Glance across the seemingly endless expanse of ice and snow that covers the Minnesota side of Lake of the Woods, and you'll witness a sight that makes people here smile.

It's ice fishing season in the border country again, and judging by the hundreds of houses that already dot the big lake north of Pine Island, life is good. The wheels of tourism commerce are turning in full force.

As for the fishing . . . well, that's not bad, either.
Monday morning, the annual rite of winter was in full swing. For the first morning in several days, the mercury had risen enough to tickle the zero mark. There wasn't much wind, and the glowing eastern horizon offered the promise of a beautiful December day.

A perfect day to be fishing in the comfort of a heated ice house.

Bill Stay, Nick Anthony and Rich Lunzer had little time to enjoy it for themselves. Employees of Ballard's Resort, they'd already transported a small army of anglers to heated shelters that sat with holes drilled and ready to fish atop 11 inches of ice.

Now, there were three more houses to move: They'd hauled them from shore and across the shallow confines of Four-Mile Bay and were ready for the home stretch over a narrow strip of Pine Island onto the massive expanse of Big Traverse Bay.

All told, that's about 4 miles as the walleye swims.

Moving a fleet of 43 houses is no small task. The crew at Ballard's, and most of the other resorts on this end of the lake, had been at it since the previous week, hauling a few houses each day.

There was light at the tunnel, though, Anthony said, as he crossed Pine Island, ice house in tow, and put the lightweight four-wheel drive vehicle he was driving through the paces.

Getting around

This time of year, the little vehicles mostly Geo Trackers or Suzuki Sidekicks are the predominant mode of travel on Lake of the Woods. They're light enough for 10 inches of ice and powerful enough to haul the heated, enclosed trailers that most resorts use to carry anglers to the houses early in the season.

The vehicles also do a decent job pulling ice houses, Anthony says, as long the snow's not too deep. Later in the winter, resorts switch to bigger, more powerful tracked vehicles such as the Bombardier, a classic Canadian workhorse, to pull houses and transport fishermen.

About that time, 6 inches of snow and a heavy ice house combined to stop Anthony's Geo Tracker in its tracks north of Pine Island. He revved and rocked, but the vehicle would go no farther. Close enough, he said; the house was lined up with the other rentals over about 25 feet of water, the depth where the fish were biting.

That's been another plus so far this winter.

"Life's good when fishing's good," he said.

Hockey to ice fishing

To WCHA hockey fans, at least, Anthony's name might ring a bell. He played forward and was an assistant captain for the Minnesota Gophers and played on the U of M squad that spoiled UND's debut in the new Ralph Engelstad Arena back in October 2001.

Credit romance for Anthony's transition from ice hockey to ice fishing. His wife, Jessie, is the daughter of Ballard's Resort owners Steve and Joanne Ballard, and he now works as a fishing guide both summer and winter on Lake of the Woods.

It's a good life, the Faribault, Minn., native says.

"My 'dream job' was to be some sort of hunting and fishing guide," Anthony said. "My degree was in Urban Forestry, but I was kind of unsure as to where that was going to take me. Since sports had consumed my life since I was 3 years old, I was looking forward to catching up on the finer things of life."

In Anthony's case, that was hunting especially ducks and fishing.

Fish house city

It's not an official count, but for the next few months, there might be more houses on the ice than on dry land in Lake of the Woods County.

The county doesn't have a stoplight, but you could almost make a case for one here on the lake, where ice fishing has exploded the past 20 years.

The numbers tell the story.

Figures from Lake of the Woods Tourism show December-through-March lodging-tax receipts have risen from about $28,000 in 1990, to more than $108,000 today.

Fishing pressure has followed the same trend.

According to Mike Larson, area fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Baudette, DNR creel surveys show anglers logged 401,000 hours on the ice in 1982. By 2003, that number had grown to nearly 2 million angler-hours.

Aerial counts have tallied from 2,000 to 2,300 fish houses on the ice the past five winters, Larson said.

"In the '60s, there were like 128 fish houses on the whole lake," Larson said. "If I remember right, there were around 1,000 houses peak" in 1980, his first year in the Baudette office.

"Back then, by and large, a lot of resorts were taking it easy in the winter; it's their busy time now," he said. "Resorts realize they make more money in winter than summer, so they're going to market it."

Fish and convenience

Gary Moeller, co-owner of Ballard's Resort, credits comfort and convenience for much of the popularity.

Improvements in gear from rods to GPS units to shelters have made ice fishing easier, Moeller says. In the case of Lake of the Woods, resorts offer a diverse package of fishing options, including marked, plowed roads for do-it-yourself anglers and track van transportation for anglers who don't want the hassles of navigating the big lake.

Resorts even have developed "stretch Bombardiers" that can haul up to 14 people at a time.

"It's really made the lake much more accessible than it was 10-15 years ago," Moeller said. "I think what it's done is eliminate the fear factor about Lake of the Woods that you might have in the summer."

The ability to catch fish can't be overlooked, either. According to the DNR's Larson, Lake of the Woods' stained water provides an environment in which fish such as walleyes and saugers will bite throughout the day instead of only during low-light periods or after dark.

Anglers this winter can expect to catch lots of 18-inch walleyes from a banner hatch in 2001, Larson says, along with 14- to 16-inch fish from "not bad" hatches in 2003 and 2005.

Meanwhile, saugers long a mainstay of Lake of the Woods' winter fishery also offer cause for optimism, Larson said. Fall population surveys showed 25 percent of the saugers sampled measured longer than 11 inches big enough for the frying pan.

Anglers also will be bothered by 7- to 9-inch saugers, bait stealers from a 2006 hatch that was one of the best in years.

"On the walleye, we've had such consistent recruitment," Larson said. "About every other year, we've had a moderate to strong year-class, and that's not normal. Usually, if you get one (good hatch) every five years, it's pretty good."

Fishing reports

"Pretty good" also could describe fishing success late Monday afternoon, when the anglers fishing Ballard's rental houses boarded the heated trailers for the ride back to shore.

Terry O'Neil and Terry Stadstad of Grand Forks were part of the crew who'd spent the day on the ice. O'Neil, a retired letter carrier, said they struggled to catch fish Sunday afternoon. Monday was much better, though, he said, on the snug ride back to shore aboard a trailer packed with seven fishermen and their gear.

He and Stadstad each caught their limit of four walleyes and four saugers. Nothing big, he said, and they also threw back about 20 fish.

"It was much better today," O'Neil said. "The way it started yesterday, I was wondering."

Brad LaBounty and Carl Hanson of Aberdeen, S.D., had a seven-hour drive in front of them Monday night. They'd fished all day Sunday, catching a mess of walleyes, and originally had planned to fish just a few hours Monday before heading home.

"This morning, I couldn't keep a line in the water," LaBounty said. "We got some nice saugers today all 15-16 inch saugers."

Fishing slowed about 10 a.m. and stayed that way until early afternoon, he said. Then, the fishing improved and all hopes of getting an early departure were lost.

"We decided to stay the full day," LaBounty said.

It's an affliction anyone who fishes knows all too well; leaving often is the hardest part, and this day was no exception.

No wonder, then, the area is excited about the way winter has started.

"You can see it in town and on the lake," Moeller of Ballard's said. "There's not too many places in the world that would probably say this, but we look forward to winter. It's definitely a mainstay for our area.
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