Lake of the Woods Exploring

27/12/2024

20/12/2024

https://www.startribune.com/rocky-and-bullwinkle-moosylvania-minnesota-warroad-lake-of-the-woods/601197382

Nice article about local history.

Rocky and Bullwinkle creator Jay Ward leased a tiny isle on Lake of the Woods as a publicity stunt and took a silly bid for statehood all the way to the White House.

18/12/2024

Google accidentally took the Android version of the Lake of the Woods Exploring App off the Google Play store and it took 4 months of help desk tickets to get it resolved. Here is the link for Android fans the app just went live again. We’re adding more features and spots this spring. After you purchase the app updates are free.

16/12/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15TskecZoM/
Click on the picture and press play, news times, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm. Sara’s podcast at 7pm.

Northwest Angle, lake of the Woods news, shows and music. Email: [email protected]

04/12/2024

Deep inside the Aulneau Penninsula on the shoreline of Carstens Lake is an old cross carved into a tree. Probably 100 yrs old.

03/12/2024

Did you ever wonder why Lake of the Woods freezes oddly? Some areas of the lake seem to freeze sooner than others . The Lake of the Woods control board has some information that was kind of interesting. There on page 5 of the 10-Day Database Reports on the LWCB's basin data page Winnipeg R W Outlet is the water temperature currently flowing out of the lake, which is about 35°F. While water flowing in from Rainy River is just a touch over 32°F. 

03/12/2024

A few summers ago, you could visit Fort Saint Charles by boat, let's hope we never have that crazy situation happen again!!

01/12/2024

My friend Jack is gone but his stories live on.

“The Ice Box”
By Jack Wollack

Ice Box :An area of lake where a guide can always catch fish to put
food on the plate. A spot seldom shared.

One day in July, a group of us were camped in one of the
seventy-five lakes inside the Aulneau Peninsula. Most of the people on
this canoe trip were high school aged boys who had a strong desire to
paddle, portage, and power themselves on blueberries and fish. It was
easy to show them patches of ripe berries among the mossy slopes.
However, boys do not live on berries alone. I also told them where
they could catch fish in the morning.
While the growing boys were getting their morning sleep, I left my
tent and paddled to my ice box spot on that lake where I would catch
some fish for breakfast. It was a calm morning with some mist rising
from the waters as the sun started to climb above the ridges on the
northeast side of the lake. Before long I was drifting in a quiet
cove of an island next to some cabbage weeds near a gravel bar. It
was time to fish.
In a few minutes I was able to get some smaller sized walleyes and
perch. All of the fish were released. After catching a few fish, my
eyes started to drift to a sight about half a mile up wind from me.
At first I thought two loons were dancing in the mist with wings wide,
but I heard no loon calls. Then I realized that the wings of the
creatures I thought were loons were actually the ears of a pair of
moose. They were standing in the lake eating lily roots. They too
needed a breakfast.
For a while my attention skipped back and forth between the moose
and the smaller fish I was catching. The moose seemed to be heading in
my direction. I decided that having the moose near me would be more
interesting than fishing so I ignored the one pound walleye on my line
a few feet from the canoe. Hopefully it would get off the line by
itself and save me some effort.

Suddenly the water near the canoe erupted like a volcano. Water
from the blast soaked one side of my shirt. My fishing pole was almost
je**ed from my hand as line screamed from the reel. The entire canoe
was pulled to one side. A large fish had hit the walleye. My focus
went back to fishing.
Things calmed down after I gave the fish all the line it needed.
At first my intention was to also give the big fish all the time it
wanted to swallow the walleye with my lure in its mouth. I had all
day. The boys back at camp could eat blueberries when they woke up.
As I waited in the canoe, I started to think of other big fish I
had eaten over the years. They had all tasted terrible. They would
have been better off being alive in the lake laying eggs and producing
offspring for future years.
Slowly I started to bring in line and put little pressure on the
fish. In a couple of minutes the huge, broad backed northern was next
to the canoe with the walleye at a right angle in its mouth. My lure
was still only in the walleye. Landing a huge fish without a lure in
its mouth was a challenge I had never experienced. I got both fish
within two feet of my hand that was not holding my pole.
Splash! The northern was gone.
The thrill fed me for years.
*******************************

Jack Wollack lives on an island in the middle of Lake of the Woods.
For most summers of his life, he has guided canoe trips among the
14,500 island of this lake and through 75 lakes inside the Aulneau
Peninsula where this story took place. In the winter he and his
friends, Eagle Watcher and Pierre LaQuierre, write about their
adventures as they sip their hot nettle tea.

26/11/2024

Has anyone ever seen the story on Unsolved Mysteries about Falcon Lake and the UFO landing? I guess today they give horseback rides and they mention the UFO during the ride when they pass by this area.

23/11/2024

French Portage school, was built at School House Point, if you look close today all that left is the wood stove that unfortunately ended the school. The school was close to shore, you can still see the natural flat rock sidewalk. After the fire the school activity was moved to the church, 1/4mi north of this picture. The church structure still exists, but once the church was sold the Catholic Church asked the bell to be removed and placed behind the building. The bell can still be seen behind the cabin, just before you pass the 3 red buoys. The house to the left of the old church building claims to have a few old desks from the school that were being repaired just prior to the fire.

30/10/2024

Interesting old Manitoba map near Lake of the Woods . The unorganized township of Powassin is interesting. The map indicates mountains south west of White Mouth Lake. A nice layout of the Dawson Trail .  Check out the map. What other areas do you notice? I

17/10/2024

Have you ever wondered?……

The lake outflow is 150 cms now, how low can it go before electricity cannot be generated?

Answer: Very little flow is required to run the turbines for power generation. At the Kenora Powerhouse, each turbine can pass approximately 15 cms and at the Norman Dam each turbine can pass approximately 50 cms. Therefore, right now at an outflow of 150 cms there are 2 to 3 turbines running at the Kenora Powerhouse and 2 turbines running at the Norman Dam.

When would outflow nearly stop at what water level?

Answer: The way the system is designed, there wouldn't really be a situation where there would be no flow through the outlet of Lake of the Woods. The bottom of the normal operating range is 1056 ft (321.87 m), which is extremely low, approximately 2.7 feet below the current mean lake level. The mean lake level has only dropped below 1056 ft in the years 1925, 1930, and 1931. At this 1056-foot water level, flows being passed through the dams in Kenora historically ranged between 100 and 150 cms.

06/10/2024

Attached are two maps of the possible locations were a LOTW to Roseau River portage could have taken place pre-settlement. Add your comments.

30/09/2024

Interesting old map, Lake of the Sand Hills, White Fish Lake, Clearwater Lake, NWA Station, maybe for the Dawson Trail?

24/09/2024

Red River Gold is a Canadian TV show that will air on APTN. In 1870, a trove of gold coins worth $1,000,000 disappeared without a trace. The coins were on their way to fund a British military force marching across Canada to stop Louis Riel and the Métis during the Red River Resistance. The gold has never been recovered and the Royal Mint of England still considers it lost or stolen. And now, a group of Métis treasure seekers want to find it! They filmed in the Northwest Angle area the last 3 days. Great team of people. The theme song of the show is Red River Gold by Memphis and the Grande. Pictured are the actors of the show.