a nice start to the weekend

[cookie]

ken bruce and dale landed this one thursday 11am on the smallest orange and white demon tipped with a small minnow



.


 Making the rounds last night and all 4 houses were having some action.Minnesota was doing the best before dark with atleast 12 in the bucket, brett was a little upset though as 98 % of the fish had came out of the same hole,while he could not catch a thing. All there fish were on dead sticks,rattle  wheels,
BRETT was getting frustrated as 98 percent have came out of the same hole

[Fawkinnae]

ken bruce and dale landed this one thursday 11am on the smallest orange and white demon tipped with a small minnow


 Making the rounds last night and all 4 houses were having some action.Minnesota was doing the best before dark with atleast 12 in the bucket, brett was a little upset though as 98 % of the fish had came out of the same hole,while he could not catch a thing. All there fish were on dead sticks,rattle  wheels,
BRETT was getting frustrated as 98 percent have came out of the same hole

Whoa - what a beast! Nice pic.

[weldgasman]

  That is an awesome fish. Good job guys.

[Cody Gruchow]

Whoa now that's a fish! CPR? Length weight?

[cookie]

she was smidgen over 43,

[cookie]

Well she was another great fishing weekend, kevin and rolin were in california te first night and florida the second night they did real well and said they will see me next year. Bob and loyde were in florida friday night and did real well.
Brettt and his crew Andy,andy, dave ,rob,jason had minnesota and montans,the fisrt night minnesota was on fire while montana struggled. brett was nice enough to switch house with them saturday. brett started catching fish rite away in montana while it took a while before minnesota turned on. the guys in minnesota finaly started catching fish . Brett said it was a fantastic trip and they caught well over 70 fish.
Yesterday Dale,Gus and Hans fished montana from noon to 6 and came off the lake with there 12. Dale said he will be back next year with his 7 year old son hunter . Knock on wood but so far the weekend fishing has been excellent . Not sure when I should leave the area I'm fishing as it just been to good.
 I did cut a few roads slash parking spots for tow behinds, Three shacks found those trails. The one house that had 2 guys landed 15,the other house had only managed 1 even after they had moved from a spot the got skunked the day before. They had a brand new ice castle and seemed like a nice couple his name was chris but never got her name

[cookie]

heres a different report. i fished yesterday from 9 to 11 and landed 2 keeper both on the smaller side. The good eater. Today I had to meet Dale, Gus and Hans as they were heading home from lake of the woods and it was horrible . Nothing but small saugers. I think there hoping for a repeat from sunday when they were here.
I also talked to Don he came from lake of the woods yeaterday and I had him talk to dean at beacon harbor . It sounded like Dean was happy to point them in the right direction. They did well and landed two of the elusive but still catchable upper red lake crappie's
 

[cookie]

Yesterday was one of those days that were perfect for working on the lake. I fished again in old minnesota for about a hour and caught 3 fish 2 walters and one nice size perch. I kept one walter and the perch for suppper. Dale,Gus and Hans fished from 8 to 11 and got 7. Dale said they should of had more but someone could not land there fish.
Aheter  my hour of fishing I came home to get blue thunderand moved minnesota and florida for the up and coming weekend.It was kinda hard to move both houses as they both were still catching fish? Elliot shows up today for florida. After moving 3 of the 4 of my fleet I cam back home to gather a few things and go fish in old minnesota and have fresh fish for dinner as the wife kellie had to work the second shift. The move seemed to be a good one as I fished from around 4 to 7 and landed a couple of fish. The rattle wheel was set up with a purple slender jig not even sure what type of lure it is as its basically shaped like a hook with a coating of purple on it.  On my rod I have been fishing all year with a northland forage minnow with the treble hooks removed and a dropper line about 8 inches with a red and white flu flu jig.
I guess I lost track of how many I caught but if I wanted to keep fish I would of had my limit. While I was getting ready to go I decided to do a little experiment. I turned the radio up and started the red baron, it took about 5 minutes tops before I had another keeper and fat 16, The biggest fish I caught was a 21 and the smallest was about 6 inches.

[cookie]

More snow yesterday , Elliot and tony rolled in at 2 yesterday. At one point it was white out conditions . Checking in on them at 6 they haad 7 in the bucket and had released 3, I was way happy with that .  Greg rolls in somtime this morning for old minnesota. I still have not decided if I should move montana and california. This year is different for some reason and the houses keep having good fishing . Maybe its the abundent amount of fish in the lake. Montana was fished tuesday and they got 7 keepers in just a couple of hours of fishing.
man has the season gone by quickly with only 3 weekends left. The last weekend of game fish I still have all 4 houses open.

[cookie]

Do to the  possible snow storn Greg and Bret left last night. For some reason it had been slow most of the day with a few ones caught.  I stopped in around 4 before I headed home. While  visiting Greg got a nice keeper on the rattle reel. Greg called  when they hit the road and said when I left all hall broke loose,They figured they caught over 20 in less then 2 hours. Rick, Mark and Robert were having a good time but not doing so well fishig. I'm thinking I would like to move them today. Garretand his family rolled in around 8pm last night. Depending how they have done so far I may also move them today.
I got to try my new simplex railroad jack yesterday. Stupid I should of spent the money on that bad boy years ago. Ken and his crew set up near  me and they had a bucket full. Wild Bills buddies each had 7 keepers in the tow behinds.

[cookie]

Still not completly dug out, All the houses flooded a bit but not as bad as it could of been. Minnesota is on a new spot in a new area as well as montana, Ben and Sam will have minnesota for two nights and Phil and his family also roll in for montana. Eric and his two buddies had 3 in california last night and dan and Vali had there 8 and had caught so many fish from 10 inches on up to 17 thay had lost count. What sucked is that was in florida on the same spot garrets family fished the last night they were here and had vary limited success. Today the plan is to move california and florida to new areas

[cookie]

All I can say as its been a great season so far and I will hate to see it end. The fishing has been outstanding this year. Were starting to see  a lot more smaller fish. The dnr has sadi there is a abundance of the 10 and 14 inch class. I have not chased crappies and put all my effort into walleyes. Not sure what my plans will be after walleye closes next weekend. I may chase crappies for a bit if I can get a couple rentals,only mother nature and time will tell..

[cookie]

Man did that last blow/snowstorm suck. Burn out must be sneaking in. Of course the timing of it could not of been worse with 3 of our four houses with guests they were going to be snowed in that was a given.
Monday morning mothernaure was in full force as all the wheel house were trying to get off the lake. I headed out with gas and propane just in time as once I arrived at old minnesota it was white out conditions. As fishermen left the lake the tracks they made filled in as fast as they passed causing more snow to collect in all the roads giving it no chance of blowing clean. My seperate roads were fairly wide but with berms on both sides  all the snow was going to collect into them in no time. I had no desire to try and come back home monday so I decieded the best thing to do was stay put with shell, mis,hoag and deb. The fishing could of been better but we made the best of it with french dips for dinner a few games of cribbage and a few fish caught with Hoagi catching two 19 1/2 that could of been brothers. Dan and his two daughters managed to catch a batch of perch a couple small walleyes to eat but only took home 5 walleyes. Dan did tangle with a big pike that ended up breaking his rod. He had the monster on the rattle wheel and his fising  rod went down the hole in the battle. The rod came up the other hole but it was broken. Dan in montana had horrible fishing,after digging out all day yesterday I did move them and when I went out last night they were doing much better

[Cody Gruchow]

i hear red has more then its fair share of big pike! its a unsung lake for monsters!, i may come up and chase some this summer!

[glenn57]

CODY, MT BROTHER TRIED THAT LAST SUMMER................couldnt keep the pesky walleyes away. but they told him find the walleyes the momster nords Are nearby.

[cookie]

Well today starts the final push .With 3 days left I have gotten 3 of the 4 shacks dug out and moved on fresh spots. Today will again be busy. Yesterday digging california out was a bear, I told my self no more putting the shacks on rough ice. I tweaked my arm when I was shovling and had to finish the day with a sore arm. I also am letting two of the crews coming check in tomorrow morning. I told myself I was not going to do that as check in is after 2 but its to hard to say no. With over 3 feet of ice I have 84 feet of ice to auger today.
I have one group coming march 1rst and my nephew jr will also be up next week.

[cookie]

Much better fishing yesterday. Keith buddie's were up to 43 fish landed since I plowed them a spot. They were playing cards when I stopped in to see how they were doing.  One of the guys had some jarred pickles which were way good.
Rick,bob,bob and Jason  rollled in around 3 yesterday. They only had 3 keepers last nite so I may move them today. Bret,andy, trish and Jen had much better fishing after I moved them out  a little deeper. Greg and Gary have done real well in minnesota. They have even landed 3 10 inch crappies. There's been quite a few  caught this year so it makes a guy wonder how many there are. I'll be in no hurry to get the houses off the lake. I have three guys coming up next weekend to chase the elusive yet still  catchable upper red lake crappie. Yesterday was just beautiful out on the lake, I sure will miss working out there as the season whines down

[cookie]

Well I guess the first thing to say is a big THANK YOU to all my customers and fishermen that have enjoyed my post this winter. It was another outstanding season fishing wise. I experemented with the houses staying in the same spot a few times with pretty good success. I still will never have a problem moving a shack while my customers are here as long as the weather,darkness,or mechanical break down prevents me from moving. I truely do love working on the lake and strive to make my customers comfortable. I learned a few things I can do better  from Andy and Andy. I can handle constuctive critisism, if its going to make things easier or my customers stay a little bit nicer.
Mother nature whacked us a couple times but thats a given so you just do the best you can and hope you learn from the experiance. I made a few mistakes but I do that every year.  Again I hope i've learned from any mistakes. I focused on walleye fishing and did not get caught up into chasing crappies.I did head to crappie country for the last weekend. The area I have the houses at this time have produced 11 that I know of. There has been reports of many 10 inch crappies so it makes a guy wonder if there a big school raoming around out there.I moved brent Andy Jen and Trish on saturday as there was no bite in closer to shore. The fishing got better right away with two bonus upper red lakes elusive but still catchable crappies a 13 and a 14 1/2. Greg and Gary in minnesota landed 3 but they were all 10 inchers. Bob, Bob, Jason and Rick closed out the season with me. Jason landed a 13 inch crappie sunday eve, They packed up yesterday with 14 walleyes and one crappie. Kellie the better half,Ole and Teresa and I fished sunday eve and had dinner in old minnesota. Ole and Teresa went home with 8 keepers. kellei and I fished last night from 4 to 7 and lande d a couple walleyes  4 perch for dinner and no crappies. I hope to keep getting Kellie out there as she sure would like to catch a crappie again out of old minnesota.
My nephew is going to arrive today for a little vacation time and I have Josh and his buddy arriving thursday to run and gun for  the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. I would like to find some dirty ice and have one area in mind for sure. I'm never ready for the town of waskish to become a ghost town. I have a long list of things to do, so thats a good thing as it goes from busy to twiddling your fingers in one day. I'll spend the week  moving minnesota,florida,montana and california one more time. The long range forcast looke very promising with no big storms to deal with at this time

[Fawkinnae]

Thanks Cookie! Your reports have been outstanding!

[Lee Borgersen]

Thanks Cookie! Your reports have been outstanding!

"What he said!"

[weldgasman]

 :Clap:I has been fun to read and see the reports. It makes look forward to next year.

[Cody Gruchow]

i always read the reports even if im not going up there. there awesome! also had the pleasure of meeting u and staying in one of your great houses. made my first visit to red lake awesome!

[cookie]

My first day of  my working vacation.
Got up around 530 as i wanted to be to old minnesota at first lite. The red Barons rear breaks were frozen tight as a drum sO I spent over a hour getting them brokedn loose. When I pulled up to florida i was plesently surprised to see jr and sarah had landed a 10 and 13.1/2 inch crappie over night




I then spent a couple hours fishing for kellie's Glasses on the bottom of the lake and watching  the new 007 movie. I did not retrieve her glasses but did end up retrieving my fishing rod after a fish took it from its holder.I then fired up blue thunder and went and moved montana to a fresh spot for justin and his buddie. After a short nap and lunch I went to look for a big patch of rough ice hoping I could find the mother load, i did find what i was looking for but the red baron got hung up in the process.That sulidified my scoutting and I now no wheer I want to search



After digging out of that fiasco I called it a day and headed to shore. Carriering to much speed in the red baron in 2 wheel drive  the last corner  at beacon harbors access I ended up loosing controll and buring the vplow and red baron into a 4 foot high snow bank. I did not take a pic though I should of

[cookie]

Jr and Sarah headed home wednesday after early dinner. They managed to catch one more of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. Kellie and I spent last night  fishing in old minnesota. I lost track of how many wallye's we caught. It did not matter if your bait was a foot off the bottom they still came after are crappie offerings. The rattle wheels kept me up all night. A goofy 5  lb pike grabbed  kellie's jig around 12;30 am. After a 3 minute battle I spent the next 10 minutes resetting all the lines.
Josh and josh arrived yesterday afteernoon. They hit it hard outside untell well after dark with nothing but pesky walleye . When they came back to montana Josh #1 dropped down a jig and had the first of the elusive upper red lake crappie for the day. There plan is to hit it hard the next two days looking for the crappie mother load.
My plan is to move old minnesota today and again try for a elusive upper red lake crappie tonight

[cookie]

Another interesting day. I told my self to just keep moving the shacks down the middle of the road I made as it has produced a few of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. It is also so most cost effective on the trucks. But no not me I have to drop the v plow and cut another new trail. I hit a area of ice that was a little different. I then firied up blue thunder and proceeded to prep the new area for minnesota. Once i got the shack moved into its new spot i proceeded to bank it with the plow. Then to finish with the number two shovel I discover the reason the ice was different as this is where I plowed a spot for the delano firemen. The good news is they did get 6 of the elusive crappies there so it will be interesting to see if we pick up one or two.
Josh and Josh seem to be enjoying there stay and landed there second crappie out of montana
 

[cookie]

Josh and Josh hit the road today. They had a great trip and managed to land 6 crappies out of montana. Kellie and I plan on fishing old minnesota this week, Then I may have to think about pulling the houses home. With no more customers as of yet it only makes sense.
I can offer half off if anyone would like a chance at still catching a elusive upper red lake crappie. I'm thinking by next weekend if there none rented its time to come home.

[cookie]

Day 8  of my working vacation. Mother nature hit us with quite a bit of snow I measured 5 inches in one spot but it could be closer to 10.
Saturday I perticapated in a snowmoble ride  in honor of one of the first members that helped establish the trails. The trip was over 120 miles. My machine broke down around 100 mile mark. It was alot of funn untell then. Marty was nice enough to tow me home. I think I blew up the motor. ouch  the rocket may have nade her last ride
Kellie and I were planning on fishing last night but mother nature changed our plans. I will be spending the day cleaning up the main road and  a couple side roads I'll spend the rest of the week digging out the houses and moving them offf there spots rather then move all the drifts. Its just amazing how much snow drifts  around  objects and the wind was not even that strong

[cookie]

Wow,  I guess I've been a little busy. Opening up beacon Harbors road was a big job. It basicaly took two days as I had to help with chores at  the farm, I hit a bump the second day and the red baron just stopped running and would not start. I figured I pulled a wire loose as I knew the ice was building up on the underside of red baron. Luck was with me and I found the unplug wire once I hammered off all the ice chunks . I learned another lesson to watch that ice build up better then I had. I was kicking myself at first but chalked it up to a good lesson.
The new spot I put old minnesota at  has not produced a elusive upper red lake crappie. Kellie and I had dinner out there two nights in a row thursday and last night. We both lost  quite a few fish and I tell Kellie that was a crappie. The walleyes are so pesky it frustrating even with a tiny crappie minnow 1 foot off the bottom.. We were also catching alot of little one 8 to 10 inches and in the past it seemed when you got those little ones you would also find crappies. I landed a couple pike over 30 inches and that again was a good sign there may be crappies around.  I imagine I may move minnesota one more time before I throw in the towel.. There so much snow out there now that to chase crappies you need a sled . Deffintly a lot of good snowmobiling up here rigth now...

[The General]

Cookie,
I just wanted to say thanks for your posts this winter from up on Red Lake.  I enjoy reading them and seeing how things are going and your adventures out on the lake.   

[cookie]

Thanks  general, i still have not thrown in the towel.



I would guess the average snow depth out there is 2 feet, I just can never let go of the season. I'm on my working vacation and enjoying my self. Kellie and I plan on doing some more fishing and having dinner in old minnesota on its new spot. I will be heading out in a bit with blue thunder to dig out california ,montana and florida. If any one comes up just give me a shout and I will plow a spot for you. No sense plowing any spots right now as there's no one calling or emailing. There is a couple guys out on deans abandon SE. road and they have one crappie so far.
 Borch plan on bringing a extension if you do not want to dig down two feet of snow to get to the ice. I measured 31 and 30 inche's of ice a few days ago.




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