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Lake of the Woods

By Jerry Carlson

It had been a couple of years since I made my last trek to ice fish on Lake of the Woods. Because of this
fact, I was quite thrilled to be invited to join its tourism director, Joe Henry, and a group of Ice Team
anglers on a mid-March excursion to Arnesen’s Rocky Point Resort in Roosevelt, Minn.

Although it was my first trip to Arnesen’s, I was quite familiar with this resort. It has been a mainstay in
the Lake of the Woods region for years and is a top-rated destination for both summer and winter

angling. Their reputation for putting guests on fish is legendary.

We were all up early on the first morning of fishing. Working with the Ice Team crew meant there were
plenty of details to take care of before we embarked onto the ice. It was barely light when we pulled off
of the shore.

Since the date was late and the ice was just starting to deteriorate, all of our fishing was going to be
done out of portable shelters. Although I had never fished out of a hub shelter before, they proved to
be easy to put up, very roomy and a warm environment out of the wind.

As is usually the case when on a fishing trip of this nature, it took a while to sort out the best
technique. There seemed to be plenty of fish showing up on our Vexilars, but refining the