Reports from Don & John's houses out of Rogers?

[Crappyman]

I am heading up to stay in Don and John's house next Sunday. Sounds like we are going to be in the deep freeze. Any reports from anyone staying in thier houses? Had some positive one's earlier this month.

[Wallyeyes]

Not a report yet, but the wife and I are going up Wed. & Thurs. this week. We will be staying with Don & John's. I will definately have a report by Friday evening.

[mobiusdog]

We stayed in a Don and John's 6 man sleeper out of Rogers last weekend, you should be in good hands. The fishing was a little spotty but we had enough luck with keeper walleyes to have some good meals out there. I don't think you'll be cold, we had our heater on the lowest setting all weekend and still sweated. Service was great, fatheads provided, outhouses nearby and pretty clean, garbage and bottles hauled away for us, easy to get ahold of them, and they're always nearby if you need anything. Anything specifically you were wondering?

[Crappyman]

Nope, just getting anxious to get up there. I have been up to Red a couple of times but have never stayed in a house so I am not sure what to expect. I am also bringing my wife and two kids. The wife doesn't know what to expect and the kids are excited. Is there a table for playing cards? We are in the 4 person house. I sent a note to the guys last night and got a response right away this morning. So far I have been impressed with thier service. Can't wait to hear the report from Wallyeyes. I got all the poles rigged with new line last weekend and bought some new jigs.

[Crappyman]

You guys know if the houses have rattle reels or anything for fishing at night? Any suggestions if they don't? Also, I am planning on bringing up a vexilar and a marcum. Am I going to have issues with them interfering with each other? Any thoughts? Whats the best thing to bring up to eat? I'd like to hear of some of your favorites!

[mike morris]

Shouldn't have problems with interference if they have the appropriate features.

For food... Always eggs and bacon in the morning. Nothing tastes better in the fish house for breakfast! Lunch in normally something simple and easy to fry up on the pan. Supper we sometimes throw something on the grill, or make burgers on the stove.

[steeplechaser2]

we always fish two vexilars and a marcum in kelly p's 5 man and never have any issues....even when the batteries are weak at the end of two days' fishing...

[Random guy]

We have a group that comes up every year that is addicted to gadgets. They run Vex, Marcums and cameras all over, everyhole has some type of sonar or camera in it with no interference, actually surprised me but they will work side by side.

[luv2fish]

My fishing buddy runs a vex, and I run a marcum. We fish in an otter lodge, and can fish side by side with no problem. My last trip uo to Red in my 16' x 6' 6" wheelhous we had a Vexilar FL18, Marcum LX3tc, and an old Marcum LX 1 (without zoom). And again had zero problems.

Don't believe anyone that tells you you cannot fish with a vexand marcum together.

[LIMIT OUT!]

Hey mobiusdog. You stayed in the 6 man that they built this year? Is there plenty of room? I have 5 guys that are coming, and we purposely left that spot open to have some extra room. I hope you left some fish for us! And if you didn't I hope you at least left some beer!

[alex1]

If they don't have rattle wheels you can get some "portable" ones at Mills Fleet Farm, Scheels, Gander Mountain, etc. that have a big wood clamp on them, or that are on dowel that has a ice pick on the end. Work great

Now as far as food goes, you're talking my language, I always bring a big fry to make frying pan hash. If you don't know this is get a pen and paper:

pre boilded potatoes (depending on how many guys are eating)

pre cooked beef roast

In the bottom of large fry pan put bacon grease from mornings breakfast,chunk up the potatoes like you would normally for frying, chunk up the roast with the potatoes, and fry until done. If yu bring the gravy from the roast it goes weel with this. My favorite thing to do is make enough to have leftovers the next morning, reheat the hash and fry some eggs (I prefer over easy) and put them on top for breakfast the next morning.

You can't beat fried potatoes with fresh fish either.

Getting the theme here..... lots and lots of preboiled potatoes.

[dstyle]

Has anybody got any pics of the inside of these sleeper houses?

Never seen one before. Thinkin about coming to URL in Feb.

[Crappyman]

I will have. I am heading up Sunday morning and coming back Monday night. We are staying in one of the 4 person houses. I have never been in one either and am a little nervous with 4 people being in there. I'll let you know if there was plenty of room or not. I am hoping there is at least a table and 4 chairs so we can play games, eat, etc. I'll take some pics and post them early next week if I can figure out how to post. I'll also give a fishing update. Another guy on here is suppose to post a report sometime today.

[mobiusdog]

The 6 man will have plenty of room for 5 of you. We ended up with a group of 8 and we all fit just fine, although it was a little cramped. Ours had a two burner stove, plenty of shelves, and a folding table that was great for cards and cribbage, plus a bunch of folding chairs. I think we left a few fish in there for ya, good luck! I can promise you we left no beer!!!

[LIMIT OUT!]

Okay cool about the fish, but the beer?! C'mon man where's the respect! It sounds the reports are good. Did you guys catch any pike?

[Wallyeyes]

Okay, here it is....

Got up there Wed. and got a 30" (slot) pike. Nice fish. The wife got an eater walleye a couple hours later. Not a single bite all night. Still had all the minnows on hooks in the morning. Caught two perch Thurs. That's it.

No rattle reels in our house. They did however, up-grade the the two-man house I reserved, to a four man, eight hole house for free. It was empty anyway. Very nice to have the extra room. We were leaving at 4:30 pm and my van wouldn't start. Flagged down Don and John as they were moving some of their houses and it took about an hour before the van fired up. They never left us the whole time. I thought that was extermely kind of them. I think it was froze up gas lines. But I'm not sure. They were two of the nicest people I have met, and I really want to thank them. I met John off the ice as we were leaving and let him know how much their efforts were appreciated for helping with the van.

The houses aren't the Ritz, but everything worked like a champ. Beds were comfy and I would definately rent from them again. Outhouses were not heated and I used the Big Buddy to warm it up some while takin' care of business.

All in all, we had a blast. Yes, the fishing was slow, but that's why they call it fishing.

[Crappyman]

Thanks for the report Wallyeyes. Couple of questions about the house since I am heading up on Sunday. Was it warm? Should I get a fan to move the air? Was there enough room for 4? Anything that you wish you would have brought up? I am packing tonight and tomorrow. My wife is very worried about the cold weather so anything I can do to make it as comfy as possible the better.

[Crappyman]

Bump

[Wallyeyes]

House was very warm. Almost hot. And that was with the heater on low 90% of the time. A fan would be a good idea, but no place to plug it in, so....battery operated?

Plenty of room, for two, four may be a little tight. Just watch your step. Tables are like 3x3 so not much room, but there is plenty of storage space under the bunks. The top bunk flips up so you can sit and fish on the lower bunks. Our house had only one chair so bring another. Those little flip sport chairs is what I had and it was perfect. Didn't take up much space and could be put away under the bunks.

Bring pots and pans and lots of water(we went through 2 gals. washing dishes and for coffee).

Outhouses are very cold. No heat at all. So bring a portable heater for the outhouse or let her go in the house.

Like I said, you're not staying at the Ritz, but everything worked so that was nice. We had no problems with the house at all. Have a great trip Crappyman.

[Crappyman]

Just got back from Red. Had lines in from noon on Sunday until 11 on Monday. Caught 1 walleye on the rattle reel sometime during the night. Fishing could have been better although it sounded like some were taken in the area. The house was really nice. Plenty of room for the 4 of us (two kids and two adults) and as you said, plenty warm. As we played games into the night, we were all sitting around in socks and sweats and a sweatshirt. You would not have guessed it was -20 outside. Don and John were great hosts. Checked to make sure everything was good and answered all my questions. I would definitely recommend them to anyone heading up.

[Dag_1979]

Stayed in a 4-person house 18-20 January, and did alright. Landed 7 walleye, 3 keepers, and lost at least 10. All but 1 fish were caught on demons/fathead or rattle spoon/fathead. Because the fishing was so slow we were forced to pass the time by drinking more beer and playing cards. The fiance caught her 1st walleye all by herself, so that made my trip.

I would make sue to bring along more toilet paper if I went back...and [PoorWordUsage] was that out-house cold!!

[Shallow Runner]

Any current reports coming out of these houses? I will be there this weekend. Any help on what to expect would be greatly appreciated!

Shallow Runner

[GoggleEye]

Hey Alex1, there is something that goes better with fresh fish than fried potatoes.......it's called ice cold beer!!!! Just jabbing at ya. Nothing beats a meal of fried fish and beer though!

[wanger29]

Actually I've got a buddy I fish with that has an FL-8 and I get a lot of interference from that with my FL-18. Have never had problems with any other unit than his. Side by side or 12 feet away doesn't matter. Not sure about that one???

[LIMIT OUT!]

Not a bad weekend. One word to sum it up! STREAKY!!!I had a couple guys who had little to no ice fishing experience and they caught fish. We rented the 6 and 4 man over this past weekend. Probably 25-30 fish (2 perch, 2 pike, 0 crappie) We probably did as much missing of fish as we caught. It seemed they came in waves. We'd catch 3-6 fish within in an hour, then nothing for 6-8 hours. Rattle reels were effective Friday night but not Saturday night. I wish I could give out a tip, but there wasn't any consistency to baits, hooks, colors, or depths.

These guys were great. There was a little confusion with the houses, and they made it right for us, really a hats off to them.

Good Luck

[mnhunter 3815]

when you have 2 vexis in the same house they say 1 has to turn off there interference.

[nate larson]

Does anyone have anything new to report out of Don and John's? I will be going up there in a couple weeks and am interested to know how people have been doing out of their houses.

Thanks!