1/29/2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Walleye fishing again was slow, maybe I should rephrase it. After the “HOT” bite that we had earlier in the season even catching a limit in 24 hours seems slow, actually the way I see it things are back to normal.
The one big plus to this time of the year is the big pike are hitting on just about anything under the ice, this week alone I gave out 3 pins for fish over 42 inches, one almost got a “Gold” pin but his fish was only 44 ½ inches long.
Still just a crappie here and there, not much is showing up here on this side of the big lake.
A very busy week it has been….
Over the weekend our crack turned into a full blown pressure ridge, it starts just west of our access and heads north for 3 miles and then turns east to who knows where. fortunately for us we have a place near shore to cross it without the need for a bridge.
The walleye fishing on the other hand has been slow, a person has to really work the fish in order to make them bite, dead sticking just is not working that well. There has been almost no walleye bite at all on the “Center Bar” if the bite does not start out there soon I just may stop plowing the road there after this weekend.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
COLD… Finally winter has arrived. The cold weather did not appear to effect the fishing a whole lot, by the looks of the fish cleaning room the bite may have been a little better last night.
The fishermen are still finding fish both in close (6 to 8 feet) and out deeper on some of the mud bottom areas, I won’t call them mud flats anymore it caused too much confusion. A red jig tipped with a minnow head has been the best bait so far this week, with a lime green a close second.
1/17/2012Walleye fishing again was slow, maybe I should rephrase it. After the “HOT” bite that we had earlier in the season even catching a limit in 24 hours seems slow, actually the way I see it things are back to normal.
The one big plus to this time of the year is the big pike are hitting on just about anything under the ice, this week alone I gave out 3 pins for fish over 42 inches, one almost got a “Gold” pin but his fish was only 44 ½ inches long.
Still just a crappie here and there, not much is showing up here on this side of the big lake.
1/22/2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012A very busy week it has been….
Over the weekend our crack turned into a full blown pressure ridge, it starts just west of our access and heads north for 3 miles and then turns east to who knows where. fortunately for us we have a place near shore to cross it without the need for a bridge.
The walleye fishing on the other hand has been slow, a person has to really work the fish in order to make them bite, dead sticking just is not working that well. There has been almost no walleye bite at all on the “Center Bar” if the bite does not start out there soon I just may stop plowing the road there after this weekend.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
COLD… Finally winter has arrived. The cold weather did not appear to effect the fishing a whole lot, by the looks of the fish cleaning room the bite may have been a little better last night.
The fishermen are still finding fish both in close (6 to 8 feet) and out deeper on some of the mud bottom areas, I won’t call them mud flats anymore it caused too much confusion. A red jig tipped with a minnow head has been the best bait so far this week, with a lime green a close second.
This is Zacks first walleye...
taken by his aunt on her cell phone, way to go Zack...
1/16/2012
1/14/2012
January 16 2012
Greetings fishermen! Jerry is busy and said “Joani type up a fishing report” SOoooo here it goes. The bite has been spotty - some catching - some just fishing… The fishermen that were willing to move around and try different “stuff” may have had more luck then those just staying in one spot. I must say it was a tough bite for the weekend and yet there were some that did quite well.
The tip I had been giving some of the fishermen was to try a minnow head and a really small jig. The fish are just not very aggressive right now - my thinking there is that maybe just a little snack might make them bite. As I said some came off the big lake with fish - - and others just had a good time playing cards with friends.
Jerry and I would like to thank all of you for making the trip to ROGERS’ on Red and visiting us at the new lodge.
joani
1/9/2012Greetings fishermen! Jerry is busy and said “Joani type up a fishing report” SOoooo here it goes. The bite has been spotty - some catching - some just fishing… The fishermen that were willing to move around and try different “stuff” may have had more luck then those just staying in one spot. I must say it was a tough bite for the weekend and yet there were some that did quite well.
The tip I had been giving some of the fishermen was to try a minnow head and a really small jig. The fish are just not very aggressive right now - my thinking there is that maybe just a little snack might make them bite. As I said some came off the big lake with fish - - and others just had a good time playing cards with friends.
Jerry and I would like to thank all of you for making the trip to ROGERS’ on Red and visiting us at the new lodge.
joani
One more warm day to make it through and then I think winter will
finally make it here. Our ice is still holding up very well with
little or no cracking, still we are seeing some minor flooding around
some of the larger houses that have been in the same place for more
than a week.
The walleye bite lately has been off from what it was the past week but it s still better here than just about any other lake in the state. The last few days the night bite has been far better than the day bite, still you can catch some nice fish if one is willing to move away from the crowds and drill a few more holes. This week along with a bunch of 25, 26, 27 and 28 inch walleyes has been a few whitefish, eelpout and crappies, yes I said crappies, great big crappies too.
The new lodge is working out great, sometimes the line is kind of long at the fish cleaning room and the shower but the beer is still cold and the pizza is hot and that can make the wait worth while.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
It has been so busy around here with the new lodge that it has been a while since I have been able to sit down and gather my thoughts.
Our Ice road is in great shape, wide and straight all the way out to the “Center Bar” 16 to 20 inches of solid ice, I just need to get out there today and clean up a couple of spots and place a few more markers.
The walleye bite appears to moving a little deeper for most but there are still those who are catching fish in 8 feet of water. Jigging some type of rattle jig is out producing dead sticking by along ways, the fish are showing up on the locators and cameras but are somewhat hesitant to take the bait. Orange, pink and green sold out in the store fast with red right behind, so these most likely are the colors of choice. (at least by the fishermen.)
12/30/2011The walleye bite lately has been off from what it was the past week but it s still better here than just about any other lake in the state. The last few days the night bite has been far better than the day bite, still you can catch some nice fish if one is willing to move away from the crowds and drill a few more holes. This week along with a bunch of 25, 26, 27 and 28 inch walleyes has been a few whitefish, eelpout and crappies, yes I said crappies, great big crappies too.
The new lodge is working out great, sometimes the line is kind of long at the fish cleaning room and the shower but the beer is still cold and the pizza is hot and that can make the wait worth while.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
It has been so busy around here with the new lodge that it has been a while since I have been able to sit down and gather my thoughts.
Our Ice road is in great shape, wide and straight all the way out to the “Center Bar” 16 to 20 inches of solid ice, I just need to get out there today and clean up a couple of spots and place a few more markers.
The walleye bite appears to moving a little deeper for most but there are still those who are catching fish in 8 feet of water. Jigging some type of rattle jig is out producing dead sticking by along ways, the fish are showing up on the locators and cameras but are somewhat hesitant to take the bait. Orange, pink and green sold out in the store fast with red right behind, so these most likely are the colors of choice. (at least by the fishermen.)
12/28/2011
Rhonda shows the boys how it's done.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Fishing on the big lake yesterday was excellent, the only real complaint that I heard was that most of the fish were over the slot. The ice conditions on the big lake are good, I do have a bridge over one crack that I thought may be a problem but it turned out that it was not needed. Our road is still marked all of the way to the "Center Bar", the fishing out there is OK but is not the hot bite that the early fishermen are use to.
Our bait tanks at this time still are still full of minnows, fatheads and emerald shiners, and thanks to "Trappers Bait" in Shooks we now have rainbows.
12/26/2011Fishing on the big lake yesterday was excellent, the only real complaint that I heard was that most of the fish were over the slot. The ice conditions on the big lake are good, I do have a bridge over one crack that I thought may be a problem but it turned out that it was not needed. Our road is still marked all of the way to the "Center Bar", the fishing out there is OK but is not the hot bite that the early fishermen are use to.
Our bait tanks at this time still are still full of minnows, fatheads and emerald shiners, and thanks to "Trappers Bait" in Shooks we now have rainbows.
12/25/2011
12/24/2011
Karen Carter from Maple Lake MN with a Christmas present, a fat 9 1/2 pounder,
for sure this is the largest walleye I have seen come out of Upper Red Lake...
Saturday, December 24, 2011
“THE RACE TO THE CENTER BAR” is over, I now have a road marked all the way there, the ice conditions were great, the ice where I checked was 12 inches or better, actually it is some of the best ice that I have seen in years. Later today I will bring one of my rental houses out there so everyone has something to aim at.
12/22/2011“THE RACE TO THE CENTER BAR” is over, I now have a road marked all the way there, the ice conditions were great, the ice where I checked was 12 inches or better, actually it is some of the best ice that I have seen in years. Later today I will bring one of my rental houses out there so everyone has something to aim at.
The walleye fishing here yesterday was great with most of our fishermen leaving the lake with their limits. The action appears to have moved out to a little deeper water with some good reports coming in from 10 and 11 feet. Both dead sticking and jigging are producing fish, pink, red and green appear to be the preferred colors.
Our ice conditions are great, 14 to 16 inches for the first mile, beyond that I have not checked yet, mostly because the fishing has been so good in close. Last night we finally received enough snow to bank some of the fish houses but It will probably be all gone by Monday according to the weatherman’s forecast.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Walleye fishing continues to be good in close, fishermen are finding walleyes anywhere’s from 6 to 9 feet. Color does not appear to make much difference as long as it is pink, glow red or glow green tipped with a fathead minnow, shiner minnow heads jigged during the day are also producing some nice fish.
The ice conditions are improving but slowly, this warm weather is not helping much. Yesterday there was a dandy crack open up, we actually had one our outfitters find it with his truck. The good part is the crack is only in 2 feet of water and all the got wet was his brakes and boots. It will a little bit of a challenge bringing skids houses out but it can be done.
12/19/2011
Monday, December 19, 2011This weekend can be summed up in one word “WOW” The fishing was great and the ice is in good shape all we need is some snow.
Below are some photos taken in the fish cleaning room, I don’t have time today to place names so I will give it try later…
12/17/2011
The walleye fishing continues to be good, there does not seem to much of a pattern, one just has to be in the right place at the right time.
The ice conditions are good, today we will be letting some of the lighter stuff on to the lake, most of the ice here is close to 14 inches, I am still watching one spot that we have to drive across that was only 10 inches yesterday. That spot has to heal before we can take the big stuff out and that looks like it could be soon. Tomorrow the weatherman says we could get past 40 degrees again and that should take care on any snow that we do have on the lake, a few inches of snow certainly would make dragging fish houses down the road a whole lot easier, so lets keep our fingers crossed for a couple inches before next weekend.
"The Baldwin Fire Fighters "
12/15/2011
Fishing was so good even Matt and Benny could catch them...
12/14/2011
Clarence and Tyler from Park Rapids
caught their limits in one of Johns Rental houses...
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The walleye bite continues to be good with everyone having lots of action, there even is a strong night bite. The bad news is the ice conditions, we did a little exploring yesterday and it did not take us to long to find places where the ice was just 6 inches. In closer where we are fishing now the ice is a solid 10 to 12, so it looks like we are going to limit vehicle traffic at this access to ATV and small vehicles for this weekend.
12/12/2011The walleye bite continues to be good with everyone having lots of action, there even is a strong night bite. The bad news is the ice conditions, we did a little exploring yesterday and it did not take us to long to find places where the ice was just 6 inches. In closer where we are fishing now the ice is a solid 10 to 12, so it looks like we are going to limit vehicle traffic at this access to ATV and small vehicles for this weekend.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The walleye fishing continues to be good, and the ice is getting better, what more could we ask for… some snow would be nice.
Even though the temperatures have not been that cold we are still making good ice thanks to two days of solid cloud cover, as long as we can keep the sun from glaring down on this ice sheet it will not crack. Now all we need is a little snow cover. The ice closer to shore is now 13 or 14 inches thick, a little further out maybe just 10 inches and beyond that who knows, no one from here has been there, mainly because the fishing has been so good in just 6 to 9 feet of water.
12/11/2011The walleye fishing continues to be good, and the ice is getting better, what more could we ask for… some snow would be nice.
Even though the temperatures have not been that cold we are still making good ice thanks to two days of solid cloud cover, as long as we can keep the sun from glaring down on this ice sheet it will not crack. Now all we need is a little snow cover. The ice closer to shore is now 13 or 14 inches thick, a little further out maybe just 10 inches and beyond that who knows, no one from here has been there, mainly because the fishing has been so good in just 6 to 9 feet of water.
"Wild Bill" cleaning fish again...
The walleye fishing is great, some fish are being caught all day long with the better bite happening at sundown. The few fishermen that have stayed all night tell me the bite last all night long. The best part is the better bite is still in less than 9 feet of water.
The ice conditions are good, measuring 10 to 12 inches in the first ¼ mile and less than that past there. Normally this would be good enough to start letting light truck on but because of the lack of snow and these wild temperature swings we are dealing with several cracks, I personally will not drive a truck over a crack with less than 16 inches of ice and I don’t think anyone else should either. Lets keep our fingers crossed for a little snow and some cold temps, if this happens we should see some small house and trucks further out on to the lake this week.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Fishing yesterday was not as good a Friday but I am certain that this was do to the lack of snow cover and all of the fishermen being in one area, still our new fish cleaning room was a busy place.
There now are a few small houses on the lake, all I can say is they are pushing it just a little, next weekend will be soon enough for me.
12/9/2011Fishing yesterday was not as good a Friday but I am certain that this was do to the lack of snow cover and all of the fishermen being in one area, still our new fish cleaning room was a busy place.
There now are a few small houses on the lake, all I can say is they are pushing it just a little, next weekend will be soon enough for me.
Bob and "Me" seeing who can clean fish the fastest.... Curt and Paul from Searles with their limits....
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Yesterday we had a few fishermen head out, I fully expected to see a few more, maybe some were spooked by the recent ice rescues.
Anyways the fishing was very good, most everyone caught fish, the bite was much better in shallow than deep, 6 to 8 feet appeared to be the magic number. Red and pink seemed to work a little better but I think color really does not matter when the bite is this good. Plain old fat head minnows were the hot bait, the walleyes seamed to ignore shiner minnows.
12/8/2011Yesterday we had a few fishermen head out, I fully expected to see a few more, maybe some were spooked by the recent ice rescues.
Anyways the fishing was very good, most everyone caught fish, the bite was much better in shallow than deep, 6 to 8 feet appeared to be the magic number. Red and pink seemed to work a little better but I think color really does not matter when the bite is this good. Plain old fat head minnows were the hot bait, the walleyes seamed to ignore shiner minnows.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The winds blow out of the west all night long and closed up all of the open water here in front of ROGERS’ with a whole bunch of broken ice, you can see in the photo’s just how big some of the piles are, some of these ice chunks are close to a foot thick, fortunately mother nature left us a opening between the piles to make a road later on.
The furniture is all in place the bait tanks are full of water and the coolers are full of beer now all I have to do is get busy changing oil and charging the batteries on the plow trucks and we should be ready to go…
12/7/2011The winds blow out of the west all night long and closed up all of the open water here in front of ROGERS’ with a whole bunch of broken ice, you can see in the photo’s just how big some of the piles are, some of these ice chunks are close to a foot thick, fortunately mother nature left us a opening between the piles to make a road later on.
The furniture is all in place the bait tanks are full of water and the coolers are full of beer now all I have to do is get busy changing oil and charging the batteries on the plow trucks and we should be ready to go…
"New Lodge"
12/7/2011
The crack here is just 50 feet off shore, the photo on the left faces west and the other is faces east...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Yesterday was quite a day around here, sometime after noon the lake decided to move again, this time there were 3 fishermen on the wrong side of a crack in the ice. This was more than just a crack, it actually opened up to 50 feet or more of open water, again the sheriff and fire dept were called but the fishermen did find a way off several miles east of here. Before anyone decides to chastise these three for being out on thin ice, well they weren’t, the ice here was and still is 9 to 11 inches thick. It was just a freak thing that happened caused by a number of things that happened all at once.
Any way the good news is some time during the night the ice came back and with a little luck and some cold weather we will be back on the lake in a day or two, maybe even today.
Yesterday the furniture and beer cooler were delivered to the “New Lodge”, today the beer trucks arrive and tomorrow the bait truck comes, the health dept signed off on everything, so it looks like we will be open for business this weekend.
Monday, December 5, 2011
I think winter is now here to stay, this past weekend we had a handful of fishermen venture out and almost all of them had great fishing. The bite seemed to last all day long and then slowing down after dark, a lively jigging action out fished dead sticking by a long ways, color did not appear to make much difference.
The ice conditions here are great with everyone reporting 6 to 9 inches of solid ice out to 10 feet of water, no one ventured out any further mainly because they did not have to, we even had fishermen catching walleyes in just 4 feet of water… The big patch of open water that opened up along the south shore may be a problem for some but here at ROGERS' it will not, somewhere between here and JR’s corner the crack headed north and left us alone. If things continue at this pace we will see a few smaller house out there by this weekend, maybe even sooner.
12/2/2011Yesterday was quite a day around here, sometime after noon the lake decided to move again, this time there were 3 fishermen on the wrong side of a crack in the ice. This was more than just a crack, it actually opened up to 50 feet or more of open water, again the sheriff and fire dept were called but the fishermen did find a way off several miles east of here. Before anyone decides to chastise these three for being out on thin ice, well they weren’t, the ice here was and still is 9 to 11 inches thick. It was just a freak thing that happened caused by a number of things that happened all at once.
Any way the good news is some time during the night the ice came back and with a little luck and some cold weather we will be back on the lake in a day or two, maybe even today.
Yesterday the furniture and beer cooler were delivered to the “New Lodge”, today the beer trucks arrive and tomorrow the bait truck comes, the health dept signed off on everything, so it looks like we will be open for business this weekend.
Monday, December 5, 2011
I think winter is now here to stay, this past weekend we had a handful of fishermen venture out and almost all of them had great fishing. The bite seemed to last all day long and then slowing down after dark, a lively jigging action out fished dead sticking by a long ways, color did not appear to make much difference.
The ice conditions here are great with everyone reporting 6 to 9 inches of solid ice out to 10 feet of water, no one ventured out any further mainly because they did not have to, we even had fishermen catching walleyes in just 4 feet of water… The big patch of open water that opened up along the south shore may be a problem for some but here at ROGERS' it will not, somewhere between here and JR’s corner the crack headed north and left us alone. If things continue at this pace we will see a few smaller house out there by this weekend, maybe even sooner.
Friday, December 2, 2011
The walleyes are biting and we have ice, sort of. The ice thickness varies from just a couple of inches up to six inches, we have had a few venture out on ATV’s and others by foot. That is the good news, now for the bad news:
Upper Red Lake is not completely frozen over and the ice pack is on the move, yesterday the lake opened up on the north shore and down to the south a bit. Today the winds picked up and were gusting 15 to 20 out of the south, this caused the ice pack to head back north creating a ¼ mile (so far) crack to open up along the south shore, fortunately most everyone was on this side of the crack except 2. The Bemidji Fire Dept had to come up with their hovercraft and rescue the 2, unfortunately they had to leave their 4 wheeler and fishing gear on the other side, at this moment their 4 wheeler and all of their gear is heading to the north shore and most likely will never be seen again.
Below is a satellite view of upper red Lake taken on 12/1/2011, in a day or so we will see a big difference.
The walleyes are biting and we have ice, sort of. The ice thickness varies from just a couple of inches up to six inches, we have had a few venture out on ATV’s and others by foot. That is the good news, now for the bad news:
Upper Red Lake is not completely frozen over and the ice pack is on the move, yesterday the lake opened up on the north shore and down to the south a bit. Today the winds picked up and were gusting 15 to 20 out of the south, this caused the ice pack to head back north creating a ¼ mile (so far) crack to open up along the south shore, fortunately most everyone was on this side of the crack except 2. The Bemidji Fire Dept had to come up with their hovercraft and rescue the 2, unfortunately they had to leave their 4 wheeler and fishing gear on the other side, at this moment their 4 wheeler and all of their gear is heading to the north shore and most likely will never be seen again.
Below is a satellite view of upper red Lake taken on 12/1/2011, in a day or so we will see a big difference.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The lake is finally starting to firm up here on the south shore, on Monday when the temps went into the 40’s we still had a strip of open water out front but now everything appears to be frozen over. The ice on the east shore is in much better shape, they have been fishing there for a few days now and it sounds like they have been doing very good, if the ice stays I would expect to see a couple fishermen venture out here this weekend.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I hope everyone is having a nice weekend watching football and napping on the couch.
Deer hunting season is over and I again hope everyone had as good as I did, I ended up with two deer one that went into making just hamburger and the second was canned except for a few steaks.
Ice fishing season is here but I do not think that too many fishermen will be venturing onto the ice on Upper red Lake this weekend, the unseasonably warm temps will most likely put a stop to the practice of walking on to Red Lake on Thanksgiving weekend. It looked for a while that we would be fishing this weekend but the unseasonably warm temps made what ice we did have turn black and mushy almost like march ice.
Here’s wishing everyone has a happy thanksgiving,
Keep watching for the latest ice conditions her on the “South Shore”
Jerry@ROGERS’
"The New Lodge"Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, I hope everyone is having a nice weekend watching football and napping on the couch.
Deer hunting season is over and I again hope everyone had as good as I did, I ended up with two deer one that went into making just hamburger and the second was canned except for a few steaks.
Ice fishing season is here but I do not think that too many fishermen will be venturing onto the ice on Upper red Lake this weekend, the unseasonably warm temps will most likely put a stop to the practice of walking on to Red Lake on Thanksgiving weekend. It looked for a while that we would be fishing this weekend but the unseasonably warm temps made what ice we did have turn black and mushy almost like march ice.
Here’s wishing everyone has a happy thanksgiving,
Keep watching for the latest ice conditions her on the “South Shore”
Jerry@ROGERS’
