Point, through Morson, to Nestor Falls, through Turtle Portage, to Sioux Narrows, through Reed Narrows, up Long Bay past Yellow Girl point to Kenora. It’s not a fishing show but fun to watch if you like the lake.

They make a shore stop at the site of a WWII prisoner of war lumber camp North of Yellow Girl Point. My father, his dad and grandfather used to camp at that location in the early 50’s using the lumber camp’s abandon cook shack as their cabin.

Ron F wrote:

I came across this very well done video of a boat tour up the Eastern side of Lake of the Woods starting at Wheelers Point, through Morson, to Nestor Falls, through Turtle Portage, to Sioux Narrows, through Reed Narrows, up Long Bay past Yellow Girl point to Kenora. It’s not a fishing show but fun to watch if you like the lake.

That is an interesting video! Never knew about half of that stuff especially the prisoner of war camp and the gold mining.

if you look it’s easy to fine the one for the western side of the lake too. he traveled from Kenora south along the west half (one video) and then back north along the eastern side (video posted above).

Michael C. Winther wrote:

if you look it’s easy to fine the one for the western side of the lake too. he traveled from Kenora south along the west half (one video) and then back north along the eastern side (video posted above).

Cool! I am watching it now and the part where he is standing on that reef is the reef we call “skull and crossbones”. We have caught a ton of nice walleyes around it, but its a doozy. Some years you can see it better than others because of water level obviously.