Navigating Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods is a massive body of water covering over 1,700 square miles and stretching 85 miles long. It is world-renowned for its intricate geography, containing 14,522 islands that create a staggering 65,000 miles of shoreline—surpassing even that of Lake Superior. Some of the deepest spots on the lake are in Whitefish Bay, carved from an ancient glacial fissure; you can even see the history of this movement in the glacial striations on the smooth granite at our fire pit point.  For us, this is an important place to reflect on the history and the many peoples that have come before. 

Navigation Aids

You can pick up hard copies of maps locally in Sioux Narrows or Kenora.  Maps with your GPS based fish finder are definitely the way to go; make sure yours includes detailed maps for Lake of the Woods.  Lake of the Woods chips can be purchased locally as well.  There are navigation apps for Apple and Android phones.  My set-up is Hummingbird but they don’t currently offer a good navigation app for phones.  Lowrance has a free and paid subscription (needed for GPS navigation).  I typically subscribe to the Garmin (Navionics) Boating App which currently is ~$80.00 Canadian – it renews every year unfortunately make sure you cancel if you no longer require it.  It is nicer and easier to navigate using the phone than on my Hummingbird Lake Master Lake of the Woods Chip that has far too many depth gradients for my eyes.

Safety

Be careful, the phone apps will drain your phone battery quick.  Have charging cables available if using on the water.  Closing the app will save battery, unfortunately I often forget and end up with a dead phone which is a safety risk if something goes wrong.  

Consider having a radio service or cell phone with satellite connectivity which can provide a critical emergency lifeline when you are outside cellular range on the lake, allowing you to signal for help or share your coordinates.