LOTW help and thoughts

My best friend and I are turning 40 in a couple years. I have a good amount of disposable income (DINKing it up), but he does not. I’ve done lots of epic trips, he has not. Ice fishing is his main deal and I have not been to LOTW in about 11 years. He’s never been to Northern MN fishing. My rough plan is for his wife and mom to set up up on a solo trip to SD (somewhere he’s fished a lot) for a week or two of fishing at a friend’s cabin. To surprise him I will fly to the area, randomly show up at the cabin and steal him for shenanigans. A large part of my motivation for MN is to stop at Thorne Brothers, hand him an envelope of cash, and tell him to go nuts.

Would LOTW be best? If you have better suggestions I’m all ears. I’m going for overall experience as well as quality fishing.

What time frame should I go for? I’m thinking Mid February.

Any suggestions on a resort to go out of? I used to always go out of Zippel, but I was in grad school. I’d be all about sleeper houses, but he requires electricity for a cpap. I also want to get in on some bomber trips. I’ve started looking into this, but folks might have some suggestions. He’s also not pure enough to enter Canada, so if they’re not running the ice road and we don’t have sleds, I don’t know how to get up to the Northwest Angle in winter. Plus it sounds like a fair amount of the fishing up there requires entering Canada. Any thoughts on this?

One other thing with the resorts. Neither of us drink anymore (no reason really, just too busy), so a great bar is not anything we really care about. Fishing would be all we care about.

I should add. We both have a lot of gear already, so nothing will be needed on that front. I’ll fly out and be limited, but I know he’ll have a 2 person flip over, heater, etc.

Thanks!

You can access the NW angle through multiple ways now. An ice road from Warroad, snowmobile, bomber shuttle service, or fly in. I’d check out Sunset Lodge resort or sportsman’s on oak island. They’ll supply you with a heated house and shuttle service.

Flag island resort or sportsmans. Call Joe Cooper. No question about it NW angle

If you want to do a sleeper just rent or bring a generator. I have used Wheelers Resort before and had some of the best fishing up there. Lot’s of options on resorts. Question will be do you want your truck there so you can come and go as wanted or get brought out in a bomber and be stuck there. I always like having my truck in case I want or need to leave. If you need more friends to take on shopping sprees to Thorne Bros shoot me a PM.

LOW is great fishing for numbers and size of fish. It might not be the best lake every year, but it’s always consistent. There’s many good resorts, you just have to do a little research.

It’s a day bite lake, which is super nice, so sleeper houses are not necessary. You can just stay at a resort in a cabin and fish during the day out of one of their houses (bomber) or out of portables. If you do not have sleds, you’ll be limited to where you can go with portables. All of the resorts have bombers that they use to move their day houses and bring people out. It’s the way to go.

You should definitely NOT go in February. I’ve fished LOW many times and a good friend of mine lives in Warroad. I’ve fished LOW many many times in February and it’s the worst month to fish the lake. We’ve taken his sleds all over the entire lake, even to the NW angle in February, and the fishing is still tough. In fact, I stopped going up there completely that month even though I have a free place to stay, with sleds I can use. It’s not worth it.

I would go in March or in late December/early January. The walleye fishing closes April 14th this year and I’ve had years where I’m driving my truck on the ice the last day of the season. Mid-March is a slam dunk bet that the resorts will still have their houses out.

I have said this many many times.
You are making a huge mistake if you don’t move shallow and fish after dark.
It is not only a day bite lake. That is the biggest myth about that lake. You don’t fish the same 28 ft of water in the dark as you do in the day time. You move shallow and catch big girls all night long.

If you are limited to February, I wouldn’t write off LOW. I will agree there are more bad days fishing in February than would be in December, early January and March, but taking everything into account, LOW is still better in February than any other lake I know. And a bad day on LOW you likely will still catch fish.

That said, we have had some amazing days fishing in February. LOW is a special lake that way, it does not follow similar rules of other lakes. Ask guides why they start moving from Red Lake to LOW this time of year. The biggest issue with LOW in February is that the fish are spread out more, all over the lake, and it is a big lake. Just have to ring the dinner bell louder.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have said this many many times.
You are making a huge mistake if you don’t move shallow and fish after dark.
It is not only a day bite lake. That is the biggest myth about that lake. You don’t fish the same 28 ft of water in the dark as you do in the day time. You move shallow and catch big girls all night long.

I can’t say we’ve ever had anything close to steady action doing this, but we have run into a few fish relatively shallower (16-18′ at night). For our next trip up instead of the resort day shacks, we are going through a smaller outfit with sleeper shacks that has vowed to get us away from others. After dinner at night and primetime out deeper, we will run in shallower for 3-4 hours in hubs to see what we can find. Admittedly we aren’t going to be hole hopping or mobile…but pack a cooler and all the gear and see what we stumble across on one sit. Our odds are significantly higher this way than sitting on 26′ of water all night.

Personally I would head to Arneson’s. The other resorts are fine and all, but there are far more people and houses around them so its dang busy.
Arnesens has great accommodations, restaurant serves great food and they will bring you out to their house every day. There will be far fewer people in this area because there is no ice road for them to get out there. I know Dales used to do an ice road, but I think they stopped doing that as it was a big hassle last year.

NW Angle would be 1st on my list for LOTW. If going out of the south shore, I’d second Arneson’s. I’ve heard Ballard’s is pretty top notch too, but haven’t gone there myself other than dinner (which was very good).

For a bucket list trip of hard core fishing like this I’d probably reach out to Chris Granrud and Rainy Daze and go to Rainy Lake. Travel by sled with a guide who has been chasing the fish all winter, and stay at the Thunderbird. Phil Bauerly runs a similar mobile guided trips on Leech too, which would be another very solid option with a lot less driving. You are much more likely to catch quality fish this route. On LOTW you are likely headed for a ton of 8-15″ fish, and if you are lucky a couple nicer ones.

If you do decided to go to LOTW make sure to bring him to the Icebar out of Zippelbay. Its awesome and a great experience. Also you’re a great friend and i Thank you for doign this for him

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have said this many many times.
You are making a huge mistake if you don’t move shallow and fish after dark.
It is not only a day bite lake. That is the biggest myth about that lake. You don’t fish the same 28 ft of water in the dark as you do in the day time. You move shallow and catch big girls all night long.

Man….I have not experienced this. LOW is a huge lake, so I’m sure the night fishing is better in some areas….like the NW angle and in Canadian waters where the water is clearer. However, I’ve mainly fished the west end out of Warroad and have never had a consistent bite at night.

My friend had a sleeper shack out of Swift or the Estates in Warroad in 14-18 feet of water. We’d sleep in his shack all the time with rattle reels and we would jig until well after dark on days we didn’t sleep out there. I have fished out there over 20 nights in my lifetime, and the only consistent night action I’ve ever had was in 32 feet of water out of Baudette. That year the lake was very calm when it froze and the water was clearer. Everyone reported a night bite that year.

Good on ya dude. You’re a good friend.

Fishing shallow is a trick Steve taught me from steves lucky bait. We will set up frozen shiners on dead sticks only in 8 to 12 ft of water. It has paid off many more times then it hasn’t. We never seem to see any 8 or 12 inch fish its usually 24s and bigger. Many 28s and 29s have come this way.
Before Steve passed away we were able to fish many times on both the lake and the river. He taught me many many tricks to change up what most guys are doing. And it has paid off many many times. I guess that’s the knowledge you gain when you run and own the local bait shop

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. This trip will happen, so I really appreciate it. I’m going to do some googling, but that Rainy lake deal sounds pretty intriguing for him. I’m debating if I should mix it up on a few lakes or focus on one area.

I just arbitrarily picked February, so good to know.

Rainy Lake is like many lakes, no need to choose any others, especially if you have a guide.