Reserving a sleeper

[Random guy]

Will you still headquarter out of Beacon Harbor?

No, actually I will not, Beacon Harbor is a top notch lake access, but just too far from where I want to be most of the time. Plus the whole idea with Red Lake Remote is to be remote with no crowding, and that includes me crowding in on Beacons territory. Beacon Harbor has expanded their fleet and he is going to need a little more road space, I have the ability to go anywhere with a small fleet, so no reason to slam into them and screw up both of us.

I actually secured a track of private property on the north shore complete with full power, sheds, storage facilities, security measures, a few back up cabins and most of all a BIG GATE on a private road about 6 miles from the nearest ice road system, we will be way out utilizing an exclusive and private access.

[ozzie]

sounds pretty cool!! Good luck on the new adventure!!

[gunner55]

+2,hope it goes well.I was up that way yesterday & found some hungry ones.

[holmsvc]

I'm thinking about giving Red a try this winter early ice. We typically go to LOW and fish during the day and go back to the resorts at night. Is there typically a good night bite early ice on Red? We are kicking around the idea of doing sleepers on Red, but if it's a dead sea at night we aren't interested.

[ozzie]

changes...have been up there and they only seem to bite at night and other times they seem to bite during the day and not at night.

[Getanet]

I'm thinking about giving Red a try this winter early ice. We typically go to LOW and fish during the day and go back to the resorts at night. Is there typically a good night bite early ice on Red? We are kicking around the idea of doing sleepers on Red, but if it's a dead sea at night we aren't interested.

I'm far from an expert on Red (going myself for the first time this Jan) but I was recently looking into a similar set-up on Red to what you described on LOW. What I found is your options are limited. Beacon Harbor and West Wind were the only two resorts I found that had cabins on shore you could rent. There is a motel about 20 miles away you could stay at too. But luckily there are plenty of places that rent sleeper houses, and most seem to have pretty nice houses and try hard to put customers on fish. I booked a sleeper with Portavilla, but a Google search pulls up plenty of results. One place that doesn't show up high in a Google search for some reason is Greater MN Rentals. They looked like they have really nice houses. They were a close second for me.

If you want to book a setup like Beacon or West Wind have to offer you better call soon. Those book up fast (so do the sleepers).

[holmsvc]

I'm not interested in going for day houses on Red. My interest is in the sleepers, but my concern is the night bite. If I were doing day houses it would be LOW all the way.

I just thought it would be fun to try something different.

[pushbutton]

Red lake can have a great night bite. Simply luck of the draw where you happen to rent on what night.

[Random guy]

I'm not interested in going for day houses on Red. My interest is in the sleepers, but my concern is the night bite. If I were doing day houses it would be LOW all the way.

I just thought it would be fun to try something different.

Red Lake has a night bite.

Actually, the night bite has a lot to do with where the sleeper is located. As an outfitter I have options, or should I say mind numbing, TUMS eating decisions on what anglers to set on what bite. Some want flurries and some want steady. I might put the house on shallow breaks and have the standard, but almost guaranteed evening bite with pike mixed in. I could place the house on hard structure such as a small rock pile or breaking contour where the fish will come in waves when they are active. Could be once a day could be ten times a day or, and where I often set up, is over fertile mud in deeper areas. Maybe over mud with a little twist in the ice or flow if I can find it. That bite is never gang busters but very steady 24 hours a day. You don't get the fast and furious flurries, but when I stick my head in the door during morning checks anglers have usually broken it down to "fish per hour" over a 24 hour period or tell me how they went into rattle reel patrols by the shift. So yes the walleye night bite on Upper Red can be very good, and lets not forget about our screwed up pike the bite all night. I see some of the biggest pike pictures at sun up, unfortunetly the pictures are often three guys standing in there underwear and socks around a pike and tangled up rattle reel line at 3 AM.

[pushbutton]

Yeah, when I said "luck of the draw" ....that was not entirely accurate. Some outfitters do seem to have more "luck" than others But it's early in the season, ok, not even the season yet, and way too early to start the great debate. Sponsors get crabby, administration gets crabby...lol. One thing for sure is would rather fish Red over LOW any day or..... night of the week.

[ozzie]

well after many years of going to red I went to LOW last year and I will take red lake all day every day...no need for this guy to drive another hour and half

[luv2fish]

My friends and I have the Red vs LOW debate every year. We go on an annual MLK weekend trip. We went to LOW last year and caught a whole bunch of fish. But I can only handle catching less than 10" sauger for so long. And once the sun goes down, I get bored out of my mind. I like Red much better and have had those nights where we can't sleep cause every hour a rattle or 2 goes off. My 2 cents if you want to sleep on the ice, RED all the way. If you want to fish during the day and sleep in a cabin, LOW is a good option.

I won the debate this year and reserved 2 houses with Jonny P's new adventure....

[Living_The_Dream]

We have been ice fishing for nearly 15 years on Red lake and I can tell you the night is VERY active. A couple of years ago we were fishing out of one of Jonny P's houses and I gave up at 230am and told my son it is was his time to experience the "24 hr" bit on Red. I woke up a couple of hrs later at 700am and found my son sleeping, so I went around and checked the rattle reels and every one of them had no bait on them. So I woke up my son and asked him what was going on? "Dad I was catching 2-3 fish every 10-15 minutes and I needed some sleep, so I quit baiting the hooks after 600am."

[Xplorer]

Well, couldn't put together a group of 4 to give Jonny's new venture a try, but did book a couple nights in a 2 man sleeper with John at Beacon Harbor for my 12 year old and I. Will be there Dec 29-31.

Junior has been going up to Red since he was 6, and loves staying in a sleeper! We tried the cabin on shore / sled-n-portable route one year and it just wasn't the same. He actually gets a kick out of using a tipup in the sleeper for his set line during the day and does pretty well with it

Lets all hope that mother nature is kinder than last year, and lets the ice setup nice and solid before she drops a dump of snow on URL.

[david_vang]

Anyone have any experience with Westwind? Thinking about getting a sleeper from them.