We continue to have good fishing especially in the Sno Bear. We have two couples in an ice house, a father with his two boys, 6 guys in a 6 person sleeper, and 4 gals that have their own Ice Castle which we set up for them on a fishing spot that has produced in the last week. We had an issue with a fish house not doing well, so we moved them out another mile, which has paid off because they are catching fish! Unfortunately, due to the cold temperatures, we have had an issue with one fish house’s heating and propane regulator and lines, which we fixed. While replacing propane lines it was fun watching the customers catch fish. They had a buddy heater, which we also provide when things get tough; We are making sure they are taken care of. On the other hand, the four gals who brought their own ice castle out have been the highlight of the weekend! They booked two guided Sno Bear outings, they caught well over 30 walleyes today with many more short bites and a few fish lost at the hole! They had some incredible fishing! My good friend Vinny had a blast with Cayla Konicek, Sue Peterson, Louann Peterson, and Kristin Gores, and he really enjoyed how kind, courteous, and fun they are! At one time they had four fish caught at once! So cool! We were 8 miles out, 8 to 9 ft seemed to be the hot spot and chartreuse was the hot color!   It is fulfilling to be a part of a good experience for others and put people on such good fishing! We work hard to keep people on the fish and we enjoy the challenge. What a fun day on Upper Red Lake!

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Here is the honest fishing report! Most customers are doing really good! We have one group in shallower they do not have any electronics for marking fish and setting lines and they have had a few runs on rattle reels.  I gave them a few pointers to put a super lite foam floats on the rattle reels so the fish do not feel the pull on the rattle reel as they run with the minnow. I also told them to when they have a run on the rattle reel to feed out 5ft – 10ft of line to make sure that fish has the bait good before setting the hook. The Grand Castles hammered the fish. One customer even had his buddies pull up two more wheel houses next to my rental. They asked If was ok with that and I told them I have no problem with that. No one owns the lake. We want everyone to have a good time fishing if you want to bring your buddies and family fishing and they have wheel houses while you rent send them on over. Below is a picture of another fisherman even pulling his house over by us we happened to be 1/4 to a 1/2 mile from him and he wanted to fish by us. We have no problems sharing the lake we are all out here for the same reason to catch fish and make memories.

Last Thursday my Grandma passed away Grangroth (Arvola), Verna Esther 84 so it was a difficult weekend as she was like a Mother to me. It was also difficult for my Grandpa as they had 13 children 63 grandchildren and 65 great grand children. Pictured below is a picture of my Grandpa holding my 4 month old Paisley. My grandpa had little time to fish growing up as he worked 2-3 jobs running a dairy farm and building houses. Here is a link to the obituary if anyone wants to read it. http://www.swansonpeterson.com/grangroth-arvola-verna-esther-84/ It was an amazing funeral seeing the family come together. My Grandpa loved pike growing up we would bring them home and he would fry them up for us with grandma. He was such a busy guy my dad and I always tried to get him out fishing after he retired on the dairy but he was too busy tending his garden, making rugs, and helping grandma in the kitchen as they made the best apple pies that they sold at the local farmers market.  He retired with a 400+ tree apple orchard and a huge garden that he tended to 12+ hours a day it seemed like. Grandma will be missed by many. One of my favorite things to do was to bring some red lake walleye home to grandma and grandpa. The next day or two I get off from guiding I hope to bring grandpa a walleye or two and fry them up for him.

We are currently 6 miles out with 3 wheel houses and about a mile in with two wheel houses. While guiding with the Sno Bear we are feeling like the walleyes are being pushed west from the east shore then funneling back around into the north shore and back around to the east shore. So we plan on keeping some houses closer to shore and some houses 6-8 miles out. We do feel a lot of fish get pushed up into the north shore as the pressure gets to them. So those of you going mobile with snowmobiles and side by sides, or any other ATV you can get up to the north shore but watch out for Beacon Harbors Berm as it was 4-5ft tall and sank and cracked the ice with the cold snap and the warm up. We suggest going around the end of it or finding a spot to the east that is frozen use a chissel and a auger to check to see that it is frozen before crossing with a track machine or ATV. We do not recommend crossing with a vehicle as you may drop your front end in.  We can still fish the north shore with the Sno Bear outings. Otherwise we suggest sticking to your resort roads for customers pulling there own wheel houses. Hillmans on Upper Red Lake has a Nice Ice road about out 7 miles. Its in good shape as of today and we will continue to help Buddy with his road system. For any of you who want your own wheel house on one of our guided spots all you need to do is book a sno bear outing with us and we will plow a spot for you and pick you up in the Sno Bear for your Guided fishing trip. Tight lines everyone and we look forward to seeing you on the ice! As far as jigs go I will try get a report on whats working the best as I just got done with Grandma Passing and the Funeral so I am back on the Ice and will have a better report on jigs Wednesday or Thursday.

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What a fun week this has been one customers car said -37 when they started it in the morning. I also got to fish with my wife and four kids over the New Year! Check out the pictures just to show the comfort of the sno bear it was -20 and I had my 4 month old with us and it was about 80 degrees in the Sno Bear. We continue to have a consistent good bite here on Upper Red Lake. Moving onto fresh ice has been the ticket to filling buckets. We had two houses set up in shallower water one in 9 Feet of Water and the others in 12-13 Feet of water. Fishing today in the Sno Bear helped find the more aggressive fish. The Sno Bear has been covering about a 16 square mile area of ice. Fishing in the Sno bear has allowed us to cross cracks and fish our way points with no issues. We had some new cracks on the North shore open up today.  The two houses in Shallower water produced larger fish but we have had a more consistent bite out deeper. The rental houses have been getting 12-24 walleyes in a 24 hour time slot with some bonus perch. Considering the cold temps that is not a bad bite at all.

As far as jigs go we have been using the Custom Jigs Demon Jigging Spoons, Glow Pink Demon Jigs, and the Lindy Rattln Flyer white glow Green. Fat head minnows and Rainbows have done just fine. I have not seen a Minnow head or whole minnow work better than one or the other. One group of customers had some good luck with plain green glow hooks tipped with fat heads and rainbows. We added another Grand Castle to our rental fleet. As far as snow on the lake we are finding deeper and bigger drifts towards the north shore. The wind blown ice from when the lake locked up is holding some 3ft drifts in spots that is also covering up some ice slabs under the snow. So for those of you venturing off the beaten path be careful and have a back up plan if you get stuck.  Remember Monday-Wednesday nights is 50% OFF on rentals call today to book your rental 320-310-9089

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