upper red lake Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports by Cookie

[tipup]

Sent you an e-mail Cookie!!

[cookie129]

the only email i have is from Bob?

[cookie129]

Weekend two.

All the customers showed up yesterday and are now fishing. Florida with Brian, Trent and Tom had the hot house but they rolled in around 520 am yesterday. Brian has lost two fishing rods one while I was visiting. Man did Tom think that was funny I reminded him that Brian drove,he paused for a second then laughed again.

Cory and his family Abby, Cole and Jack also had some action in montana.

Ken and his two girls Maddiason and Mekenzie were not doing that wel in old minnesota. John and his gal had fished it for two days prior to Ken and his girls so I plan on moving them and california with Nick and his buddy.

[tipup]

Thanks Cookie, cant wait to bring the wife and kids up in Feb!!!! The kids were excited to hear we are heading up!!! See you then!!

[Will]

Cookie, I sent you an email

[cookie129]

I see that

[Will]

Cookie,

I know you're busy, get back to me when you can. I'd like to get it locked down ASAP.

Thanks

Will

[Abndoc]

Cookie,

Thanks for a wonderful trip to red lake. My family had a ball. First class operation all the way.

Corey.

[cookie129]

thanks corey here a pic of cole and jack

[cookie129]

Pat, Rich,Ryan,Todd and Shawn rolled in friday afternoon. It was nice seeing them again and Pat again beat me a cribbage.

The first day minnesota out fished ryan and rich in montana. !4 to 2. When I got out there to move them I decided at the last minute to make a smaller move as the area seemed pretty fishy. After 2 hours with help from chase both houses were moved onto fresh ice. It paid off and the guys made a nice come back with both houses getting around 25 fish. California was used as a day house with the guys not doing all that well.The second day was a little better and they were happy to have a fish fry.

Brian,Todd and Trent had good success in florida. Every time I stopped in to check in on them the lights were down the radio was low and they were very content. After the second night I moved them. Again just a small move but that was all that was needed as they started catching fish again.

Shelly, Chase and Chasity are now fishing florida .We spent some time with them last night and it was slow. I hope to move minnesota and florida today.

Pat and his buddy were in the cabin last night . I sent them to an area and they were very pleased with the results ,Now I have to decide if thats where I should put a house.

John and his group also did well where I sent them .

Wild Bill did real well where I sent them but must of gave the position out to friends as there has been portables there all three days since they fished there.

[cookie129]

Everyone headed home today. It was nice seeing Ben and Shawna. They managed to ice 30 fish for the weekend . Ben was happy saying they did good considering they did not fish that hard.

Montan had Jake and his crew they did all right but only took home 10.In hindsite I should of moved them yesterday.

Florida had Ryan and his dad Terry. They enjoyed the house and also caught a round 30 fish give or take.

California was a little slow but they caught some fish .

I will be moving all the houses again this week with florida the first one to move this afternoon as les and his crew roll in tomorrow.

I have not talked much about the trucks blue thunder and the red baron as I do not want to jinxe them. The dodge prospector has turned into a pretty good truck as well

[cookie129]

I again will be moving the houses for the up and coming weekend. Yesterday I moved montana and today I will move california, Minnesota is still open this weekend so will be the last one to move. Hoagie will be up today so I imagine I will have to move florida friday after they leave as I still have a problem with a house being in the same place for more then 3 days of fishing. There's nothing worse then telling the customers the guys that were here yesterday did not do very well.

We got some more snow last night, and it will be getting harder to move the houses with out plowing first. Blue thunder again is the work horse of the fleet. The red barons v-plow needs a little work before it hits the ice and the dodge prospector has became the new scoutting truck.

The fishing has been deccent but the area I'm at has been pounded pretty hard and I will be looking for a new area the next couple of days. Duey and his better half the fish whisper will be here friday. They have been coming for years and its funny to look back and remember how duey was so concerned the first time he rented from us he has a million questions. Should be another fun weekend.

[cookie129]

Wow looking at the weather, red lake and mother nature are about to show her ugly side. As a local told me with all the emotion a guy could have its a "grand lake and it owes me nothing" Trying to plan for this one may be tough. Since the wife is under the weather maybe we should hunker down in old minnesota so were out there with the customers.

Today will be a extra busy day as I try and prepair for white out conditions.

[cookie129]

with the temps predicted in the mid 30s the pressure ridge should cause quite a shake today. It amazing as it has to feel just like a earthquake. Every time I reach out to grab somthing.One time it was my customer Jill.Man did they tease me about that.

[cookie129]

Amazing I think the temp hit 50 yesterday. I did drive along the pressure ridge out of hillmens around 3 and it looked the same.

Hoagie and Don did real well as of last night they had caught over 20 some to small but still fun to catch. They also lost a few fish. Remember a few is in the high teens back in the crappie days. A couple is over ten and some is two or three.

Scott and his buddie had some, I did not get his buddies name but I did miss one when I stopped and his buddie lost one while I was there. Yesterday I spent part of the day moving minnesota and putting new propane on all 4 houses for the up and coming cold snap. I also had to run the sweety to town, When we got back home I helped buddy on the road for a bit .The temps wiped out 70% of the snow if not more. Banking the house with nice wet slush will be interesting. Minnnesota is open for the weekend so the plan is just to bank it once the temps drop and we get some snow cover. I may move florida this morning before Duey and the horse whisper/Sue arrive. all though as well as Hoagie and don did it would be interesting to see how it does its third time fished?. I also have caifornia open as Tom decided he did not want to drive all the way from Iowa in to this weather. I have always looked at it as it's minnesota people move about but coming home from mpls thanksgiving night? What one long white knuckle drive that took 7 and half hours.

[cookie129]

By last night we has lost 90 % of the snow cover and the lake was awash with standing water . What snow was left was like driving through mash patatos . I always enjoy driving through the slush when its like that. I did have the auger on the back of blue thunder uncovered with the choked closed. When I went to start it before Duey and crew arrived I could not budge the pull cord as the cyclinder was full of water. When I was home in the afternoon I pulled the plug and pulled the cord a few dozen times. Put the plug in and she fired on the third pull gotta love my strikmaster.

I did get old minnesota to a new spot. I augered two holes and plan on fishing it a bit this weekend. Stopped and talked to Scott and they had there 7 and were just fishing c@r.

I also drove over to beacon harbors roads from the lake and from his place. Lyle and his guys are out there . They only had two keepers but were confident the spot was going to turn on. There was a very interesting looking area where the pressure ridge fades away to just a crack. It was like a large pool of 4 feet water. A guy sure would not want to drive into that. As long as Buddy's house stays where its at, I have a mental note of where it is.

Driving down buddy's road /hillmens you go over a a stretch of rough ice/ white ice it run ne to sw. Man is it bumpy for 300 yards . Theres another area further out but only 100 yards wide. The rough ice always has the chance of holding a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie, At the end of the road where the p[ressure ridge is there were a few shacks to the left and right. I know fishermen in both directions so will see how they have done. One time I had alaska sitting in front of a pressure ridge and a giant chunk cracked under the weight of the snow drift behind the house. It sunk about a foot. , I noticed the house looked funny but did not put it togeter untill I went to move it as the back half was frozen into the lake , It could of been worse but all the snow that blew in to the low spot insulated it from totaly freezing. It was still a chore getting it out.

Looks like the 2 to 7 inches of snow missed us. The winds are blowing as I type and I plan on staying off the lake untill this afternoon unless Duey and his crew need anything.

[cookie129]

Duey, Sue the fish wisper, wayne and chris are having a good time in florida. They figure they have landed 40 fish. There son jeff and friends rylee,angie and jess have not had the same luck and they are 200 feeet away from florida. They were all kicked back watching kung my-mom-sees-this panda when I checked in on them tonight. Stopped at hillmens tall tavern and they had a pretty good crowd for the balll games which is nice to see. Some of the guys/outfitters were having dinner at westwind and from the looks of there meals they were eatting good the steak and shrimp looked real good. Tomorrow dave rolls in with his crew for two shacks. I will have to sleep on it tonight and decide what to do tomorrow as the weather says bitter cold. I did drive over and check on someones house and it was not pretty . The drifted snow from monday combinded with all the meltting snow and then the temps dropping last night and today she is frozen into the lake big time. Uglu ugly ugly that is going to be a chore chisling that out. I will post a pic tomorrow of what a frozen house into the lake looks like.

bummer

[theIcedude]

If you had spent less time typing you maybe could have helped this fellow. you take the time and money for gas to drive over and take a picture but not pop a couple blocks underneath! friends are hard to come by these days!

[MNsetters]

I think everone is resonsible for their own shack ! If one tried to chisle the house out and you did some damage who know is responsible? I see you live in waskish maybe you should drive around and save the ignorant !

[theIcedude]

everyone is responsible for their own shack unless somebody uses it and rents it out!

[MNsetters]

I guess their must be some under lying circumstance here that I don't Know ! Looks like you have a bone to pick maybe it should be done some where else then here . Putz

[Boker001]

Hope that guy is on a good spot cause he might be fishing there until spring thaw.

[kelly-p]

theicedude,

WOW! From the picture it looks like it was way to late for Cookie to be putting blocks under it. You don't suppose Cookie was busy taking care of his customers and houses during the flooding and quick freezing that froze this house in? I'm sure Cookie had week just like us trying to keep our houses and clients from being flooded out and then froze in with the rapid tempeture change that happened. It wasn't any fun!

Maybe the owner of this house should have taken the time to take care of his own house. From Cookies picture I think I have a pretty good idea of who owns that house.

Quote:

I see you live in waskish maybe you should drive around and save the ignorant !

While his signature says Waskish that I know of I have never met theicedude and question whether or not he lives in Waskish.

[cookie129]

It was a crazy week for sure. Florida had such good fishing I moved all the snow drifts away from the house and moved montana behind florida. With snow berms on both side of the houses as the snow melted, the water found its was inbetween the berms. What started as 1 inch of standing water turned into over 5 inches. Friday night as the temps dropped I burned up a tank of gas smashing through all the berms and trying to displace all the water. Jeff and ryly had to piggy back they gals into the houses. I felt bad making all the noise but Sue and Duey caught a couple while I was smasing all the snow down. Here a pic of california she is not frozen in but came close.The banking frozen as it melted down and absorb alot of water.

[cookie129]

Here is what california looked like saturday morning

[Rymann]

theicedude, do you own Up North Outfitters?

[cookie129]

Lets straigten this up real quick. I catered to your customers last weekend as you were not able to come up do to car problems. They moved to this house on there own, augered the holes on there own and put propane on house and fired up heaters on there own. I on the other hand offered to move the big shack they were in saturday morning as they had not caught a thing. They said no thanks we moved to ryans other house. I let you know they did that. I brought Clint a roll of duct tape to rpair the house him and his wife were sleeping in. Not sure what I could of done other then drive over there earlier and move the house. Friday when Duey and his crew arrived I had a stream inbetween the snow banks I had built. With 1 inch of standing water.I came back at dark to find 5 inches of water surrounding my two shacks, I then spent the next 2 to 3 hours driving through and plowing through all the snow banks. I also augered three holes to try and drain the water. In hindsight I should of moved both houses friday before they arrived. I also felt bad as while they were fishing I'm driving around the houses like a mad man.

When you make it up here I do hve two hydrolic jacks that may help if you need them, Who knows If i'm not to busy putting out my own fires I may even come give you a hand as I treat everyone the way I would want to be treated.

Allright now thats off my chest. Daves crew arrived around 2 as well as Jason and his family Sue, Megan ,Megans friend Jake. I sent them over to florida to unpack and told them I would be over in a few minutes. I arrive and Jason has the two kids lines down and they are fishing. He also has his line down and is working on the wife when swoosh, splash there goes his rod and real straight down the hole.

Last night making the rounds I stopped and visitted Ron and his two buddies they were fishing along the pressure ridge and had one in the bucket with a couple of misses, They were fishing the same spot they fished 2 or 3 weeks ago. I then stopped to check on the guys in minnesota and montana. To my surprise it was a little slow with only a couple of fish caught or should I say some 3 fish.

Jason and his crew had only caught two small ones.

Lets hope they all had some action last night. This may be one of those situations where A guy should of left the area this week rather then try to get another good week out of this area. I imagine I may be moving a shack or three today.Oh well atleast I love my work and do not mind moving the houses.

I did mention my fleet blue thunder,red baron and the prospector hoping not to jinxs them? The prospector is dead at this time and has a ignition problem. I got lucky with blue thunder while I was working her pretty hard friday night I could here a knocking in second gear. When I checked the oil saturday morning she was bone dry . Gotta love my chev. Blue thunder has been one heck of a great truck as well as the red baron.

[mike8481]

Renting a house through cookies 25th-27th first time to the lake. Taking the wife and kids hoping for a good outing looking for any tips on what I should bring with. Also what is working well planning on bringing portable along in case I need to move around some. Whole family getting pretty excited.

[kelly-p]

Very nice houses for the wife and kids. They will be warm and comfortable.

[cookie129]

The plan will be to have the house on a new spot. A couple of tip ups would be a good idea rigged for walleye. Food, bevarge, blankets, I'll check on you in the evning the morning and afternoon to see if you need any thing and are comfortable. Whta time shall I expect you on friday,You can arrive any time as the house is open thursday night