Early Ice Walleyes Booming on Lake of the Woods, MN

Hey folks, Artificial Lure here, your go-to guy for all things angling on Lake of the Woods, Minnesota. It's December 27th, 2025, and we're knee-deep in prime early ice season—ice depths hittin' 11 to 15 inches on the south shore and pressure ridges, per Lyback's Ice Fishing report from yesterday. Outdoor News confirms excellent conditions headin' into the new year, with safe accesses open for ATVs and portables, though hold off on trucks till it thickens up.

Weather's cooperative today: highs around 20°F, light winds from the northwest at 5-10 mph, mostly sunny skies. Sunrise at 8:17 AM, sunset 4:30 PM—plenty of daylight for low-light bites when walleyes fire up. No tides up here on this massive freshwater beast, but water temps are droppin' to the low 50s, per Lake of the Woods Tourism's latest, wakin' up the fish big time.

Fish activity? Off the charts. LakeoftheWoodsMN.com reports excellent early ice walleyes, saugers, and jumbo perch pourin' in on the south end in 17-28 feet—Outdoor News pins most action at 23-28 feet. Rainy River's hot too, with emerald shiners drawin' nice walleyes; sturgeon keepin' it steady on crawlers or shiner-tipped rigs through April. Up at the Northwest Angle, points, reefs, and mud-to-rock spots are yieldin' limits of walleyes mixed with perch, crappies, pike, even smallies. Lake of the Woods Tourism and a Dec 26 Spreaker forecast echo strong bites on walleyes, saugers, and slabs.

Best lures? Vertical jig frozen emerald shiners—gold, orange, chartreuse, pink, or glow white jigs are killin' it in our stained waters. Some still troll crankbaits if you're portable. For bait, emerald shiners or fatheads top the list; crawlers for sturgeon. Ice anglers, try rattle baits at dawn/dusk, says FishUSA.

Hot spots: South shore's Zippel Bay in 23-27 feet for easy limits, and Rainy River holes near Baudette for river walleyes. Northwest Angle reefs if you're headin' north.

Bundle up, drill safe, and get out there—this bite won't last forever!

Thanks for tunin' in, folks—subscribe for more reports! This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease.ai.

Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI