by:
Mark Romanack
 |
| Lake of the Woods is known for producing not only numbers of crappie, but also slabs like these. |
When anglers
think of crappie fishing, chances are they are thinking of classic waters in
the south like Lake Grenada in Mississippi, Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee or
Kentucky Lake on the Kentucky border. The truth is the far north has some
exceptional crappie fisheries and leading that charge is Lake of the Woods
sandwiched between the Ontario and Minnesota borders.
A tiny corner of
Lake of the Woods known as the “Northwest Angle” is becoming a destination every
crappie fishermen needs to visit. Ironically, one of the best times to fish for
crappie on Lake of the Woods is during the winter months. Crappie are a warm
water species, but they feed actively during the winter and it’s at this time
of year they form into huge schools. For the crappie angler who likes to get
bit often and pull slab after slab from the ice hole, it doesn’t get any better
than Lake of the Woods.
 |
| Crappie like this are amazingly abundant at Lake of the Woods near a destination known as the Northwest Angle. The northern most part of MN, this little slice of heaven is a dream come true for hard core ice fishermen. |
Last winter the
Fishing 411 crew visited the Northwest Angle and Sunset Lodge to experience
this fishery first hand. Just getting to this place is an adventure in of
itself. To reach Sunset Lodge you travel north to Baudette, Minnesota, cross
the border into Manitoba, travel for about an hour and actually cross the
border again into Minnesota.
Believe it or
not, the travel adventure isn’t over yet. Once you reach the Northwest Angle
region of Lake of the Woods, you can only reach Sunset Lodge by traveling
across the “ice road” which connects the mainland to this and many other
fishing resorts. The ice road is plowed and well marked. Once you arrive at
Sunset Lodge you’re in Minnesota waters, but the best crappie fishing actually
takes place in the nearby Ontario waters of Lake of the Woods!
If all this
travel seems ridiculous the fishing is ridiculously good and worth every minute
of the travel. Sunset Lodge is a full service resort providing lodging, meals,
a bar, bait, transportation on and off the ice and of course seasoned fishing
guides.
Crappie fishing
on Lake of the Woods is generally so good that the guides rarely mess with live
bait. Tungsten jigs tipped with soft plastic are the mainstay for icing a mess
of slab crappie.
A flasher or
liquid crystal sonar unit is critical to finding fish and pinpointing the depth
they prefer at the moment. Crappie are notorious for suspending in the water
column and a good graph makes it possible to mark both fish and the lure in the
water column. Without electronics an angler is literally fishing blind.
 |
| Lake of the Woods is known for producing not only numbers of crappie, but also slabs like these. |
Fishermen
interested in traveling to the Northwest Angle can get more information by
visiting www.sunsetlodgeresort.com
or www.lakeofthewoodsmn.com.
The ice fishing in this region isn’t limited to just crappie fishing. Anglers
will also find world class fishing for walleye, sauger and northern pike.
