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Author Topic: hellish ice fishin season  (Read 4515 times)

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Offline Lee Borgersen

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 After hellish ice fishing season, Minnesota resorts say they need help :surrender:

Last Updated Feb 19, 2020

 :coffee: .......
It’s been a brutal ice fishing season across much of northern Minnesota. The snow came too early and too heavy. Ice is still thin on lakes from Bemidji to Duluth, buried under layers of slush and snow.

 :snow2: ....
The conditions made it almost impossible to use ice fishing houses, and nearly shut down the area’s winter fishing season.

Lake Winnibigoshish — one of Minnesota’s premier walleye fisheries — seemed to get the worst of it. :doah:

The lake is usually covered in ice fishing houses this time of year, but on a recent morning Rick Leonhardt squinted out his truck window at a nearly empty expanse of blowing snow.

“Welcome,” he said, “to our frozen wasteland.” :pouty:

Leonhardt and his wife Kim own High Banks Resort on the south shore of Winnibigoshish. Most years, he plows at least 20 miles of ice road and charges hundreds of anglers an access fee to park their ice houses. For 10 weeks, he’s the caretaker of what’s typically a small ice house city.

This year, however, there are just a few dozen ice houses. His road is only 3 miles long, and every inch of it was hard won.

The ice is one-third its normal thickness. Rick had to use a lighter weight plow, which broke down in all the slush and snow. He snapped the front axle six different times. :doah:

 :angry2: ...
By the time he got the ice road open late last week, there were only two weekends left of walleye season. He said a lot of anglers had already given up on Winnie — taken their houses to better ice on Lake of the Woods or Devil’s Lake in North Dakota.

“Some people in the cities might look at this and think, ‘Man, it’s just beautiful up here. All this open snow without people,’” he said. :bow: “I look at it and I see hell frozen over. I see the money we’re all losing.” :thumbs:

The Leonhardts call this season a natural disaster, and they say the state should help the tourism industry get through it. Kim gathered a group of 40 business owners late last month to beg lawmakers for disaster relief funding.

Resort owners aren’t the only ones hurting, she said.

The local port-a-potty supplier is down 30 percent this winter — because so many ice fishing festivals have been canceled. The bait shops aren’t making sales. Even a local tire repair shop has seen a dip in business because ice house wheels don’t get punctures if they never leave the yard.

They all need help, she said, just to have enough money to open their doors in the spring.

“If this was a flood, people assume the government would help,” she said. “This was as bad as a flood for us.” :tut:

 
Lawmakers have listened. State Sen. Justin Eichorn, R-Grand Rapids, and Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, will introduce a bill this session establishing a low-interest loan program for the affected businesses.

Persell said he’ll finish drafting the bill some time this week. He’s hoping to set aside a few million dollars to help roughly 100 businesses across the five Minnesota counties where ice conditions were the worst — from Beltrami County to St. Louis County.

It’s not a budget year, so he said it will take strong support to pass the bill, and he might have to change some minds. The government often helps farmers during floods or drought, but funding resorts during a bad year might appear frivolous to some. Persell doesn’t think it is.

 :tut: ......
“Last time I checked tourism was a $14 billion industry in Minnesota,” he said. “We have to protect it.”

He pointed out that this has happened before. Resorts on Mille Lacs Lake received state low interest loans a few years ago to carry them through a bad season. He’s basing his legislation on that program.

Businesses owners will have to prove they lost at least 10 percent of their income in order to qualify, which will not be difficult in the five-county area.


In a normal year, the Leonhardts make as much money in the 10-week walleye ice fishing season as they do in five months of summer business. Kim estimates they’ve lost $150,000 so far this winter.

Bill Charlton runs Geiger's Trails End Resort on Bowstring Lake, a few miles east of Lake Winnibigoshish. He wasn’t able to plow his ice road at all. The winter season was a total loss, which puts him $75,000 in the hole. He said he needs a government loan just to open this summer.

“I need $25,000 just to open my doors,” he said. “But I’d take $100,000 if I could get it.”

On nearby Leech Lake, bait shop owner Jack Shriver said he needs $10,000 he doesn’t have, just to stock minnows in the spring.

Even if the funding comes through, it might not be as helpful as originally hoped.

Unless the governor declares an official emergency, the money won’t come through until well into the summer season, Persell said, months after it’s most needed. :banghead:



In mid-February, Rick Leonhardt can still crack through pools of slush along his ice road on Lake Winnibigoshish.

                        :Photography:
« Last Edit: February 02/24/20, 02:37:42 AM by Lee Borgersen »
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Offline Boar

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really, shoulda saved for a rainy day!! i need my mortage paid off, what if propane ran out, bail out b.s..
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Offline Lee Borgersen

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really, shoulda saved for a rainy day!! i need my mortage paid off, what if propane ran out, bail out b.s..

 :scratch: Can't argue wit yer philosophy bro! ;)
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Offline glenn57

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i dont necessiarliy disagree wit you guys, but damn they bail alot of other places out at times. :scratch: :scratch: i'm not saying one way or another if i agree with bailouts..........

i do question some of the math?????

10 grand for bait startup  :scratch: :scratch: :scratch: 25 grand to open the doors in the spring???????

what did these resorts do in the old days before this era of ice castles and plowed roads?????????????

some of these reosrts shut there doors around deer hunting and then dont open till maybe new years????
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Online Scenic

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really, shoulda saved for a rainy day!! i need my mortage paid off, what if propane ran out, bail out b.s..

I totally agree.  I know its been a tough season but how about the years there has been little snow.  Then the fact that there is another resort "Tamarack" that has been out fishing all year with plowed roads less than 10 miles away.   They could have opened for snowmobile traffic only as well.  Not like the only way they can allow fishermen out is if they have a four-lane plowed road for wheel houses. 

If a group of fishermen was to come up in the summertime and the wind blew 40 mph every day would they shut the resort down because the fisherman could not fish that lake?   Or drop the price of their cabin rental?   PLENTY of other lakes to fish in that area too.   

Offline glenn57

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really, shoulda saved for a rainy day!! i need my mortage paid off, what if propane ran out, bail out b.s..

 :scratch: Can't argue wit yer philosophy bro! ;)
thats the first thing he's posted since i've known boar thats made any sense whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
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Offline Boar

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Online LPS

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Offline glenn57

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2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Offline Steve-o

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Always easy to spend someone else's money.

Offline Rebel SS

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really, shoulda saved for a rainy day!! i need my mortage paid off, what if propane ran out, bail out b.s..

I need some cash for T-bones, crab legs, and jumbo shrimp. Oh, and some spending money too.

Online mike89

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and the NL!!!!    :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work!!

Offline Steve-o

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Online Dotch

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Hey! What about us poor sheep farmers? We lost so many lambs early on and rescued several others we're hand feeding & will never come out on that we're basically going out to the barn for exercise. As a dairy farmer buddy at Owatonna once told me, if I wanted exercise it would be one helluva lot cheaper to join the YMCA!  :sad:
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline glenn57

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Hey! What about us poor sheep farmers? We lost so many lambs early on and rescued several others we're hand feeding & will never come out on that we're basically going out to the barn for exercise. As a dairy farmer buddy at Owatonna once told me, if I wanted exercise it would be one helluva lot cheaper to join the YMCA!  :sad:
maybe iffin ya purchased a lower grade, and less, gin at say wallyworld might help....................just sayin................  :evil:

or i could come down and union organize that sheep operation and stick it to the owner!!!!!! :nerd: :nerd: :laughroll:
2015 deer slayer!!!!!!!!!!

Offline Steve-o

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Hey! What about us poor sheep farmers? We lost so many lambs early on and rescued several others we're hand feeding & will never come out on that we're basically going out to the barn for exercise. As a dairy farmer buddy at Owatonna once told me, if I wanted exercise it would be one helluva lot cheaper to join the YMCA!  :sad:
or i could come down and union organize that sheep operation and stick it to the owner!!!!!! :nerd: :nerd: :laughroll:

Yeah, its about time the sheep union gets to stick it to management instead of the other way around.

 :oops1::sorry:

Offline Rebel SS

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Hey! What about us poor sheep farmers? We lost so many lambs early on and rescued several others we're hand feeding & will never come out on that we're basically going out to the barn for exercise. As a dairy farmer buddy at Owatonna once told me, if I wanted exercise it would be one helluva lot cheaper to join the YMCA!  :sad:

Ahh, call Tinkerbaaa the sheep fairy.   :rolleyes:
« Last Edit: February 02/24/20, 03:58:33 PM by Rebel SS »

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 :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

And back by popular demand from glenn's favorite group:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUoO4T_23pA

Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Reinhard

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I have a friend who owns a resort [summer only] up on Kabetogama.  Folks who own resorts work hard and depend on good weather in the summer months and depend on a winter that is cold enough for good ice but to keep the snow at a decent level and hope for very little slush.  This winter was not kind to resort owners who depend on winter income.  But having a buisness has risks.  I do feel bad for them but a bail out from taxpayers should not happen.  You would then have folks saying bail us out for one reason or another.  This type of buisness should have a rainy day fund for  themselves and not touch it until you need it.  Winters like this should be expected and this wasn't the first one with these kinds of conditions.  good luck.

Online LPS

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I feel for them but agree with youse guys.  Noone has ever bailed me out in lean times.  I just had to work harder. 

Online Dotch

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Good point RH. I know the risks when I go out the door every morning and night to the barn. No one is pointing a gun at my head forcing me to stay in it. I've also planned ahead & have some $ protection to cover for the lean times such as this year. I get it that this is the resort folks way of life & how they make their living. The tough winter might have to be reflected in higher prices henceforth to make up for it. That's how business works otherwise it becomes a charity. At some point we have to get over this idea that someone is owed a living at whatever it is they'd like to do. Doing things I don't necessarily like to do is how I pay the bills. It's why they call it work.   
Time itself is bought and sold, the spreading fear of growing old contains a thousand foolish games that we play. (Neil Young)

Offline Rebel SS

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Offline cookie

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I can attest to a rough  rough hard winter. I keep seeing its a low interest loan? Not a bailout?  Getting a loan I need to pay back is not in my equation so were going to suck it up and pray for a better season next year.
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Offline Rebel SS

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That's IF the bill even passes, for low-interest loans...then it'll be a year before it's in place, too late to help anyone this year.

Online mike89

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hang in there cookie!!!! 
a bad day of fishing is still better than a good day at work!!

Offline Boar

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yup so lets have a GTG AT COOKIES!!!
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