Oak Island–Planning

I am in the process of planning what should be a pretty AWESOME trip this coming summer. My dad and I will depart for Baudette on Wednesday June 24th. We have been going up and fishing the MTT event in late June the last few years. The first leg of the trip will be the same as every year. We will stay at the Wigwam, prefish, and hope to do well in both single day events on Friday and Saturday.

We have decided to extend the fun this year. The second leg of the trip is where I will need some help. My brother in law and his two boys will join us on Saturday evening. Some competitive fishing, followed by several days of liesure fishing. There is a god
We will rest up and hit the road Sunday morning for Sportmans on Oak Island. The five us will be staying in the Cedar Cabin at the Oak Island/Eagle Ridge location. This part of the trip is special for me because my dad is 70 and my nephews are 9 and 12. Three generations of family hopefully having great times putting the whack on them.

We have been to Baudette/Rainy River locations more times than we can count, but none of us have been to the Angle. I want to plan a good trip, so I am hoping to hear from some of you that have stayed up there.
Here are some of my intial questions:
1. How long a drive can we expect Sunday morning from Baudette to the Northwest Angle location? Any suggestions on roads or the best route? Where exactly is our destination and where do we leave the truck and trailer?
2. It sounds like after the drive, we will have about a 9 mile boat ride to resort. Any trick to getting to the island/resort or is it a pretty easy route with a gps?
3. Do kids age 9 and 12 need a passport? I know all adults will for sure.
4. I assume we would want to purchase a temporary fishing license to fish the Canadian side? I assume this would open a lot of doors for us up there. Is this assumption an accurate one? What is the easiest process and place to get them? Do the kids (ages 9 and 12) need them? Any idea on cost?
5. Any suggestions or “need to bring” items for our stay on the island? Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance & Good luck this Winter!

Hi Chris,
I’ve been fortunate to visit Oak Island for the past two summers as well as last year ice fishing. We stayed at Sunset Lodge Resort.

I assume you will be heading up to Young’s Bay and put your boat in there. They have a large parking lot for your truck and trailer. I can’t remember exactly but it may be $5 a day for parking. Not sure.

The trip from Baudette to Young’s Bay should be 2.5-3 hours. You will go through CAN customs and will call the USA customs when coming back into the US at the Angle. On the way home, you will call CAN when you get back into Canada. Again, Google Maps etc. will get you there. I believe there is one main way to get there.

One tip: Right down everyone’s name, data of birth, address and passport number on a sheet of paper. When you call, just one of you will need to talk but you will need name, DOB, etc. of everyone in your car.

Regarding passports for the kids, I would do some Google research and find out.

It’s pretty straight forward to get to Oak Island but a GPS is pretty much a must to watch for shallow water etc. Also if you fish CAN. Lot’s of islands.

Regarding a CAN license. That’s totally your call. We purchased CAN licenses on the internet – pretty straight forward. Just Google it. We had our best fishing in the US during the July time frame. We did go up to CAN a couple times and caught fish as well. Got a nice 43-inch musky on 8# test. It’s nice to have a CAN license if the wind is really blowing. A couple days the waves were rocking pretty good so we fished up in CAN with some protection from the islands. We got the conservation licenses – 7 day I think.

Things to bring – standard stuff. Weather gear, dry bags. Passports. If you do fish in CAN you can’t bring any bait in water. Meaning no live leeches or minnows. You can bring crawlers in paper for example. You will need to call into CAN each day you fish there. The resort should be able to help out on that. Pretty straight forward.

I’m pretty sure you will have a great time and catch a lot of fish. We had 4 in our boat and had a couple quads on at the same time. Lots of doubles etc.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for the response….Keep em coming.

Gathering info like this makes all the difference in the world in planning a good trip.

Do you need an RABC when crossing the border fishing(Remote Accecc Border Crossing permit)?

In other parts of Canada I thought you needed that permit when not going through an official crossing. Is this different for the Angle that a phone call only and no permit necessary?

We did not get a RABC.

We purchased an Outdoor Card and Fishing license prior to our trip up. Need to have both. I know that Sunset Lodge provides access to get these when at the Angle. Guessing others do as well.

We called CAN every morning that we were planning on heading up there. They asked for boat registration and boaters.

It used to be that you could have the RABC pass or stop on Cyclone Island and call in every day. Consider the cost of vacation and how much you’re paying per hour of fishing. Compare that to the cost of the pass and the time you spend making the calls and the RABC is well worth it.

Oh, and all you need to catch NW Angle walleyes in the summer is a bottom bouncer with a crawler harness on a hump that tops out at 10-20′. Pick a hump, any hump. Small, gold colorado blades always did well for us.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the NW Angle but one thing I remembered was the dirt roads from the border to Youngs Bay. They might have paved that road since so it may not be an issue. It had rained for a few days straight before we went and the road was horrible. We had to unhook one boat to pull another truck out that got stuck. If it’s still dirt I would make sure you have a good set of mud flaps or a towtector type of system on your truck. We didn’t and the boats had about 1 inch of mud incasing them.

Also, make sure that you have a good map chip and be careful around the channels in between the islands. They don’t make all the rocks and there are some big ones in the channel areas to watch out for.

Hope you have a good trip up there, been meaning to get back up there one of these years. It been so long that the resort had a different name when I was up there. It used to be called Bonnie Brae Resort.

If its 9 miles from Young’s Bay, how much further is it across the lake from Arnesons? 10-15 miles more? Not as protected going across the lake but watching the forecast could help you decide if the extra 3 hr road trip is worth it. You’ll need to pack for a water trip either way. I’m envious either way!

Thanks for all the insight. We are actually on the same page with you. If the wind will allow a decent boat ride, we may just boat all the way up.

That road to Young’s Bay… 22 miles of gravel… it took us just over an hour as we took it nice and slow…if you have a glass boat.. consider making up some make shift wraps for your fenders and the front of the boat.. weather it’s dry or wet it takes a toll on the glass..
When you arrive at Young’s or on your way to Oak Island make sure to get your boat as clean as you can.. bumpers too.. when you tie up to the dock all week the bumpers and the boat with make some serious rash marks if there is any grit left on them.

The kids to cross the border.. under 16 you need the birth certificate

it’s an easy 15 minutes to Sunset Lodge and your just around the corner from there so add another 5 or so…depending on the weather that is..

Last year we were there for 11 days the beginning of July and the walleyes and smallies were stacked on the shorelines feeding on crawdads.. our best bait was the Storm Smash Shad in Fire Perch !!

We will be at Sunset Lodge again this year starting July 4…
Have a great trip !!
I love the Angle !!