Smith: Solid ice, bountiful catches on Lake of the Woods

ROOSEVELT, Minn. - Sitting on the frozen surface of Lake of the Woods north of Roosevelt, Minn., one has a temptation to study the horizon.

The tree line to the northwest is Manitoba. To the west, the islands of the Northwest Angle, a portion of Minnesota reachable only by traveling across water or through Canada, jut up from the expanse of white.

And to the northeast, well, that's Ontario.

If your goal is to catch fish, however, it's advisable to narrow your focus.

"You've got a fish coming up," said Jean-Paul Tessier, a guide who lives in Baudette, Minn.

The flasher beside me showed an electronic vapor trail rising to my lure 25 feet below. A second later, I had no choice but to snap back to fishing. The rod tip twitched and I set the hook.

There was a time when Americans were urged to "go west" to find opportunity.

But if you're an angler hoping to find solid ice and experience the late-season bite, a different compass heading is recommended.

Lake of the Woods, the northern-most lake in the contiguous United States, is as sure a bet as you can find.

"It's game on," said Joe Henry, executive director of Lake of the Woods Tourism, when asked in mid-March about the conditions on the huge lake that straddles the U.S.-Canada border.

Last week I joined a group of media members and outdoor industry representatives on an ice fishing trip to Lake of the Woods.

We fished Tuesday and Wednesday about 9 miles north of our base at Arnesen's Rocky Point Lodge and Fishing Resort in Roosevelt.

Arnesen's staff had placed a pair of permanent fish houses on the spot, which was a transition from a rocky reef to a mud flat over about 30 feet of water. We also fished from portable shelters and in the open air.

No other anglers were in sight. Within 30 minutes of arriving, we established a village in the middle of a vast, white expanse.

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How was the ice? Suffice it to say the top 3 feet of water was frozen.

Our group of 16 included: Jerry Carlson, a radio host and freelance writer from Minnesota; Rob Drieslein, president of Outdoor News Publications in Plymouth, Minn.; Greg Jones of Midwest Outdoors, based in Burr Ridge, Ill.; Dan Stefanich, marketing director of Clam Outdoors; Steve and Keith Worrall of OutdoorsFIRST Media Group in Rhinelander; and Tom Zenanko, marketing director of Vexilar.

Henry, of Lake of the Woods Tourism, and pro anglers and guides Chris Granrud, Kelly Granrud, Tim Hill, Brian Lindberg, Terry Tuma and Tessier were also on hand, as was Kyle Stefanich, Dan's son.

Kyle is a college freshman who decided to ice fish on his spring break rather than head to a southern beach like most of his classmates.

He's just ahead of his time. A February issue of U.S. News & Wold Report listed Lake of the Woods as a Top 9 Cold Weather Spring Break Vacation spot.

Henry, the ultimate promoter, said Lake of the Woods has been an "under the radar" spring break spot for years. Snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and winter camping also are popular cold-weather activites in the area.

It certainly is a premier fishing destination with a healthy, native fish community including walleye, sauger, muskellunge, northern pike, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, lake sturgeon and tullibee (a cisco).

The area also offers an impressive infrastructure of lodging, equipment and guides to support visiting anglers in all seasons.

When it comes to hard-water season, Arnesen's is the largest ice fishing resort in the U.S. On one day alone during the peak of the season it puts 350 anglers on the frozen surface of Lake of the Woods.

Arnesen's runs 125 fish houses (including 48 sleepers) on the lake and hires 20 guides.

"We're bigger than most," allowed Mark Arnesen, part of the fourth generation of his family to earn a living on the water and shores of Lake of the Woods.

The previous generation, including Ed, Jack and Steve Arnesen, had to make the transition from commercial fishers to resort owners and sport fishing guides when commercial netting was banned in Minnesota waters of the lake in the mid-1980s.

The family now runs a sprawling resort on the southern shore of the lake.

In winter, most of its customers are ferried in heated comfort to heated permanent fish houses set over productive water. Resort staff use big-tracked machines or tiny tricked-out Geo Tracker four-wheel-drive vehicles to pull trailers full of anglers. Some call it "tennis shoe" ice fishing; no insulated boots or other heavy winter clothing are needed.

The Arnesens own 30 Geos, which haven't been produced since 2002. They add flotation to the vehicles fore and aft as a safety measure. The large block of foam added to the front bumper makes the SUV's look like they are ready for a bumper car competition.

With chains on the tires, the small Trackers have proven to be workhorses.

"Easy on gas, good powertrains," said Hill, a former U.S. Air Force mechanic who also worked for Midwest Express Airlines in Milwaukee for 12 years. "We'll buy another Geo anywhere we can find it."

Hill, who goes by the nickname "Wingnut," and the other staff at Arnesens have devised dozens of unique solutions to provide safe, comfortable experiences for their customers. The heated trailers used to transport anglers onto the ice are actually aluminum-sided fish houses set on wheels. They are also equipped with flotation.

The resort also acquired the first airboat in the area, which they use to access remote camps in the Northwest Angle. The craft has been used several times to rescue people (none guided by Arnesen's staff) on Lake of the Woods.

Lake of the Woods has a reputation as a "working man's lake." It's a reference to the dark, tannin-stained water that typically makes fishing best from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. when the sun is up, said Tessier.

Ice fishing and hockey are the two primary activities in Lake of the Woods County. Tessier, who grew up in International Falls, played collegiately for Ferris State University and professionally for several American Hockey League franchises. He later returned to his home water to work as a fishing guide and married a woman he used to play hockey with.

Warroad (population 1,781), just a few miles west of Roosevelt, is called "Hockeytown U.S.A." The town has produced seven U.S. Olympic hockey players since 1956, including gold medalists Bill Christian (1960) and his son Dave, part of the "Miracle on Ice" team of 1980.

In fact, no U.S. hockey team has won an Olympic gold medal without a player from Warroad on its roster.

Current NHL star T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals also hails from Warroad. The town has as many indoor hockey rinks as stop lights (two).

No one grows up in the area, however, without a connection to Lake of the Woods.

The lake is a vast and rich resource for the area.

Other than the five Great Lakes, it’s the largest lake in the U.S. It has more than 14,552 islands and 65,000 miles of shoreline.

"This is our oilfield," said Tessier.

Walleye, as it is across so much of the Upper Midwest, is the chief attraction for anglers. The native fish are fun to catch and unsurpassed as table fare. Unlike most other lakes, the species has not been over-fished on Lake of the Woods.

Baudette, a town near the mouth of the Rainy River on the lake's southern shore, has a 40-foot-long statue called "Willie the Walleye." The area proclaims itself "Walleye Capital of the World."

Sauger, close cousin to the walleye, also are big draws during the ice fishing season.

In the winter 2015-'16, anglers harvested 81,000 pounds of walleye on Lake of the Woods, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, well below the six-year average of 217,000 pounds. The take of sauger was 280,000 pounds, topping the 243,000 average.

The walleye population is currently at, or slightly above, the long-term average for abundance, according to the Minnesota DNR. Catches in the 2016 gill net sampling averaged 25.2 walleye per net; the average from 1968-2015 was 15.1. Sauger numbers are also above the long-term average.

To help protect its valuable sport fishery, Lake of the Woods has a four-walleye daily bag limit; all walleye from 19.5 to 28 inches in length must be immediately returned to the water.

One walleye more than 28 inches long may be kept each day.

The walleye population is so strong on Lake of the Woods that anglers don't have to feel guilty about keeping a limit of the fish. The lake has at least three strong year classes of walleye, including 2011 (fourth largest on record since 1963), 2013 (fifth) and 2014 (seventh). The 2016 year class also appears to be above average, but data are incomplete on these younger fish, according to the Minnesota DNR.

Our group caught and released dozens of 8-to 10-inch "cigar" walleyes each day, likely fish hatched in 2015.

It typically takes Lake of the Woods walleyes three years to reach 12 inches, according to the Minnesota DNR.

Using flashers to view our lures and fish activity, our group had very good action over two days.

Most of the action came on flutter spoons tipped with live minnows fished within a few feet of the bottom. A tungsten jig tipped with a minnow also consistently produced fish.

The flashers are "like an adult video game," Hill said. Even when the fish aren't snapping, the electronic units lets an angler know when a fish is near and add exciting and informative dimensions to the experience.

If fish repeatedly look over a lure and don't hit, it's probably time to change the presentation or the bait.

Tuesday presented post-cold front conditions and a stiff north wind. The fish were in a neutral to negative mood. Still, we caught fish throughout the day.

Tuma, the Montgomery, Minn. angler who is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame who was inducted last week in the Fishing Hall of Fame of Minnesota Outdoors Hall of Fame, and Drieslein, the Minnesota-based president of Outdoor News, showed particular skill in getting fish on the ice.

Drieslein caught his personal best eelpout (also known as burbot and lawyer), about a 10-pounder. Lake of the Woods claims the Minnesota state record "pout," a 19-pound, 10-ounce fish caught Dec. 19.

The group's fishing location was selected by Arnesen's staff for its multi-species potential and it delivered. The mud bottom in the area held mayfly larvae, commonly called "wigglers."

The insect larvae attracted bait fish to the area as well as larger species, which fed both on the forage fish and the wigglers.

Several walleyes, saugers and yellow perch regurgitated the larvae when they were landed.

A 14-inch yellow perch caught on Tuesday also showed there is nothing sacred between relatives in the food web - it had an 8-inch walleye in its gullet.

Sitting nine miles from the nearest shore amid a frozen landscape that stretches off in all directions, it's reasonable to wonder if there could be fish underfoot.

There are 14 reefs, some as long as 1-mile, within 10 miles of Arnesen's Rocky Point Lodge and Fishing Resort.

"This lake has proven time and again how productive it is," Henry said. "No other anglers around and we're over a great spot. There are literally thousands like it in Lake of the Woods."

We had marks on our flashers at least every five minutes, and typically more often than that.

Schools of tulibees roamed the area, occasionally hitting our baits. The ciscos ranged from seven to 14 inches in length. Tessier kept several of the smaller ones to use as bait for northern pike. The tip-up fishing for trophy northerns in the lake's shallows and tributaries is just getting started.

Tuesday also proved to a couple in our group that sunburn isn't only a summer affliction. Although the sun was at mid-strength in late March, the UV rays beaming down through clear skies and reflecting off the frozen lake were plenty strong to cause a change in skin pigment.

The weather softened Tuesday night and Wednesday featured southwest winds and cloudy skies. The fish were more aggressive.

I spent most of the day fishing in a portable, collapsible "hub" or tent with the Granruds, the husband-and-wife who own a guiding business on nearby Rainy Lake.

I tied on a green-and-gold flutter spoon in the morning and never took it off. Not only did it make a Green Bay Packers fan feel comfortable in the land of the Purple People Eaters, but it caught fish from the first drop of the day.

The spoon had a hammered finish and a synthetic pearl-colored skirt. As the lure was jigged, the skirt's fibers glistened and pulsed in the water. Tipped with a live minnow, the presentation was extremely effective the entire day.

Our catch mostly was comprised of walleyes from 8 to 19 inches in length, saugers up to 16 and yellow perch up to 14. We also caught more than a dozen tulibees, some as long as 15 inches. And Chris Granrud landed a 30-inch northern pike.

Our group also caught five walleyes between 21 and 25 inches in length, all of which were released per regulations.

We kept limits of walleyes and saugers, mostly 14 to 18 inches long, as well as several eelpout and yellow perch. Boiled in 7-Up and served with drawn butter, the eelpout meat tastes like lobster.

The walleyes and sauger were fileted at the resort and served to us each night.

In a world of declining walleye populations in many lakes, the meals provided a rare, delightful experience to enjoy limits of the delectable fish in good conscience.

The walleye season runs until April 14 on Lake of the Woods.

Fish houses have to be removed from the lake March 31. On Tuesday the staff at Arnesens spread a layer of hay on the ice near the landing to protect it from the sun. It will help keep the ice solid even under heavy vehicle traffic.

And the anglers will continue to come, just as they have for more than 30 years.

"We'll be busy right to the end," Mark Arnesen said.

There are no guarantees in fishing or hunting. But when it comes to solid ice and bountiful catches, Lake of the Woods has earned the right to be called "Walleye Capital of the World."