Lake of the Woods

Size (acres)
Sydney & Kilburn: about 17,570 (Sydney 14,240 with the Sturgeon River + Kilburn 3,330)
Lake of the Woods: about 951,000

Boats on an average summer day
Sydney & Kilburn: 10 ✓
Lake of the Woods: 727 (Ontario 372 + Minnesota 355)

Acres per boat
Sydney & Kilburn: 1,760
Lake of the Woods: 1,450 Ontario · 890 Minnesota

Rough-water days a season
Sydney & Kilburn: 1.7 (Kilburn 0)
Lake of the Woods: 0.6 Kenora Bay · 84.7 Big Traverse (Baudette)

Sheltered water
Sydney & Kilburn: 75%
Lake of the Woods: 99% Kenora Bay · 11% Big Traverse

Walleye a US angler may keep each day
Sydney & Kilburn: 2, both 18 in or under
Lake of the Woods: 2 (Ontario); under 43 cm or 1 over 70 cm

Clearest summer water
Sydney & Kilburn: 26 ft ✓
Lake of the Woods: 17 ft at its clearest; Kenora bays ~7 ft; south end ~3 ft

Deepest spot
Sydney & Kilburn: 240 ft (Kilburn 213 ft) ✓
Lake of the Woods: 210 ft

Cisco (tullibee)
Sydney & Kilburn: ●
Lake of the Woods: ●

Whitefish
Sydney & Kilburn: ●
Lake of the Woods: ●

Free of invasive smelt
Sydney & Kilburn: ● ✓
Lake of the Woods: –

Mayfly mud flats
Sydney & Kilburn: ●
Lake of the Woods: ●

Disturbances on or upstream (of 6)
Sydney & Kilburn: 0 ✓
Lake of the Woods: 6

Typical ice-out
Sydney & Kilburn: about May 5
Lake of the Woods: about May 3 (Baudette median)

Hours from Minneapolis
Sydney & Kilburn: 7 h drive + 0.5 h flight
Lake of the Woods: 7 h drive ✓

Who else is on the water
Sydney & Kilburn: 1 lodge, 0 cottages
Lake of the Woods: 30+ resorts, 6,000+ cottages

✓ marks the better value. ? means we couldn’t find accurate data or a close estimate. We’ve made every effort to be accurate, but some figures are estimates and there may be errors or gaps. How we measured