Looking for some advice on planning a trip

My fall and early winter here have been shot due to busy life buying a house e.t.c so I’m looking to make up for lost time and get the guys together for an ice fishing weekend. Aiming for late January.

Thinking rent a sleeper for the weekend that’ll house 5 or 6 guys. My friend has done LOTW where they just rented a hotel for night and a house for Saturday. Which direction would you go?

Where would you go for that time of year, with a reasonable chance at taking home fish (obviously fishing conditions will dictate bite, but I’m basically ruling out Mille Lacs because I’d rather take home more than 1 fish). I have never been to pretty much any of the destination lakes (Red, Winny, Leech, LOTW, Vermillion).

Just looking for info to start my search. Thanks

LOTW, Wheeler’s Point area. You won’t regret it.

If you need a hotel, start calling soon. The popularity of ice fishing has never been so high.

Fishing during the week tends to have less traffic (no guarantee tho)

Looking for an overnight sleeper experience? Fred’s beds. nightlife and good dinner important? sportsman’s lodge

Bar/restaurant fresh walleye meal – wigwams, sportsman’s, arnesons, probably many more.

If you can be flexible, determine where there’s a hot bite & hope it holds?

Die hard angling or cards with blue smoothies all day? Mix of both? That can happen at nearly all rentals. Just beware that patrols are about.

Good luck. No better place to spend time catching up with friends.

Lastly, don’t forget the pink glow jigs with gold hook & almost anything gold…

I would stay on shore and get day houses. You don’t want to be driving in and out during the night. You could be out 20 miles from pine island.

Kurt Turner wrote:

If you need a hotel, start calling soon. The popularity of <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing has never been so high.

Fishing during the week tends to have less traffic (no guarantee tho)

Looking for an overnight sleeper experience? Fred’s beds. nightlife and good dinner important? sportsman’s lodge

Bar/restaurant fresh walleye meal – wigwams, sportsman’s, arnesons, probably many more.

If you can be flexible, determine where there’s a hot bite & hope it holds?

Die hard angling or cards with blue smoothies all day? Mix of both? That can happen at nearly all rentals. Just beware that patrols are about.

Good luck. No better place to spend time catching up with friends.

Lastly, don’t forget the pink glow jigs with gold hook & almost anything gold…

Looking to book soon

I think we’d be fine spending the time in the house, but there will be a couple freshly single guys but they wouldn’t need to hit the bar

I’d be fine with cards and bottle bass, but I’d like to get some slime on the hands without hole hoping punching 200 holes thru 3ft off ice

Noted on the pink and gold

Riding a bombardier to islands would provide quality memories. Sportsman’s Oak Island experience would get you closer to late winter eyes. Might even access crappies & big northerns.

Endless options. Have fun

My preference is always doing the sleeper house. If you stay at the resort you have to get up at 6am, have breakfast, sit around waiting to go out to the day house, and imo, it sucks. In a sleeper, you can party and have drinks, clean and cook fish apps, play cards and not have to worry about getting up to early and deal with having to commute in the early am. In a sleeper you can sleep till 8 and wake up and fish, make breakfast and chill. That’s what I recommend…. I stay at Borderview. I’ll be up there right after new year. Cheers….

I agree on the sleeper with the ability to drive your own vehicle is even better. When you have to wait on a ride and maybe not get to your house until 8 AM and get pulled off before five you are missing the best bite windows. Everyone says there is no night bite but picked up my best LOTW walleye, a nice fat 27”er at 11:30 PM on rattle reel.

X3 on getting a sleeper house. I like the idea of fishing the WHOLE time I’m up there & being on “my” time, not resort time. Not sitting on shore wondering what to do for the 14hrs a day you aren’t fishing.. Night time fishing can be slow but can be exciting too! We always rig up a gawdy looking rig full of minnows for a giant Eel Pout! What a blast it is catching a 10+lb’r in the middle of the night.

I really enjoyed Zipple Bay last year when I was up there. They will cook your fish @ the bar/restaurant on shore, nice fish cleaning shack, & if you don’t want to go to shore, the Igloo bar out on the ice is something awesome! Holes scattered around the perimeter inside with cocktails & pizza available! I caught 2 walleyes & 1 sauger sitting in there at 8pm, after dark, in 13 FOW, in a semi loud atmosphere! It was a blast!!