23 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.