By Matt Bright: Club Secretary
This summer I took a July trip to Lake of the Woods, Minnesota. A group of four of us has been taking an annual trip to a musky fishing destination for more than a decade. I knew it was a matter of time before Lake of the Woods was the destination of choice, I was just surprised it was the year that the Canadian border was closed making travel a significant hurdle!
If you are unfamiliar with the area here is is an image of the lake located on the northernmost point of Minnesota:
As you can see, the logical path of travel for someone looking for a fishy trip north is to go through Canada and back into Minnesota, launch the boat and enjoy the fishing around the islands and narrows on the American side of this massive body of water. Due to the pandemic, the Canadian border remained closed for the duration of our trip. That meant that we would need to traverse the massive open water section of the lake from Warroad to our resort in the angle.
To be fair this was a primary consideration in our trip selection. Because we were limited to American fishing locations we knew that finding something remote was important. The summer of 2020 had demonstrated that due to a combination of newly enthusiastic outdoors opportunists and fishermen who normally head to Canada for an annual fishing trip, many American destinations were experiencing a lot of fishing pressure. Our logic, (which was supported in part by some “friend of a friend” results from the angle in the summer of 2020) was that we would fare well in a remote and challenging to access locale.
Nice musky caught by Brandon Getchel on Lake of the Woods; July 2021.
We kept our eyes glued to all of the weather apps in the weeks leading up to the trip. “The Weather Underground” was predicting 7 mile per hour winds from the south on the day of our planned traverse across the big water. The Big Traverse is 30 miles across and not deep. A big wind can whip up waters that are not safe for even 30’ charter boats venturing north from the south shore of the lake to the fertile fishing grounds of the angel. Luckily for us, 7 mph winds were manageable for the 18 and 19 foot fishing boats we planned to utilize in crossing the lake.
We set out from a resort in Warroad after a late night arrival the night before and having “camped” on the bow of my boat. Travel was bumpy but relatively easy with a little tail wind. We slowed our travel down and utilized the trim tabs that each boat had installed. We worked with our trim tabs for the entire trip. Unfortunately one of mine malfunctioned for the trip meaning that I only had about half as much functionality from that tool. When I have been able to utilize both trim tabs, the result is a much smoother ride that allows me to travel through almost any chop at around 20 to 25 miles per hour. This may seem slow, but this is a game changer when you want to fish a spot until the last second before a storm and still have some time to race to shore…
We crossed the big water and were safely to our resort in under an hour and a half. Taking the time to prepare by choosing an advantageous crossing time based on weather and ensuring that we did not overload our boats was key to our success. This was a great way to start a trip that had me on pins and needles, not only because of the difficult traverse but also because of the natural rock hazards that LOTW affords its visitors.
As a note, we were boarded by the Coast Guard the week we fished LOTW. A safety check on our vessel went really smoothly and quickly because I had taken the time ahead of the trip to ensure that all of the required safety equipment was on board. They took my boat info and my name and then gave me a slip of paper saying that I had passed the check for this year. This allows me to present the paper to the Coast Guard if I am boarded again this season.
The required items for a vessel that is NOT traveling on the Great Lakes are:
Coast Guard approved life jackets for each person on board
Throwable floatation device
Fire extinguisher
Noise making device (for most boats this is the horn, make sure yours works!)
The other boat in our group was not so lucky. Due to the lack of a fire extinguisher, they were escorted back to the resort as their boat was immediately “decommissioned.” Luckily, the Coast Guard called the resort ahead of their arrival and the resort was able to provide a loaner fire extinguisher at no cost and help my friends avoid a ticket. Obviously it is better to avoid this situation if you can!
There are some other items that while not required may be worth considering keeping aboard your boat in case of minor injury or emergency. These include:
First Aid Kit (gauze and electrical tape come in handy when dealing with toothy critters)
Boat hook for helping to more easily maneuver other craft or retreive persons from the water
Change of warm clothes or blankets for helping in cold water rescue
Bottle of your favorite whisky to celebrate all musky catches and calm nerves after being boarded by the Coast Guard or assisting in a rescue situation!
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