Lake of The Woods, MN: In the immortal words of Tom Petty, “The waiting is the hardest part every day you see one card you take it on faith you take it to the heart the waiting is the hardest part”. So, yeah, yeah, the ice is coming. The most recent winter storm dumped enough snow in our area to keep approximately 6” around. Which is helping to keep the skim of overnight ice around longer during the day. And that my hard water friends is the beginning of how ice is made on the big lake of the north they call “Lake of The Woods”.
In the meantime, the bite is hot but the weather not so much. If you have a tough as iron blood stream boiling inside of you, fish are still all along the southern shoreline. As far as we understand the depths are remaining right around the 15 to 27-foot mark. They are still feeding like crazy and still biting on brightly colored jigs tipped with fatheads or shiners.
Moving into the Rainy River, great numbers and big fish are being caught. The same technique – jigging. The fun part about this transitional time is that to the delight and surprise of some is the crazy mixed bag of fish this is being caught. Jumbo perch, northern pike, eelpout, and crazy as it seems on a jig … sturgeon. So, if you just can’t wait for the water to freeze and if your boat is not in storage already, you will be in the very small number of fishermen still on the water. And this comes with great reward. To the hardy comes the bounty.
I would be remiss not to mention that during this in-between time River Bend is closed for deep cleaning getting ready for all our ice fishermen. A major part of our work is surrounding the rebuilding of cabin No. 4 which is located right next door to our main lodge. We are planning on having cabin 4 ready for bookings for our ice season. In addition, we have begun construction on a new fish cleaning facility located in our main parking lot. Just in front of Miles Lab Bar & Grill located at our main lodge. We have added on to our laundry and bath house building making for a much easier fish cleaning and pickup process during our winter months. We are looking forward to reopening sometime the first week of December.
Are you counting the days (or the hours!) until the ice is thick enough to drill that first hole? If so, you can kill off some of your anxiety at the Saint Paul Ice Fishing and Winter Sports Show. Its back and bigger than ever. From December 3rd-5th at the St Paul River Centre River Bend Resort will be at booth #1423. We will be giving attendees the opportunity to land special deals that will only be available at the show! With nearly 200 exhibitors, you’ll enjoy all the best ice fishing tips, gear, and more. Come visit our booth and get revved up for the return of another ice fishing season on Lake of the Woods!
To wrap up with Tom Petty – “Oh, don’t let it kill you, baby, don’t let it get to you … The waiting is the hardest part”. We will be ice fishing before you know it. Now is the time to book your ice fishing trip and River Bend Resort can set you up with just one call to our booking agents. We offer a variety of ice fishing packages that will suit any level of ice fishing experience and will fit any budget. You can find our offerings as well as pricing by clicking this link.
Until next week … Keep a Tight Line! Bugs & Fishes ≤º))~{
