Lake Of The Woods Ontario Canada....

[Julian]

When we used to live in the Chicago area, we'd go up to LOW (Lake of the Woods) north of International Falls for 2 weeks each summer. The lake is huge....15,000 islands and 65,000 miles of shoreline (no I didn't count or measure those....that is their literature). But without GPS you could easily get lost!

This is a photo taken in front of the house we'd rent every summer.



The same spot taken at sunset.....



I liked the place so much I threw together a quick website for the owner (who has 3 houses there he rents)....so if you live up that way and LOVE fishing.....this is a great spot!

http://www.muskiebaycamp.com/index.htm

This is the only place I've ever gone fishing where I caught a fish on the first cast (a nice size Northern Pike)

 

[leeatmg]

It is nothing short of spectacular up there. Northern Minnesota and southern Canada around there is pretty amazing. IF you can get past the mosquitos the size of hummingbirds...

 

[Julian]

I have yet to go boating anywhere in the US where mosquitoes aren't a problem? Perhaps Powell? Here is a quick map of where we hang around tubing and such near Sioux Narrows....we go fishing 5-10 miles west in some of the more remote areas



We'd make the runs in red after dark quite often...and there is no way I'd attempt that last channel between the island near the "Rental Cabin" marker on the map without GPS at night! Tried it once in pitch black with no moon and never again.

Here is a map of the whole of Lake of the Woods to give the above map some perseptive (the little red square is the map above):


At the top of the map you can see Kenora. In the winter they make (and Plow) an Ice Road from Sioux Narrows to Kenora as its faster to go over the lake to Kenora than take the roads! (So most of that lakes are connected). I'm just glad I don't live up there in the winter!!!!!

 

[Zeus2013]

Cannot imagine why you would need a GPS..LOL!!!

 

[RightStuff]

Couldn't agree more, just amazing up there!

It's been years since I have made that trip, but can't wait to plan another trip up. The last few times I rented a house boat for the week and just beached up on a random island for the night (or 2). Great lake, great fishing, and just awesome scenery...

 

[motorboater]

The amount of water up there is staggering. I've been going to the same spot on Manitou, north of Rainey Lake, for 20 years and still sometimes take a wrong turn on the lake trying to get from the landing to the cabin, a 25 mile boat run.

 

[jetboater4life]

I usually go Ice Fishing for a weekend out of Zippel Bay Resort during the winter. Would be nice to get up there during the summer as it is beautiful country.

 

[Julian]

For those of you interested in staying at Muskiebaycamp....drop my name...he might discount your rate by 1-2 dollars! LOL In all seriousness, his cabins are really nice, and since he has a HUGE dock, you can take your boat and slip it no problem!

 

[Julian]

@hoppersteven is the closest to Sioux Narrows....we miss going up there every summer....will have to fly up there one summer.

 

[biffdotorg]

Growing up we would stay at Rushing River Provincial Park on Dogtooth Lake just North of Sioux Narrows.

What is amazing, is if you look at Google map, it's hard to imagine how Highway 71 crosses through MN and once you get past International Falls, it skips from land to land to work it's way North to the Kings Highway going into Kenora. I have no idea how it stays on dry ground.

We spent many weeks up there fishing walleyes and even coming back with my father's personal best of 12lb 6oz Walleye. The winter is just a beautiful. Riding sleds across LOW is a trek but with today's machines easily done. Of course avoiding ice ridges and open water.

After using GPS for the last decade or so, it's amazing how we ever found our way around those lakes just spotting islands and narrows between the rock piles. I went back after 20+ years only to find, rock islands do not move, and the routes come back to you real quick. We even towed two waverunners up one year to run the islands. It was pretty darn cool.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Julian]

@biffdotorg We would take the kids to Rushing River to Kayak or Canoe every year!

Wonderful part of the world....nothing like going out fishing and hardly ever seeing another boat! Plus...no cell coverage is nice....really disconnected (or it used to be).

Walleye and Northern Fishing all day long! Caught a Northern on my first cast one year....that is my kind of fishing....CATCHING!

 

[biffdotorg]

Something we figured out over the years were, if the Walleyes were not biting, the smallmouth probably were. Drifting over rock piles pitching crawlers and watching those fat footballs come rushing out from between the rocks!!

Best story I have had though, we could not seem to catch anything one day, Mayflies had hatched. So we dropped onto an island to find that the blueberries were ripe and the size of your thumbnail. So we started picking enough for muffins etc. Until the black bears started to take notice and came swimming from island to island picking berries as well. Needless to say, we left with only a half bucket of berries and some photos of a bear swimming rather quickly after us.

Good times!

 

[GTBRMC]

How cold is the water? Similar to Lake Michigan? Superior?

 

[biffdotorg]

Unlike the Great Lakes or deep alpine lakes like Lake Tahoe that stay 45 degrees year around, Lake of the woods is very shallow and it's surface temp reflects the air temp easily. It freezes over annually and thaws in late May in some areas. The main part of the lake is like one big 35' deep bowl with very minimal structure. The Northern (Canadian) side is beautiful and loaded with pine covered islands. Complete opposites of each other North to South.

The dark rocks allow the ice to warm up and melt quickly around the islands. We did find our usual June walleye trip was very close to the walleye spawn as the ice had just gone out. That 12lb 6oz walleye was probably well over 15lbs not one week earlier, As 17lb females full of eggs had been caught in the province that year at that time. That made it interesting as a kid who wanted to go swimming with surface temps around 40 degrees.

During the heart of the summer, normal water temps were just like any other lake. 75 degree surface temps or so.

 

[stever40]

Go there every year. However, the only time I go is when its frozen. Would be kind of fun to take the boat up but then again, I would much rather make the trip to Bimini!

 

[biffdotorg]

We towed our boat up to Zippel bay on the SW corner of the big lake one year. We just had too many bodies for the fishing boats we had, so I towed it up. We had no less than 10ft rolling waves as the wind was coming from the NE the full length of the big lake. We never made it past the lighthouse that first day as it was just too big of waves. Total glass the next two days. It's amazing to see as it rarely happens on the big lake. The Northern (Canadian) side has shelter all over with the piles of islands.

I will have to dig up the video I shot years ago off the hood of the waverunner. Buzzing rocky narrows between islands at 60+mph is awesome to see.