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Portavilla Report


Portavilla

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A few cheers in the camp today the guys way out did better and in 8' we did good also. We picked up half the camp and spread them out over a mile and we will see how it goes. Tried to get some guys to fish them last night but the group was three sheets to the wind and no one fished them last night or in the morning finally rallied the troops for the day bite. It went well and we pick some more up tomorrow.

What does not make sense to me is we have a lot of bait fish under us but not a Walleye to be found, so today we just spun a beer bottle on the road and it proved to be the most effective method so far. We went places that made no sense and found good fishing. We tried interrogating a couple of Walleyes for nearly an hour but they wouldn't break not a word, just glassy eyes and blank faces.

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We went up tues the fourth did not mark a fish out of the house went mobile hit some spots in 15 to 17 fow got limits each day with some perch mixed in did not make it to the center bar. Gold and loud was the lure of choice the fish liked it moving fast hitting hard had action all day thanks portaville for the nice clean and warm shack we will be back soon.

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We have finally broke the chain and are setting houses in some of our favorite spots about 3 miles out and the fishing there has been very good. I am now in range of our normal homeland and something worthy of planting the flag. The guys were busy icing Walleyes and we are busy moving. For the first time in awhile it was all cheers and no tears, regardless there is always beers.

Tomorrow we will be popping up houses and trying to beat the exodus from shore. Durning the exodus we have been base camping some and spreading out other and fishing in rotations until we can get everyone set. I was going to try to get my 3rd shower in but it will have to wait.

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How thick is the ice three miles out from rogers? Is it basically a well when you pop a hole or not flooding too bad after the cold??

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Where we are there is good ice and you have to cross some questionable areas but by the weekend the road will be in good shape. You just can't take off blindly where ever there is deep snow most likely the ice is thinner. We are dealing with the same flooding issues we had in by shore just catching a lot more fish and not hugging the trees.

We let it flood, freeze, plow off the snow and hike up the houses. We then bank up the snow where we want it to break and back off the trucks and it raises the houses up. Same stuff as every other area we will be in this year. If you are coming up with a wheelhouse you most likely will have to get a spot plowed. The sport has changed from tennis shoes to boots.

The road goes three miles out not three miles from the the access along shore this is an area we have always done well on. What we were getting in our best houses in a week we are now getting in a evening. More work but worth it.

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Thanks for the information. I guess I will be bringing the blocks again to keep from freezing down too bad.

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PORTAVILLA - Do you guys rent 6 man sleepers?? My friend says a group of six of us will be staying with you sun-tuesday. Im assuming we will just have two houses.

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We do have 6 mans but I would have to look under the name of the reservation to see what was booked. Are January lead time on a 6 man is close to 120 days advance booking. February's lead time is shorter, without a name I can't help you.

Fishing was real good today and everyone was catching fish. We can't move fast enough and some guys have been taking turns going out while we have been making are moves. The guys have been real good about breaking it up so everyone gets some action. It's been fishing and fisherman at there best.

In are war with the Walleyes we did not have as much time to spend with are guests as we would of liked to this past weekend. Most of them understood that things had to change for everyone else. Again thanks for there cooperation during the time we spent trying to find a safe ice passage. It was a total resort effort. Everyone was trying to get through and Jerry made it happen.

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Chris will the flooded spot in the main road be safe to go across in the AM?? Came acrosss it tonight after a great day and was a little conserned. Again thx for breaking out farther we hada blast. See ya tomorrow!

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That area is getting reworked today. Jerry said he was going to reroute the road there. It was getting pretty beat up from exodus. I need to get my big plow across and I didn't want to yesterday it would of tore it up worse. The road is a work in progress and is under construction at the present time. Thanks to everyone for staying to the west yesterday so the road can be widened.

The ice south of the crack is what concerns me the most. The road is building ice everyday now and the ice in that spot is good but if you think you will get hung up don't cross it.

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Portavilla, we are coming up Sunday and renting a 4 man house from you. Really looking forward to the trip. Just a couple of quick questions, we are bringing up some portables also and wondering if we will need an extension for the auger?

Any must have jigs?

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Chris another question for ya. We have a group coming up next Wednesday (1/19) and are wondering if a one ton diesel is going to be a problem now that you are expanding your operation to some new areas.

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Extensions are not that expensive. They are actually pretty cheap compared to the amount that u will spend on gas to get to the lake and back home because you couldn't fish because your auger didnt make it through the ice.

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With most places being short on ice- I think you will be o.k. at this point, unless you plan on parking in the deepest snow you can find and drilling through a house that sits 2' on top of that.

I haven't heard of anywhere with more than 2' of ice yet on red.

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You shouldn't need an extention we have had one house out that the motor hits the floor in the house, but that is by far not the norm.

Driven with one ton trucks. I am probally the wrong guy to ask, I just spent the day with my one ton diesel with a 1700lb V-plow driven 25-30 miles an hour back and forth to the center bar all day. I am probally not the smartest card in the deck.

PS I was glad the day was over, my nerves are on end.

,

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The fishing today was better for those that got in yesterday as it was more of morning bite. Fatheads prevailed as the bait of choice and a gold and red northland buck shot with a pink bottom was the go to jig of the day. More fish were caught jigging than dead sticking and they had to be teased. The perch bite has still been good with everyone getting some bonus fish.

I plowed so much road today all I can see when I shut my eyes is flying berm.

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Everybody got limits plus yesterday, just one guy I haven't talk to. We were up until after 2:00 AM getting things ready for the weekend. Jigging was most effective with fatheads or tipped with a minnow head. Everyone reported marking quite a few and some teasing needed to be done. The hot jig of the week I bought out at the resort and passed a few around.

We still need to get our portables out to the bar. I am still recommending guys bring up portables for running around fishing especially on the Center Bar. We are not set up on the Center Bar we are in our normal haunts and we can finally get on with our normal rotation.

The Center Bar has been producing very well and have yet to talk to a disappointed fisherman. There is a lot of deep snow so you need to be plowed in or stand on the outside and watch. Bobs is the only outfitter I know of on the bar at this time, they are in there normal spot we all honor and have a good exit route. Most outfitters don't go on the bar with these conditions because we can't get out fast enough. If I had one or two wheel houses and bad weather we could get off before being blown in. It will be peppered with wheel houses and portables for awhile.

The last time I was on the bar with this much snow a bad storm came and when the panic and exodus started it reminded me of pictures of the Iraq army leaving durning the war cars, trucks stuck in the snow, and debris everywhere. Unfortunately I was on the north side. We stayed cool and fished out of our new formed igloos but I won't forget that dig out. One, two houses no problem, 22 that's nuts.

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Hey Chris how were those cabbage rolls I gave ya a couple weeks ago? Might make it back up there one of these days.

Robert

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We are on Center Bar fair day yesterday but real slow this morning. Chris is right lots of snow. Thanks Chris for plowing us a spot.

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T-minus 20 hours and i should be jigging on Red via Portavilla 6 man. Looking forward to fishing center bar, 2nd trip of the year with Chris and 1 more to come.

Chris do you have any of the 6's out around the center bar area? or should we yank a porta with us, typically we bring em, and they just end up staying in the truck because you seem to always have us on fish smile

I'm guessing we'll be up around 10-11am reservation is under corey lienen - let me know if you need anything

Shack dog veteran

Mike

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Monday evening my buddy and I were staying at the Royal Shooks hotel browsing through fishing reports on FM. For some reason something about Portavillas stood out and was the place we wanted to fish Tuesday.

On Wed I finally met the Portavilla poster who goes by the name Chris for the first time at the lodge. My buddy and I had fished Tuesday on Rodgers road (portable) with decent success...30 walleyes. Chris suggested without hesitation to go out to the center bar. They had just broke trails out there Tuesday and said we would be the first and do a little pre fishing before they moved the fleet. I was really surprised by his offering of such information to just portable guys.

We ended up catching 170 walleyes (catch and release) in 3 days between the 2 of us. We were catching so many that we didn't even measure the slots. We'd take a look at the fish and decide if it was picture worthy, or quickly toss her back. We were averaging around 35 fish by 2 pm...after that the bite was on. We did our best as you suggested on FM and when we met with buckshots tipped with a head.

So the moral of the story when Chris says they are biting, get there now. Chris can't say enough good about your FM posts and the advise you shot our way the other morning. You created life long memories and the best Mn fishing I have and probably ever will see. Thanks Chris...will be calling about sleepers this summer for next years ice!!!

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The weekend guys for the most part did good with some venturing off to the bar. We had guys on the bar catching anything from a few to over a hundred. I am still telling everyone to bring portables and tip ups there is some great fishing with a little work to it. Our houses are spread out and a couple were slow but most did well. We are in the middle of it all and only plan on moving a the couple that was slow tomorrow. We are close to a lot of good spots and it's kind of up to the fisherman.

We put some units out on the bar and let some of the guys fish in them. Some had to learn that winning does not get ya access, if your the kind that is excited to pee in a bucket or out running tip ups and the like, and we see that your trying then we made them available. Winning gets you the house we left on shore kind of a time out. Pretty girls and bribes does not cut it either, save the pictures. We are just looking for fisherman or guys that are up to have a good time. The Walleye sunny bite is out there and some guys find it.

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Chris,

We are coming up in a week and taking a 4 man rent-n-go. I assume we will be able to get out to the center bar..? If so I'd like to put in a bid for a spot to be plowed out there. wink What depth of the center bar is producing the best? You can wait to answer that in person if you must! See you the 27th!

Thanks,

Krull and Stendel

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We plow in are rent and go guys when they come out of Rogers Resort and we will wait to answer that question on where to go.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • 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
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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