Ice Team Pro, JP Tessier, reports on 12/19...

Welcome back to beautiful Lake of the Woods! Most every resort on the Minnesota side of Lake of the Woods is up and operational for this 2017-2018 ice fishing season. Most of the resort roads are in their early stages, with limited vehicle traffic, but with the cold snap quickly approaching up over the Christmas week, things are about to change. Brian Ney with Adrian’s Resort is constantly monitoring and expanding their ice road on a daily basis. The fishing has been nothing less than stellar for the early birds this season around the confines of Pine Island. The morning and evening bits in that 12-18’ have been excellent, and the day bite has ranged from 23-25’. The glow pink XXL Drop on a dead stick rod has caught the attention of many LOTW Saugers this season, but my glow Chubby Darter tipped with a frozen shiner never gets to rest. We’ve found anywhere from 6” of ice to spots that you can’t even get through with 2 extensions because of sheeted ice. We were able to stake the snowmobile trail to Oak Island, but with the way the big lake froze and broke up and then refroze a few times over, the trail is not very straight, but once you get behind Knight Island it becomes much better for the journey to Oak Island.

Happy Fishing and God Bless

Lake of the Woods Outdoorsman
Jean-Paul Tessier