Red Door Front and Center!

Castaway,

The Red Door is perfectly located for riding the snow machines also! Access to the state groomed trail system is easy right from our “back forty”. The groomers have been out on the trails this past week and will have all the trails in tip-top riding condition from now through March. And of course, the Mille Lacs ice is a perfect snow machine play ground as well.

Some fishing reports are gradually coming also. Not many fishing this week but some had good reports. A couple reports were “nothing”. The locals are doing well in along shore at low light. Most of the good reports have been from deep structure. Bottom line? The bite sounds pretty good if and when you land on fish.

We are ATV/snow machine traffic only this weekend but will be in full swing starting the day after Christmas!

Current forecast? “… WINTER STORM WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST SUNDAY…

MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW WILL SPREAD ACROSS ALL OF NORTHEAST MINNESOTA AND NORTHWEST WISCONSIN THIS MORNING AND CONTINUE THROUGH SUNDAY… MAKING TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS ACROSS THE ENTIRE REGION THIS WEEKEND. SNOWFALL TOTALS TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY ARE EXPECTED TO BE 8 TO 12 INCHES… WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 16 INCHES ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN AREAS AROUND LAKE SUPERIOR.

SNOWFALL RATES WILL BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES… TO AROUND 2 INCHES PER HOUR… WITH VISIBILITIES REDUCED TO NEAR ZERO. IN ADDITION… GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP SUNDAY… RESULTING IN AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW WITH GREATLY REDUCED VISIBILITIES.

THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO TAPER OFF ACROSS MOST LOCATIONS SUNDAY EVENING. THE EXCEPTION IS THE SNOW BELT REGION OF NORTHWEST WISCONSIN… WHERE LAKE EFFECT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE SUNDAY NIGHT. THE WARNING MAY NEED TO BE EXTENDED FOR THESE SOUTH SHORE AREAS.”

Thanks for all the updates, and thanks for sponsoring IDO! I don’t know if I’ll make it up there this winter but I know where I’ll be staying next summer!

Thanks,Ive never stayed at your place but I have landed my boat there many times mostly in the fall.I do have to say you probably have one of the cleanest resorts on the lake and I have been to them all.I have also ran the trails up there many times and figured with all this snow people like me would also like some trail reports.Might also get you some snowmobilers to stay there seeing you are close to the trail system.Seeing I just sold my place up there I might need a room myself down the road

Great to see you guys here Red Door. I just got a house up there this fall and looking forward to seeing a lot of you. I called last week and was told the houses would be, most likely, pulled out the day after Christmas. Do you have any word on that? I’m pretty excited to get up there and use a perm, never had one before.

hey you guys should give lessons in maple sap gathering, plenty of nice trees in the north 40, nothing better than gett’n the trees tapped, then running out to catch some perch.

Chomps…one season at a time! That’s a sweet thought but—It looks like a long winter.

The Red Door has main roads cleared all along the Knox Point fishing grounds as well as out to the Bombeck and Weimer Flat. The crack was an issue yesterday but should become easier to deal with for the coming weekend with warming temps in the forecast. We still found the ice not getting thicker (11 inches) when checking under the deep drifts but for the most part, it is about 15 inches thick. The cleard ice on the roads should grow fast now.

No fishing reports from the past couple days. Temps yesterday morning dipped to 21 below. No one that brave–or crazy?

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Chomps…one season at a time! That’s a sweet thought but—It looks like a long winter.

Good one Red Door. Hey Chomps. You should see the north 40 in the spring. They have sap collection bags hanging all over. I think Steve Fellegy sneaks over and gets the sap.

I am not really familiar with Bombeck and Weimer flats. How far out is your road plowed? Thinking of taking the snowmobile out from your road. Thanks.

Unlike the east and south shores of Mille Lacs, the north shore(and west) have multiple mudflats within about a mile of shore. The Weimer and Bombeck are within about a mile of The Red Door. Our roads will most likely head to other flats as well in the near future, such as Pantry, Fletcher, Bitcher, Fishhouse and Resort. Maybe even the Backer. ALL of these flats are within 5 miles of The Red Door and most are within 3 miles. And ALL have a history of good winter and summer fishing.

The jigs up this coming weekend at The Red Door! All augers will be full bore ahead! Fishhouse runners will be steamin’!

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Good one Red Door. Hey Chomps. You should see the north 40 in the spring. They have sap collection bags hanging all over. I think Steve Fellegy sneaks over and gets the sap.

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Yep I know he does, don’t see him sharing much though!

For the first weekend in at least three, we have no snow storm and or a huge cold front coming in this weekend at The Red Door!

The plan is still in place to start moving houses out today and over the weekend. Warming temps have and will continue to shift the big ice sheet so the crack/bridge will be on constant scrutiny. It’s gonna be tough for ATV use off the roads. Not impossible but could result in getting stuck often.

Fishing reports are pretty good for the most part. Surely consistently better than last year for now. From shallow shoreline breaks at low light to the flats, fair walleye action has been the norm with a few skunks along the way as usual. Most walleye action on the flats has been on the top but close to the drop off.

The Red Door was a busy place on Friday! The guys pulled houses all day and fishermen headed out steadily.

By the end of the day, things were getting sloppy on the ice. Temps have hovered around or above freezing for 24 hours. We’re hoping the bridge/crack holds up to all the traffic without moving it. We still found 12 inch ice under the deeper snow. We have roads to Bombeck and Weimer and tried to get out to the Pantry but ran into a bad crack that blew water spouts out of the ice when going over it the first trip. After the plow driver changed his underwear, going to the Pantry and further was put on hold.

So, we should have some fishing reports, finally, by tonight. Stay tuned!

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After the plow driver changed his underwear

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I’m not sure that’s a job I or my FW would want me to have. I only have a couple pairs of shorts….

After a session moving the bridge first thing in the morning, all went well at The Red Door Saturday.

Fishing reports were fairly good. Some limits of walleyes were taken. Some got just a couple and yes, the usual “tough fishing” reports were in the mix too. Again, the locations varied along with depths. Some got’em on the flats, and some got’em on the deep shoreline areas– 22′-24′. Not much, yet, on the perch front.

The Red Door was a busy place this past weekend. The weather was nice and ice conditions were pretty good as well. Many of the houses are now on the ice with more on their out way this week.

Fishing reports were the good old “spotty” type. Sunday was slower than Saturday. Several pairs of anglers had their 8 keepers for the weekend but many reported 0 to 2 walleyes for the weekend. Not many perch being reported. One jumbo here, two jumbos there or none.

The plows will try to open roads to some of the other flats this week. The heavy snow combined with heavy houses have created some flooding. Be sure to block the houses at least 4 inches off the ice to start and maybe more. Some houses had 4-6 inches of water come up after drilling. As the ice gets thicker and the snow stays away (we hope), the flooding should be less but it is ALWAYS a factor.

Monday fishing reports were on the slow side.

The plow trucks ran into an active crack while trying to get to more mud flat country and had to turn around. Hopefully things will change soon so we can branch out to areas many want to fish also.

Garrison weather forecast:

… WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON…

… A WINTER STORM WARNING MAY BE NEEDED IF HEAVIER SNOW SHIFTS NORTH…

LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOW WILL CONTINUE THIS MORNING… AND WILL PERSIST INTO THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THERE WILL BE A 3 TO 5 HOUR PERIOD OF HEAVIER SNOWFALL RATES… UP TO 1 INCH PER HOUR… FROM MID MORNING TO EARLY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL RESULT IN VISIBILITY LESS THAN A HALF MILE… RAPID SNOW ACCUMULATION… AND HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS. STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATION FROM 4 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY THE TIME SNOW TAPERS TO FLURRIES BY MID AFTERNOON.

THE SNOW WILL BE FOLLOWED BY VERY COLD AIR AND STRONGER NORTHWEST WINDS TUESDAY NIGHT… WHICH WILL PRODUCE LOCAL AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW IN EXPOSED AREAS.. AND WIND CHILLS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW ZERO TUESDAY NIGHT.

There were some pretty good reports from The Red Door ice today. Several fishermen reported catching some big ones–from 25″-27″. Not many keepers though. Most of the action seemed to come from mudflat country. The bigger fish came from the TOP of the flat, right where the edge starts. At the “peak”. Rattle reels/red hook/tail hooked minnows sounded like the trick.

Happy, healthy and a prosperous New Year to ALL!

While the weather man (luckily) was off on the snow amounts for the weekend, The Red Door fishing reports improved some more. A handfull of walleye limts for 2 angler groups, quite a few reports of 2-4 “too big” walleyes and a few pretty good jumbo perch reports made up most of the chatter. The perch reports came from 27′-29′ along the deep mucky flat shoreline areas out from the Knox point area. Walleye reports fame from the various mud flat haunts.

Minus 23 this morning! Makin’ ice and doing away with slush…..

The Red Door fishing reports have been and are pretty steady the past few days. Most anglers are catching a few fish including some fair perch reports from the deep 28′-30′ mucky areas west of Knox Point. We’ve extended the roads into that area now. Walleyes are showing up more on the flats with the top of the flat (close to the drop offs) being the best bet–no matter the time of day. Not great by any means but much better than last year!

Decisions decisions! So goes life on the ice.

The Red Door has historically plowed roads to Weimer, Bombeck, Pantry, Fletcher, the south end of Resort and sometimes to Fish House and Backer. But this winter, with the exception of Weimer and Bombeck, access to those flats has been and still is blocked with a “live” crack running east and west that crosses north of the Pantry, crosses the middle of Resort and goes west from there, crossing the south end of Matton and beyond.

Although many Red Door perms have ther favorite spots on those flats, it’s been decided to not bridge the crack 2 miles from shore. (typically the “live” crack is always with a 1/4 mile of shore.) Understanding more mudflat country needs to be added, The Red Door extended the road system west yesterday. Into a new frontier for The Red Door.

The road now extends from the Bombeck west to the northeast end of resort and all the way over to the east side of Matton. The Matton is the same distance as the Fletcher from The Red Door. Doing so adds the north half of the east edge of the Resort and the north edge of the Resort flat as well as the prime, north 2/3 of the steep east bank on Matton flat.

More than 2 miles of mudflat drop off added to The Red Door fishing grounds!

The Red Door area finally had a nice weekend without snow, wind and with plenty of sunshine. Fishing reports were the usual mix with quite a few saying they got a couple “too big” walleyes, some saying they got quite a few “too big” walleyes (one house had 8 big ones on Saturday), a few big perch for the pan and then some who had “zero” bites. Again, the perch action was better along the deeper mucky bottoms(25′-30′) along shore and the walleye action was better in mudflat country.

The trend, unlike reports from other Mille Lacs fishing grounds, is that when a walleye is landed it’s a keeper or “too big”. The little 7″-12″ walleyes showing up in numbers(according to reports) are far and few between in the northern Mille Lacs area.

The Red Door is a “dern’d” cold place right now. Extreme cold has led to extreme quiet as well. In other words, fishermen are being smart!

A few brave(or crazy) anglers have been out the past 2-3 days and although dealing with an extreme cold front, have caught a handfull of walleyes…again mostly big ones. Many are in the 25″ range with 27″ plus fish mixed in quite often. Handfull?? 2-3 fish per house. Some lucky (or sharper) anglers are getting 6-8 a day but there are zero’s too.

The weekend is looking good weather-wise! All the roads are good at this point but one never knows as temps changing can move the ice in a heartbeat. The north half of the Resort Flat is now open as well as the north half of Matton Flat. ATV’s might stay on top of the hard packed snow now but might find a deeper drift with slush in it yet also.

AND! The new cabins are coming along just fine. Kitchens are being put into place now and the tile is going onto bathroom walls as well. Summer bookings for the new cabins are coming in so if you have potential plans for soft water, nows the time to lock into your favorite dates.

See ya’ll this weekend!

This past weekend ended as being slower fishing than the past 2-3 weekends for many. Houses that were getting several fish a day got very few if any this past weekend. Of course, the exception to the rule stood out also. A handfull of reports were good. Yesterday a couple good catches came in too. But again….generally tough! The common reasoning? Last weeks artic blast. Who knows….

After a weekend that saw an inch of snow get blown around by 20-30mph. north winds, plugging up roads and fish house driveways as soon as soon as the they’d get cleared, the road system is looking good. The “live” crack has now moved right along shore–at least for now. Although it will possibly need chopping down or bridging as temps change, it’s always nice to deal with a foot of water under and around the crack than 30ft. Hope it stays tight along shore!

Halfway through the winter, The Red Door says THANK YOU to all and looks forward to another month or more of seeing you on the ice and the trails.

The Red Door plow trucks heated up the tranny fluid yesterday and broke trail to the south tip of the Resort Flat. The concrete like snow, now only a foot or less deep is all they could handle on the initial trek. As always, the road follows(in the deep water about 200ft. from the drop off) the contour of the east side of the flat all the way out and around the southwest corner. The crack that was preventing travel to the south is now healed.

By the end of the week (before the weekend), the plows hope to have access to both the Pantry Flat and the Fletcher Flat. No promises….but “hope”.

With this ongoing fish hunting via snow plow, The Red Door will have direct access to over five miles of actual mudflat drop offs! Gentleman…..start your augers! Ready? Set? DRILL!!!!!

The Red Door plows opened the door to the Pantry yesterday. Will the shelves be stocked?

Also, the road to Fletcher Flat is now wide open and fair game.

Looks to be an okay weekend weather-wise. Just a typical winter weekend in The Red Door country. The groomers have been working hard to knock down the bumps on the snow machine trails. No fresh snow makes it a little tougher to do but the Tucker does it’s best.

See ya’ll this weekend. Call ahead if you need anything done on the ice with your house etc.

Thanks for the road update Red Door Reporter. I see you are very very knowledgeable about the north end mud flats. Do you ever fish’em? Perhaps you could give us an occasional fishin report. I haven’t figured out who you are yet, but I’m still workin on it.

“Reporters” write….you do the fishing.

The Red Door news from the past weekend? Look up the results for the Brainerd Jaycees contest on Gull. Yup–that’s where many of The Red Door crowd ventured. In other words…it was the quietest weekend of the winter.

So not many fishing reports. Word of several 25″-27″ walleyes were reported from the various mudflats and tullibee/perch reports came from the deep shoreline areas.

Next weekend is shaping up to be a busy one however. Ice conditions continue to improve without new snow. Long range weather forecasts show a good fishing week and weekend coming up. Call asap if you have plans in the bucket!

Quiet! That’s the word at The Red Door this week.

This coming weekend is shaping up to be the nicest of the winter. Warm temps and pretty easy fishing conditions should make things busy and fun for all.

Ice travel conditions are pretty good with zero new snow and a hard snow surface to travel on for both ATV’s and snow machines. Still bring a shovel with ATV’s. Travel with trucks cross country is possible but one could stop in the wrong place and high center in a hard drift yet.

Roads are open to the Fletcher, Pantry, Weimer, Bombeck, Matton and both ends of the Resort flat. If you need a driveway plowed for your wheel-house–let us know.

Snow machine trails are still pretty good but without snow are in a “used” condition. Good riding conditions for sure.

If you need work done or want a move made with your Perm, call asap before the weekend.

The Red Door country will be a good place to be this weekend!

What are you thoughts on the bite with the upcoming stable weather, with apparently nicer temps. The jumbo perch bite can’t be too far off, is it??