Voyageurs National Park Ice Out?

I have a camping/fishing trip scheduled for 5/19 – 5/22 in the Sandpoint/Namakan Lake area. What are the odds the ice will be out by then?

It’s not looking good. A little over two weeks and counting.

It will be out by the 19th but the water will be cold. I’ll post photos of Kab & Ash River next week.

outdoorsmn wrote:

I have a camping/fishing trip scheduled for 5/19 – 5/22 in the Sandpoint/Namakan Lake area. What are the odds the ice will be out by then?

It’s not looking good. A little over two weeks and counting.

Ill be camping on Williams Island on Namakan the 25th-29th. If you remember to do so i would greatly appreciate you posting a fishing report when you get back. Good luck!

crappie55369 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>outdoorsmn wrote:</div>
I have a camping/fishing trip scheduled for 5/19 – 5/22 in the Sandpoint/Namakan Lake area. What are the odds the ice will be out by then?

It’s not looking good. A little over two weeks and counting.

Ill be camping on Williams Island on Namakan the 25th-29th. If you remember to do so i would greatly appreciate you posting a fishing report when you get back. Good luck!

I can post it now.

Shallow
Weeds
Slow

I am now starting to feel less worried about our Canada Trip from June 3-12. The Pas area in Manitoba is having warmer weather right now than we are. They also have a Ton of Rain in the forecast ( Like 11 out of the next 14 days ) 70’s and Rain on Sat. will really get that ice melt started.

crappie55369 wrote:

Williams Island on Namakan the 25th-29th.

N61, the northern end spot? That’s a nice camp site.

I can post it now.

Shallow
Weeds
Slow
[/quote]

This is great information, especially with the cold cold water. Namakan is a awesome lake. We caught a ton of nice fish last fall.
I’m hoping grubson brings me to the cabin again. A guy could spend 2 weeks up there easily before getting home sick.

Reef W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>crappie55369 wrote:</div>
Williams Island on Namakan the 25th-29th.

N61, the northern end spot? That’s a nice camp site.

Yes sir. picked it based off of old threads on this site

I can post it now.

Shallow
Weeds
Slow
[/quote]

exactly the kind of fishing i suck at

Thanks for the tips. Ive heard pretty much the same from everybody. Very much looking forward to this trip and hoping its the start of many to VNP

Your in a great spot for all 3 of those

I told crappie this on a PM over the winter, but my wife and I were the first ones to ever camp at the North Williams site. This was back in the first-come first-serve days in early 2000’s. We were headed around the back channel to see if the Hoist bay site was open and noticed a NPS boat at a dock we’d never seen before. I pulled up and drifted against the gently sloping rock point the site sits on. One of the guys asked if we were gonna camp there, as they had just finished clearing the last of the leftovers from making the tent pads.
We looked at each other and said heck yes!
We were unloading our gear up the path from the dock, and my wife decided to take a side path toward the upper tent pad with our tent bag. All of a sudden I hear a scream, and run to find her frozen on the path. Not 3 inches in front of her face it a huge spider web with a big old nasty in the middle of it. And my wife hates spiders more than anything on earth. I stepped around and took down the web with a stick and moved it and spider to the top of the hill aways away.
To this day, that site is called Spider island to us. I’ve stayed there at least a dozen times, one of my favorite sites in the whole park.

crappie55369 wrote:

Yes sir. picked it based off of old threads on this site

I caught a 36″ northern from shore there with a dead sucker and a bobber. Rocks are kind of steep, make sure it doesn’t get pulled in is my best tip

I will attest to the same info, hardest part is being slow enough (at least for me). I am leaving for Kab in 10 days ice or not, but not camping.

In the bright(ish) side, no worries of low water this year. Won’t suprise me if the hazard markers are not put out yet when you arrive so make sure you’ve got good maps and take it easy, those lakes can be prop/lower unit eaters to the careless. I think it was 2018 when ice out was the 8th or so and opener a few days later, I didn’t see hazard markers out till the end of the first week.

“A guy could spend 2 weeks up there easily before getting home sick.”

Bearcat, I would swap that weeks out for months in that statement. I look at that area the same as wyoming/Montana, had I gone out (up)there in my early 20’s, I probably would have never come home.

I’m hoping to make a trip to kab starting June 5 with a few friends. Staying on an island, not sure what one yet. I’ve only fished kab in the winter but been to rainy quite a few times and that area never gets old.

https://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/index.php?satellite=t1&product=true_color&date=2022_05_04_124&overlay_sector=false&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true&sector=USA3&resolution=250m

Just look at this every day.

poomunk wrote:

“A guy could spend 2 weeks up there easily before getting home sick.”

Bearcat, I would swap that weeks out for months in that statement. I look at that area the same as wyoming/Montana, had I gone out (up)there in my early 20’s, I probably would have never come home.

Me too. For awhile the FW and I talked about buying a houseboat when we retired and living on it from June to mid September on Namakan, Kab and Sand Point. Then winter somewhere south. The logistics were a bit easier to work out before the nightly permit was put in.

Been camping up there since 1997, and if my count is correct, one of my 19 days I have booked so far this summer will be my 500th camping day out in the park.