Brad Dokken: Winter fishing activity begins to heat up across the region

In a normal year, I’d have been ice fishing on Lake of the Woods at least once by now.

But as everyone knows, this isn’t a normal year – on many different levels.

Anglers have been venturing out on small lakes for a few weeks already, and fishing reports are trickling in from parts of Devils Lake and elsewhere in the basin. Upper Red Lake, of course, is among the first large lakes in the region with safe ice, and anglers have been converging in droves in pursuit of the big lake’s renowned walleyes.

Lake of the Woods is getting close, and the cold snap that’s in the forecast should get the season started in full swing. A few anglers have been venturing out already, but resorts generally wait until there’s 9 inches to 12 inches of good ice before setting out their rental houses.

It won’t be long now.

The lack of snow to date, while disappointing for snowmobilers and cross-country skiing enthusiasts, is good news for ice fishing because it provides the opportunity for Mother Nature to make safe ice. Snow insulates the ice and hampers freeze-up, which created disastrous conditions on many lakes across the region last winter.

Lake of the Woods escaped the brunt of last year’s early snowfall, and the resulting favorable access conditions drew many anglers who might have fished elsewhere, had ice conditions been more favorable on other bodies of water.

As a result, anglers logged a whopping 2.8 million hours of ice fishing pressure last winter on Lake of the Woods. Given favorable ice-making conditions to date elsewhere in the region, time will tell whether the big lake draws similar pressure this winter, but with the ongoing closure of the U.S.-Canadian border, I wouldn’t be surprised if it does.

Anglers who can’t make trips to Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg – arguably the hottest ice fishing destination in the region in recent years – might set their sights on Lake of the Woods instead.

We’ll see.

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Personally, I haven’t felt much urge to get on the ice so far. Truth be told, I don’t even have my winter fishing gear organized. Everything is pretty much where I left it after a snowmobile trip to Oak Island on Lake of the Woods’ Northwest Angle last February. The pandemic – man, I’m looking forward to the day I no longer have to use that word – descended a couple of weeks later, and any semblance of normal life quickly disappeared.
Unfortunately, we’re not out of the figurative woods yet, which could make for a long winter.

A couple of friends and I had a video chat the other night, and the topic turned to winter plans. All of us have erred on the side of caution in our approach to COVID-19, both in terms of practicing social distancing and taking advantage of the free community testing that’s available.

While not foolproof, the testing at least provides some piece of mind when it comes to getting together for hunting and fishing excursions.

If all goes according to plan, we hope to make a return trip to Oak Island this winter, either by snowmobile as we’ve done in recent years, or via the Northwest Angle Guest Ice Road that’s being developed as a way to access the remote part of Minnesota without driving through Canada, which traditionally is the only way to reach the Angle by road.

Thanks to a partnership including resorts, Lake of the Woods Tourism, local snowmobile clubs and others, the road will begin at Springsteel Resort north of Warroad, Minn., and continue about 22 miles on the ice to Stony Point. From there, the road will pick up the “Border Cut Trail” snowmobile route for 8 miles to Lake of the Woods County Road 330, the road to the Angle.

From there, visitors will turn right toward Jim's Corner, where they can either go left toward resorts along Angle Inlet or right toward Young’s Bay and the ice road that’s plowed to Flag and Oak islands.

There’ll be a fee to access the new winter road, but it’s an innovative idea that should help resorts on the Angle and nearby Flag and Oak islands attract business that was sorely lacking throughout the summer.

The road is expected to be open in January, providing there’s at least 15 inches of ice to support vehicles of all sizes. Here’s hoping it’s a success for everyone involved.