Lake of the Woods producing a variety of fish through the ice

Baudette, Minn. — As Lake of the Woods resorters and promoters are fond of telling their ice-fishing clientele, when the hook is set, you never quite know what’s at the other end of the line.

Several recent catches have proved this to be true.

Exhibit A: muskies

According to Lake of the Woods Tourism, a 10-year-old Rice Lake, Wis., girl, Leah Saffert, recently was fishing with her father, Jamie, and her brother in the Zippel Bay area on Lake of the Woods’ south side.

“Knowing the walleye bite in the shallows is best morning and evening, Leah’s dad put out tip-ups during the day, looking to catch Leah a trophy pike,” according to LotW Tourism. “When the flag went up on a tip-up, the reel was spinning and Leah set the hook. After being hooked, the fish shot underneath the hole a couple of times. Jamie thought to himself how pale the fish looked. Nonetheless, it was huge and the fight was on.”

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Lake of the Woods offers a little bit of everything for ice anglers

When Jamie eventually pulled the fish through the hole, the fishers were more than a little surprised: Leah’s trophy was a 50-inch-plus muskie.

(Jamie knew the fish was at least 50 inches; it was a couple of inches longer than a 4-foot piece of plywood when measured. The fish weighed about 34 pounds.)

Lakers

Lake trout are prevalent in Lake of the Woods, but normally reside to the north and east, in Whitefish Bay in Ontario. This area has deep water – some over 200 feet deep – and that’s where most anglers target lake trout on Lake of the Woods.

Lake trout prefer cold water, which the deep water can provide on a consistent basis. During the winter months, however, the water beneath the ice is cold throughout the lake, and once in a while, a lake trout will roam to the south end of the lake, including the Zippel Bay area.

Exhibit B: A nice lake trout recently was caught by the Keith Mills and his ice-fishing group.

Sturgeon

Sturgeon live both in the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods, but for an unsuspecting walleye angler, hooking a big sturgeon through the ice can present quite a battle. Most of the time, it takes about an hour to land one.

For many ice anglers, it is the fish they will ever catch.

But, on occasion, it does happen.

The others

Other fish caught this year by Lake of the Woods ice anglers have included big pike, eelpout, and crappies. Pike are prevalent in all parts of the lake, but when one is fishing for walleyes and catches a pike that exceeds 40 inches, it’s a surprise and a thrill.

Eelpout, or burbot, are a unique fish to many and don’t live in most Minnesota lakes. Setting the hook on a good-sized fish and watching an eelpout come up the hole can be a fun surprise.