Red Door Front and Center!

Dear Fellow IDO and Mille Lacs Fans!

First and foremost, we welcome the opportunity to be a part of the IDO family. We look forward and welcome the opportunity to meet many of you!

Although to this point, we’ve been pretty quiet on the site, we intend to be very active in the future regarding every aspect what’s happening on mighty Mille Lacs and the Red Door. From current fishing reports and relative details, to current weather and ice/lake conditions, we will do our best to keep you all up to speed on the world around The Red Door!

As the winter ice season fast approaches, our new cabin project is progressing as planned. To say the least, the landscape here at The Red Door will be quite different heading into 2009. Our 8 new cabins will be completed and ready for the open water season, no doubt! We have also added a new year ’round shower house in the fish house park as well. Bigger and better stuff at The Red Door!

Of course, the talk around the north shore is “when will the lake freeze?” And “will the fish bite?” The answer– “who really knows!” But we are hopeful, based on the long range forecast being right, we will have walking/4 wheeler ice by December 10th. Let’s hope we can get good ice before a big snow such as was the case last year when we got 3 to 5 inches of good ice and then 14 inches of snow on it. That ain’t good! And the bite? As usual, early ice should be pretty good in low light times. And we can only hope the perch bite will be a good one in ’09 as we get moved out to the deeper fishy haunts.

So IDO Mille Lacs fans…..again, THANK YOU for allowing us to be part of your internet family. Please know, we welcome any of your questions, concerns, ideas and just plain chewin’ the fat about Mille Lacs and The Red Door.

Keep a tight line…..

The Red Door on the north shore of mighty Mille Lacs

Ps. We at The Red Door, as we have said, appreciate the opportunity to be a

part of the IDO family–no doubt. But we also realize this is a message

board open to anonymous users. We understand that and respect the message

board concept. And that said, we at The Red Door will reply to anyone who

posts on IDO, who has any questions, concerns, ideas or the like, regarding

Mille Lacs and or The Red Door. But we will ONLY do so if the posting comes

from a registered user that signs the post with a full name that includes

contact info etc. Simply, we have no intentions of getting into debates or

the like, especially with someone we do not know. We will be upfront,

factual and do all we can to be a very big plus to fans of mighty Mille

Lacs. Please call us directly if you do not wish to use IDO to address us in any form or fashion under these guidelines. ‘Nuff said……only this one time.

Welcome to IDO,

I’m looking forward to your reports and updates from the northend of the lake. I spend alot of my time fishing the northern section of the lake myself.

Bobber

Great!

I don’t get up the the Big Pond often enough but always like hearing what’s going on up there. Love the big fish pictures and the smiles that go along with them!!

So….when is it going to ice up?

Welcome to IDO!

Thanks for the support.

Sully

Welcome to IDO, Red Door! Great to have you here!

I had the opportunity see your area last fall while catching some great fish just SE of your ramp. Can’t wait to get up there again and see you guys!

First off, Thanks for sponsoring IDO

Secondly, Thanks for becoming part of IDO

I do not get up your way much but I spend a ton of my time on Mille Lacs chasing smallmouth. The next time I am up your way I plan on stopping in hello

Thanks Again,
Ron

Welcome to IDO! I have gone out from your resort a lot over the years and will continue to do so both in the summer and winter. It’s a great place. Like Bob said, I also spend a lot of my time on the north end.

Hey….Welcome Red Door, and thanks for the update on ice conditions. I was just wondering how things were shaping up on the north end. Thanks for sponsoring the IDO website. Its the best site around. Take it from someone who hits’em all. Hopefully I’ll be over to see you guys in the next couple of weeks. Come’on cold weather!!!

Welcome to the Team Red Door Great to have you here!!!

Thank you for your support Red Door Resort and welcome to IDO! During the summer, I fish the lake frequently and I’ll be sure to stop in and say hi. I also have received requests from other anglers on where to stay when fishing the big pond – I guess I know now where to direct them!

Welcome to the site. New cabins? That sounds great. If they are anything like the motel its going to be a great place to stay. Something the family will even approve of. Keep those ice updates coming.

Welcome aboard!
I want to get the family up to those cabins next Summer!

The new cabins are now all closed in, and are now getting the finishing touches put on the inside. Well post some pics soon…..

The Red Door area is now ripe for ATV/snow machine/hoofing lake access! We have a solid 8 inches of new ice and will be open this coming weekend–the 12th-14th.

What are you guys doing there as far as fish house services? Do you still offer services for fish houses. Plowed roads, storage, ect. We have a house at Fishers that needs to get moved.

Mike,

Thanks for asking!

YES–we are still in the fish house business in every aspect.
Roads, storage etc.

Just call the office or stop in and we can discuss the various options/size of your house etc.

Thanks again!

The ice trucks have plows and chains on them! The rental houses are getting some TLC. Things are definately poised for full bore ahead the week between Christmas and New Years. The ice is still not thick enough for any travel with vehicles larger than ATV’s.

The forecast is for the “lakes area” to get “a foot of snow or more” by this coming Monday. (hope they are wrong!)Winds of 20-30 mph. are suppose to accompany the snow. So it ain’t gonna be pretty the last part of this weekend. And the biggest cold blast of the young winter is due in late Monday and Tuesday. We’ll need that to have a shot at thicker ice anytime soon. So the ice making will slow a bit but actually will be set up for an average good winter. Anytime we can drive SAFELY on or before the Christmas/New Years week is great!

We had a few fishermen out of The Red Door today! And the reports were ranging from “2 walleyes per person” to “we definately got a good meal!” One pair of fishermen caught several but all were “too big”.

Another load of knotty pine landed next to another new cabin today. They’re getting there.

So such is life around The Red Door.

The latest snow forecast for tonight and tomorrow has been scaled back(hope they’re right). Instead of the 1-1.5 ft. in the forecast last night–it reads “SNOW IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE ACROSS THE REGION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY EARLY SUNDAY. THE BRUNT OF THE STORM IS EXPECTED SUNDAY MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON. SNOW… HEAVY AT TIMES… WILL COMBINE WITH NORTHEAST WINDS OF 20 TO 30MPH AND LOCAL GUSTS NEAR 35MPH. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE TOMORROW. THIS WILL CREATE VERY DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. TRAVEL ALONG HIGHWAY 210 FROM STAPLES TO BRAINERD TO MCGREGOR WILL BE IMPACTED SIGNIFICANTLY. ALTHOUGH TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT AS THE STORM APPROACHES… BE AWARE THAT MUCH COLDER AIR WILL BLAST THE REGION SUNDAY AFTERNOON. BE PREPARED FOR THE CHANGES AND SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE NECESSITY OF TRAVEL.”

Looks like maybe 6-9″ now? Not good but we can live with that versus 12″ to 18″!

And the forecast(Garrison area) changes yet another time! Now it has a few more inches in it again-since the last forecast early today. Seems like this is as hard to predict as the fishing.

“SNOW IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE ACROSS THE REGION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. ACCUMULATIONS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY EARLY SUNDAY. THE BRUNT OF THE STORM IS EXPECTED SUNDAY MORNING AND SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW… HEAVY AT TIMES… WILL COMBINE WITH NORTHEAST WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH AND LOCAL GUSTS NEAR 35 MPH. ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 9 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE TOMORROW… ESPECIALLY IN THE BRAINERD AREA. THIS WILL CREATE VERY DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. TRAVEL ALONG HIGHWAY 210 FROM STAPLES TO BRAINERD TO MCGREGOR WILL BE IMPACTED SIGNIFICANTLY. ALTHOUGH TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT AS THE STORM APPROACHES… BE AWARE THAT MUCH COLDER AIR WILL BLAST THE REGION SUNDAY AFTERNOON. BE PREPARED FOR THE CHANGES AND SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THE NECESSITY OF TRAVEL.”

Here in the Twin Cities we’re forecast for a high of 6 on monday and a high of 3 on tuesday. That’s one bitterly cold front coming our way. Hopefully the snow misses and the temps hit us… that would all but shore up the ice conditions across the state.

Thanks for all the reports. Can’t tell you how much they’re appreciated.

I may have to head up to the Door next weekend.

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Thanks for all the reports. Can’t tell you how much they’re appreciated.

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I too would also like to second this!! Love staying at your place and can’t wait to make it up this winter!

Some of the best perch fishing I have EVER had has been on some of the north end mud flats.

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Some of the best perch fishing I have EVER had has been on some of the north end mud flats.

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I was hopin’ to keep that quiet.

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Some of the best perch fishing I have EVER had has been on some of the north end mud flats.

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I was hopin’ to keep that quiet.

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Big lake my friend, big lake.

As it starts getting daylight in the swamp, we’ll start digging out. Looks like we got about 8 inches of snow but the drifting makes it even bigger. The drifts are already getting hard with the sub-zero temps. For the time being, 4 wheelers on the ice might have a tough time with the drifts. It will be a day or two before we can get a clear look at how things are on the main lake. Some slush might become an issue, especially along shore where the heavier snow drifting/piles will weight things down.

Fishing reports from the weekend are hard to come by! Very few of the anglers that passed through The Red Door over the weekend stopped in at the end of their day to report the catches. The reports we did get were “spotty”. One pair got 9 walleyes (5 keepers) and a handful of perch as another pair of guys got next to nothing. That seemed to be the norm. Some had luck, some did not. So, it seems they are willing to bite IF you find’em and cook the right meal for them. It’s still not getting tested well as most areas have not been fished too hard yet. It’s early!

Again, the drifting is deep so be prepared if you plan on venturing out on the big lake.

Tuesday, December 15th update:

The Red Door plow trucks ventured out onto the ice for the first time today. We have an active crack about 400 yds. from shore in the ten foot of water area. So the trucks plowed the rough ice areas and cleared the shore drifting, as far out as the crack. The ice is hovering around 12 inches or a hair less. The plowing will allow 3 big slushy areas to freeze and heal up. Then maybe a big bridge can be shoved across the crack soon. Right now the ATV bridge is the only one out there. NO RUSH!

If you don’t think driving on ice, especially fast, creates a “wave” under the ice–think again. The ice along the shoreline today had about 6-10 inches of water on it for about the first 10 yds. from the bank. As a plow truck–200 yds. or more was blasting toward shore widening out the road, the water on the ice next to the bank looked like a boat wake! The “wave” under the ice–created by a truck 200 yds. away, was creating the water on TOP of the ice to slosh around as if a boat were being beached. That was driving on 12 inches. THAT was an up close and personal example! Not enough ice yet!

The first fishermen (locals) ventured out today since the blizzard. The 4 wheelers struggled in the drifts but made it pulling portables. Snow machines would surely be better for now. The cold temps have the crack pretty wide, so ATV’s need the crack bridged.

We did another ice thickness check yesterday (the 17th). Bare ice, blown free of snow during and since the blizzard, has about 13.5 inches. But there are very few little bare spots. Under the drifts that are 1′-2′ deep (about 1/3 of the ice surface), the ice is about 11 inches thick. Where the snow is level (about 6 inches deep and about 1/2 the ice surface), the ice is about 12 inches thick.

So that all said, the plows are tip-toeing around for the next few days, clearing future roads so the ice can grow quicker–another couple inches–to make things more consistently safe for pulling all sizes of houses etc.

This weekend will be ATV only yet from the Red Door. We have the big bridge in place over the crack for the ATV travel. If all goes well, The Red Door Roads will open for general vehicle travel the day after Christmas.

There has been very little fishing being done in The Red Door area this week. Between heavy snows and extreme cold, the Knox Point walleyes have been living in a walleye refuge. So–things are ripe for the taking!

Based on the weekend forecast, The Red Door plows tip-toed back to the tulips yesterday(Thursday), instead of building ice roads that by Sunday could be gone. Hope the forecast is wrong! No need for more snow and wind.

“ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT SNOW STORM WILL AFFECT MOST OF THE REGION SATURDAY MORNING INTO SUNDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 6 TO 8 INCHES OR MORE IS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE SNOW TAPERS TO FLURRIES ON SUNDAY. THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY REGARDING THE EXACT PATH OF THE HEAVIEST SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WITH THIS SYSTEM… SO STAY TUNED TO LATER FORECASTS FOR DETAILED SNOW AMOUNTS. IN ADDITION… GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP BEHIND THE STORM ON SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT… BRINGING BITTERLY COLD ARCTIC AIR… AND DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY. “

Got any snowmobile trail reports?I might come up after the holidays to do some riding if this snow keeps up.Could actually be good this year

i went on a little ride through kathio state park on wed. there were only about 4 other sleds that were through in front of us. the trails were not groomed yet, we did see the groomer just north of meat on mille lacs heading north in the ditch of 169. there was alot of power to play in. the lake was full of drifts that you can get alot of air from. i think that after one more snowfall and a good grooming, the trails will be in great shape. if you like blazing the trail and drift blasting, come on up and have a ball…………..tom fellegy