Lon,
I would say, go right ahead if you stay at a resort. They have an interest in putting you on the fish. A key feature of Lake of the Woods fishing is the quality of the maps available for the lake. Available at the Thorne Bros. website and other places, the Canadian nautical charts that have Whitefish Bay as 6213, Sabaskong Bay as 6214, etc. are detailed maps of this island-studded area. With the good maps and a resorter's help, plus your basic muskie mentality, you will be in the ball game in my opinion, and it is a nice getaway.
Of course, settling on a section of LOTW to fish will result in lively discussion among muskie folk. The only section I fished was Whitefish Bay and we saw and caught fish there in mid-summer.
The northwest angle can yield big fish and numbers.. Our first year
we fished it ourselves. We saw a minimun of 5 fish per day, up to 14 fish on one day. and had our chances at multiple 50" fish.
Awesome area, we saw BIG whitetails, bears, wolves, caught a ton of Big smallies, and pike, plus the muskies..
Check out Baystore camp, Frank Walsh is the owner, and a great guy.
I would recommend, or I should say my boat would recommend spending a day with atleast one guide to learn the area, and the best maps you can find, a lost lower unit on my boat will swear to that. 
Awesome area, spent 3 years there, and I can't wait to go back.
Watch the ROCKS !!!! READ..READ…your maps,and ALWAYS have the map in your lap when navigating !!! You approach any reef complex or you have spots on your map that say 3 or 5 fow,may not be 3 or 5 fow !!! If you are going to fan cast a large reef complex or hump with lots of fingers,etc…I would kill the motor,not even close….trim up the outboard,proceed with cautin with the trolling motor.When we went….many years ago,only had a 16 ft.aluminum boat,stood on bench seats to cast,only a 20 hp.tiller,and a walleye tiller for live bait riggin.I would not suggest fishing a hazardous area with only a transom mounted electric for positioning….no way nearly powerful in big water waves /wind.We……..the guy in the back had to work his A$$ off,left the outboard idling,kicked in reverse every so often…..sometimes EVERY 30 seconds,Make a cast,jump down,reverse,back up on seat..cast,jump down etc….to keep you off the reef.
Depending on what kind of boat(modern),large motor,Deep V,Big bow mount troller,etc……..LOTW isn`t for everybody….older folks,inexperienced boaters….
but then again…we were fishin 1980`s style…
Watch your red and green bouys,channel markers,etc…and stay clear off them !!! Forget night fishin unless your close to camp or familiar after a couple of days,to an area,,,you can get turned around and not 100% sure where your goin quickly.I ALWAYS !!! had my map at my side. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That time you`re only 99 % sure where you`re at….you can loose your lower unit or kill yourself or your buds…..Then again just drive your boat like Will SCHULTZ like he`s just stolen it…….trim up and go for it !!!! 
then again you could just fish bays or weedbeds and be fine …then again…..there are booby traps in those hidden also.. 🙄
Dave
I am going to go a different route here and assume you were talking about how easy it to catch fish on Lake of the Woods as a first timer. If you trust your instincts and are willing to put in a full day you will probably never see a better body of water. Both times I went to the woods I had multiple follows from 50" class fish everyday I was there, not just the boat, me personally. The first trip I boated a 35, 40, and 52 for the week, and lost several others, caught a bunch of pike and smallmouth, and the walleyes practically jumped in the boat when we were looking for dinner.
Lake of the Woods is easy because it is spelled out for you in the videos and articles written and made by the likes of Pearson and Johnson, and the in-fisherman. Everything they say and do regarding that lake is gospel and will put you on fish. Specifically three different spots on Pearson's video were spots that he took us and we caught fish!!! He takes clients to those spots probably everyday all summer long and they catch fish. In other words, a good spot is a good spot and once you find it fish everyday of your trip.
Have a great time and like the others eluded to, HIRE a guide and have them show you specifically what the fish are holding in and how to find similar structures, and have them show you how to read the map to keep yourself safe. It is awesome.
Finally as Bomba knows well, Frank Walsh told the two of us one day, "there are 2 types of people that fish LOTW, those who have hit rocks, and those who are gonna!!" If you decide to go to the NW Angle I have the specific charts for that area and they are marked up and laminated, I would be happy to share that info with you.
NSTAGATOR, where was all that advice 5 years ago when Dan and I were watching the oil pour out of my lower unit 😈 ???
The fishing there isn't easy Dan and I fished from Daylight to dark EVERYDAY! Pearson and Mania thought we were nuts, they don't start until 9 or 10am…. But we got confident enough to read that water ourselves and find spots on our own….and that payed off one day when Dan and I each had a fish follow that was a world class PIG…
No one showed us that spot, we found that girl all by ourselves.
I've never seen a fish grab a jackpot, leaving teeth marks about a 1/2 inch from the bottom, and kinked the leader almost to the top with the other side of her mouth..and NOT GET CAUGHT!!!!!…
don't worry Dan I won't tell anyone you forgot to set the hook 
Man I still have dreams of her……
Lon…also….maybe your first trip.Don`t trailer a boat.Get a decent camp/resort that has decent boats…..meaning ..carpet,casting deck,pedestal seats,livewell,etc…..bow mount trolling motor??Not all resorts are up to date on boats 🙄 Get a guide for one day..like monday…that`s what we did…got a walleye guide monday,muskie guide tuesday…then we were on our own…at least you have a starting point and some confidence and some pointers on hazard areas.After day two…..we did no more walleye fishin pike and muskies RULE !!
guides at camps are still 80-150$$a day..I THINK…not bad for all the information you can cram in a 8 hr.day..
yeah that!!! I fished with Pearson and that is one guy you don't want on your case for doing a crappy figure 8. I heard it all day long from 10 am until dark when we quit, and then a year later via an email on how I screwed up the big chewer. That is great way to have a musky king remember you isn't it, the idiot that screwed up the figure 8.
Sabaskong bay and LOTW in general is figure 8 boot camp. In five years up there i've gone from not believing in it, to someone that does a half circle after every cast and figure 8's every cast early in the morning and late in the evening. Sabaskong produces numbers and size. Everyone says that Sabaskong is overpressured and the angle is better, but I have no problems locating numbers and fish in the 50" range daily in July. Take your big lures. You can't throw anything big enough up there.
GO SLOW ON THE LAKE TIL YOU LEARN IT! I almost ripped a 50 hp yammie in half the first year up there. Very treacherous but worth every minute of going slow and reading the map.
Amazing topwater bite in july btw. I'll be there in july from the 6th to the 14th.
WOW the rocks are 'that' bad huh. That makes me nervous. I just bought this boat I don't want to tear it up.
As far as equipment, my boat is a Tracker Pro Guide V16. 40lb thrust front trolling motor, 50hp 2 stroke, and by then I'll have either a 5, 6, or 8hp kicker on the boat.
Maybe if I could narrow it down to two areas I could spend a day really learning area before fishing.
I also just picked up a Lowrance x102, and a handheld GPS w/WAAS at Cabales this weekend.
So where at on LOTW is best? I need to make reservations soon I assume as things probably fill quickly?
LON, I would suggest the Northwest Angle, we stayed at Bay store camp
on Oak Island, which is in MN, water but we fished primarily in canadian waters. I believe his webiste is baystorecamp.com…
Frank will mark maps for you, plus Get with MuskyDan, and get copies of the maps we have from our trips there, alot of stuff already marked on them.
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 <url url="[Permission to view this media is denied]
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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)
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.
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