Ballard's Resort Reviews

Been coming here for several years... Always a great time!

Great Resort! Cabin #5 was huge! Very comfortably held 12. Cabins were very clean and well appointed. Staff in the restaurant/bar were very friendly, excellent service. Our charted captain Tilden got us on fish right away. Limited out. Highly recommend Ballards

Fished 2days, part of 6, got our limit both days. Fished with two separate guides, both fabulous (one new this year, but local. Prices appropriate for food, drinks and amenities. Cabin fully furnished with linens, dishes, very clean and easy walking distance to launch/dock. Definitely plan to return next year. Gorgeous!

Friendly...Professional...Helpful...Great Food...Can't wait to return...I thank everyone at Ballards!

Fantastic fishing, accommodations, staff and restaurant. Super nice people.

Chicken pizza and Castle Danger cream all
Heaven

Rating the restaurant, they probably have my favorite food in the area due to the yummy barbeque.

Fishing was great our guide tim lyon was the best put us on fish mad our trip something to remember for years looking forward to next year

Been going here for years for family fishing trips. The guides are very friendly, the ice shacks are good, and the houses are very well maintained.

I have been coming up for a few winters in a row for guided ice fishing trips. It has always been a good time. The ice houses are warm and the staff is always friendly. The rooms are cabin like, which are expected, but you can easily cook there. The bar and restaurant serve good food

I enjoyed a wonderful lunch of salad, chicken tenders, and fries. The service was friendly and prompt. The quainity and quality of the food outstanding.

We love Ballard's! We first did the "Walleye Connection" for our honeymoon and quickly returned weeks later and once more in the summer! Its my home away from home! We'll be back soon!!

Fantastic day of fishing! 2 of us caught a total of 126 walleye & sauger, 1 northern and 4 eelpout. Only thing better was the service and how everyone did a great job from the booking to the fishing cleaning! Chris was our guide / Driver and was very helpful and fun to talk to.
Thanks again for the best start to ice fishing we have ever had!

Great fishing and nice cabins. The only problem is one of my bags of fish is full of bone. Every fillet had bones.

Awesome fishing today with Fred our guide awesome job...

In a word, Ballards Resort was outstanding. Great cabins, good food and an honest poured cocktails. Fishing was fantastic.

Somehow u got something that said one star,apologies, everything was great

Great food. Excellent fishing. Perfect place to unwind for a few days and get out in the water. Can t wait for the next trip.

Awesome food and staff was extremely helpful and friendly! The guy who was working the office tonight and the Jaylene were both amazing! Will be staying at Ballard's on our next lake of the woods trip!

Very helpful staff, food in the bar was above average and very reasonably priced. Rented a fish house for a day and the house was very nice, they checked on us numerous times throughout the day. Cleaned our fish and brought them right to the bar for us.

Had a great time, good places to stay with the kids, nice pool. All around a good time.

Delicious food. Amazing service out on the deck, even though it started to rain. We will be back!

I bought gas and dock boy was very kind and thoughtful. Nice person.

The Cabins weren't the cleanest and the food wasn't great either. I had stayed at River Bend Previously and had a great time. I also never caught any fish that were keepers. It could've been better.

These guys know where the fish are! They truly make a fishing trip as enjoyable as it could possibly be.

Great experience ice fishing. Houses were warm and hold were ready when we got to them in the bombadeer. Restaurant food good and very friendly people.

I was visiting the area and was invited to try Ballard's. Their food and service was top notch!

Had a great experience. Nice cabin. Well stocked. The only shortcoming is no oven, so no frozen pizza.

Fantastic fishing and great staff.
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Love it here!! Staff is nice, friendly and very helpful. Our guide was great! Food is delicious! We were will fed! I would love to make Ballard's an annual trip!

Good food, great fishing, terrific crew.Cabins cleaned every day.I've never had a bad experience or a bad meal.

2019 this was my 5th year coming to Ballards resort, I'd give it 10 stars if I could.
Nick & Jessie have been so nice every time I run into them when I'm there.
In fact, all of the staff are great, from the office check in people, the fishing guides, very mature and professional, the bar and restaurant help, the same.
Highly recommend a trip with them, I'll be back every year if possible.

Great fishing guides, great food, clean cabins, and well maintained facility

Super fun. Worth the price tag. Caught my limit. Met some fun people. I will definitely be going again next year.

Fishing was fun. The guide was fun to hang out with while out in the lake. Caught our limit, so can't complain about that.

Food in the restaurant was good as well. I'd definitely go back.

Came to Ballard's for an ice fishing weekend. The cabin comfortably fit 12 grown men, the fish were biting, and the service was great.

I've been going to Ballard's resort the third week of February the last 4 years. It's always been a fun time and the food is delicious. The cabins are great with all the amenities, but their beds need to be replaced or turned. They're very soft and my back aches every morning. Also, their water stinks like rotten eggs. Don't know why or how to fix it, but at least they soften it. All in all, it's a great time fishing and relaxing barring sleeping and showering.

Best resort on the lake of the woods. Love to fish there. And love to stay at Ballards resort. There employees are the best

Fishing is awesome staff is GREAT very clean resort great guides!! Gotta do shorelunch

Extremely friendly and knowledgeable fishing guide made for a great fishing experience.

Great place to meet, excellent staff. Treated wonderfully.

My 3rd trip up here to fish and relax. The guides are the best. They take care of everything. Put us on the fish.

Great place to stay and fish. This was our first time to the Lake of The Woods and it was a great experience with some great ice fishing. We will definitely be back

Great experience. Good fishing and great guides and group to fish with.

Had a great time fishing. The guides and staff at ballards are top notch. They make sure to take care of there guest.

We took a group of 11 men for a weekend of storytelling, walleye fishing and a bit of relaxation,food and beverage. The accommodations were comfortable and clean, the food was outstanding. They cooked our catch to perfection on the first day. They have a nice sports bar attached to the restaurant. The charter service was exceptional, as our captain was very knowledgable, hard working and easygoing. All the equipment was in good working order. and the boat was very roomie for six of us. We limited out both days while catching a lot of fish in the slot. An exceptional value for a weekend of fun and fellowship.

Our 2nd stay at the resort. Captain Travis was an excellent guide and boat captain. He put us on the fish, and did an excellent job piloting the boat safely thru heavy seas. He was right there when someone needed to have a fish netted or a minnow put on the line. As usual, the food and service were excellent. Loved our cabin too!

I had a spectacular time at Ballards resort. Everywhere from the food to fishing was top notch. The rustic fishing net decor combined with the ambient lighting creates a feeling you won t soon forget. The cherry on top was the customer Service. Excellent customer service from the bartenders, servers and management. 12/10 recommend visiting Ballards resort.

Fishing was GREAT! Food is good all around, but the walleye tacos are FANTASTIC!

always great service with good food...
try the smoked walleye appetizer

My husband and I originally had reservations at Sportman s Lodge next door, and after seeing the conditions of our cabin, we called Ballard s right away hoping we could get a last minute reservation here. We were in luck! Nicole was so nice and accommodating. She offered us a cabin right on the river. The cabins are spotless and stocked with everything you need. The bar/ restaurant has really good food (we recommend the walleye chunks!) and amazing service. We can t wait to come back! We would highly recommend this place!! Thanks Ballard s!

Husband goes up w/ KFGO bus every year in August, seems to enjoy the fishing trip & all the package deal offers.

Start with the good: the restaurant has about the best food and service on the south end of Lake of the Woods.

But the not so good: hotel rooms are not very clean. We got into our room and a towel from the last guest was still hanging on the shower. When we let our toddler crawl on the floor for 5 minutes and her feet and outfit were black with dirt. Finally, apparently checkout was at 10 am, but no one informed us of that until they knocked on our door at 9:50. It's pretty obvious their communication and quality control are considerably lacking.

We'll be back to dine at the restaurant, but won't ever stay there again.

Ice fishing was super! The guide's are great! Restaurant and bar staff friendly ! Cabin was very nice! Food was very good! A truly great place! Can't wait to go back!

The food was delicious as always! Staff is friendly and helpful, I will be back!

Great place for a small or large group fishing trip! Clean, modern, and comfortable accommodations. Their guides will put you on fish!

Wow!!! What an amazing place! Friendly staff! Amazing food! Clean and comfortable accommodations! Even with what looked like a full resort, it was very peaceful and relaxing! Definitely coming back!

On June 16, 2020 I treated my dad, father-in-law, nephew, and two friends to a chartered walleye fishing excursion with Ballards on Lake of the Woods. We did not stay at their resort, we only booked the fishing excursion. We met Captain Andy on the dock at 8:00 am and boarded the boat. We left the dock, along with all of the other Ballards boats and left the Rainy River in a caravan on the lake. When we got close to where Captain Andy had planned on fishing, we broke out of line and found a spot with the rest of the fleet also anchoring In the same vicinity. Captain Andy handed each of us a rod and started putting bait on the jigs and gave us instructions on how we were going to fish. It was just a few minutes later and we started catching walleyes. I had purchased some mechanical counters so we could keep track of how many fish we each caught. By noon, we were just over 100 fish that were pulled in, but we still had room to keep 4 more as we had many fish that were in the slot that had to be thrown back. We all pulled in at least one fish that was over 26 inches and even pulled one in that was 28.5 inches long but decided to put that one back as well. Around 2:00 the wind had started to pick up and was blowing over 10 mph. We were expecting it to get up to 30 mph later on in the day. Around 4:00 the wind had been blowing hard enough to pop the anchor loose and we decided to go back to the resort; we would have been leaving in another 10 minutes anyways so it was an easy decision. We added up our total catches for the day and had 158 walleyes and saugers, and one 31 inch Northern for a total of 159 fish that we pulled in over the course of 8 hours. That s an average of 20 fish per hour for the six of us! We got back to the resort and waited in the bar until Captain Andy got all of the fish cleaned and bagged up for us. He also brought all of the saugers to the cook in the restaurant like we asked so we could start eating our catch before heading home.
Our only regret on this trip was that we didn t hang our fish on the board and get a picture with our haul. I thought of that about 20 minutes after we got back to the resort and half of our fish were already filleted. While having our picture taken with the fish we kept would have been a nice memory, it would not have been an accurate depiction of what we we actually catching since we were getting many fish that were too large to keep.
We are in the process of planning our trip for next year. Instead of just booking the chartered fishing excursion for a day, we are planning on spending a few nights in a cabin and a few days on the lake. We had a great time. Thank you Captain Andy.

I've been to Ballard's Resort several times and have always had a great experience. From their knowledgeable and fun guides, to the friendly staff in the bar and restaurant, I simply cannot say enough about the quality of the help at the resort. The owners hands on approach to their business is a true recipe for success. Would highly recommend Ballard's Resort to anyone wanting to fish Lake of the Woods!

Great peace to catch slot walleye and great accommodations.

The cabins were great, the people were friendly. Our guides took the time to tell us about the area, it's history and geography etc. and the staff was super helpful when we were planning our trip. The wait staff were super friendly. The only drawback was the food, which was good but not great. We will definitely go back to Ballard's again.

Go fishing here once a year. Nice cabins, great food, fantastic service. Boat captain Scott, kept us on fish for our 3 days of fishing. I choose the full meal plan so we do not have to do anything. We fish, eat, have a few drinks, sleep and repeat. Love the place!