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Money From Road Access Fees


loadmaster

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Is the report true that they think 10.000 people on the lake in one weekend..  Wow thats a lot of fish caught which cannot be good for the fisheries. Well my question being is any of that money that is being made each weekend go back directly into stocking or landing improvement,  I know that keeping a road open is not cheap.  But think how much ,money that is spent between house rentals, bait, access, and of course a few toddies and food.    This post is not against the resorts, I understand they have to  sock some way, but now with the summer fishing you would think they could ante up a few bucks for stocking.  Maybe they do just never heard

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the lake will manage it self with out stocking. Not every one caught there limits  Just ask my customers

Bring a plow truck up and do some plowing they take a beating. I have over 4,500 just in burned up trannsy alone. I do not make a penny on  the road

 

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I'd say you are low in your count. Two roads I know had 832 passes sold and another more than that. This was not the New Years Holiday weekend either. Someone posted there are 10 roads. Then there are some that access the lake via their property or don't need passes because they have houses already out there and go through other channels. Not many people are fishing alone in a ice castle and footing the bill coming from a distance. I'd say the average is more like 3-4 bodies per pass. So these 2 roads alone using 3.5 people per vehicle pass,, some with less some with more so I used 3.5 = 6062 anglers off of 2 roads. Do the math. Even with an error allowance the lake cannot sustain this.

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10 minutes ago, cookie129 said:

the lake will manage it self with out stocking. Not every one caught there limits  Just ask my customers

Bring a plow truck up and do some plowing they take a beating. I have over 4,500 just in burned up trannsy alone. I do not make a penny on  the road

 

Ya I know it is not an easy thing to keep a road open.   You have some good years and then the years were every bit of equipment is trashed.  How do your clients access the lake?  It not quite bad when the crappies were going,  I remember West Winds was small and some young girls were standing at access with bushel baskets.  It was just like a toll booth no stopping, just throw your  $5.00 in.  Have not heard from Kelly some how he knows those numbers on fish/poundage taken.  Did not mean to ruffle any feathers from the resorts.Glad they are there. 

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I live here on the shores of upper red lake but I help buddy hillmen on his road and my customers access the lake through there. Yesterday we worked on extending the road about two miles to get around the pressure ridge, I burned up 32 gallons of gas, 2 quarts of oil, 1 quart of tranny fluid, 1 pint of power steering fluid and who knows haw much ware and tare on the only truck I have running right now the red baron. We plowed from 11 am  and I through in the towel around 11;30 pm and we still were not done. once were over the pressure ridge we have to plow back to the main road and the push out another 3 to 6 miles.

 On a side note looking for some one to bring a plow truck here from Colorado?

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One year I was sitting in a WMS house on the north side, staying warm and having a great time catching the occasional fish.  Outside, a significant snow was falling and the winds were making sure that it was coming down sideways.

 

During the majority of the time that I was awake over the course of two days, I could hear and see Jonny and Kelly running trucks to keep the roads open.  It was at that time that I decided two things:

  1. I never want to be in the business of renting sleepers and have a road
  2. Every cent that I gave them was well earned.

 

That weekend really put it in perspective for me.

Edited by BringAnExtension
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yep if you would of seen us yesterday. 3 v plows running full tilt 12  to 15 hours. Kelly the mechanic had a bowl of cold soup for dinner. I had a 7 day old pork chop and a piece of beef jerky. Buddy Hillmen probably did not eat. Now today its snowing? I really do enjoy working on the lake  and roads but at one point yesterday  / last night I was punch drunk and had to quit. Trying to see out the windshield after 12 hours finally got to me.

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Sounds like a lot of chemicals getting dumped into the lake to me. 2 quarts of oil, a quart of transmission fluid and a pint of power steering fluid don't just disappear. 

 

And thats just  one day. And one vehicle. 

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An easy cure to the problem, if you ask me, is don't fish there.. Are other lakes that much different? I can't believe that all the people who maintain the roads on the lakes have new trucks to do it with. I've seen the pics that Jonny P & others have posted of the piles of bags of human waste that are on the shoreline in the spring too. Not to mention all the garbage left behind. It's disgusting

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To me a $10 road fee per day is the cheapest part of the trip, hours are spent making and maintaining the roads.  If you got stuck you would spend more to get pulled out.  It is greatly appreciated the work they do.

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Ahhhhh, the great road pass millionaire myth. You hear it from Mille Lacs, Lake Of The Woods, Leech, Devils Lake, wherever there is an ice road. Go to any of those lakes, buy a nice little lot, and set up an ice road business. After a couple good storms, winds, bridging cracks, picking up garbage, pulling knuckleheads out of plow banks, and off the bottom of the lake, and wrecking all your equipment, new or used, you can count up your fortune, sell the lot, and hope you have $50.00 left to have a nice warm dinner, at dinnertime.. 

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For awhile today it was below zero with winds gusting over 30 mph. All over URL people were out there with plow trucks doing the best they could to not only keep the roads open today but also to make sure  there would be roads for this weekend. It is forecasted to drop to -30 tonight so on the lake it will be -35 t0 -40 tonight and in the morning and those plow trucks will be working out there. In addition to keeping the roads open they will be helping fishermen get their vehicles started, pulling fishermen out of snowbanks and on and on. All the money that was made in road fees when the weather was good, the snow was low and fishermen were all over,,,,, it's all being spent today and tonight.

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I took a peek at the Bemidji weather station just about 4 pm & they were reporting close to 20 mph winds along with -50+ windchills. Nothing man made is designed to work in these conditions, for very long. I love to fish & we have been at the lake for a week today, I have yet to wet a line.

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BACK A FEW YEARS AGO I WENT OUT OF BEACONS, ON THE WAY OUT I STOPPED AND TALKED TO JOHNNY P AND PROCEDDED OUT, AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPS I WAS STUCK JOHNNY CAME AND PULLED ME OUT AND I ASKED HIM WHAT I OWED HIM AND HE SAID YOU HAVE A ROAD PASS DONT YOU, I SAID YES AND HE PLOWED ME A SPOT TO SET UP THE WHEEL HOUSE, I HAVE ALOT OF RESPECT FOR JOHNNY AND KELLY AND BUDDY, THE HILLIMAN HIGHWAY IS THE BEST, I PLOW SNOW FOR SHERBURNE COUNTY AND I WOULD LOVE TO GET ON A LAKE WITH MY PLOW TRUCK, I PERSONALLY KNOW THEY DEAL WITH ALOT MORE ISSUES THAN ON A PUBLIC ROAD, THANKS GUYS AND IM HEADIND UP TOMORROW 

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Not that my :2c: matters but...

 

Anyone who complains about paying for a road pass has never owned a plow and plowed for others.

 

I get asked if I'll take clients from time to time and my answer is always "No thanks".  I'll help a person in need but:

 

1 - owning that expectation is not attractive day after day.

 

2 - the equipment is expensive and tough on my truck if I'm not careful.  It needs to last.

 

I don't think I'd even make the drive to Red with my plow on my truck if I could get a spot plowed for my house for an extra 10 spot.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
20 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Not that my :2c: matters but...

 

Anyone who complains about paying for a road pass has never owned a plow and plowed for others.

 

I get asked if I'll take clients from time to time and my answer is always "No thanks".  I'll help a person in need but:

 

1 - owning that expectation is not attractive day after day.

 

2 - the equipment is expensive and tough on my truck if I'm not careful.  It needs to last.

 

I don't think I'd even make the drive to Red with my plow on my truck if I could get a spot plowed for my house for an extra 10 spot.

 

Plus+1. I had the resort guys on Mille Lacs come out in a blinding whiteout blizzard, twice and save mine and everyone else out there lives because the temps where dropping like a rock as well. I'm not even sure how they found us! The little yellow blinking light on the truck was like Jesus coming through the clouds!

For $10 bucks I say Amen! :D

Edited by leech~~
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I do not mind paying any amount and I know that they are it possible for us to fish URL.  I realize that it is not cheap to maintain their entire road system, but $20,000 for one weekend is not bad.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
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