Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Wheelhouse Hospitality


128prairie

Recommended Posts

I am heading north to the pond with my wheelhouse in a week. Are there some resorts that are better then others to deal with when it comes to using their access and roads to pull your own house out with an ATV? Whether it be costs, friendliness, or willing to provide info. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That gives me a business idea. Resort that has no rentals and just caters to those with portables and wheel houses. Want a pizza we will deliver it to you. Propane plawed roads banking etc. etc. we will do it all. No rental issues to distract us. Would this business survive??? I think so

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not saying anything about anything, but it's funny seeing the posts like this asking which resort, Good for you.

typically you see posts saying which public access and I'll go where I wanna go posts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been calling around the past few weeks for the same thing. Appeldorns and Hunter Winfields are two that I liked talking to the most. But, most resorts will have no problem working with you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually the snow has nothing to do with it. I don't find a lot of time to go north, but when I do, I rely on the expertise of the resort for a good, safe road to get on the lake. I don't mind paying for it, but don't want to be treated like a second class customer either. Just looking for good value for my dollar spent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

That gives me a business idea. Resort that has no rentals and just caters to those with portables and wheel houses. Want a pizza we will deliver it to you. Propane plawed roads banking etc. etc. we will do it all. No rental issues to distract us. Would this business survive??? I think so


I don't think you would get rich doing it, that's for sure. Factor in your gas, lake crew wages, and repairs on your plow trucks and you are gonna have to charge 20 bucks a time to go out on your road. Plus the initial cost of getting some land to run it out of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no experience with Hunter Winfields but I spoke to Jim McCrank at Appledorns regarding the rental of a launch a few times last Summer. I have also posted back and forth with Paul Waldowski,through the forum a few years back, regarding fishing areas and techniques on Lake of the Woods. Add that to the helpful posts I see from Paul and about Paul and Appledorns in this forum and I would say that, in my opinion, Jim and Paul are re-defining what "Customer Service" means as it relates to the resort business on Mille Lacs. We fishermen (and women) are realizing that we can choose to spend our money with those resorts that act like they appreciate our business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a problem a couple years ago with my wheelhouse. Pretty much not welcome, we don't need your money. most of the resorts have changed their tune as more and more wheelhouses have hit the ice. The Reddoor was great at the north end, and George at Hunters is good about wheelhouses too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been pulling a wheel house around Mille Lacs for over 10 years now and have never had a bad experience with any of the resorts I have used Lybaks,Eddy's,Garrison Sport,Red Door,Fisher's,Hunter's,Dickies, They all have been good. This past week I spent time fishing out of Appledoorn's partly because they had the closest roads to the area I wanted to fish and partly to see if all the positive things that are posted on this site are true of them. Well I am happy to report they are. I showed up on Thursday morning and chatted with Paul and bought my roadpass this guy is like talking to an old friend he was honest about the bite and told me what depth's had been working and what area's were producing best. I unloaded the wheeler and hooked up the house and headed out I encountered my first problem once I left the road the snow prohibited easy travel. after struggling a bit to get unstuck one of Paul's plow truck's comes by and offers to plow me to an area I can set up in. Now mind you I had only bought a road pass and the resorts only obligation to me was lake access. So now I get the house set and I had forgotten shoring blocks to contend with the flooding back into Paul I go to see if he has any block's and again he set's me up out I go. This morning I woke up to a blizzard so I started to pack it in and who do you suppose shows up to see if I need any help getting off it's Paul. So to answer your question they are all good but Appledoorn's is a cut above in my book's and I will definitely be back.

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WW,

Thanks for the kind words.

It was a brutal day on the pond. We made the decision to pull everyone off this a.m. for there own safety. Visibility was down to 15 feet by this afternoon. Things are suppose to die down in a couple of hours and we will be out plowing in earnest to re-open the roads.

No fishing reports to update. As soon as we get some folks out fishing we will give an updated report.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From Hunter Winfield's in Isle Bay - we welcome wheel houses - we have people using our road daily - we have a $10.00 road fee and if you need a spot plowed, we'll take care of that for a $20.00 fee.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

we have welcomed wheel houses since they started showing up.we store wheel houses and service them,we put the sign out front 2 yrs ago to let everyone know we are friendly and do like wheel houses because of other resorts negative response against them.(so welcome and lets look forward to some great fishing,be safe and check the ice!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.