It is a clear, sunny day with light winds on Lake of the Woods. The day starts with temperatures in the single digits, but by afternoon, temperatures are in the mid-30s. It is the beginning of March, and there is still a lot of ice on the water, with lots of good fishing left before spring arrives here.

There are three of us in our ice house: Bill Job from Little Chute, his son Shawn from Harrison, and this writer. We are all from Wisconsin, but we make this late-season ice fishing trip to Lake of the Woods every year. We cross two states to get here because it has always been a fun trip for us and a good way to end winter. 

It is early afternoon when Bill gets out of his chair to get a snack from the ice chest. He has just stepped away with his back to his ice holes when there is a splash. A fish slammed his bait and instantly dragged his ice rod into the ice hole, disappearing into the water. 

We were shocked, and wondered if Bill had been sitting next to his ice holes, would he have been able to stop that? It happened so fast. We got an extra ice rod out for Bill, and within a couple minutes, he was back in action. 

It was still dark when we wake, and Shawn makes venison sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches. We pack the ice chest, then load the ice chest and fishing equipment in the truck, and drive over to the resort. 

We take the next Bombardier to our ice house, and by 8:30, we are set up, looking down at floats sitting at the top of the ice holes. In the next 30 minutes, we catch three sauger and a yellow perch. It was a good start to the day.

We are staying in one of their cabins at Arnesen’s Rocky Point on the shores of Lake of the Woods. The cabin is comfortable with everything needed for four people. They have a complete fleet of Bombardiers to ferry ice fishermen to their ice houses. They have both four- and six-man ice houses as well as sleepers for those who want to stay overnight on the ice. 

The Bombardier drops you off early morning and the guide checks on you a couple times during the day. The guides also provide each ice house with a bucket of minnows for the day. 

Action remains steady throughout the day. We never seem to go long between strikes. We are catching a combination of sauger and walleyes. Generally, we catch more sauger than walleyes, but on this day, we also catch yellow perch as a bonus. 

Our fish bucket is filling up. Our immediate goal for our Lake of the Woods ice fishing trip is a fish fry on the last night, and we are having no problem catching enough fish for that. Limits are generous on Lake of the Woods. They have a combined limit of 6 for walleyes and sauger, allowing only four to be walleyes. There is no size limit on sauger, with a slot limit on walleye requiring the release of all walleyes from 19.5 to 28 inches. The limit for perch is 20. 

Fishing on Lake of the Woods is great for casual ice fishermen who do not want to invest in all the ice fishing technology. If you have it, fine, but you don’t necessarily need it at lake of the Woods. Walleyes, sauger and perch hug the bottom, so as long as your bait is two to six inches from the bottom, you will catch fish. 

Ice fishermen are allowed two rods. We usually have one rod with a hook under a slip bobber, and the other with an ice jig. Generally, anything with gold or chartreuse will work for jigs, and 1/4-ounce jigs seem to work best for us.

For lunch, Shawn steps outside with a small propane grill and grills bratwurst along with heating a can of sauerkraut. We are cheeseheads; what else would you expect?

Half an hour after Bill lost his ice rod when a fish pulled it into the ice hole, Shawn yanked up on his ice rod, announcing, “Got a fish.” His light ice rod is bent over as the fish races off. A couple moments later, his fish is in the ice hole, and then we realize that it isn’t on his hook; instead, a line is wrapped around his hook. He pulls in the line and finds Bill’s ice rod that he lost a few minutes earlier, with a 15-inch sauger on Bill’s hook. It was one of the oddest catches I have ever seen. And nice to get the ice rod back, too!

Fishing in Minnesota for walleyes ends statewide on the last weekend of February, starting again when the walleye season starts May. Lake of the Woods is an exception; ice fishing can continue on Lake of the Woods into the middle of April. Realistically, however, ice fishing continues as long as the ice remains good. 

Our group is celebrating the end of winter with one last ice fishing trip, knowing that we can get out on open water soon. In another two or three weeks, I will push my boat off the trailer into the open water on the Mississippi River where I can fish for walleyes and sauger. That is the unofficial beginning of spring. 

On our first day on Lake of the Woods, we catch and keep nine sauger, two walleyes and seven perch. We release again that many fish too small to keep, plus a couple tullibees. The second and last day, we keep seven sauger and three walleyes, including a 17-inch fish, and four perch.

Also, on our last night, we have a big fish fry with breaded and deep-fried fish, fried potatoes with onions in butter, and a Caesar salad. There is also a bunch of fish left for Bill and Shawn to take a bag of fillets home. 

There is much to celebrate. Winter is ending, and we can see spring ahead of us.