cookies upper red lake report from the shores of upper red lake

[cookie]

3 years doing this here on the shores of upper red lake. Every year mother nature seems to give us something different. With all the warm temps we were lucky the fog and clouds kept the sun from doing his damage. The rain we had last week had me a little worried as the water was going down the holes like a toilet being flushed over and over and over. We did drill some extra holes around some houses to stop all the water going down just one hole. When the temps dropped the water slowed down by morning most of the water was gone other than some spots the water was too deep to freeze in one night. As of yesterday, I would say 99 percent of any standing water has refrozen. I did see just a couple holes that were close to be big enough for a tire drop in. There really is no way to check every inch of ice out there so that's why they say ice is never 100 percent safe. In the last week I have not measured any thing under 19 inches. Hillmans bridge again. Finding a good spot was quite the chore as the pressure ridge had gotten quite a bit wider. You could see why Buddy Hillman did not want wheelhouses to go over it as some would have been stranded up to 6 hours as that's about how long it took to find and prep a new spot. We were able to still get to our clients, but it was around about way. This past weekend three vehicles tried to cross the south side of hillman's highway. When it cracked and sank it basically created another pressure ridge. As I have said over and over for years if it doesn't look right don't drive over it. All three had to be jerked out.
 Now for the fishing report I had heard that a few wheelhouses that set up a lot shallower caught quite a few fish over the weekend.
 Our houses all did very well with most catching more than a few. We did get our old friend ole to come up before the rain and he was just tickled pink to catch 10 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies Plus his 4 walleyes. It made up for the previous week when he had gotten skunked.
 I was able to enjoy old Minnesota a couple times even landing a couple fish.
 Jonny boy and his sweetheart heather\feather fished old minnesota  catching a few of the ever elusive but still catchable upper red lake crappies. She managed to set the hook and land 7.
 North dakota had Tony and his family they took home their limit of walleyes plus a couple bonus crappies.
 Florida has Jessica and her son and his friend they have caught a variety of fish all three days. Austin her son wants her to by florida fish house.
 Boar and his wife were in Montana Boar figured they caught more than a few fish over 50.
 Colorado had Kyle and his buddy's they had fantastic fishing.
  Tn had Steve and Magen they only landed 15 fish but did miss quite a few.
 Texas did the worst off all the houses? They had a grand time anyway.
 Utah has Britt and his dad they caught fish the first night saturday and planned on keeping fish last night. Let's hope that plan works.
 Friday was a chore trying to bank the house as all the snow was gone. As the temps dropped, we did get a little bit of snow but good old mother nature had to throw in 25 mile per hour winds.
Now looking at the extended forecast we will start making more ice by Wednesday, Thursday. We do have Tennessee open next weekend plus some houses open during mid-week and next. The big game fish season has only 12 nights left, wow what a crazy winter.

[cookie]

ow just 7 evenings of big game fish left for the season. Mother nature sure threw us a couple curves this year. With record warmth, lack of snow, rain, 4 degrees this morning.
 the fishing went from great to just so so for all our houses.
 Colorado probably had the best fishing of the fleet. They caught 15 walleyes 4 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies, a couple perch they also missed 18 fish.
 Darrin did get 9 elusive upper red lake crappies Saturday night. plus 5 walleyes and quite a few scuffits. I have always said if your getting very small walleyes the crappies are in the area.
 Texas had decent fishing thursday then she fizzled out.
 California had a few fish, The guys in alaska and utah went with the snowbear friday and it was ugly only landing 3 fish, sounds like he did much better saturday.
 I set Rod up with his wheelhouse they did get a couple elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies 4 plus a few walleyes.
 Old minnesota has just done all right, Heather did get an elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. She also lost a big walleye at the hole. They love the charm of old minnesota and I expect to see them again.
 Tennessee just did so so with 2 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies and 5 walleyes.
 North dakota and florida had rick, lenny, len jr.and Mike? those two houses had the poorest fishing only getting a handful of fish.
 Montana had Jason and his two boys they also managed to get a few fish but nothing to brag about.
  Yesterday I drove from this end of the lake all the way to rodgers  in black beauty 1\2ton truck in 2-wheel drive. I cannot believe all the area that looks like no one has fished all year. There is a area I would like to get to I have been trying to get back to that area for years. This may be the year. Jake will be coming up towards the end of the week. I going to talk him into going out there with me if mother nature cooperates.
 I have been reading all the archive's from years ago. 2015 was the year we pounded on the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie, that was the year we all had the magical fishing that this grand lake can offer.
 Watching all these fishermen with the cheatmaster3000 fish eliminator as my brother and I call it. The poor crappies do not have a chance. I know we sure would like to keep catching them for the next 20 years. The hammer and I sometimes will keep 3 with noodles and veggies is enough with left over fish. My personal opinion if you harvest fish with the cheatmaster 3000 fish eliminator you should at least only be able to keep half your limit. Watching 6 guys keep 60 is tough to swallow. The dnr  does not manage this lake for these special fish she is a walleye lake. They have been doing a fantastic job with the walleyes in my opinion. I never expected to see trophy walleyes.
 We're hoping to do some tip up pike fishing the next few days as it's always fun to tie into a big fish.
 We have a few open houses for the week and a full house the last weekend of big game fishing. Our plans are the same as every year for the past 23 years to stay out looking for the mother lode of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. Will have to keep a eye on the pressure ridges, plus have some back up plans for getting the fleet home. Yesterday the crew and buddy hillman had to move the bridge again. I can see why he does not want wheelhouses going over it as they spent close to 2 hours chopping and giving the trucks a good workout. It now sounds like they are again working on it out there at this time.
 I also plan on fishing every night just to enjoy the relaxation. Might even talk the hammer into spending the night out there on a grand lake that owes us nothing.

[LPS]

Sounds fun Cookie.

[cookie]

Yesterday we spent most of the day getting the fleet out front of our place. The biggest obstacle was pulling them across the pressure ridge. I would guess the pressure ridge bridge was moved over 15 times the last couple weeks. Anyware from 3 to 5 or 6 guys at a couple hours a time that roughly 150 hours of manpower.
 Traveling on the ice at night was also a obstacle this year with lack of snow. Many of our customers had to be escorted back to the bridge as there was never really a plowed marked road as we had to negotiate around and through piles of broken refrozen ice fields.
 I towed old minnesota home in blue thunder. She sure needs another tune up and some exhaust work.  She has gotten quite a bit louder. We did scratch out another year out of old Minnesota. Ole and I fished out there last wednesday catching a couple 4 crappies and a limit of keeper walleyes.  Wayne and I fished over the weekend we landed a few 15 walleyes some
 2 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies, 2 giant mooneyes. I also lost quite a few fish throughout the week and weekend. We need to replace the whole runner system into steel if we want to have her out on the ice again. I even spent sunday night out there getting woken up 3 or 4 times from the rattle wheels. Having the house over the pressure ridge took a lot of worry away and I did sleep well last night not having any customers on the lake.
 The first group that had north dakota  got here early Tuesday it was so nice out they fished outside. I told them what I knew, and they landed 17 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. They landed a couple more the next day in the same area.
 Thursday we hauled her another 1 1/2 miles west with montana. Jake had a crew looking for the motherlode of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lkae crappies. Jake figured they landed and released over a hundred with just a couple meals kept. I think each house got one overnight.
 We had Scott had his family in Tennessee and Utah they hit the motherlode last year but this year was quite a bit slower. They had 7 or eight people so they were able to eat some fish.
 Don with Lee and Tiffny outdoor show The Crush from Iowa, 
also came up again .Him and his buddy also ate fish both days and took home a limit.
 Mike and his crew were also back again. They only caught walleyes but had a grand weekend on a grand lake.
 I set up Rod again in his ice castle for the weekend with my bob, rick and john plus 2 other ice castles. Rods house got 6 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. Plus they all took home there walleye limit.
 Colorado also went out with Jake and crew looking for the motherlode. They also caught some nice fish out of the house.
 Our plans at this time as to take most of the fleet back to some areas we have had success catching crappies in the past for this coming weekend. I would say we got close to 7 inches of snow with high winds. Tony headed home as well as Darrin so it's me, dusty and jonny boy.
 I'll wait another week before we thank all our new and repeat customers this year. All and all this past week has had some great end of the season walleye fishing.
 We could not have done any of this without all the help from the crew from Jonny boy, Big Tony, Dusty, Darrin and his truck. Dan and his plow truck with Mell cooking the crew many breakfast's Thank you so so so much guys. I could never have carried on without all your help
 Jonny boy will be guiding the rest of the season searching for the mother lode of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. Here is his direct number 218 508 7036.
 

[glenn57]

Cookie., I seen on the book of faces a picture of a huge ice pile on red. For the life of me I can't think of who posted it  but think it was on the north end.

How's the ice holding up in your neck of the woods?

[roony]

[glenn57]

Yep, that's the one 

[cookie]

the wind we had last sunday, monday did that. Its amazing what mother nature can do. The whole pressure ridge we were bridging completely changed

[Jerkbiat]

Is that open water in the background? Surprised that didn't happen to the ice up here too with that wind.

[glenn57]

Is that open water in the background? Surprised that didn't happen to the ice up here too with that wind.

my guess would be a tree line!!!!

[Jerkbiat]

Is that open water in the background? Surprised that didn't happen to the ice up here too with that wind.

my guess would be a tree line!!!!

Oh ya. Good guess.

[cookie]

nope was not open water. sounds like the narrows may be open

[cookie]

yesterday may have been the last hurrah for me. I jumped in with jonny boy in his razor to go on a crappie hunt using a cheatmaster 3000 fish eliminator. Mark and Carry also tagged along as we headed out off of our landing. Jonny boy has been out on the lake almost everyday since we brought the houses home. They have had some epic days of fishing as Andy would say. I have to admit that using that machine can be a lot of fun. The first couple spots we checked before the pressure ridge we fought all year at 4 1\2 miles. Scanning the first 2 spots we saw nothing. On the third stop we saw a small school of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. The poor fish did not have a chance as we were able to auger right on top of them. The fish were spooky and scattered the first holes we augured. They did not go far as some trickled back in to hammer my chartreuse rattling flyer with no bait. I banged out 3 in a row as fast as I could run the lure down. I had my 3 I wanted to keep in less then 2 minutes after I started fishing. The third one inhaled the lure, As I tried to get the treble hook out of its throat my vex was still lit up like a christmas tree. By the time I got my line back down they were gone just like that. Mark did miss a couple and Carry got one. After scanning around a little bit more they were just magically gone. I have a theory that they just hunker down in low spots. Thinking as in the past how you can catch fish out of one hole but 2 feet away you cannot mark a fish? We loaded up and headed out to check another area. After a couple more scans we arrived at the pressure ridge. Man did the high winds a week ago change the pressure ridge. She broke up and changed the whole thing, just amazing how chunks of ice the size of a car 20 inches thick can be stacked up. It looked like if you took your time and checked you could now find a spot to cross without a bridge. I guess we could of used that big wind months ago we might not have had to move the bridge sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. Jonny boy had a spot they found after the big winds to cross. We got to where we had some great fishing the last weekend of the season. Again, auguring a couple holes and scanning nothing. We kept heading west, about the fourth spot we checked there she was the motherlode of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. 2 huge schools again they were very skittish and kept moving away from us. I would say after chasing them around for 20 minutes they came back to some of the holes we had already augured. Just like that it was game on for the guys. I ended up keeping a fourth that again inhaled my lure. Jonny boy also got his fishing equipment out to catch a few for himself. I would guess I missed way more then I caught as they would charge up and take your lure still going up. I lipped quite a few from that. We ended up staying in that area the last 2 hours of fishing. Mark and Carry  got there 10 a piece, Jonny boy kept 3 and I kept 4 for a total of 27 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. With no wind and the sun shining almost 60 degrees we headed back to shore. The landing's are starting to get a little muddy as the shoreline ice begins to melt. I'm not sure when we may be able to keep getting out. Back in the heyday we were water skipping my sled out onto the good ice. I even got the hammer on the back of my sled once. Of course, when we got out there, they had quit biting. Coming back as we were approaching the open water my sled sputtered as I hit the throttle. It was to late too abort so I feathered it a bit, she took off and we screamed across the water. When we got to shore the hammer said in a pretty loud voice never again.
 I expect I will be hearing from Jake, as he comes home from the oil fields. He is possessed with these special fish. Big Tony and Darrin mentioned they would also like to get back up for one last hurrah on a grand lake that owes us nothing.

[Jerkbiat]

Hey Cookie. How did the town hall meeting go about the tribe trying to get all of upper red? Any new info?

[cookie]

So this will be more about asking for everyone's support. If you have not heard the red lake nation has taken steps federal and state to acquire all of red lake and a 1 mile buffer zone around the lake. They would take big bog state park, the boat ramp access Plus the red lake state forest. I beleave there top priority is getting control of the lake. This has put a emotional toll on all it effects. Our best bet is to start asap e- mailing or calling  as many of the state senators and reps from your districts and others districts as well. If they were rewarded a mile around the lake we would lose our home, business, and waskish would basically be gone. There would be no access to the lake .
 This is a small community. This effects every hunter,fishermen,and visitor to the area.
 My great grandpa Norman came here in 1909 and homesteaded here. my grandmother Olga was born and raised here. She lived her entire life here 92 years. She raised 3 children here. My dad John was going home to bemidji from waskish when he was tragically killed in a car accident. He was only 38 years old. This winter we had our great grandson here to make it 7th generation. This is Mary K Kunesh 39 dfl. Anyone in here district needs to call and or email her. even if you are not in her district call or email to oppose the land back bill 651 296 4334. This is 34 dfl John a Hoffman 651 296 4154 Grant Hauschild 03 dfl 651 296 1789 all the support we can get would greatly be appreciated.

[LPS]

I sent 5 emails to state and fed reps about the land and gambling. 

[glenn57]

i havent heard anything from Demuth yet....... i'll be sending emails to Koblochar and Smith at the fed level. also gov office and AG office. wouldnt hurt for me to send one to Emmer also !!!!!

there all D's so........ from what i'm hearing..if you dont live in there district they dont respond. 

[Jrasmussen]

Here is a link to Mary Kunesh it is to the website and you have to fill out a form to send a message. I sent one.


https://www.senate.mn/members/member_bio.html?mem_id=1242

[LPS]

Stauber and Klobesher responded to me. 

[KEN W]

LPS.....can you give an example of what you sent?

I'll change it so it doesn't look like the same copied over and over.

[LPS]

I said that I am completely against giving any land away to anyone either at White Earth or Red Lake.  I also want the gambling issue revisited and that when sports gambling occurs and it will occur, that I want it run by the State and that we need a few State run casinos. 

[Jerkbiat]

We have a couple of locals from Cookie's neck of the woods up here taping and mudding the drywall in our new offices. They told my coworker that there were so many people that showed up at the meeting last night that they needed to reschedule it to a bigger place.

[glenn57]

Stauber and Klobesher responded to me.

and.....what did they say??????/ would be my guess!!!!

[cookie]

 this is the letter my brother wrote.
Dear XXXX

 

My name is Warren Halvarson and I am writing you to voice my vehement opposition to your calls to cede the remainder of Upper Red lake to the Chippewa tribe. My family has continuously lived and maintained a property on the shores of Upper Red Lake, in Waskish, for over 100 years and at least 6 generations.

The family property is a symbol of our ancestors overcoming enormous homesteading hardship and their attempt at obtaining the American Dream. My grandfather, John Halvarson, died of spinal meningitis after clearing land to make it suitable for farming. My grandmother lived alone and persevered on her own for 40 years after her husbands death. She welcomed many visitors over the years to enjoy her hospitality and the beauty of the area. My father John Halvarson died in a tragic car accident in Bemidji in the early 1970s and our family property is the only tangible thing that remains of his memory.

I have countless memories of swimming in Red Lake with my grandmother, cousins and siblings. Countless memories of campfires and enjoying the awe inspiring gallery of stars overhead. Countless hours spent fishing and communing with mother nature in all her splendor. A price cannot be put on the sentimental value that the lake and the surrounding wilderness has in our hearts.

While I can appreciate the intent of the perceived virtuous pursuit of appeasing the native tribes. They already control the majority of Upper & Lower Red Lake.  Any attempt by you or any other officials to change existing agreements, treaties and boundaries is in my opinion Unconstitutional and profoundly unjust to people that have lived on the lake over the last 100+ years.

Please consider the economic impact of removing the area from general visitation. Please consider the emotional impact on the families that currently live there and make their living there. Please remember the profound beauty of the lake and general area is a gift for countless future visitors to cherish and behold. Sequestering this resource to a few designated few is discriminatory in nature and robbing the greater population of it’s grandeur.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. Let the natives hold what they have already and let the people who homesteaded the area keep their homes and rights. That is the right thing to do. We must all learn how to live together in peace and harmony,

 

 

 

[Jrasmussen]

We have a couple of locals from Cookie's neck of the woods up here taping and mudding the drywall in our new offices. They told my coworker that there were so many people that showed up at the meeting last night that they needed to reschedule it to a bigger place.

Good I hope it is a really big showing. If I could I would be up there too

[Jrasmussen]

That's a great write up Cookie, you guys up there are not fighting alone. Looking forward to seeing you for years to come.

[cookie]

 was able to track down this e mail to our waltz. not sure if he will even reply I have had other sens and reps email me back that say there against these bills
Tim.waltz@state.mn.us

[glenn57]

was able to track down this e mail to our waltz. not sure if he will even reply I have had other sens and reps email me back that say there against these bills
Tim.waltz@state.mn.us

good luck with that cookie......with a Native American as his Lt. Gov!!!!!!  i have no faith in that SCHMUCK whatsoever! he makes me puke when i see him on the toobe!

[Jerkbiat]

was able to track down this e mail to our waltz. not sure if he will even reply I have had other sens and reps email me back that say there against these bills
Tim.waltz@state.mn.us

good luck with that cookie......with a Native American as his Lt. Gov!!!!!!  i have no faith in that SCHMUCK whatsoever! he makes me puke when i see him on the toobe!

#METOO!!!!

[cookie]

yea our system is a joke I have gotten back messages in email.  We value what your opinion but if your not from my district. you will be put on the bottom of my list. Makes you want to puke. Bunch of crooks