Hello
I am the Rockman From Rocky Reef Resort on Mille Lacs. I will be posting here from now on. I have heard good things about this site and am will ing to give it a try with my posts, As long as i am not censored, I will do a great job of giving up front info and reports on Mille Lacs
Enjoy
1/14/06
Where do I begin, it has been a trying year to say the least. With all of the warm weather and very sketchy ice, as a resort owner for over 17 years. This is the worst I have ever seen for ice conditions. We go from upper 30s and 40s with rain and heavy wet snow last weekend, to below zero, with 30 mph winds and no snow. It is to say the least very, easy to make the rite choices when it comes to your lives. I can not condone what is going on with some of the other resorts on the lake rite now. With 6 vehicles this weekend, that have gone completely down to the bottom of the lake out of these resorts that I speak of and have been speaking about for the past 2 weeks. How can they go to bed at night with a clear conscience? How can they say that they are doing their best to keep you safe? When they have been letting people drive their vehicles on the worst ice in 20 years, for 2 weeks. Well, they got what they knew was going to happen this weekend. That is: that trucks went down to the bottom of the lake, luckily the people all got out in time. I will not let any one out of my resort this week with a vehicle until the weekend. The road needs that time to, not only heal from the traffic this weekend, but also to put more ice on it before the mad rush of the upcoming weekend. I was keeping as many vehicles off the lake as possible this weekend. I did not let anyone out that had a vehicle over a 3/4 ton out there, and they could not be hauling a house with them. After I heard about the first 4 vehicles that went down by Saturday, I was very uneasy about any vehicles being out there. I could not wait until Sunday to get them all off safely, so that I could sleep easy tonight. It is a very, very stressful time for all of us in this ice business, but I think, and you can quote me on this. I think that there are a few resorts that are not being cautious enough this year. I am in no way, telling people not to come up and go fishing, just make sure that the ice is thick and strong enough to handle the traffic that is going to be put on it through their resorts. I do not think that this is being to Over Cautious. This is what Karen McQuoid had to say about me in the Mille Lacs Messenger this week, and I quote:
Shame on Messenger
In last week's Messenger, one southern resort owner provided some overcautious advice, and it was certainly not appreciated here on the southeast corner of the lake. For most of us who live here, we understand that the ice characteristics vary between the north end and the south end and the east end, etc. At our resort, for example, we have 13 to 13 1/2 inches of consistent, good ice within our bay. These conditions likely vary from further north or even south near Wahkon Bay or Cove Bay. A visitor might not realize this distinction and could be needlessly scared off by a local paper's published information. (A quote by resort owner John Odle appeared in the Jan. 3, issue of the Messenger.)
Each resorter monitors the conditions of their respective areas, which is why fishermen are always encouraged to check with the local resort prior to heading out.
I expect this type of generic fear-based hype from the Twin Cities media. I realize that on the Internet, these types of reports often are out there as expert opinions and go unchallenged. However, why would our local paper print this type of misinformation? Winter fishing is critical to our economy all around Mille Lacs Lake - not only to the resort owners, but to the restaurants, gas stations, bait shops, gift shops, grocery store and so on. We all work hard to promote our area as a safe, fun destination. Shame on you, Messenger, for publishing this. Why not instead suggest that a person stop at a local resort or bait shop prior to going out fishing?
Come on; let's try to help each other out rather than making a challenging season even more challenging.
Karen McQuoid, Mac's Twin Bay Resort
Now, I do not know about you, but for me. How can you ever be to over cautious when it comes to peoples lives? Her attack on me, I found not only insulted my intelligence in this business, but also put undue risk to others on the lake. I was just going to let it go when over 50 people this weekend saw her letter to the editor and told me that if nothing else I needed to defend my honor and my reputation. So that is all I have to say about that.
Now for the report
The fishing on Friday was very slow. Saturday was a bit better, once the cold front had settled in and the winds came down. There were some nice walleyes and perch caught out in 22 ft of water and out in 27 ft of water. Sunday morning their was a great perch bite from 7:30 am until about 10:30 am. Then everyone went home and the walleye bite turned on at about 1:30 until about 4:30 pm. There were more that 5 walleyes caught this weekend over 27 inches. Very few fish this weekend were less than 21 inches. Most of the walleyes that were caught this weekend were caught on fat heads and small sucker minnows. I will be fishing tomorrow just to get rid of some of the anxiety I have had for the past 2 weeks. Wish me luck
Be Safe
We will see you when we see you.
The Rockman
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Topic: Hello/Rockman's Report (Read 3458 times)
