Fishing Rules
Visitors to the Lake of the Woods region enjoy many outdoor tourism and recreation activities. While the area has excellent hiking, biking, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing environments, it is most famous as a fishing paradise. Much of the region is open to recreation touring and activity, but some areas are held as nature reserves, where access is prohibited. Also, there are several First Nations Reserves throughout the Lake of the Woods islands and mainland shores, many operating tourist enterprises.

Since the early 1900’s, when newly-constructed resorts and camps attracted tourists from across North America to Ontario’s railway-accessible wilderness to fish and hunt, tourism has been an important economic and cultural factor. Early vacationers to the region include famous American stage and ‘moving picture’ stars, industrialists and other wealthy patrons.

Perhaps the rich and famous liked the fishing as much as they like the privacy and alcoholic beverages available during an era of prohibition south of the border. Lake of the Woods is not too far from Chicago, where bootlegging gangsters operated, using the lake to transport alcohol illegally across the wilderness border between Ontario and Minnesota.

There are thousands of islands with thousands of miles of shoreline, habitats that support game, fish and waterfowl. All fishing and hunting activity is regulated, so visitors planning a trip to Lake of the Woods are advised to get in touch with an Ontario government Ministry of Natural Resources office to inquire about licenses and regulations. There are limits to the number of fish that can be caught, and limits vary depending on the fish species.