Detroit Lakes Fishing Report (3/19/25)

Rising temperatures will eventually spell the end of the hardwater season in the Detroit Lakes area.  Remember, soft or slushy conditions near shore is the first sign that you should call it quits for the season. If you encounter main lake ice that is cloudy or slushy, you should consider exiting the lake immediately, and then call it quits! For those still fishing, good luck and be careful! 

Ice fishing has been excellent the past week up on Lake of the Woods (LOW), and the ice is still solid. Your best bet for walleye is to work transitions from mud to rock using classic LOW colors (gold, pink, or white).  While the fishing has been great, traveling on LOW has become more difficult lately.  Brad Laabs, the former author of this fishing report, was fishing LOW last week and he sent me the picture at the top of this report.  That ice ridge is small.  He said some ridges are close to 8’ high.  If you plan to ice fish LOW, be sure to communicate with a resort to stay safe.  Importantly, they will tell you where you shouldn’t go.

Next week, I’ll report on the Rainy River walleye and sturgeon seasons.

Thanks for reading!   

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