Yes!!!

[kelly-p]

Building the road connecting Hillman's to Beacon's is done. It went better then I expected. I had been dreading widening it out even as I felt that the ice was in pretty good shape there. When I widened it out today I expected a lot of cracking but that did not happen. It couldn't have gone better and it now is roughly 150 feet wide. It follows the 9 to 10 foot depth range across the lake and gives us about 5 miles of road to move around on here on the NE side of the lake.

[moose099]

five miles of scouting territory, sounds great. Way to go Kelly!!! See you soon!!

[riverrat56]

Good to hear!

I'll be up there in your 6 mam sleeper the weekend of the 7th/8th, sounds like I'll have plenty of room to explore!

[spinnerboy]

Nice work kelly! I will be renting from you and jon this sat and sun. Cant wait! Just wondering the latest ice reports for driving on the lake and if all of your sleepers will be out this week. Maybe they already are? Thanks.

[Random guy]

They are all on the lake and fishing right now. Granted it took alot of picking around to find good ice that is also on good spots but one auger motor and a bunch of plow gas later we got it done.

[MNfan]

Nice work kelly! I will be renting from you and jon this sat and sun. Cant wait! Just wondering the latest ice reports for driving on the lake and if all of your sleepers will be out this week. Maybe they already are? Thanks.

Spinnerboy you should be able to shut the fishing down or is that your partners that do that!!!!

[steeplechaser2]

Jon,

The boys wanted to know how many augers you guys go through in a winter....Jiffy still supplying them???? You guys should be on a commercial like the old battery commercials where they took the trucks up to the artic....most of the commercials were actually films in International Falls I think! The perch hunter and his big brother can't wait for Wednesday to come....Did ya ever finish Waiting for White Horses?

[spinnerboy]

Stick it MNFAN! My house is still on fire! Even after you tried to gooch it. Hope it keeps up. My brother and buddy are going tues pm.

[spinnerboy]

Jonny p, I assume everyone is driving to them? See you this weekend. Thanks for the update!

[kelly-p]

Things got even better today. Buddy got sick of trying to work his way through the iffy ice out at the 2 1/2 mile area of his road so he he did a big end sweep. From where the road connecting Hillman's to Beacon Harbors road hit Beacon's road the ice looked pretty good to the west so Buddy came over and took a look at it. He rejected Deans plan of getting through the rough ice, he rejected my plan and then he had Jon take his snowmobile out 2 1/2 miles for a target to aim at to keep the road straight. Buddy got his lightest V-Plow and away he went! He made it out and back so Foster/Club Red joined in with his V-Plow as Jon and another straight blade joined in for the tough places and presto! Tonight there is a new 2 1/2 mile road going right down the 8 to 9 foot breakline along the north shore. There was only 1 iffy crack but it held up just fine with the plows pounding over it. That gets us up to about 8 miles of road between Hillman's and Beacon Harbor.

[steeplechaser2]

Great News, Kelly!

We'll be up there on Wednesday...how's the midweek bite been?

[Random guy]

It’s a sweet road! As I was running back and forth with the plow knocking out high spots for the V’s I noticed several of my great waypoints going by on my GPS within throwing distance of the road; this new route is not only exciting but I am sure it is going to be a big producer. We have punched through the first layer the good gravel country on the north shore that always holds lots of eyes with a higher keeper ratio for some reason. Great thing is we are at the front door of another three miles of great rock and gravel country just waiting to be busted open. I am very eager to get some scouting in there and see the results.

As for wheelhouses we actually took the road in one mile strait lengths with a few minor kinks at one mile intervals following the break line so anglers could easily pull off the road 50 yards or less and effortlessly set down in great spots with little snow cover.

This coming together has worked out great as both Beacon Harbor and Hillmans are covering the entire north shore region with one road system. Now you can easily pull into Hillmans store and bait shop or fill your propane tanks at Beacon Harbor or maybe clean your fish at Beacons heated fish cleaning shack all while on the same road system.

[kelly-p]

This will be the first midweek we've been out there so you are the scout. Last night was the first night we had fishermen in the houses. Yesterday was very slow but today things were starting to pick up. One house is really struggling for fish so it's moving in the morning. The other houses are picking up enough to keep it interesting. I know a few limits came off Beacon's road today. A very slow night bite so far.

[MuleShack]

This is great news.

Good to hear there are a lot of great spots to fish off of the new road system.

I didn't pick up off of previous posts, how deep of snow do you actually have on the lake? Is it wheeler depth or snowmobile depth? Looking to bring the wheel house up for the anual new years weekend trip.

I also didn't see a true statement that trucks and wheelhoues are being allowed out yet. are they already being allowed out and if not by the weekend?

Thanks in advance.

[fish with teeth]

we are coming up from the 6th through the 10th. we have 2 diesel 3/4 tons and 16ft and 18ft wheelhouses. how is the ice looking as far as restrictions for us? How thick is the ice now? thanks

[kelly-p]

I do not know what is happening on other parts of the lake so this is what I've seen on the NE part of URL. Trucks and wheel houses are good to go but take care heading off cross country. Most areas along this side of the lake have 4 to 6 inches of snow. Where there is 8+ inches of snow the ice is thinner. Where there is piled ice there is as much as 2 feet of snow and poor ice. Under the ice in those places there is a lot of slush (up to 3 feet of slush) under the ice so avoid those places. A snowmobile would work better then a wheeler.

[kelly-p]

we are coming up from the 6th through the 10th. we have 2 diesel 3/4 tons and 16ft and 18ft wheelhouses. how is the ice looking as far as restrictions for us? How thick is the ice now? thanks

Each road could be different so the best is to contact the people that run the road you plan on going out of.

[camtis]

Heading up late Tuesday night getting up to URL around 1 or 2am. Any issues finding a safe spot off the road in the middle of the night? Would it be best to wait onshore until first light?

Jon set us up on the gravel about a mile or so out a few years back. Caught some good fish despite the -43 cold. I don't think we will have that problem this trip.

[fish with teeth]

ok thank you. will give hillmans a call

[MuleShack]

Thanks Kelly,

May run in to you on Saturday...

[cookie129]

Thats so cool to see two resots sharing a road. maybe some day they will all interwind.You could go to any access and come off another what a adventue that would be.

[Random guy]

Thats so cool to see two resots sharing a road. maybe some day they will all interwind.You could go to any access and come off another what a adventue that would be.

This arrangement works out well as everybody is on the same page fully understanding how to share the work load and all how to plan together not to mention a large amount of respect is traded back and forth. Unfortunately we have found in the past it doesn't work with everybody and I doubt all resorts will ever tie together as they used to years ago.

[chaffmj]

I know in the past I have gone out one road and come back in on a different one and not on purpose!

[kelly-p]

You could go to any access and come off another what a adventue that would be.

It might be an adventure but it opens up a safety issue. Say a person goes out on one road system and then crosses over to different road system and has trouble or an emergency. If they call the resort they went out of for help that resort will be looking for them on their road system. If they call 911 the Sheriff's Dept. will call the resort of the road system they went out of and send the First Responders, Deputies, etc, etc. to that road system. But,,,,the people needing the help will be on a different road system.

[Hammskie]

It might be an adventure but it opens up a safety issue.

This should be the official slogan of Ice Fishing.

Thanks to those making Red Lake more accessible.