How first timer friendly is LOTW??

[Slimeball]

LonB,
Dont be nervous, be cautious. If you want to fish shield lakes in canada, rocks are part of the package and underwater strikes happen sometimes.
Pay attention to the advice above about maps and navigating slow till you get a feel for the area your in. Get the best map you can. In this case you want a map from the Canadian Hydrographic Service. There is none better for navigation period. Get one as soon as possible for the area you choose on LOTW and study it every day before you even go. These maps are amazingly accurate and show underwater hazards. You can get the Fishing Hot Spots Map also for GPS coordinates too but I would not rely on them for safe navigation.
Also as stated above, get a guide atleast for a day. Not only could it help your fishing success but will help you learn areas and navigation dangers much more quickly. To me guides are a really important investment when learning new water. You'd be making a mistake by not hiring one in my opinion.
Whatever area you choose, have a great time. be safe.

Jason

You can order maps from www.thornebros.com

[FredB]

LOTW is tough to fish first time w/o a guide..While some rocks are marked, many are not....and it can be a long boat ride across open water at times to get to a particular spot.. My own preference for such a trip is Vermillion..a mini LOTW for the most part / most rocks well marked.. All in US, muchof it in Voyagers Natl Park hence also very scenic..and a lot closer ! ( check out lunge log on V)

[Brent Spence]

I can go zipping through the nestor falls area because i've bumped a few rocks up there and I know where most of them are. Once you get a few square miles figured out, you cant beat 'the woods'. It took us two years to venture more than 8 miles from camp, and to be honest, you usually don't need to go far. Take it slow, learn to read the maps, and enjoy the wildlife up there.

[LonB]

Actually Vermillion sounds like a pretty good idea. Closer, all in US, smaller, and I've read some good things about it.

I'll look into it more. I'm also considering the eagle river chain in WI, but think that won't be as good fishing or picture esque' as the others.

[NSTAGATOR]

Lon.....eagle river chain is cool lookin too,bald eagles,etc...good fishin...but not vermilion.Plus it doesn`t look anything like vermilion shield.If think vermilion is busy now...go to eagle river june thru oct...scarey..and sad

Dave

[MuskyDan]

Vermillion is georgous and lots of big fish but again hire a guide. We found lots of big fish when we were there but we only could figure out one structure that was holding fish and that was same structure everyone else found. Hire a guide and tell him you want to see rock fish and weed fish!!! Vermillion all the way, I can't wait to go back there, one last thing plan your trip with a full moon in the middle of your week, July would be perfect this year.