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Hillman's Highway


luckydog25

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Your out of Hillmans? How did you pull the house out?

Upon further reading of topics I see your out of rogers most likely with the help of an outfitter and his tracked jeep correct? Might be wise to not post in the Hillman highway topic that you are on 13" of ice and its good to go? I believe conditions can be quite different..... madcrazy

It sure would help the rest of us if reports were accurate!

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Fishing update from Bud. Last night was very good again, 4 until dark was back on track and lights out tonight. Jigging out performed deadsticks tonight by a long shot. They wanted the bait moving.

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Been out since 1030 am yesterday morning. 18 total and a 35.5" pike. Most Bite was definitely better as the night went on. Caught 7 of them between 12am and 1:30am. Small jigs green glow with shiner worked best by far for us. Did not catch one walleye jigging. Pike on the other hand came swimming up 5 feet up marking about an inch fat on the vex, raised my spoon up to it and game on. Have 5 very nice looking fish for keeps the rest went back very quickly. Gonna be fishing til Monday morning so hopefully they keep swimming through. Oh yeah fishing 9.5'

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Had some friends out fishing from 8 this morning until 3. They got 25 give or take one or 2, all on slick jigs. Lost several also. The perch color and the silver with fatheads. They also had a huge pike on for about 10 minutes, but lost it...never even got a look at her.

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They were in 10.5 fow, he didn't measure the ice but said it looked to be over a foot. Bud also texted me about an hour ago that his houses and everyone he talked to was doing really good today. I will give him a call tomorrow for an ice and road update.

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Buddy says everyone is good to go now out to the cones, just past 2 miles. The road is in great shape out to there so the big trucks and tandem axle wheel houses are good to go. Please go SLOW!Especially the bigger rigs, but everyone needs to take it slow. Don't go past the cones PLEASE! He has been working on that portion for over a week, to make sure it's safe. I will post here as soon as he says it's good to go past the cones. There are lots of spots to back into to the north, again do not cross the road to the south, that is where the snow is pushed.

Fishing has been better the last few days during the day than it has been all season, and the night bite continues to keep guys from sleeping. Groups reporting 70 fish days. I will back up in a week or so myself, see ya up there boys!

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Just got back from the lake this afternoon. 2 miles out in my 8x16 wheelhouse, unhooked the truck and flooding wasn't a problem, but the 60 degree temperature change and the guys that parked next to me probably turned the fish off. Still great to be on the lake, though! My dad and his buddy were up Thursday through Saturday, and did great. My son and I came up Friday night through Sunday. Kept 4, having them for dinner.my only complaint is when there are plowed out spots every 50 yards or so, and a guy in a big one ton with a vplow and a 20' house parks within 50' of me after plowing a big loop between me and about 3 other houses, then proceeds to have a dance party you can hear In my house through the 80mph winds and. -90 temperature. Maybe I'm a little jealous I wasn't invited, but come on! What kind of grown man gets down to pink songs on red lake? Oh well, still had a great time, and am coming up early Friday to try again hopefully with a better report. Good luck and have fun everyone!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Made a day trip on Friday and was very slow for us. Even in a portable we had about 3" of water on top of the ice. We had 13" of good clear ice where we were at about 2 miles out. Sounds like the bite was very good in that area on Thursday but slow for everyone we talked on Friday. Day late I guess, wink

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Fished 4 days over the weekend with my wife and kids, took a break in the middle on Sunday. Fishing was ok. Caught probably 50 walleyes, 2 perch and 1 smaller northern. Fishing was sporadic and slower than normal but it was cold. Hillman's road was in good shape and only had minimal flooding when we set up the wheelhouse. Fished 9.5 and 11 feet of water. Better night bite in shallower but had a bigger sundown rally out deeper. Deeper seemed like there was longer periods with no action. Overall I think it will be a tougher year with the snow/lack of ice scenario keeping us pretty close to the main road. Snowmobile and portable if an option will definitely give you an edge with miles and miles of untouched area. GPS spots don't help much when you can't get there with the house! Lets hope for a big meltdown.....wish,wish,wish!

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Went out on Red Dec. 27th and 28th. We did great got our limit for 6 guys for the trip. Had a fish fry before we left on Saturday. We caught a lot of smaller walleyes 12 to 13 all went back. We ended up for the group with about 15 perch not huge but we did end up with 3 or 4 over 12inches. Kept perch from 10 and up threw back anything under 10. Few pike released also. Going to be back up at the end of Jan. Hope the slush will be less when we head back.

We didn't have anyone around us for both days of fishing.

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The road is out 3.7 miles right now and in great shape. Lots of spots to pull off. The houses are piled up more as you get further out. Get off the road a bit if possible and away from people for a better bite. The first 2 miles has very few houses. We had 20 inches of ice where we were but it does vary a bit where deep snow is. Ask about any bad spots when you get your road pass. I was up for 5 days last week and set up inside everyone else and did really good. I will post a report and a couple of pics later tonight when I have more time.

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I was up from the afternoon of 1/1 until the morning of 1/5 for a bachelor party. We had 25 guys Friday and Saturday night, so it became more of a party than a fishing trip at times, but we did do pretty darn good all things considered. We were set up in 9 fow quite a ways from everyone else, the end of the road was busy. We marked fish right away, but they wouldn't commit. I switched over to really small demons and other crappie jigs and we started to get them to bite. We did have stretches where slick jigs and flyers worked, but over all smaller was better. Glow red out produced green 4 to 1 in the shack I was in. I don't have a final count on fish, but no one was complaining considering the cold. We had a nice fish fry on Thursday and the guys who wanted to take a few home did just that. We did have a fair amount of slot fish as well, the biggest tickling 29 inches. I will post a couple pics, the 2 biggest being a 24 and the one just shy of 29. Typical, the guy with the 2 biggest fish doesn't even own an ice pole!

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Sweet fish, were you still using bigger minnows with the smaller jigs or did you get lucky and have some smaller ones find their way in your bucket?

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We used fatheads only and size didn't seem to matter...although we didn't have many big ones. Hook them further back towards the tail, seems to make them struggle more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Big thanks to the guys at Hillmans! When everyone else shut down, they braved the weather and worked straight through it for their customers. If it wasn't for them we would've drove 1am-6am just to sit in a parking lot for hours. Checked 5 other places, not much movement before 7am, except there customers sleeping in their parking lots. All while Hillmans were already working on getting people off the lake. Never been through Hillmans before but I will be back, a little customer service goes a long way! Even caught some fish, not great but ok. Rattle reels with plain glow hook and medium shiner out fished jigs. Red glow rattlin flyer with large shiner head was best jig.

Thanks again Hillmans!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just talked to Buddy. He said the road is open out to 3.8 miles, and as wide as it usually is. He has had to completely re-open it 2 times since Friday, the wind has been relentless as we all know. He said in between each of the fronts fishing has been pretty good over the weekend, several of his rentals are eating fish and taking home limits. He said 2.5 miles to the end of the road has been the better fishing last weekend. Off road travel is snowmobile only now. Not much for crappies Buck, he only saw one over the weekend. Still early for them though. He did say more big perch showing up, gotta like that.

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Just got back from red lake off hillmans. 3 guys, started fishing Saturday around 930am. Brought our limit home , 14"-17", released a 21". Red buck shots jigging, gold ant on rattle reel, most fish caught between 12-4 pm. 1 on rattle reel overnight.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • jparrucci
      Very low, probably 2 feet lower than last year at ice out.
    • mbeyer
      what do they look like this spring?
    • SkunkedAgain
      I might have missed a guess, but here are the ones that I noted:   JerkinLips – March 27th, then April 7th Brianf. – March 28th Bobberwatcher – April…. MikeG3Boat – April 10th SkunkedAgain – early April, then April 21st   Definitely a tough year for guesses, as it seemed to be a no-brainer early ice out. Then it got cold and snowed again.
    • mbeyer
      MN DNR posted April 13 as Ice out date for Vermilion
    • Brianf.
      ^^^45 in the morning and 47 in the evening
    • CigarGuy
      👍. What was the water temp in Black Bay? Thanks....
    • Brianf.
      No, that wasn't me.  I drive a 621 Ranger. 
    • CigarGuy
      So, that was you in the camo lund? I'm bummed, I have to head back to the cities tomorrow for a few days, then back up for at least a few weeks. Got the dock in and fired up to get out chasing some crappies till opener!
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Lots of ice on the main basin, but it is definitely deteriorating.  Some anglers have been fishing the open water at the mouth of the Rainy River in front of the Lighthouse Gap.  The rest of the basin is still iced over. Pike enthusiasts caught some big pike earlier last week tip up fishing in pre-spawn areas adjacent to traditional spawning areas.  8 - 14' of water using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring has been the ticket.  Ice fishing for all practical purposes is done for the year. The focus for the basin moving forward will be pike transitioning into back bays to spawn,  This is open water fishing and an opportunity available as the pike season is open year round on Lake of the Woods. The limit is 3 pike per day with one being able to be more than 40 inches. All fish 30 - 40 inches must be released. With both the ice fishing and spring fishing on the Rainy River being so good, many are looking forward to the MN Fishing Opener on Saturday, May 11th.  It should be epic. On the Rainy River...  An absolutely incredible week of walleye and sturgeon fishing on the Rain Rainy River.     Walleye anglers, as a rule, caught good numbers of fish and lots of big fish.  This spring was one for the books.   To follow that up, the sturgeon season is currently underway and although every day can be different, many boats have caught 30 - 40 sturgeon in a day!  We have heard of fish measuring into the low 70 inch range.  Lots in the 60 - 70 inch range as well.   The sturgeon season continues through May 15th and resumes again July 1st.   Oct 1 - April 23, Catch and Release April 24 - May 7, Harvest Season May 8 - May 15, Catch and Release May 16 - June 30, Sturgeon Fishing Closed July 1 - Sep 30, Harvest Season If you fish during the sturgeon harvest season and you want to keep a sturgeon, you must purchase a sturgeon tag for $5 prior to fishing.    One sturgeon per calendar year (45 - 50" inclusive, or over 75"). Most sturgeon anglers are either a glob of crawlers or a combo of crawlers and frozen emerald shiners on a sturgeon rig, which is an 18" leader with a 4/0 circle hook combined with a no roll sinker.  Local bait shops have all of the gear and bait. Up at the NW Angle...  Open water is continuing to expand in areas with current.  The sight of open water simply is wetting the pallet of those eager for the MN Fishing Opener on May 11th.   A few locals were on the ice this week, targeting pike.  Some big slimers were iced along with some muskies as well.  If you like fishing for predators, LOW is healthy!  
    • Brianf.
      Early bird gets the worm some say...   I have it on good authority that this very special angler caught no walleyes or muskies and that any panfish caught were released unharmed.        
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