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Red Lake Nostalgia


shaky legs2

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What a difference a few years makes on the volume of posts on this site.  The early 2000’s was filled with numerous posts during the Crappie Boom by colorful characters like Kelly P, Jiggle Stick, the Gamblers and so many others.  Clamping, lead suits, IBOTS, Crappie Highway, and so many other memories.  Some of those memory makers are no longer with us R.I.P.  I don’t come on this site that often anymore but still enjoy Kelly’s wisdom and knowledge concerning the lake and topics related to it.  I try to keep up on happenings through the URL Association newsletter but I miss the old days.  I must be getting old.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders
36 minutes ago, shaky legs2 said:

What a difference a few years makes on the volume of posts on this site.  The early 2000’s was filled with numerous posts during the Crappie Boom by colorful characters like Kelly P, Jiggle Stick, the Gamblers and so many others.  Clamping, lead suits, IBOTS, Crappie Highway, and so many other memories.  Some of those memory makers are no longer with us R.I.P.  I don’t come on this site that often anymore but still enjoy Kelly’s wisdom and knowledge concerning the lake and topics related to it.  I try to keep up on happenings through the URL Association newsletter but I miss the old days.  I must be getting old.

You start posting where the crappies are on the lake now.  We'll start talking! :grin:

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22 hours ago, gunner55 said:

Good hearing from you, always enjoyed reading of you & Doc's adventures.

 

22 hours ago, gunner55 said:

Good hearing from you, always enjoyed reading of you & Doc's adventures.

Doc was up there with a couple of his boys on Thursday fishing out of portables.  He gave me a call when he was on the ice.  I said, “. Let me guess what you got on”.  Red stripe Demon with a female fat head hooked through the pooper hole on the dead stick and a purple smelt rattling flyer with a minnow head on the other pole.  I nailed it.  He still uses a jiggle stick for his dead stick.  He had to sign off as a fish came in on the Vex.  Put it in the bucket Shaky.

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On 12/16/2017 at 8:06 AM, shaky legs2 said:

What a difference a few years makes on the volume of posts on this site.  The early 2000’s was filled with numerous posts during the Crappie Boom by colorful characters like Kelly P, Jiggle Stick, the Gamblers and so many others.  Clamping, lead suits, IBOTS, Crappie Highway, and so many other memories.  Some of those memory makers are no longer with us R.I.P.  I don’t come on this site that often anymore but still enjoy Kelly’s wisdom and knowledge concerning the lake and topics related to it.  I try to keep up on happenings through the URL Association newsletter but I miss the old days.  I must be getting old.

I think the fourm would still be pretty strong....however when they split the fourm sites up & stuff and changed some things a few years ago it pretty much killed this site. Traffic is a crawl.....they blame it on new media like Facebook and other stuff......which is an excuse.....poor one at that......This use to be my favorite site, today it's in sad shape & I only come because I remember what it once was hoping that it gets back to it someday.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

start some good threads Agrom and have some fun. It aint dead yet. :) 

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Oh I miss the days of getting lost on the lake because of Kelly's horrible directions :grin:.  Thank God Jonny drives us out there now, haven't been lost since (only arrived a day early :D).

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6 hours ago, Living_The_Dream said:

Oh I miss the days of getting lost on the lake because of Kelly's horrible directions :grin:

One thing has always puzzled me. How did you ever get from your home to here? As lost as you could get just going 5 miles across URL the trip here must have taken months. I can just picture you pulling up to the beach and realizing that it wasn't URL,,, it was the Pacific Ocean. Turn around and try it again. :D

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Can you fellas post some pics from the crappie hay days? I didn't have the pleasure of experiencing it!  I was a young pup still in high school in the early 2000's. 

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if drones would have been around back then it would have been cool to have aerial pictures as it was quite the sight to see the miles of cars lined up leaving the lake at 10pm...or the cities of houses that would form overnight.  Was certainly a special time and a time period I hope I never forget!!  I have pictures of the crappies but they were only the driving force to head to red lake...the really cool thing (to me) was the vibe/atmosphere that came along with crappie bite.  Now I do admit watching one of those slabs come through the hole still makes me smile ear to ear but looking back the crappie fishing was secondary for me to the stories that were created and the visual memories from back then.  Westwinds was sure a hopping place on a weekend as it was really the only place to go

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I agree Ozzie.  It was the characters on the ice and on this Forum that made those years memorable.  Some of the stories still make me smile like Halad’s dog driving his vehicle across the ice.  I looked forward to Kelly’s daily reports and musings and there was always some drama and friction going on.  When the bewitching hour of 8:00 pm came it looked like the parking lot of old Met stadium emptying out after a Twin’s night game.  Bumper to bumper traffic and a string of red tail lights as far as you can see. When the limit was 15 crappies they would fill a 5 gallon pail with tails hanging over the sides.  But as you say, catching was secondary.

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funny thinking back of all the good, bad, and the ugly times out on Red...even the heated run in's that we had (sorry Kelly), they are part of the magical time and the stories make me literally laugh out loud!!  A time I really laugh at is one year the road had a mile long detour to the north to avoid a pressure ridge and it looped right back to the Hillman highway.  We were pulling fish house and Kelly was behind us taking clients out.  Well towards the end of the detour there was a turn so you didn't have to come to a 90 degree turn.  Well my friend driving missed that  turn and thought he was being smart that once he hit the main road that he would get out of Kelly's way and let him pass by.  Well my friend turns and hugs the north side of the highway and didn't see the "on ramp" from the detour.  I look back in the rearview mirror and see snow flying behind us and realize what just happened.  We pull over to the south side of the road and stop, felt bad, and here Kelly stops comes marching over to our truck and berates us about how he almost hit our fish house!  I was stunned over the whole ordeal and just sat there and looked dumbfounded while listening to Kelly.  Tensions were high but looking back that is one of the classic encounters we had with Kelly.  Luckily no one was hurt, nothing was damaged, and it is nothing more than a laughable memory but it is all part of the magic that made Red Lake special for me.  Heck Kelly, do you recall super bowl weekend when you broke , I think, your ankle?  Just before your mishap you had plowed a road for us and were gonna make another pass back to the highway but my dumb buddy followed you partly down the path...you plowed back to the road on a different path and said good luck to us (not happy).  We knew something was awry and sure enough the winds picked up and the snow started.  Towards the end of the game I told my friends that we cant stay here as we are gonna get snowed in and we pissed off the plow guy so we know he aint coming to get us.  Well we packed up and started the long process of navigating back to the Hillman Highway.  We continued to get stuck about every 30 feet or so and have disconnect the front truck, blaze a path for 100 yards, back up back to the fish house and try to go again.  Needless to say it took awhile for us to get off the lake that night but luckily we did.  Later we found out had we not gotten off when we did, we would have been snowed in for awhile, cuz Kelly got hurt and was the only scheduled plow operator for the time being.   AHH the memories!!!  Curious Kelly if you recall those incidents at all?  I am sure you have had many citiots cause you problems through the years that you can't recall those, but they are part of my experience and I wouldn't trade those experiences in for nothing cuz I can't recall how many crappies we caught those weekends but those stories I can vision in my mind like they happened yesterday. HAHA  Thanks for taking me back on a memory lane.

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I remember trying to follow Kelly thru blinding snow at mach 3 going cross country. We always caught crappies at the end of those wild rides though.

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  • oh man the memories. I do think the fishing sites took a hit from facebook.
  •  The time I gave directions to the mother load not knowing the little green shack was labs. OOPs.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Have been coming up to Red Lake since 2005 and through Kelly until he called it a day and then have stuck with Jonny P. We had some good years and some great years. These photos are from a great year. Kelly over booked and had to pull a 2 man house out of the woods that he said was his deer shack at the time. The 2 man house was the talk of Westwind according to Patsy when she came flying out there with trash bags yelling at us to pick up our darn fish! In fact, her exact words were "how do you like being mayor?" I was puzzled. She said "well everyone having breakfast is talking about the pile of crappies outside the 2 man house. It'll be about a half hour until they all show up." Sure as heck, the wheel houses moved in. 

Shaky - I met you and Doc a few years back when Jonny was hanging out in your house. Was the end of the season so everyone was having a good time. I think I had the best time, a few too many that is. I recall one of you passing a microwave from the back of the house to the front and shoving a bowl of stew in my hands saying, you need to eat. When I left the house you and Doc felt bad that nothing was biting for us so you handed me a bucket of 10 walleye. I thanked you and left the house...only to return lost and cold. Jonny gave me his giant aluminum mag lite flashlight and pointed me in the right direction. The aluminum flash light and steel bucket handle got really bleeping cold with no gloves and temps below zero. When I finally made it back to the house I flung the door open, threw the bucket of fish in and fell into the doorway of the house. Looked up and my dad was staring down. He asked "what the hell happened to you and where did the fish come from." Didn't answer him...all I could say since I was frozen was "I almost died" and let out a big sigh. 

Oh the memories....

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I remember that day/night.  Kelly noticed the meandering tracks and heard the party noise as he quietly slipped on by.  We had a lot of fun on the Big lake.

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I first started coming up to the Lake in the late 50’s early 60’s usually on the opener.  Fisherman would be lined up elbow to elbow on shore fishing the Tamrac river where it empties into the lake.  People would be cussing and swearing at each other if your bobber drifted too close.  At night the Sunset Lodge hosted a dance for fisherman that was also a sight to behold. I didn’t come back to the lake until the late 90’s when the crappie bite was just getting going.  We bought Minnows from Kelly’s Dad Jim.  Kelly’s mom was alive back then.  I can still remember the icy steps leading to the basement where the minnow tanks were located.  West Wind has not been built yet. Shorty and Marlys might have had Hillman’s store open but only for selling a few groceries.  The only resort still open on the North/East Side was Hudecs and we went out on their road.  They had a cigar box by the till where they would put road pass money which was $5 back then.  Back then we fished out of portables as there weren’t any wheel houses around.  The first wheel house I saw was on Red Lake.  Now they are everywhere.  The first time I saw Kelly he was driving a fire engine red truck and his houses were unpainted particle board.  The next year he painted them light blue so they would blend into the background better.  Always looking for an edge.  We followed him for many years always staying a respectful distance away because he was always on the crappies.  I didn’t really get to know him well until the crappie bite had slowed and they hadn’t opened up the walleye season yet.  Kelly would plow us a spot and stop by for a visit.  I remember one time we and a trucker named Glen who used to fly the flag on his house were the only ones on the road.  A big change from the crappie days when thousands of people invaded the lake.  It was nice and quiet and we still caught crappies, just had to work a little more for them.  So many good memories of those years and the people we encountered.

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I think as fun as the crappie boom years were, the years after the boom prior to the walleyes being opened back up, was some of my fondest memories.  The crowds were not there but the characters still were!  I have pictures from back then but they are all printed photos in an album somewhere... 

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12 hours ago, shaky legs2 said:

I first started coming up to the Lake in the late 50’s early 60’s usually on the opener.  Fisherman would be lined up elbow to elbow on shore fishing the Tamrac river where it empties into the lake.  People would be cussing and swearing at each other if your bobber drifted too close.  At night the Sunset Lodge hosted a dance for fisherman that was also a sight to behold. I didn’t come back to the lake until the late 90’s when the crappie bite was just getting going.  We bought Minnows from Kelly’s Dad Jim.  Kelly’s mom was alive back then.  I can still remember the icy steps leading to the basement where the minnow tanks were located.  West Wind has not been built yet. Shorty and Marlys might have had Hillman’s store open but only for selling a few groceries.  The only resort still open on the North/East Side was Hudecs and we went out on their road.  They had a cigar box by the till where they would put road pass money which was $5 back then.  Back then we fished out of portables as there weren’t any wheel houses around.  The first wheel house I saw was on Red Lake.  Now they are everywhere.  The first time I saw Kelly he was driving a fire engine red truck and his houses were unpainted particle board.  The next year he painted them light blue so they would blend into the background better.  Always looking for an edge.  We followed him for many years always staying a respectful distance away because he was always on the crappies.  I didn’t really get to know him well until the crappie bite had slowed and they hadn’t opened up the walleye season yet.  Kelly would plow us a spot and stop by for a visit.  I remember one time we and a trucker named Glen who used to fly the flag on his house were the only ones on the road.  A big change from the crappie days when thousands of people invaded the lake.  It was nice and quiet and we still caught crappies, just had to work a little more for them.  So many good memories of those years and the people we encountered.

Hey Shaky legs2 .  You mentioned that the first wheelhouse you saw was up at Red during the Crappie boom . I'm pretty sure the first ones I saw were up there also ,but I had to chuckle as I also remember that I would see these early houses scattered up and down Hwy 72 on the shoulder of the road with broken axles every time I went there , which was often , as I too was hooked on those slabs back then . . On another note , I have 5 of those slabs mounted on a piece of driftwood , and all 5 were over 2 pounds and two of them were over 2.5 pounds , and all from one evening of fishing ..   Back then there were 3 pounders and even close to 4 pounders caught at the start of that boom , and over the years those huge ones got picked over for the most part , but 1 - 2 pounders remained the "norm" , and remain the "norm" even today , but with much less quantity remaining.. that type of hot Crappie bite sure was something to have witnessed , I don't think that it will ever be seen ever again anywhere ..

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Almost all the early fish houses had one axle and it was a common sight to see one with its wheels toed in from a bent axle as you followed it down the road. People drive too fast, especially on the ice.  I remember seeing one wheel house go airborne when the driver was going too fast on rough ice and hit a mini pressure ridge.  The house bottomed out when it finally came to rest with a bent axle.  We caught hundreds of crappies over the years on URL but I never caught one over 15”.  They mostly ran 13-14 1/2 inches like they were stamped from a cookie cutter.

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Man those were the days. 15 crappie limit. A bucket of 30 weighed 34-36 lbs. Upper red lake rush hour after dark. A guy could go out there and just pound cookie cutter 13"+ crappies. There were times looking into the bucket I'd feel guilty filleting them because they were so nice. I agree with shaky legs. I must have caught hundreds of URL crappies and only caught 1 over 15".

One of my favorite URL moments was later as the crappie boom was winding down and the walleye season had been opened up. I was fishing after opener and caught a bunch of drum. To prove to my buddy that they were indeed edible I kept 5. When I dumped the bucket onto the fillet table at the campground I proudly announced to the 3 guys busy filleting walleyes that I had finally caught some crappies. Despite all their insistence that I was wrong, I told them they were just jealous I had caught crappies and I wasn't going to tell them where! Their faces were priceless. And it turns out, after a long day of fishing, a few beers, breaded, deep fried and put on a bun with cheese and ketchup or tartar sauce drum are indeed edible. And a great fish to give to inlaws who beg for fish..............

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1 hour ago, shaky legs2 said:

Almost all the early fish houses had one axle and it was a common sight to see one with its wheels toed in from a bent axle as you followed it down the road. People drive too fast, especially on the ice.  I remember seeing one wheel house go airborne when the driver was going too fast on rough ice and hit a mini pressure ridge.  The house bottomed out when it finally came to rest with a bent axle.  We caught hundreds of crappies over the years on URL but I never caught one over 15”.  They mostly ran 13-14 1/2 inches like they were stamped from a cookie cutter.

Yes indeed 17 plus inch crappies were pulled from Red in the very , very early days of the so called "Crappie boom" . These huge slabs were mostly caught by a handful of "Red Lake locals" , who for he most part tried to keep these huge fish quite secretive , eventually the word started to slip out , and these size fish were depleted quickly , as I'm sure there numbers were limited to start with ..  As the crowds started to flood the lake with pressure the size of these slabs seemed to get somewhat smaller , but still very respectable at 13, 14, and some 15 lnchers . I'm sure there must be some pictures that were taken of the 17+" fish that some of the locals who were lucky enough to have caught some of these size fish  might want to share with this Nostalgia Post . These fish were GIANTS ..  I sure hope so , as I'm sure there are some non believers ...

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did you rent from me one year  when you guys all had sleds. I walked into Minnesota and the sink was fullo f crappies and I flipped out they were in the sink. ? the next morning  everyone  was gone to low but one hungover guy and I chewed him a new as because the house was a mess? I could tell stories  for ever.

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Hi Cookie,

When we stayed on shore we always stayed in one of Steve’s cabins across the road on the river.  One of our first trips I did fish a crappie contest you had. Throw in $5 and you got a card dealt for each crappie you brought in. Best 5 card hand won.  

Jigglestick won it and every penny of it (i think it was close to $300) was spent at Westwinds that night.  That was back when “Captain” was king:D

Never had the pleasure of staying in one of your sleepers, but have heard they are very nice. 

Bounced between Kelly’s and Steve’s houses depending on who had an open one. I really gotta  try and make it up for a weekend.  Even just an overnight trip by myself with the sled and portable. 

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I still check in here occasionally.  I often read Cookies posts and have stayed with him once, by myself.  He had someone cancel last minute a few years ago, so I scooped up a low cost opportunity.  I was very happy with his accommodation.  He even moved the house for me.  I didn't catch much Friday thru Sunday morning, but about the time I was leaving, the rattle wheels went nuts, and was non stop action for about 6 hours before I had to finally leave.  it was spooky, as I was out a ways, had just my civic, and the fog rolled in.  There wasn't any snow on the ice, so no road to follow, no gps, and couldn't see past the end of my hood.  I knew if I could head strt south, I might get lucky and run into the line of snow that was still there from plowing.  Eventually I hit it and from there was fine.  I was picturing getting stuck, not having enough gas to keep her running until the fog lifted, and not knowing which direction to walk... your head starts playing funny games in spots like that.

I have been visiting this site for years.  I enjoy the stories.  Back in the early 2000's, I was at Dicks sporting goods in Woodbury (might not have been dicks then), either way, one of the clerks had a picture of 60 crappies him and his buddy had all laid out on the grass.  They were HUGE!  I asked him where he got them, and that was the start of my love affair with URL.

We were never ice guys, but we'd come up 3 weekends in a row during open water, between mid May and first week of June.  I'd bring my son and brother n law, and then soon my other brothers.  Most of us could take off work whenever, so when we saw there was going to be 3 days of calm weather and 60 degree water temps, off we went.

I have lots of very fond memories of Upper Red Lake.  Back then we stayed at Hudecs.  He still had a bar when we first started coming.  There were half a dozen mounted slabs in his bar.  The first time I saw them I was stunned at the size.  I can remember the first fishing trip, sitting in a floatilla of boats, a little north of the tamarac.  No one was catching much.  It had been cloudy and windy, and the water temps might have been a tad on the cool side.  But then the sun came out, the wind stopped, and as afternoon led to evening, it was suddenly game on. 

My older brother is a little different.  I think he may have asbergers or something.  It's funny when he fishes.  He's very dramatic:  "AH, GOT ONE!!!"  and then when he'd lose one it was "Shoot, Shoot, oh Shoot".  Funny.  He never really cared to fish for crappies.  He was all about the hunt for Red Octobers.  Man what a pike fishery back then.  I remember in ONE day he caught 14.  5 were over 10lbs.  His biggest was 43".  When he would catch the pike, he would bring them into the boat, and they would flop all over the place.  Then he would want a picture, and he didn't hold them like you or I would, he bear hugged them right against his sweater.  Pike slime all over him.  Laugh my ass off.   Great times.

It was very sad to see the demise of hudecs.  I loved being able to run the boat right up the little channel and park right out from the motel room.  BBQ outside the rooms, use the fish cleaning shack.  Good times.  I remember one year we stayed there, the bar was a shell of itself, and no longer in service.  They didn't have any power, and were running electricity off a generator.  The sheets hadn't been changed and the water was just a trickle.  Sad.  We enjoyed ourselves anyway, but it was sad to see a Red Lake Icon fall by the way side.

I caught 1000's of red lake crappies over a handful of years.  I don't think I ever caught one over 15.  I know it didn't catch a true 2 lb crappie.  I think some of the 14.5's probably ran around 1.6 lbs.  My biggest pike was in that 37 or 38" range.  Fun stuff though.

Back when the walleyes were about a pound, we would catch about 75 fish a day.  We used to count the crappies as 1, the walleyes as 0, and the sheephead/drum whatever as -1.  So one evening I am at 41, my brother n law is at 40, and we both have a fish on. The walleyes were more less the same weight as the cappies, so it was hard to tell at first which one you had.  Within a few seconds you could generally tell, but not at first.  So we both have a fish on, and I know if mine is a walleye, and his is a crappie, we're tied, but vice versa and I would have a 2 point lead.  I look over my shoulder at him, while I continue to real.  I see him pulling in a walleye, so I laugh and look down to see what mine is, that felt like a crappie, and was now right beneath me.  As I look down, all I see is the massive head of 20 plus pound  pike,  It's gills were all flared out, and it had just eaten my fish.  It was heading right under the boat, so I went to reach for my drag, but it was too late, he'd just snipped it off.  Scared the crap out of me.  I can remember that scene like my brain took a video of it.

There was one time, long after the crappies were gone, but still one or two could be found, we had rented a big pontoon from west wind, and 6 or 7 of us were on it.  We had been catching lots of walleyes on the south shore, but eventually decided to head to the north shore to see if we could find the elusive, yet still catchable, upper red lake crappie.  So we're just off the break, off the north side of the lake, a couple miles west of Hudecs.  We had just caught a crappie, and the walleye action was getting hot, when my nephew, who's fishing off the south side of the boat towards "deeper" water, says he's snagged.  I scratch my head a bit, as anyone who has every fished URL, knows it's darn near impossible to get snagged. I figure it's an anchor or someone's ice auger, or something, so I have everyone pull in, and we circle around to go get it. 

Except that when I bring the boat around, it doesn't seem to be completely stationary.  We soon realize, Tylers 'snag' is moving.  But not alot.  We get over the top of it, and it is very slowly moving.  WE all lean over that side of the pontoon as he fights the 'fish' with 4lb test, trying not to break off.  it has his pole completely doubled over, but isn't making big runs. It's really just staying down, and slowly moving.  I'm wondering what the hell he has on.  I"ve never heard of catfish in URL, but it wasn't making those sorts of head shakes.  I had heard that once upon a time, there were sturgeon in URL, but I didn't think one would bite on minnow.  I would think that if it was a 10-20 lb pike, it would be making runs, and we would have seen it already.  He had now fought it for 15 minutes, and we hadn't seen anything yet.  I was shaking my head. 

We started to see bubbles, and it dawned on me, he might have a big snapping turtle.  I was convinced that was what it was, until I look up, and see that we are well out from the break, probably what, 150 yds from shore??  I don't know, and know one else did either.  After 20 minutes had gone by, and we hadn't seen his "fish" yet, we all lost interest, dismissed it as a snapping turtle, and went back to fishing... after all, we had caught a crappie, and the walleye bite was hot.

Within about 5 minutes of going back to fishing, my nephew, who was still gallantly trying to land whatever it was, suddenly fell over backward, like Lucy just pulled the football.  He went flying backwards on his ass, pole went backwards, 1.5# sheephead comes sailing over the rail, and lands on the deck.  I'm not kidding, there it was, just a sheep head.  Upon further inspection, it had a huge relatively triangle shapped bite, across the mid section of the sheephead.  The bite was at least as wide as your hand, and wider at the belly of the drum, and narrower at the top, but all the way at the top, and not coming to a point.

I still can't figure out what that was.  I imagine there ARE snapping turtles on Red, though I've never seen one, and certainly not that far out.  My guess is, the snapper was on the bottom, with it's mouth open, using it's tongue to lure unsuspecting pray.  My nephew probably had too much slack in his line, and didn't realize the Drum had bitten his minnow, and was probably now interested in the snapper's tongue.  I'm guessing then, the giant snapper, clamped down on the drum and it was game on.  Either that, or a 30+# pike, grabbed the drum, had no idea it was hooked, so didn't go on any sort of run.  Just sat there on the bottom with no urgency to go anywhere, and my nephew, with the drag set looser than Angelina Jolie, just wasn't putting enough pressure on it.  I guess we'll never know.

The one thing I always thought was both fun, and funny, was when we would bring a newbie to URL.  We would stop in Waskish with a big cooler, and ask for TEN SCOOPS of fatheads.  Our new URL guest, would always ask incredulously if we really needed that many fatheads?  We would nonchalantly tell him those should last until noon. We could usually drag them out until 2pm, re-using dead ones, but then would have to stop into Rogers and get more.  I loved watching their faces as we put 200 minnows in a cooler, and tell them that's only half a days worth.

I remember having to stay the drake motel in Blackduck, because everything else was sold out.  Many nights at the Royal Shooks.  Cleaning 60 fish at a shot at Rogers or Westwind or Hudecs.

So many great memories.  Thank you to all of you, for helping me in early days.  Many of you had tips and information that was invaluable.  I will savor those memories for ever, as will my son.  Thanks for the memories.

 

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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