The time sure goes fast when you are on Upper Red Lake (120,000) Acres (48,000) Acres that falls under the Jurisdiction of the State of Minnesota. We have been covering around (20,000) of these acres of frozen hard water with our 5 sleeper wheel houses and the Sno Bear. I would say the Sno bear caught around 200 walleyes in about 20 hours it was hole hoping with a few guided outings. Its just an amazing machine 2ft wide cracks ice heaves nothing stops this machine from going to the remote fishing areas of the lake. Maybe next season we will start doing Sno Bear Rentals as an extra option for customers. We had some extremely cold temperatures the last few days and now we have a nice warm up Friday into the weekend. It sure will feel nice to get out and do some hole hopping outside of the Sno Bear and the Ice House Rentals. We still offer 50% off Monday – Wednesday nights. Propane usage should cut down significantly this week. It seems everyday I was filling the pick up box full of empty propane tanks and gas cans.  I fill them up every morning at North Country Store in Waskish. They tend to have some good coffee on the -20 degree days helps warm a guy up.

As far as fishing goes it seems the 2 night rentals are catching 20-30 walleyes and the 3 night rentals are getting close to that 40 walleye mark. If we need to move a house we make every effort we can. Usually its the 3 night rentals that have more of a option to move. We have not had to do many moves while customers are in the rentals as they keep catching. We have found fish out 9-7 miles and found fish 1-3 miles. More jumbo perch have been caught out in the 13-14 ft of water areas mixed in with walleyes. Most walleyes have been in that 15.5-18 inch range. Every once and awhile we have a customer catch a pike. Pink and Golds have been the go to lures. I would say 75% off the time in the sleeper houses the fish have been caught on set lines. One customer had a camera down while jigging and he jigged the walleye darted. Then the other houses have been getting a few while jigging. The Sno Bear Outings customers are jigging most of the time. We tend to find very active fish while fishing in the Sno Bear. The wheel houses tend to have a better bite during low light hours. We try to get our sno bear outings in during the hours of 10-3 this way customers can get back to the rental houses before the bite picks up in them. Pictures posted below are from three guys on the last sno bear outing.

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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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We started off the week a little slower and have moved out 5.5 miles from shore and have houses set up in different depths. One house is in 9 Feet of Water and the others are in 12 – 13 Feet of water. I just had two groups check out today that rented two ice houses. They had there limit and caught and released a lot of fish to stay under there limit while fishing. We have had a good walleye and perch bite. We are still having more of a day bite. seems the houses will catch 3-4 in the middle of the night. Low light hours we are seeing customers pulling doubles meaning catching 2-3 fish at the same time. This is what its all about two of my rentals this week family outing had two rental shacks! We moved them on the 2nd day onto fresh ice and it was lights out. Pink and white gem-n-eyes have been the go to lure for set lines. Customers have been letting the fish take the rattle reels extra long to make sure the fish gets the whole minnow and hook in before the hook sets. Last two days most fish have been caught on set lines. We do have a few houses open over Christmas Eve. We wish our customers a Merry Christmas. Next week will busy. Do not hesitate to call or email us to check for availability. Pictures below are from the group that checked out today.

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The past week our guided fishing trips in the Sno Bear have been averaging 10-15 fish an hour! Our rental houses everyone has left with there limits of walleyes and a few bonus perch and throw backs. With the Sno Bear we have been fishing from 6 feet of water out to 13 feet of water. Getting some nice perch out in the mud flats. Walleyes have been plentiful ranging in the 15-19 inches. We are on 14 inches of ice 3 miles out from shore fishing in 13 ft of water with our rental houses. The sno bear we are fishing some remote areas of the lake.  Hot hooks in one house have  been plain red hooks tipped with fat head minnows for one group. Rattle reels we are still recommending putting pink and gold gem-n-eyes on.  Pink and Gold has been our go to for jigging spoons. Pictures below are from the last few days. Sounds like we might have a snow storm brewing this Thursday so any of you rental customers coming in this week lets keep an eye on it. If we need to try beat the storm and travel earlier or later we will try do our best to accommodate your arrival times.

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We are finding 12-14 inches of ice. We have not been any farther than 2.5 -3 miles out from shore. We have found most active fish have been within that first mile of shore. We did a guided outing in the sno bear fished 6 feet of water on out to 11ft of water about 3.5 miles out from shore. Did not catch any fish out deeper just lots of smaller marks look like perch. Set up by one of the old crappie crib clusters no crappies  still working on finding them.  The guided outing was a great couple to work with. Most fish caught were around that 16-18 inch mark. No perch or crappies all walleyes. We have pulled out all of our houses. We had two rentals in shallower this weekend and two rentals out deeper. The fish are moving out deeper on the east side of the lake. On the North shore we are still finding plenty of fish in the 6 –  7 Feet of water. Pictures below are from this weekend. For our customers reading the reports glow pink and gold gem-n-eye are the go to lure for rattle reels. For jigging JB lures makes a pink and gold glow lure called the weasel. Pick some of them up on your way out. The Sno Bear has been a great addition to our company. We recommend for sleeper ice house rental customers to book a sno bear outing mid day as you will put 2 – 3 times the amount of fish on the ice mid day. We are also adding Garmin Panoptix Into the Sno Bear. This is going to give us a huge advantage when it comes to fishing. Check out the video here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogVMlcYVcPc

We look forward to getting you on the ice!

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Starting off with the ice we are making some good ice the last few days. 10-12 inches of ice. We had a group of 4 guys fishing all week the start of the week fishing was a little slower but picked up. They started fishing in the rain then had a cold front push in and slowed things down. After a day or two fishing picked up. This group of guys had a 60+ fish day. They did have to portable fish to achieve those numbers and move around hole hopping.  They said in the ice house they had a few nights with a good night bite. One customer woke up early in the morning and caught  a  34-36 inch pike. It has been a mix some days we have a better day bite and some days we have a better night bite. What a great group to work with.

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We had Snow yesterday now just a ton of blowing snow. Glad we have some wind to blow the snow off the lake to help the ice making. One group has been on the ice today and yesterday. They have been working hard to get fish with the Cold Front. I am all for the cold weather we need it for making ice. The sleeper we moved out today is sitting on 13 inches of ice. There are still some thin ice and open areas out a few miles from shore. Every location we have been fishing has had 10-13 inches of ice. Averaging 12 inches. We are fishing in by shore and going to continue to until ice conditions improve. We should be putting on around a inch of ice per day. Pictures below are pictures from yesterday and today. We are planning on moving all wheel houses out Wednesday and Thursday.

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We had a great weekend fishing! Guided in the Sno bear Saturday 10-4:30. Every spot I checked the ice we found 10-12 inches mostly 12 inches. I had two groups on Saturday one group of 4 guys that did portables and rented a sleeper on shore. The other group was three guys two of them first timers ice fishing. All the way from New Mexico. Those are some of my favorite trips seeing people on the ice for the first time. The Sno Bear made it just an amazing experience. The group with the portables I set them up on a way point caught over 50+ Walleyes in 6 hours. We are offering $100 per group with your own portables to haul out to one of our way points in the Sno Bear and pick up the group 6 hours later from drop off.

The other group in the sno bear lost several fish at the hole along with a fair amount of hook sets.  I stopped counting the number of fish we landed once we iced 20 walleyes. All fish on Saturday in the 14-20″ range. No crappies this last weekend. Although I did hear of a guy who got a few. Pink and Gold seemed to be the go to lures. Bait of choice was medium to large rainbows. We managed to pull fish through out the day low light hours the fish hit hard! One highlight the group with portables had a fish pull the pole down the hole then caught it a few fish later. Special thanks to the two groups this weekend.

As of today it is snowing and I mean snowing! We have wet slushy conditions on the ice. We will post an updated report on Wednesday how the ice is holding up. Planning on getting some wheel houses out this weekend. We are going to get blasted with a cold front that is much needed. Not so much the snow for making ice!

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