Where’s Cookie????

Very quick report today as we will be gone for Christmas for 1 day. If you coming up tomorrow Christmas day you should try and check with the resort your going out of as the hub bub is some may be closing there roads if it get to bad. One of the worst thing for the roads is when traffic drive on them when the snow and wind are blowing. Every track made fills in with snow. Then the next track same thing. Every little disturbance of solid obstacle makes a drift. Then that’s gets disturb and it all keeps snow balling/ Please call before you make the drive. I have done no snow dance 1/2 dozen times. Hillmens store number is 218 647 8504 Every one have a Merry Christmas

Well it been a few crazy days. We had a great time down for Christmas but coming home sunday was a little longer trip due to the roads and weather. Our good friend Wayne held down the fort out on the lake in old minnesota doing a few chores for me and meeting some customers that were going to arrive sunday afternoon. They had to cancel as Buddy Hillmen closed his ice road do the the impending weather. My no snow dance must of worked as we did not get anywhere close to the snow they predicted , but wow with the wind. Having all the houses pretty much ready to go worked out well other then the snow drifts had to be broken up and moved. I had augured 4 holes in montana for rick and heather. There was quite a bit of snow around it with the typical flooding I felt. About the third pass with the red baron and I thought I saw a hole in the ice .Sure as sh a crack had went by the house and water was bubbling out of it due to all the snow drifted in front of it. Once I got the blunt of the snow moved away she quit bubbling.. Glen and Joe would be spending one night in there. I then wanted to put old Minnesota on fresh ice for Wayne’s last night as he had been fishing in the same spot since Friday evening. That went well and we had it moved a ready to fish in no time. He had averaged about 5 fish a day. So not so good. The wind just kept getting worse through out the day creating white out conditions off and on. I had my helper Jimbo meet me to help move north Dakota as Tammy and Scott has spent friday night in there with little action. Scott was new to ice fishing and was his first time while Tammy had a little bit of experience. The hammer and I then met wayne out in old Minnesota for some surf and turf and a little card playing. 530 on the dot and I landed a very nice walleye on the green genze worm tipped with a minnow. While I was landing that on the rattle wheel the hammer landed a 21 incher. Just a tad bigger then the 20 incher I landed. We missed a couple more fish and then they just shut down. With over 20 holes to auger tuesday morning we called it a night around 9pm. Arriving out to montana Tuesday morning and Glen and Joe had tremendous fishing and Glen said the rattle wheels were just nuts. Mean while 150 feet away Wayne had 3 or 4 bites but was able to get his 3 to take home. After auguring all the holes it was time to start helping build Buddy Hillmens highway. We had 1.5 miles of road to clear off. There is a crack at 1.5 that crossed the road and buddy decided to cone it off for now and maybe it would heal up with out having to put a bridge out. By 2 pm I had all our customers checked in for the day and spent the rest of daylight cleaning up all the snow that had blown in front of the access. I did have my first casualty with the red baron and lost all of the exhaust from the y pipe back. She louds now but that 454 can let out some of them spent gasses a little better.
I had pool league Tuesday night so everyone was on there own. Yesterday morning making the rounds and Montana has landed 10 , North Dakota had 6 and they lost one while I was checking in on them. Old minnesota only had 2, while Ken and the girls in florida never landed a walleye. I’m hoping they did much better last night so we will see. Today we will be saying good bye to Frank and his crew Shwagg ,Breck, Gordy, Bradly and Danny and ken and the girls while Pat, Ryan and the two boys are here one more night. Big plans today as I attempt to put 3 of the 4 house on fresh ice before every one arrives. Jake and his crew in the cabin found some fish in there portables but did not pound on them. Still falling behind on my fishing reports but hopefully I have it dialed in now? Still spending to much time on the facebook page Cookie’s on Upper Red Lake. I posted a pic from last night and all I could say was wozer. Check it out and feel free to leave a comment as I keep farting around with that page. And as Dave the old timer said to me “ITS A GRAND LAKE AND IT OWES ME NOTHING, NOTHiNG”

Back to top

Yesterday went pretty well considering?
Got a call at 7am Gordie’s keys got locked in his truck so I was off and running for the day. Putting out fires per say comes with the job. After getting into the truck we said our good byes as they hit the road. I would guess the two house old Minnesota and Montana got 20 fish. We did play a game of texas hold um Wednesday at prime time 5 pm. Out of 6 players I made it to third. Darn the luck. Ken and the girls did not fair very well in florida. Ken will be back up in a couple weeks to give it that old collage try. Pat, Ryan and the boys are here one more night in North Dakota. There new favorite house. And they loved Old Minnesota. They have went to westwind the premier resort for fish fry’s two days in a row. Why does it always taste better when someone else makes it? I met my helper Jimbo back onshore for more training and off we went to clean, move , and set up 3 of the 5 of our fleet. With the winds howling out of the nw. Jimbo is picking it up nicely , In another week we will be working on the same page like a well oiled machine. Mother nature was being cruel out there all day. Trying to cut any trail was fruitless as it basically drifts as fast as you plow. Every wheel house, truck, and skid house now have 4 foot drifts around them. Should make it real interesting when they all start pulling out the next few days. There also will be a lot of flooding in all those spots I imagine As our grandma Olga would say in that Swedish accent and what we named our boat “EWWW IMAGINE THAT” After getting old Minnesota and Montana set up I had to find my way to shore and meet Rick, Mike and Matt. They have also been coming for years and always request old Minnesota. I did not mention north Dakota as I expect they to will jump ship just like Pat, if they spend the night in there. My good friend Jake built one hell of a house. Hindsight it could of been even bigger as the runners stick out on both ends and make it tough to plow the snow away from the house. On the way back out I also met Pang as they were out there in portables. Pang brought a rookie all the way from Germany and I will have to work on his name. I then got a hold of Mathai? and his family as they were going into Florida and I explained that I would not be able to move it due to the conditions. That was fine with them so back to shore I went to escort them out to Florida. Taking them to Florida in a blizzard /white out. Once I got them taken care of I was heading home for a little break as it was one heck of a day and to think I’m going to do it all over again today? Glad I love the work or I would be in big trouble. Just a few more things. Totally sick of accu weather so if any one has a better weather site chime in. We have a big blow coming at noon today with 3 to 6 inches of snow and the temps plummeting into next week . Batten down the hatches here we go. I knew coming into this winter she/mother nature was going to rear her ugly side this year. I just did the no snow, snow dance so will see if that works. Its going to be a absolute mess out there after new years. Making the rounds last night and all 4 houses had at least a couple fish so will see how they did over night. Another big day, not sure if my helper Jimbo can help me today. I would like to move north Dakota, Florida and north Carolina. Might be a little tough on my own but we will give it a shot because that’s what I do on as the old timer Dave told me” ITS A GRAND LAKE AND IT OWES ME NOTHING,NOTHING” Wow I forgot to mention The elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie.

Wow ! Just crazy,
This is going to be another long post. Pang, Terry and Pasel were in florida they had a interesting trip. The co stopped and pang had cleaned 2 of there 4 fish for lunch. The law says the only fish you can clean you must be in the process of cooking. he was nice enough to give him a warning but did confiscate his fillets and made him keep the carcasses as part of there limit. The highlight was 530pm that night when Terry landed a very chunky elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. My helper Jimbo could not help me friday so I recruited kellie the hammer to help me. She cleaned the houses while I attempted to move 3 houses in one day. North Dakota went pretty smooth, North Carolina was a quick move is it was just sitting out there on the lake. The hammer cleaned florida while I was moving north Dakota, when I arrived at north Dakotas new spot and unhooked the house I walked around the door side and the door had swung open. I closed the door and continued blocking and banking it as Jake and Justin would be arriving for one night. I then fire up the augur and the door will not open? Locked? about that time they call as they have arrived. I explained the situation and came to shore to get key for door. We get bac k out there and the door will not unlock? Wow We boosted Justin through the window and had him remove the door handle where I took the ice chisel and busted out the innards . I got the holes augured out and headed over to block and bank north carolina and Mark and collete called they were at hillmens waiting for north Carolina. I banged out the prep work and again back to shore to escort them out. By then I was spent and florida would have to wait . making the rounds later that night and Justin and jake had 2, Rick, Mike and Matt had decent fishing and ate fish for the second night in a row. Mark and Collet also had a couple in the bucket.
Saturday morning Jimbo was able to come over and help me move florida before Ben and his family arrived. Ben proposed to Shawna years ago in old Minnesota and now they have 2 kids Willa and Louie. We also punched out the holes in montana and north dakota. Then just like that and all customers started rolling in. Cory and his family arrived for north Dakota. Tim and Amanda for montana and lee and larry for north Carolina. making the rounds later that night and lee and larry had left with there 6, Minnesota had some action. florida was slow as well as north Dakota. Tim and amada looked like they were sleeping as the lights were off . Wow sunday I spent the day checking on everyone. I made a quick ice rink for Louie ,visited with everyone and plowed on buddy hillmens road prepping for the next snow storm? I did the no snow dance again as it has worked twice ..I sure do not expect it to work a third time? Crazy last night was quiet at all the houses when I checked in with Tim and Amanda. No sooner then I left and Tim landed a 25 inch walleye. The families all had the lights low so I did not bother them. They sure enjoyed the lake out there yesterday with Cory and the kids chasing flags, Ben and his family skating and also tending flags and just running around outside. Quite the site as the weather was just beautiful. Wayne, the hammer and I did dinner in old Minnesota where we landed two fish, played cards and had a fabulous dinner, beef kabobs and shrimp

Mother nature is kicking my butttt. Plan A turns in to plan B, Plan B turns into Plan 3 and from there its abort abort. Trying to find a groove to get in my morning updates has been a struggle for sure. The fishing over the new years weekend could of been better. I would say counting all the kids 33 fishermen 61 fish or so. Cory Abby and the kids did not fair that well but there friends right behind them got 12 and the group of wheel houses just behind them did fairly good. Missed it by 100 yards . Monday morning and we were up to 8 inches of powdery snow and Hillmens highway was pretty much gone. I would say it looked like the moon out there. With the wind howling everything on the lake was drifted in. The big plans were to get all the houses moved. Wayne was staying in old Minnesota until Wednesday . He was fine staying where the house was after Rick and his brothers Mike and Matt left sunday. Each day got worse , it never seems to get better. He went home with his three but there was not much action. Dan, Rich and Tony? checked into montana and nded up getting 5 the first night. Dan in north Carolina did about the same but did land a pike on the rattle wheel. He did get some line burns on his hands as he decided to put fire line on one of the rattle wheels. We did get north Dakota moved but the snowy condition got so bad with white outs that we had to throw in the towel. Tuesday and again all the plans went out the window. Buddy Hillmen’s road needed to be cleared so we basically plowed most of the day. The wind was again howling with snow drifting as fast as you moved it, very frustrating as you can not beat mother nature. The side road I had plowed was gone. I spent close to 3 hours cleaning all the snow that had accumulated at the end of hillmens highway road. Dan and Megan also showed up for one day so I had to check them in. They spent 1 night and got 3. Dan had a side by side with tracks and they went all the way to center bar where they got skunked. Yesterday I cut a new trail to the houses said goodbye to the guys, We moved florida and prepped as Bob and his crew would be arriving around dusk. Buddy hillmen decided to cross the crack at the cones and open the road out to the next pressure ridge, I also checked Tom and his crew into north Dakota for a day of fishing. Monday we took the hammers trail blazer in for tires and the ac pumped locked up when I arrived at the tire shop so when the tires were done I had to have a flat bed come pick it up and take it too a repair shop brand new tires and we had to tow it. I got the summer beater going . I come back off the lake last night and hit the key and nothing Starter? plus while we were clearing buddy’s highway the red baron quit and we towed it to shore where the mechanic Tom is going to track down the problem today. We think its a broken ignition wire. So our daily driver is our lake truck blue thunder. Zoiks!!! is all I can say. Just another day as the old timer up here said to me years ago “ITS A GRAND LAKE AND IT OWES ME NOTHING NOTHING”

So here we go another weekend has arrived. The good news is the red baron is up and running again. It was icu or ecu in the distributer cap. I have a hard time throwing things away up here and sure as shi I had one in my collection of parts. The red baron with its big v-plow and 454 is my all around work truck, Blue thunder is our plowand house moving machine.
Tom and his 3 buddies fished north Dakota for the day on Wednesday and did all right ,plus they landed two pike over 30 on there rod and reels. Yesterday I put in a long tough day as again mother nature said here take this 11 below zero all day,the wind would of been a asssss kicker but it was lite and variable just like the new weather site I’m now using predicted they were spot on.
I had Bob and his crew in florida for the night and they ended up with 6, Craig and his buddies arrived to fish in north Dakota for the day as they were with Bob and his crew in Florida. I had to bump Bob and his crew in to Old Minnesota for the day as Florida was rented to Ron and his cousin’s Tony and Eric from new jersey of all places “That brings nightmares of my army training at fort dix new jersey” They did not roll in tell after 9 pm last night so I basically spent 12 straight hours on the lake other then coming home to switch trucks and have dinner. yesterday I moved, prepped and augured holes in north Carolina as Ron and his cousins will also be using that house. I then got montana moved and prepped. I will punch out the holes later today for Tanner and his crew that also have north Dakota and the cabin for the weekend. 5 wheel house in snuck behind me and set up so I hope any fish are not coming from thataway. they all drove right over my extension cords across the road? Oh well what can you do there all potential customers in my book. I make some crazy roads around my house with the red baron and its way easy to get confused. I’m not a road engineer I tell the honey bunny “the hammer” when she asks. I do have a reason why I plow this way, plus its fun turning into the big berms with the v-plow I have no clue when Tanner and his crew will be arriving and I need to get north Dakota moved closer to montana. I also have to move old Minnesota before dark as hunter and his crew arrive some time after 8 pm tonight. My helper Jimbo had other commitments yesterday and today so I’m on my own again. Not looking forward to punching 22 holes today plus a few extra for Ron and his cousins tip ups. My poor back is worn out as I have dealt with back pain for over 30 years. Speaking of 30 years the hammer and I have been married 39 years today. Not sure how she has put up with all my shenanigan’s but she knew how I felt about divorcing when we married . She was only 15 and I was a day older then 17. I never forget the day we met she was coming up the stairs where they lived and I was going down the stairs with her brother. We got down in the basement and I said to Dan “who is that” She got up stairs and said oh my gosh did you see that long haired guy Danny brought home. To funny. It was love at first site for me as I ask Dan, is that your older sister? He said nope my younger sister. Time to get to work. 27 below and I have one very busy day on as The old timer Dave said ITS A GRAND LAKE! A GRAND LAKE! AND IT OWES ME NOTHING! NOTHING! I will always be bummed that when I took that blind man fishing we never got a bite nd he jigged for 3 hours never sitting his rod down. got a bite

Another weeks has arrived and some how I survived. I headed out just after sunrise to check on Ron and his cousins Ted and Eric “THE JERSEY BOYS” They had 5 in the bucket and Eric had landed a 40 inch pike in the middle of the night. Ron also said the heater in North Carolina quit. I knew right away the propane had liquefied due to the cold so I boiled up some water to poor on it to get the pressure back. Well I learned a valuable lesson and got lucky. As I was walking over to the tank the water sloshed out right on my hand. I had a cloth glove on and could not get it off quick enough. It got the inside of my hand pretty good and stung the rest of the day but never blistered Note always where a leather glove when walking with a pot of boiling water. I got the heat going then did some prep work with the red baron and headed home to get blue thunder. I headed back out, the first thing to do was grab Tony’s old house California and get that set up. As soon as I took off in tow old blue thunder all of a sudden had a clunk. OH OH this did not sound good. I was committed to have it set up so I slowly continued while getting a hold of my mechanic Tom to get out here and see what kind of a problem I had. I was able to get California set up and then head over to north Dakota and start digging it out. Luckily I had broken up some of the banking with the red baron when I was on the lake earlier that morning as when tom arrived it was not good news. The front drive shot was on the verge of falling out as all three u joints are shot. being pressed for time I decided I would give it one shot pulling north Dakota out of its perch with only 2 wheel drive. 1 attempt was made and it was not happing I got her moving but after moving less then a foot she spun the tires and it was done moving. Looking back The one mistake I made is I was dealing with a phone call at the same time and should of had all my attention on the initial pull . Seems I’m always learning from my own mistakes. Now just like all most every day plan A had been changed to plan B. Back home a third time, transfer all the gear back into the red baron as she now was going to do blue thunders work. Once I arrived back out there and again the phone rings Tanner and his crew of 12 were here. They were willing to help so I gave them directions to come on out and I continued. using the v-plow to bank a house is tough and quite a bit of shoveling had to be done to bank the houses.. The guys arrived and were like what can we do. perfect augur the holes. Ten minutes later and they came over there augur would not start and would need mine. We got the hole augured and them checked in and I was off to move old Minnesota. I was running out of time, but luck was on my side as Hunter and his crew were not arriving un tell 8 pm. A lot of hand digging was in order as the v-plow can not move the snow away from the houses. The move went pretty well other then the time and labor it takes to hand bank a house. just as I buttoned it up and Ring were here. Wow what a day.12 straight hours of humping and all the customers were checked in.
Saturday morning making the rounds and darn with all the houses on fresh ice the fishing was not that good, Florida had a few more fish, old Minnesota had one fish , montana none and north Dakota one. A few fish were missed and lost but pretty darn slow. I made a few phone calls and from what I gathered it was pretty slow all over the lake. Stupid fish . Chuck and his wife in there wheel house had got 3. a couple outfitters also had poor fishing. Goose was down south and had tremendous fishing Thursday but it had slowed way down. Tanner and his crew were playing dice every time I checked in while the guys in montana had borrowed my augur to run and gun. They did find a few perch and another of the very elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. A nice 14 1/2 incher. Tanner invited me out to watch the oakland game. I arrived just after kick off and again they were all playing dice . 20 minutes later and bang a fish was missed while another was caught. Then bang another fish caught another missed. Just like that the dice were thrown in the corner and every one was fishing. That was nice to see. I headed home for dinner. Making the rounds later and florida was up to 14 fish caught they would be leaving early sunday morning. I hung out and visited with Ted,Eric and Ron where not a fish bit while I was there. Stupid fish. I called it a night after a quick stop to old Minnesota with hunter and his group. They only had 3 in the bucket. I told them I would plan on moving them the next morning as they were here for 3 nights. Sunday morning and Tanner and his crew of 12 were packing up, they all took off Saturday evening to hit the casino, so there was no fishing in montana or north Dakota from 8 pm un tell they arrived back a some time in the middle of the night. We said our good buys and I headed over to old Minnesota where I bumped the guys into north Dakota for there last night. I then headed to shore where I helped Buddy Hillmen get all the bridge out of the woods as if were going to go further west there will be a couple cracks and pressure ridges to cross. Jimbo met me at the house around 2pm where we went out and prepped houses and moved montana before it got dark. Last night Hunter and his crew had caught a 32 inch pike rite after I had left earlier plus they had another walleye in the bucket.. The hammer and here friend Nancy arrived in old Minnesota where Nancy lost a big fish. They also landed 1 keeper walleye. The hammer was marking fish but they refused to bite. Stupid fish. We called it a night and headed home. Chuck and his wife did manage to get there 6 in there wheel house, Kim and Tim had got 5 in there wheel house and I headed home tired and worn out. All in all it was a grind on a Grand Lake that as the old timer Dave told me ITS A GRAND LAKE AND IT OWES ME NOTHING !NOTHING!!!!

wow yesterday was a grind? We attempted to plow a road around the pressure ridge at 3 miles. 3 v plows running full tilt from 11 am to 11pm. The red baron went through her paces and I sweated that I would not burn up the tranny. Trying to push all the snow to the south east. As we piled up the snow it got to the point where we had to blast through it to make areas for the snow to go. I jerked both Buddy hillmen and Kelly the mechanic out of snow piles a couple times. Around 4pm I checked the houses as I came in for gas. I also had Jimbo try and retrieve the front driveshaft off of blue thunder 1. 3 bolts on the rear would not come loose so we oiled them down and will attempt today or tomorrow. Jimbo has other engagements so I’m on my own as I move North Dakota on to a new spot for John v and his crew. I’ll be doing the no snow, snow dance when I step out the door but it worked twice at the beginning of the year and I may of used them up. Those were two big snows we did not need on the early ice so it worked out. Hunter and his crew did horrible in old Minnesota so I bumped them into north Dakota the last day. They did land a 32 inch pike but plowing all day yesterday not sure if they got any more walleyes. The hammer and her friend nancy fished for a couple hours sunday eve, in old Minnesota The hammer got a keeper and nancy had a big fish on when they first set up Plenty to do today and were hoping the hammers truck is done as we have no car to leave town. also any one out there want to drive a1990 chevy truck here from Colorado? We could barter for fishing if need be. So as The old Timer Dave told me “ITS A GRAND LAKE AND IT OWES ME NOTHING!!!! as I walk out the door to hit the ice

man oh man where does the days go. Tuesday morning I had my plan of attack. I would head out in the red baron to move and prep north Dakota for John and his crew Tony, Bernie and Ron.  Due to the high wind’ s and snow Monday I figured a extra hour for moving the house by my self as jimbo my helper had other engagements.  Looking out the window here at home it looked like a nice day. When I hit the lake I was greeted with high winds and white out conditions. My side road going northwest off the main road should be fine I thought. To my surprise she was blown in pretty good. As I worked my way up it I stopped every 30 yards to place a marker out so I could see the road coming back. Digging out north dakota went well. I drove over to the new area to break a trail and that’s where it got interesting to say the least. It was blowing so hard I made a circle came back over to north Dakota made a second round and you could hardly see where I passed through as it was basically filling in as fast as I plowed it. The worse thing you can do is put a berm on both sides and that exactly what the red baron does.  Coming around the third time and I had to get out and mark where I wanted the house with blocks to even see. A few more psses and I had the spot cleared but she was filling in fast. Never planned on spending a hour just clearing a spot. Mother nature was at it again. Things just got crazier as I plugged along. I get the house all blocked and banked on the side and decide I will go get blue thunder to bank the ends, Here’s where I made another mistake because here at cookies as my good buddy Wayne  says. “We do it right cause we do it twice” Man do we laugh. I head down the road picking up a little speed as the plan is to make 3 quick passes and clear out the road. As I get towards the end I slow down to get my bearings and come across buddy’s road. Its white out conditions and the main road is gone? As I creep along looking for a marker the red baron comes to a stop? I plow right across the road and drove the red baron right in to the berm where there’s 2 feet of water and slush under the berm. I’m now stuck. I grab my phone and its dead. I do a little digging but there is no way its coming out with out a pull. Mean while the pass I made down the secondary road is filling in errrrr!  I decide to just stay put hoping some one will come by,10 minutes or so and here comes a diesel. A quick pull and I head back to north Dakota to hand bank it,The road is completely full of snow. I grab the generator and it will not start errrr. I head back to shore to get tit running and john and his crew arrive, I take care of the generator get back out there with them. Go to auger the holes and the brand new blades are dull as I had borrowed  it to the guys last weekend when there would not run errrr! just crazy. I then get a call from Jimbo and he is buried as he drove into a drift. I head over to him as the winds are finally dying down and the sun is setting. We get him out and he has a flat tire?  I tow him to shore and come home toget the jack and a breaker bar to help him out. wow what a day.
Yesterday I take the hammer to work and the red baron is running like crapola. The rear tire is flat. I air up the tire and let the red baron warm up and it starts to run a little better. I go out to  check on the guys in north dakota  they had 6. I come home get the tire off of red baron and we head to blackduck to get the hammers vechicle plus repair my tire and Jimbos.  We get home and I head out to rescue Jimbos plow truck which is been stuck with a broken plow  since last Friday. We take care of that and  head out where we got Minnesota and florida moved and prepped before dark just like a well oiled machine. I  talked to the guys they had 5 more and a couple line snappers. Bushed I headed home to regroup and now today its time to hit the ice. From the looks of it 30 mile per hour winds it should be a interesting day on such a grand lake

21 days into another season here on the shores of upper red lake have been  a number of things.
Fun! Fun! Fun! Having my good friend Wayne come up is such a hoot. man do we laugh from all the shenanigans . One of our new sayings is “Here at cookies”, “We do it right cause we do it twice” , its so funny how much it happens. Just a example put the shovel in the truck and take it out less then a minute later.
Playing Texas hold um or poker with the hammer! Not only can she fish but she can also put the hammer down playing poker. 
Brutal is a word I can use all most everyday as mother nature rears her ugly side at least once a week if not more. Two snow falls this week with brutal winds crearting white out conditions.
– 33 yesterday morning when I fired up the red baron. She has a small miss, I also noticed it does not run well if its cold? Going to call my good friend Tommy Short today. He owns Autocraft Specialty’s.  He works on street rods, auto restoration with wiring one of his specialty’s. He should be able to point me in the right direction as he is one of the best mechanics I know .
Blue thunder is down and is getting a new front u joint on the drive shaft. We were able to salvage  the old drive shaft from blue thunder 1 as number 2s was shot and almost beyond repair. It is also getting a right front u joint as that was also destroyed. Its just kills me when you junk out a car there like oh will give you 100 bucks that’s all its worth in scrape. Then they have the gall to sell you one part for 300 bucks. If  I had the space I would own a junk yard in a hart beat.
A grind! Yes working on the lake is a grind, having a helper every year is huge. Even though my new guy Jimbo has other commitments some times. Its huge when he can help. He’s a sharp kid, hard worker and seems to love working out on the lake.
A challenge! Keeping every thing running smoothly, helping fishermen! Anything from broken door handles, dead batteries, flat tires, stuck in snow banks, heaters not working, augurs not running, the list goes on and on.
One of the big ones,” Finding fish” stupid fish!
That’s about it for the day as that old timer Dave  told me. “ITS A Grand Lake and It owes me Nothing, Nothing” I have to agree 100%

Here goes another long winded report.
John and his crew were in North Dakota 4 nights, They landed 22 walleye’s, 2 pike, 5 perch and had a couple fish break there lines. Friday there 4rth night I offered to move them for the last night once I got all my new customers checked in? They decided they were good which was a relief as you will see.
Glen arrived thrusday morning in white out conditions for one night in old Minnesota. ZOIKS!! As I escorted him out there going up the old road was not a option as it was gone. I decided the best plan would be not to plow but cross country the mile off the main road with the v-plow up. That did not work out and I buried the red baron 50 yards off the main road. Glen backed up to me and a quick jerk and I was able to back out and switch to plan b. Cut a new trail which would fill in before I came back out. We arrived at old Minnesota with no other adventures. I had not punched out the holes so that was in order before Glen could start fishing. The hammer had taken the generator to Bemidji so he would be fishing with the gas lights un tell she got back..
Due to the white out conditions florida and montana would have to wait un tell Friday morning to move to there new spots. We had pulled them out of there nests Wednesday eve, so they only needed to be moved a couple hundred yards ,blocked, banked and augured Friday morning.
The wind laid down around 4 pm to a slight breeze of lets say 15 after blowing around 40 all day. With 4 foot drifts around the house moving snow would also come into the equation Friday.
I arrived back to old Minnesota well after dark with the generator in tow. 40 dollars later and they said the problem was I over filled the oil? Glen had two in the bucket and said he should of had five but he could not see down the hole.
A big day was coming up again as Jimbo my helper was gone.
Friday morning and I was greeted with 33 below. I thought please red baron do not let me down as I hit the key. vroom she fired up. She still had that miss but runs a little better once its warmed up. I would get ahold of Tommy 250 miles away and have him figure out what I could do to correct the problem. Very irritating to say the least. Plan A was to baby her as much as possible as blue thunder was still at Toms getting u joint work done.
Arriving to the houses I felt I had plenty of time to grind it out. Glen was all ready gone with his 3 fish. A quick call, he had great action and pulled up the rattle wheels at some point. At 24 below and a slight breeze a face mask was in order. I dug out montana ,moved her to her new spot and before I could get the holes augured Berry and his crew called. “I need to make a adjustment as my web sight says check in is at 2pm” I’m some what flexible with check ins but I can not predict what mother nature throws at me. I finished up ,got them checked in and headed over to florida to do it all over again.
Prepping a area for florida and the phone rings. Its Ken and Middison there at hillmens. I get them in old Minnesota after punching out three more holes. About the time I started to move florida the phone rings again and its Steve and his crew, there at Hillmen’s. Err there also early. They to would have to wait a bit. I bang out florida and go to greet them and its 1:38pm. If every one showed up after 2pm all would of been ready. Oh well maybe next time.
I then take a break to scout out a area as I have to move california and block and bank for Tony’s friend Bob and Brenett. The timing works out perfect as Buddy hillmen calls and want ‘s me to clean off the bridge at 1.5 mile. I knock that out and head back where the phone rings . Its the general and Doug from mno .
I escort them out to area I scouted earlier and plow them a trail so they can get set up with there wheel houses where boar would be arriving later. I finish California around 4 pm and head to shore. I get gas and supply’s pull in the driveway to take a break. Around 5:30pm and bob calls 1 1/2 hour late. I go meet them escort them to California and its time to have some dinner.
After dinner I make the rounds and call it a night.
Saturday morning I make the rounds where Florida got 5, Montana got 5 old Minnesota had 3 with 8 misses. Boar and his crew did not do well, with boars house having the most action. They decided they were going to move further out as that’s part of the adventure of fishing such a grand lake.
I prepped north Carolina for Sparky and Trent and headed home to address the red barons miss as I had talked to Tommy and he gave me a few things to take a look at. The tips Tommy gave me help tremendously.
Saturday eve making the rounds and it was a little slow for every body. “Stupid fish”
Sunday morning and the guys in north Dakota were packing up and had two more over night. We said our good byes as Jimbo came out to help me prep and move north Dakota for Scott and his crew.
Ken and Maddison were gone so not sure how they finished.
Steve and his crew were gone to LOW for the day.
Barry and his crew had slower fishing and I told them I would move them if they were game.
Scott and his crew had terrible fishing in north Dakota
Boar and his crew from mno did not fair well in there new location, all though all of boars rattle wheels were spun out and he sent me a pic of the rats nest it had created.”TO FUNNY”
Sparky and Trent had there 6 from north Carolina.
We said our goodbyes and got a few pics.
I then moved Montana for Berry and his crew. They helped and we had them set up on new ice in no time. I also checked in Jason and Reed in north Carolina to see if we could have good fishing in there again. I will move them to day depending on how they did. The plan is also to move north Dakota again as last night it was still dead on that new spot. Berry and his crew had 3 more when I checked in with them last night

Another sunrise and another sunset made my day yesterday as I enjoyed a day on such a grand lake. I spent part of the morning in old Minnesota making some phone calls, planning my day and even wetting a line.
Berry and his crew Ted, Mike and Scott had left early do to the weather conditions in southern Minnesota. They only managed 3 more fish after the move. “Stupid fish”.
I hung out in old minnesota until the generator ran out of gas so I could figure out how long it ran on a tank. !0 1/2 hours as she quit running at 8:30 am. Sure would be nice to have that burg system? Oh that’s right its in the snow bank . “Stupid thing” not sure why it fails.
After fueling up the generator I made the morning rounds to be a little disappointed with the fishing report “Stupid fish” Oh well as Wayne always says if we caught them all there would not be any to catch.
I then went over to clean and prep Montana for Brian and Stacy as they were coming up for there 25th anniversary.
I also gave Reid and Jason a couple tips as they were off to find the very elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. They only caught one walleye in North Carolina so I told them when they came back it would be in a new spot.
I then said goodbye to Steve from Michigan and his crew in Florida. They did horrible on low and did not fair much better in florida the third night. They did have some action on tip ups though just outside the house.
Then over to north Dakota where again no fish “stupid fish” what a horrible spot that turned out to be. We talked and I told them I would be back at 10:30 to move the house. Arriving back at 10:38 we were on the move. I told them if all went well they would be wetting a line again by noon. I also said if they wanted they could ride in north Dakota. Scott ask if I had any more shovels and I said sure do I have 3 so they all pitched in to dig her out. The move went well and just like I promised they were wetting a line by noon. Cory said the ride was way smoother then he expected.
The phone rings and its Stacy and Brian 2 hours early, perfect as the house is ready to go. At the same time Buddy Hillmen calls and says he is over the pressure ridge and were going to open another mile of road. OH! Oh! plan A is now switched to plan B. I get them checked in and I’m off to help with the new road.
It did not take long to burn up a 1/2 tank of gas. I checked in with Buddy Hillmen and headed home to gas up, check the fluids and get back out to the houses as I still had more work there. Moving north Carolina went well other then a few issues with the extension cords. As my very good pal Wayne says. “Here at Cookies we do it right cause we do it Twice”
Once North Carolina was all set I was back out to Hillmen’s highway where we would keep plugging away on the new mile of road. 2 hours later and I was heading home for a quick bite before making the evening rounds.
Stacy and Brian were the first stop where Stacy had lost 5 fish at the hole. I gave her a tip on landing them so we will see if that pans out.
Reid and Jason found north Carolina and had a blast fishing outside all day. They landed a few walleyes but no” elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie”. I guess that’s why I call them elusive.
Last stop was at North Dakota ! I had played a round of Texas Hold um with them the night before and wanted another shot.
Scott did not play, he sure deserves to catch a few fish as he was always holding his fishing rod and jigging when I stopped in. One fish was all they caught on the new spot “stupid fish”.
I lost a second time in hold um and headed home where I ran into a local Dave him and his son had set up just to the north east of us where they landed 3 nice fish.
Well back to the grind again today. we have mike coming for north Dakota and Kieth and his kids coming for florida. I told both them that check in was at 2pm.

You sure can get a lot done when your not battling mother nature. Buddy Hillmen and I punched out another mile of highway Tuesday so that was two miles in two days. Wow talk about a lot of snow to move.
Wednesday morning making the rounds to say good bye to Brian and Stacy and check in on the Mike and his crew in North Dakota.
Brian and Stacy were able to land a few fish after my tip and were packing up when I arrived. They plan on coming next year around the last weekend of walleye.
Mike and his crew went to westwind around 8pm where they brought there guitars and played music tell closing. They said they had a hoot. I had billiards tuesday night or I sure would of joined them.
They only landed a few walleyes but one of the guys landed a 26 1/2 inch walleye at 630 am. My plans were to  start the big migration out further and I explained what they had to do for the big move. I told them my plans and I would be back at noon .
I then cleaned up old Minnesota as Darrel, Bobby Joe  and Ron  had called Tuesday to see if I had a opening for one night.
Then I was off to meet Jimbo as he would be helping me. With two more miles of Buddy Hillmens highway done this has opened up a huge area of fishing for us. Finally getting blue thunder back on the ice was strange. With no clunks it feels like something is wrong? It did feel good to be taking both trucks back out onto the ice at the same time. We worked our butts off getting north Dakota and North Carolina prepped for the move. More training for Jimbo as he would be towing a house with the red baron.
Darrel ,Bobby Joe and Ron arrived just in time as I got them checked in before we pulled out. Every thing went well, but Darrel gave me the puppy eyes, wondering why all the house were going out deeper but them. 
 Arriving at the new area.  I made a new road going north  where we brought north Dakota to its new spot and prepped it for Mike and his crew. Then we were off to retrieve Montana and Florida, Old Minnesota would wait tell Thursday to be moved.
The next two houses were florida and montana. I was a little nervous letting Jimbo tow montana but it had to be done and he is a sharp kid. Plus he had one under his belt. Arriving to the new area and we towed florida down by north Dakota where I decided we would prep it for fishing and if Darrel and the crew were game they could move there gear and fish in florida  instead.  
Arriving back at old Minnesota to surprise Darrel about the move and they were kinda like. What should we do? perfect I love when a plan comes together. They decided to move.
As the sun was setting Jimbo and I headed home where we needed to get a flat tire off of Jimbo’s daily driver so we could get it fixed on Thursday.
The hammer and I headed out around 8pm to check on everyone and visit with Bobby Joe and the crew. We arrive to Florida where Mike and 2 of his crew from north dakota are all partying with Darrel ,Bobby Jo and Ron. Bobby Jo was fishing hard and had caught a couple. Mike said the fishing was way better in north Dakota also. I love it when a plan comes together. I even caught a fish on Darrel’s rattle wheel while we were there. I missed him, then Darrel missed him. I then got him on the third try.
Mike and his crew headed back to north dakata. Ron, Darrel and I joined them while they played and sang some original songs they had wrote. I even joined in with the harmonic for a tune. Its been a long times since I played . The hammer and I called it a night as she was working Thursday morning at the gas station/North country food and fuel.
Yesterday was another beautiful day out on such a grand  lake, as we worked in tee shirts as the temps hit 41 degrees. We got Montana on its new spot and also moved old Minnesota to its new location. We also squeezed in time to go get Jimbo a new used tire. I had him drive while I took a nap as I was worn out.
The red baron has been running rough and missing. While Jimbo did the tire I did some maintenance  trying to track down the miss that has been driving me crazy. I want the red baron to perform like a race car coming out of a corner. Hard on the gas and accelerating  un tell you let off for the next corner. I may of tracked down the problem as I just came back in the house after misting water on all the plug wires. It looked like the 4th of July with all the sparks. There Zipped tied for now and I’m going to have Wayne pick me up a high performance set on the way up today.
Speaking of Wayne, he is pumped coming up today. With the mild temps we are going to get all the picture windows washed inside and out . Nothing like enjoying the sunrises and sunsets and all the other shenanigans   looking out a perfectly  clean window.
He is also bringing his sister and husband for there first trip ever on upper red lake. He is so excited he probably did not sleep good last night.
Well that’s about it for today. I have 20 holes to augur, more roads to clean up, greet the customers when they arrive, place the generators with there new boxes. Block, bank north Carolina, wash windows, get fuel, and the most important thing of all.
Have a grand day, on a grand lake that as Dave the old timer told me. It’s  a Grand Lake and it owes me NOTHING! NOTHING

Well well where to begin. This past Friday went a little smoother checking in our customers, all though I still had a few other issues?
You can never totally go with the plan and I’m constantly improvising something .This time it was the red baron.
Farting around with the spark plug wires I was confident I had my missing problem solved. I head up to North country food fuel gas, up and I’m still not happy with the red baron so I pop the hood and start messing with the wires again. I hit the lake and now its running worse then ever? Oh well new wires are coming so I forge my way out too finish prepping.
My timing is perfect all day long as I get every one checked in as they arrive.
Of course mother nature now does a flip flop and there’s standing water around the houses with the warm temps. Oh Well the January thaw! its better then 40 below,
  Dan and Dave/Gravy” great nick name’, checked into north Carolina, What a great couple of guys. Gravy was like having a helper out there as he was all over gassing up the generator and meeting the neighbors after I checked them in.
 Justin and Megan arrived for north Dakota with Ron and Caroline arriving later in the day. Ken ,Carl, Terry and Sarah arrived  for florida right on time. They have ben here before and know the routine . 
After taking care of them I was off to old Minnesota to prep for Wayne’s arrival. Jarrod and Jeromy would not be arriving tell after 10 pm. for montana. After finishing up I headed to shore with the red baron running like crap.
 Arriving back on shore I decide to again look at the plug wires and discover number 2 plug wire is not even on? To funny I guess! As my good friend wayne says, here at Cookie’s we do it right cause we do it twice and some times even Thrice.  Plugging the wire in and just like that after all the fooling around re routing the wires  she running 80 % better . Man am I looking forward to installing them new wires today.
Making the rounds later that evening and every one was having a grand time,
Saturday morning and all the house’s had some fish and fish stories to tell. How sweet a feeling that is!
Saturday evening and again making the rounds we were starting to see a lot of standing water in the roads and around the houses. You can not beat mother nature out there no mater how hard you try.
  We fished with Wayne and his sister Kathy where again the hammer was up to here old tricks landing a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. I even got in on the action and landed a nice keeper walleye.
Sunday morning  making the rounds and saying good by,  Gravy Dave and as Carolina  said” Dan was biscuit were headed home with only 5? I’m not sure if they ate any.
Ken, Carl Sarah and Terry? in florida had a great time. They were going home with a few nice perch and 7 keepers walleyes plus a number of misses and a couple of pike released. A good fishy area in my book.
North dakoata was the hot house. They were going home with 12 and also ate 6 . Megan cooked them up with a honey crust, drizzled with honey. Sounded great and there going to send me the receipt.
Then as they were packing Justin landed a elusive yes elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. Man that house seems to catch fish. Saturday night they were playing a drinking game .Man were they having fun.
Jarrod and Jeromy in montana also had some fish to take home so all in all every one had a grand time on a grand lake.
Hillmens Highway should be in great shape once the cold air comes back.  The road is 7 miles out and as always you could land a 747 on it. There is a bridge around 1.7 miles. out., There’s  a curve about 3.5 to the left then right. There’s cones around 6 miles for now to let the new mile of road firm up. That’s about it today. Busy day ahead but looking forward to hiitting the lake with my good friend Marty as he arrived early this morning with a buddy.

Little testy yesterday? yes its true. Another busy day for me yesterday. Marty and his buddy headed out to see Wayne while I wrote my fishing report.
Wayne text yesterday morning that we were having generator trouble? We worked on it through the phone and wayne was able to get it running better at half choke. We discovered that the foam air filter was breaking down and I think the jet/ needle and seat may be clogged. So this morning I’m headed out to the shop . Laundry room to remove and clean the carb.
Yesterday with Wayne’s help, we putt he new plug wires on the red baron. Wow what a difference. Knock on wood she /he now runs like I want  it to.
After saying good by to wayne I was off to get North Dakota on a new spot and out of the standing water. Then I dug florida out of its spot and got that on dry ice? Dave Rohde arrives today so I will get north Dakota all blocked banked and ready fro there arrival. I also plan on moving old Minnesota to that area. Then florida needs to travel over by montana for the weekend.
All that nice weather  we had , and even though it was warm yesterday the wind had picked up a bit and it was a little chilly while I was working out there. II’ll make sure I dress better for it this morning.
I did make the rounds last night around 8pm. I did not expect Marty and his buddy to have much action and I was right. 4th night on the same spot.
Keith and Tesa  had 3 nice fish yesterday morning and had missed a few. The lights were dim when I arrived out there so I will see how they did today. A wheel house parked right behind north dakata where I had it so I’m curious to see how they did. My friend Lee set up 100 yards to the west of old Minnesota so we will also see how he did.
Looking at the weather the winds are going to be out of the west for some time so all the houses will be facing east by the weekend.
Well time to get to work. Hillmen’s highway should be in great shape by the weekend as the cold weather freezes up the standiing water

Mother nature rules again. So we have a beautiful weekend with temps in the 40s. All The houses have fairly good action. The warm weather caused a huge mess with melted snow making water puddles ever where. We easily lost half our snow cover.
The banking on the houses turned to rock hard snow. Not whining as its part of the job.
A lot of vehicles were pretty much driving any where they wanted as the snow was like mashed potato’s driving through it. Now all those tracks have collected water and froze so there’s frozen ruts all over the place. Any where there still a foot of snow there 1 inch of wet snow that will not freeze because its insulated. V plowing into that makes giant snow balls that then freeze into ice chunks. As always its quite the challenge taking on good old mother nature.
Then there’s the stupid fish. We moved old Minnesota on Tuesday as well as north Dakota for Dave ,Patty and Dave’s dad Jim. Checking in on them yesterday morning and they did terrible “Stupid fish”. I set it up to move them around 1pm to hopefully give them a better chance.
Marty and Shane were to the south of them and only managed three . They did kinda tie one on and may of missed a few rattle wheels?
My friend Lee was to the west of them about 300 yards and managed to land 5.
I got Dave and his family all reset around 2 :15 so it took a little over a hour to get them moved, not including the prep time for the new spot. Stooping in last night and they had way better action. Dave said they had a run where they missed five They did have two in the bucket so maybe this morning they had a good run or two last night.
Andy arrives today and I have montana all set up off by itself as he requested. They are bringing there own generator so I can have them off by them self . John rolls in for North Carolina so will be setting that up this morning also. Old Minnesota, North Dakota and North Carolina all need to be in there own little group.
A very busy day, and as always, mother nature has thrown a wrench in things. I will power through it. Even as Wayne says” Here at Cookie”s we do it right cause we do it twice and some times thrice”.
The warm weather made Buddy Hillmen’s highway a little rougher then he would like. I be leave as we travel on it with the plows it should smooth out a bit. Remember they would like the traffic to keep under 15 mph while on the Highway. It pushes out around 6 to 7 miles with a curve around 3 miles.
As always I’m about ready to head out and have a grand day on a grand lake. Who knows maybe Dave and his crew landed a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie plus a couple limits of walleyes. “Stupid fish”

Only 31 nights of the 2017 walleye/pike season left to go. As always I plan on grinding it out looking for the very elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. We have the same crew coming up again this year as we search for these highly prized fish. My good buddy Jake who built our north Dakota house and owns it, is possessed with these fish. He  has not even planned to fish his house un tell we have our get together in march. I have never gave up on these fish as they are truly trophies. The hammer would rather eat them then walleyes? If we get a few, we will eat a couple and the rest will be released to educate all the others? Of course they will tell the others what the houses are like and they take pictures of you and then let you go?
Yesterday  went pretty smooth, I said goodbye to Dave, Jim and Patty. Patty loved the house. They only managed to take home five fish but Dave said they should of had more so the move paid off.
I started the day prepping montana for Andy. He has been coming for years and montana is his house of choice. He really digs the lights under the house. He had requested the house be off by it self  if he brings his own generators .He feels that is the key to have some of the epic fishing they have had over the years, plus it has been written for years that’s the key to catching fish on upper red lake is being off by your self. His good buddy Sam arrives later today for florida and it is also off by itself just out of walking distance from montana. Sam landed a 27 1/2 walleye a couple years ago.
  After prepping montana I was off to retrieve north Carolina for John and his buddy. They would also be arriving at 2pm. Just as I was ready to fire up the augur they called to say they had arrived. About a hour early. I was polite as I told them I needed a little more time before the house was ready. I gave them directions to where I was and they were going to dilly dally on there way out. They have friends and relatives that are here for the big ice castle gathering out of Rodgers and wanted to know if they could get there form  the house. I said it would sure be nice if all the roads interlocked but more them likely they were better off going around then trying to cross country with out a second truck with them just in case.
Andy also arrived about the same time so I got all checked in and I was off to move old Minnesota . I have a great system and all went smooth as I got old Minnesota on its new spot for Rick, Mike and Matt.
This morning I’m off to augur both florida and old Minnesota, a little other prep time and if all goes well all three houses should be ready a round noon 2 hours before check in time.
When I came off the lake last night I was spent. The hammer had a nice home cooked meal cooking when I walked in. That was good because I was beat and did not feel like cooking. After dinner I laid down for a bit and I was done. I did not make it out to check on Andy and his buddies Andy and Blake. I’m sure they will all understand. Andy has been coming for so long he knows I’m only a phone call away. John and his buddy planned on hooking up with there relatives and it sounds like the house is more of a place to sleep as it was a last minute deal. no phone calls so all must be good. I did run into Cliff when I came off the lake .He was fishing 8 feet of water and only landed two.
Randy and Tammy also arrived while I was coming off the lake. I sent them to a new area to pre fish/ scout and if they did good I will move the whole fleet out there if need be.
My part time helper Jimbo was missing in action this week. He headed home for a few days so we will see if he is available this up and coming week.
I’m still trying to get the new/used truck from Colorado. Its a chevy so that’s good,
Well its time to hit the lake, I’m hoping the good nights sleep gives me a second wind as I seem to hit a wall every night. Some times at 8pm, sometimes at 9 pm, some time not tell 11pm. I’m thinking I need to sneak in a nap in old Minnesota once in a while the rest of the season,with out the rattle wheels down.
Heading out in a bit on as we all know by now. Its a grand lake that owes us nothing.

A rare occurrence as we saw the sun this weekend. Seems it was cloudy for at least 10 days so it was nice getting to see a classic upper red lake sunset.
Friday morning  heading out all rested, ready for another day on such a grand lake.  Just like always I had plenty to do but would not be battling mother nature. A quick check with Andy, Andy and Blake and they had some action and had 8 in there fish bag.
John and Mike in north Carolina did not fair as well and only had 3. They did find Johns cousin . Turns out they had rented from alpine and were not involved in the icog get together out of Rodgers.
I banged out florida as Sam would be arriving  around 10 am. Then off to north Dakota to prep.. I decided to leave it after only being fished less the 20 hours for Early and his crew Darrel ,Tom and Jason. Again the timing was perfect as they arrived just as I button it up. I explained that Dave and his wife and dad had some decent action and depending how they did we would move them Saturday if need be.
I  then went  over to old Minnesota on its new spot. I dilly dallied, cleaning, prepping and auguring for there arrival at 2. Again the phone rang just as I was finishing up. I gave Rick direction out to where we were as I button her up.  She looked great in all her glory. Old Minnesota is well over 35 years old. I’m still looking forward to the new carpet as I did not care for the indoor outdoor carpet that Dan installed a few years ago. I want real house hold carpet as there nothing better then landing fish in your slippers or socks. After checking them in it was off to say hi to Sam as he had arrived and andy had directed him out there. Sam was pumped as he said he was going to get a bigger walleye then his 27 1/2 a few years ago. I bit my lip as I really did not expect him to get a bigger fish, All though I thought maybe they would get lucky and land a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie as the house was about 300 yards from where the hammer got one a couple weeks ago.
Tammy and Randy had set up after dark Thursday eve and they never marked a fish so Randy was on the move and heading to a area they had done well last year. I stopped to say hello and visit for a bit before I headed off the lake as the sun was setting on such a beautiful afternoon. They did invite the hammer and I out for some chili so that was the plan Friday eve when I would be making the rounds. The area Randy moved to had some good action before dark but after that they would come look and swim away. 
Rick and his crew texted to say they were hitting the sack early as they had driven most of the night to arrive. 
North Dakota was way slow and only had 1 perch and a walleye lost at the hole. I guess I new what I was doing Saturday morning.
Andy, Blake, Sam and Andy were having a hoot in florida and montana and darn if Sam did not catch a very elusive but still catchable upper red lake crappie. A beautiful 14 1/2 incher. Both house were also catching a few walleyes so that felt good to see. I now new where north Dakota would be moving too.
Saturday  morning I headed out and told the guys in North Dakota what had to be done for the move, I went to pick and prep a area and when I got back they had landed two keeper walleyes at 10 am? Stupid fish. The move went well and I had them fishing in less then a hour after pulling up there lines.
Saturday eve making the rounds and again the action was fair for all the houses. Every one had a few fish and were all having a great time.
The hammer and I headed over to Rodgers to go see Lonnie , Lisa and there new Ice castle out at the get together. Very beautiful house and huge. 
What a spectacle it was out there, with all the flashing lights, it looked like a airport from a distance. It would of been nice to cut over after making the rounds but we took the highway. We visited for a bit and checked out the tent with the live band. Heading home I again hit the wall and turned in for the night,
Sunday morning and Early called to say they had no power? I arrived out there to find the plug had just vibrated loose.  They were getting ready to pack it in. They only managed to catch a few more fish but said they missed a bunch,
Andy and Andy were also packing up with there fish, Sam and Blake were also heading out with there 6 keepers. Rick in old Minnesota had all ready left and only took home 7 . I also never got to see John and Mike but I know they had a few.
I then spent the rest of the day cleaning the houses and getting north Dakota ready for Tim, Pete and Danny’s arrival for north Dakota. The same deal, the house had not been fished 24 hours so they were there for one night and we /I will move them to a fresh spot today if need be.
I also moved Old Minnesota out to that area and plan on getting north Dakota over there so I’m only maintaining one road off the main road as we have some snow and wind coming starting today.
After getting old Minnesota set up the hammer met me out there where we enjoyed a chicken dinner and I out fished the hammer for once,  as I landed 3  with a couple misses and the hammer could not get them to bite, I did use a vex so I was on even playing field with her.
I’m hoping they did good in north Dakota last night? I have a feeling we will be putting the house on fresh ice today as the second night hardly ever is better then the first.
Time to head out as Ole is bringing a couple friends up to fish montana and I need to get north carolina over with the fleet as I have officially ruined another area. I  also can abandon that road system before mother nature rears her ugly side today.

Stupid fish?
Well the snow  came and went. I would say we got about 5 inches of the white fluffy stuff.
Its been a busy few days for me but still enjoying the time I get to spend out there on as David  the old timer told me a Grand lake.
Tim ,Dan and Pete did not fair so well in north Dakota so the plan was to move them . As the snow was coming down with narly a wisp of wind I got to work. Since the area has been pretty fishy I would hop scotch around montana  to the north east. With every thing so white it was tough seeing as I pulled the house around the back side of montana where my good friend Ole and his to buddies Gale and Greg would be fishing. I pulled up to the spot I thought I prepped, Delete repeated word out, unhooked, blocked it up and started to bank it when I realized I was only about 100 feet from montana. OOPS!
Tim ,Dan and Pete did not fair so well in north Dakota so the plan was to move them . As the snow was coming down with nairly a wisp of wind I got to work. Since the area has been pretty fishy I would hop scotch around montana  to the north east. With every thing so white it was tough seeing as I pulled the house around the back side of montana where my good friend Ole and his to buddies Gale and Greg would be fishing. I pulled up to the spot I thought I prepped. I got out unhooked, blocked it up and started to bank it when I realized I was only about 100 feet from montana. OOPS!
Once I had them all moved in  The phone rang and Ole had arrived. I gave him direction out to the area and double checked to make sure montana was all ready. Its so funny when you give fishermen direction out onto the lake. It must be the excitement of arriving as a lot of them do not listen. After I gave Ole directions, he says meet you at the junction? I never said anything about a junction. To funny.
Any way it has been a tough bite since they arrived .Tim and his son inlaws were up to 7 fish yesterday and Ole and  his crew were up to 3 walleyes, 1 32 inch pike, 1 smaller pike and 1 very elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. 
There all leaving today and we have Glen arriving for florida and van and his two buddies will be fishing old Minnesota. 
Yesterday was a very long day as we reopened 10  miles of road. There’s still a little bit left but you could land a 747 on most of Buddy Hillmens highway. 
I talked to Marlow and his buddy. They found a hot spot and in two days between the two ice castle caught around 60 fish. 
Kim and Tim went home with there 6 and figured they caught 20 with some misses.
Looking at the calendar and florida and montana are open the 10th and 11th at this time. Time to hit the lake, hoping the winds to not blow to hard. I may have to do the no wind. no snow snow dance

Wow where did the week go?  Mother nature sure can raise hel when she wants. My no wind  no snow dance never had a chance. Tuesday night  the winds picked up out of the north west and has not stopped since, throw in  dropping temps and it has been brutal out there.
Tim and his son in laws were able to have a big fish fry and even got to know Ole a bit. They were nice enough to share some of there fish fry with Ole and Greg. Ole sure appreciated that.
He is quite the character. He has been a trophy hunter  as long as I have known him 39 years.  He use to go up to low chasing pike in march as he wanted a 25 pound pike for his wall. Well he finally got that fish but he got it here years ago. When he landed it he threw it on the seat of his jeep and came off the lake to get it weighed. Who puts a 25 pound live fish in the passenger seat of your vehicle? Only Ole I think.
Another quick story about Ole, I was bow hunting years ago. I was walking out to my stand when a beautiful 10 pointer walked right in front of me. I never got a shot and he walked away. I told Ole about this deer when he arrived. It was a very dry year and I ask him where would that deer go to get water?  he did a little scouting and found  the spot he figured he would get him. It was about a mile from where I saw this deer. He set up a ground blind then paced off the distance he could see down the trail. Then he came back to town and went to the gravel pit where he shot a couple rounds just to make sure every thing was good. The next morning  with the temps close to zero he settled in to his ground blind. He looked at all his bullet’s and picked out the smoothest one. Two hours later he got him in one shot. He then confessed that the first night he saw a doe when he  had told me he did not see any thing that night. He said he new that buck would show himself. Totally impressed even though he got that deer I had been chasing for a couple years.
Any way back to the fishing and mother nature. I headed out Wednesday morning to say good bye and see how everyone did. Very slow. Tim did get a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie plus a couple more walleyes. Ole also ended up getting a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie.
I set Van and his two buddies up in florida. I set Glens buddies up in old Minnesota they are from Oklahoma and drove 11 hundred miles to catch some fish. I was visiting Wednesday eve just before dark when Glen set the hook on the first fish. Yep another elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappies. Then the rattle wheel went off and glen said grab it. Swing and a miss as I lipped him darn paper mouths.
yesterday   I headed out to say good bye to van and they only landed 3 walleyes.
The guys from Oklahoma got one walleye and another elusive yet still catchable upper reed lake crappie. They wanted to know if I could move them. I explained that mother natures winds have been making a mess of things and if I moved them I would more the likely have to move old Minnesota again today so its on fresh ice for the weekend plus all my other houses need to be on fresh ice for today.  Busting butt , Joe said they would help so I prepped a new area back  a half mile and rickety split had them moved and set up in no time.
Then my helper Jimbo showed up and we proceeded to get Florida, Montana and north Dakota all on fresh ice in what I would say brutal conditions minus 8 with 15 to 20 miles an hour nw winds . It was only the second time this year I had to where a face mask out there while working.
  I come off the lake last night after spending 10 hours out there and get the phone call that Adam  he will not be coming for north Dakota this weekend. Ouch, Oh well!  Do I have a surprise for Jerry” allis Dakidd ” on Saturday, as I plan on bumping them in to north Dakota from north Carolina. I then plan on using north Carolina as a day house the rest of the season. Again plan a has changed to plan b
Buddy Hillmen’s highway is in great shape .We have plowed the crap out of it the last 3 days plus Buddy some how found time to add two more miles of road? I’m not sure how he does it as I was busy prepping houses for today. I would say there’s 12 miles or more of hillmens highway. I will be widening  it  everyday as I come and go off the lake, plus cleaning up all the drifting snow.
Remember the secret to upper red lake is distance from others and with all that open space out there you should have no problem finding your own private piece on such a grand lake

So here goes, very frustrating on such a grand lake. I love doing this and every year is different. This year no exception. I do every thing possible to have the houses on fresh fishy spots. I also spend maybe way to much time prepping the houses before the customers arrival . Then throw in mother nature and it becomes quite the grind.
Checking on everyone Friday night  and Saturday morning and I basically got down a  little bit  about finding the stupid fish. Its so frustrating .I expected montana with Eric and Alec to do real well as the spot was very fishy. I also had super high hopes for florida with Rollie and Kevin. I also expected great fishing for Wayne and I as it was a lot of extra work getting old Minnesota on the spot.
  Back in the crappie boom the saying was if your not breaking equipment your not on the spot. Augering the holes were a bear, banking the house was a bear, plus I needed the extension which of course was at home. I was really hoping and expecting  for the mother load of the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie. If we landed on them I knew Wayne would only keep 1 or two.
I could not have a better friend to fish and hang out with as the hammer was in the cities. The laughing and yuks never stop when he is here and they always say laughter is the best medicine and I would have to agree, Man did we laugh.  We even laughed about the lack of fish. I did get Wayne 1 elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie and 1 walleye. That was the whole take for 2 hard days of fishing out of old Minnesota.
  I managed to rent north Dakota to Mark, Collet,, Sharon and Al for Saturday night and they did go home with some fish.
Florida ended up doing really well during the day Saturday? Which totally made sense as It was also a hard place to set up. They did land a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie to boot.
Montana was 150 feet and caught enough for a good fish fry and went home sunday morning with no fish.
I also had a free night I had given away, They fished north Carolina and got there 6 so that felt good.
Another busy week is ahead as mother nature is ready to say “Take This’. Batten down the hatches its going to be a long week prepping. We have 4 fresh inches of snow this morning with high winds and more snow predicted. I’m going to head out and do a little no snow snow dance and also a no wind wind dance but I’m afraid its not going to help.

Not much of a fishing report today. Yesterday I spent most of the day plowing. Started at the gas station where the hammer works . North country food and fuel. Knocked out our driveway.
Then I headed over to Buddy Hillmen’s highway to cut the north edge with blue thunder. Got out to the bridge at 1.5 miles  and helped Buddy clear snow away from the area.
Then back home where I fired up the red baron and v plowed 5 hours. We cleared  the main road all the way to the end about 7 miles?
A few mishaps but nothing major. Lost the two tires, chained to the back of the red baron and with all the snow packed in them I could not even lift them. I spent a few minutes digging out all the snow and was able to prop one tire on my generator and then man handle them back on.
Hit a good bumped and knocked the v plow off its chain so I could not lift the plow  untell some one could hold the button while I pushed it back down. 
Pulled off the lake at 5 pm, gas upped, cleaned all the door jams of ice and snow with a hammer and parked the red baron.  I
Then headed back out to move north Dakota to its fishy spot where I banked it for Mike and his crew coming today. 
There all musicians so hope to play a little harmonica with them tonight or tomorrow.
Bobby and her crew come up tomorrow so florida and montana need to be moved and reset. Hoping for a few elusive yet still catchable upper red lake  crappies.
Montana is still open for the weekend at this time? Not sure what happen there other then Feb 10th 11th is not a popular weekend for fishing.

well my no snow, snow dance did not work again. I guess I used it up earlier this year which was good as we did not need any snow while we were making our first ice. Monday we cleared the road after getting 5 inches of fresh powder. The it started to snow again Monday night and when it stopped yesterday we were looking at another4 inches. 
I had Mike and his crew arriving around noon so after prepping the house I was back to plowing. I plugged away helping with the first 1.5 miles and we had that whipped out in no time. then Jimbo showed up and we started cutting the next 4 miles of road as I needed to get out to florida and montana to get them moved onto fresh ice. I sure wanted to leave florida where it was just to see if the fishing stayed good. I do know the spot so may go back to it for sure. After getting both house moved and prepped we cut a new trail to the houses as The old road I had made has way to much banked snow and its easier to make a new road then to try and save whats there. After getting that done Jimbo and I started widing the road back to the bridge where I sent Jimbo home with blue thunder and I continued to plow in tell 5 pm. Buddy Hillmen arrived back from his bus driving job as I had to call it quits for I had pool last night.
I’m sure Buddy was worried about the wind ruining what we had got done. I told him I would hit it hard again this morning so that’s the plan as I head out to auger montana, florida and north Carolina for Bobby and her crew.
When I came home from pool I noticed his vplow was running at the shop so he put in a long stint clearing the road.
Today were greeted with minus 17 so with the winds I will be warring a face mask when I’m outside. Mother nature just keeps on ticking. The Hillmen highway should be in great shape by the weekend. There got to be 15 miles of road so theres plenty of un fished areas to find the mother load.
Mike and his crew did have 3 keepers when I left the lake last night and I’m looking forward to hanging with them later tonight as the jam and sing some of there original songs. Gonna be a grind the next 18 days as the game fish season winds down.
I think I may of got my second wind I will know by dinner time tonight if I hit a wall after supper.
Last thing as I did have another cancelation for the weekend of the 17th. That two in less then a week

well my no snow, snow dance did not work again. I guess I used it up earlier this year which was good as we did not need any snow while we were making our first ice. Monday we cleared the road after getting 5 inches of fresh powder. The it started to snow again Monday night and when it stopped yesterday we were looking at another4 inches. 
I had Mike and his crew arriving around noon so after prepping the house I was back to plowing. I plugged away helping with the first 1.5 miles and we had that whipped out in no time. then Jimbo showed up and we started cutting the next 4 miles of road as I needed to get out to florida and montana to get them moved onto fresh ice. I sure wanted to leave florida where it was just to see if the fishing stayed good. I do know the spot so may go back to it for sure. After getting both house moved and prepped we cut a new trail to the houses as The old road I had made has way to much banked snow and its easier to make a new road then to try and save whats there. After getting that done Jimbo and I started widing the road back to the bridge where I sent Jimbo home with blue thunder and I continued to plow in tell 5 pm. Buddy Hillmen arrived back from his bus driving job as I had to call it quits for I had pool last night.
I’m sure Buddy was worried about the wind ruining what we had got done. I told him I would hit it hard again this morning so that’s the plan as I head out to auger montana, florida and north Carolina for Bobby and her crew.
When I came home from pool I noticed his vplow was running at the shop so he put in a long stint clearing the road.
Today were greeted with minus 17 so with the winds I will be warring a face mask when I’m outside. Mother nature just keeps on ticking. The Hillmen highway should be in great shape by the weekend. There got to be 15 miles of road so theres plenty of un fished areas to find the mother load.
Mike and his crew did have 3 keepers when I left the lake last night and I’m looking forward to hanging with them later tonight as the jam and sing some of there original songs. Gonna be a grind the next 18 days as the game fish season winds down.
I think I may of got my second wind I will know by dinner time tonight if I hit a wall after supper.
Last thing as I did have another cancelation for the weekend of the 17th. That two in less then a week

Thanks for the continued reports Cookie!

so we had a couple cancelation for tomorrow and Saturday. Any body anybody

Well I think I found my second wind but Mother nature was not kind this week that’s for sure.
Buddy Hillmen’s highway was in great shape when I came off the lake last night.
Wednesday morning we were greeted with 17 below with wind chills  around minus 30. Putting propane on montana with out my face mask and it was so cold it hurt my forehead..
Mike and his crew ended up with 5 fish Wednesday so another slow day of fishing. Bobby Joe, Darrel and her sister and brother inlaw ,Vickie and Paul rolled in around 2 pm Wednesday.
My new road  had all ready started to drift in as the wind was relentless this week and just keeps on blowing. I’m going to talk to Buddy Hillmen as I think I need to build my berms on my side roads to the east instead of the west?
The red baron  with its 454 finally runs like I expect it to and when I was going up to get gas Wednesday afternoon I swung into Joels driveway to break open a trail and darn if I did not have a major and I mean major break down. The red baron will be getting flat bedded to the transmission shop  today as I think I broke the transfer case? I’ll know more when he digs into it next week . He said I may of stripped out the tail shaft and if I did the transmission will have to be rebuilt. Ouch bad timing. Its part of the business but still sucks when it happens. Then I’m coming off the lake last night after checking in on Bobby joe, Darrel and the others and I have a blow out on blue thunder. That’s real bad timing as the winds  have been howling out of the south since last night.
I did stop and talk to Kevin who I call Neil and his crew Pete, Pete, Bob, David, Knoll who got a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie while I was there.  and Joe  Tom. I think I got them all. They were all in a 16 foot ice castle. Crazy! When I walked in a needed ear plugs it was so loud in there. What a great bunch of guys though. There headed to bowstring this morning to search for some crappies. I was hoping to get in a game of cribbage but that was not happening.
Justin and his buddy Casey? had pretty good fishing yesterday so it again comes down to location, location, location, you can not blame the weather as there always biting some where on such a grand lake. Casey landed a 37 inch pike 1/2 hour after dark last night. Crazy pike
Our very good friend Marty also rolled in Wednesday morning. I set him up in old Minnesota where he banged out 3 fish just after dark. Yesterday he helped me move north Dakota after Mike and his crew left. I never got to jam with them ,maybe when they come back up the last weekend of walleyes.
Well I guess that’s about it. Old Minnesota , montana and North Carolina are all open for the weekend after 2 cancelations this week. That’s a first all year and may be a blessing to give me time to regroup a bit.  Been humping on the lake since a week before Christmas not even sure how many days its been. That top bunk in old Minnesota does have my name all over it and this weekend you may find me napping in there.

Another weekend has come and gone. 60 plus days on the lake and I have taken a nap in old Minnesota for about 10 minutes I think.
 Friday morning I headed out before light to wet a line with my good friend and helper from two years ago Marty. I had him staying in old Minnesota since it was open for the weekend. He had caught a few fish since he arrived but nothing to brag about.
Even though I had  2 houses open for the weekend I still had a busy day ahead.
I had a little final prep work in north Dakota before Bill and his crew arrived. I also had to go track down a tire for blue thunder. In my haste putting on the new tire chain before we pulled the red baron out of her predicament it looks like I may of had a twist in it and that’s what caused the blow out. I was able to track down a tire and go to kellier to get it mounted. I arrived back just in time to check Bill, Tom, Mike and Joe into north Dakota.  I was then off to prep florida as my son John was heading up with his friend Joe..  I decided to leave it where Bobby joe and Darrel fished Wednesday Thursday.
The hammer and I also planned on wetting a line with Marty for a possible evening bite then. I would be making dinner at home. We did  manage to catch a couple fish. After dinner I decided to lay down on the couch and wait for john to arrive before I checked in on the guys in north Dakota. They had had some action starting around 3pm when I had swung in after  showing Boar where to park his ice castle as he would be fishing next to Bill has they had become friends on one of the fishing sites and had never met.
John and his friend rolled in around 9;30 and woke me up. Man was I groggy it took me  more then a few minutes to gather my bearings.  Once I got them checked in I was planning on stopping in at north Dakota. I had called Boar and he said they were all fine so I headed home for the evening.
I did do a little plowing along the southern berm along Buddy hillmen’s highway on the way in and you could see where it has been flooding under all the weight of the snow so if you plan on heading north I would suggest using Hillmen’s access rather then trying to cross from the south.
Saturday morning I again got out on the lake early to wet a line with Marty. I set one rattle wheel , poured a cup of coffee and started jigging a rattle flyer. I ask Marty if he had gassed up the generator and he said nope so I say Oh I will go gas it up. I come back in the house and there’s Marty holding a fish he caught on the rattle wheel with my green glow genze worm.
I then checked in on Bill and his crew they had landed 9 fish I think and had eaten a few over night.
I then headed out to florida where I checked on john and joe. The dead sea. Stupid fish, so again the third night in a rental was no good. They ask if I would auger a couple holes for tip ups and I told them I would. and then I would be   moving old Minnesota after Marty left so they could have a fresh spot to fish, where the hammer and I would join them for the evening before having a fish fry. No sooner then I left and Joe landed a 37 inch pike on his tip up.
I knew it was a fishy spot.
Once I got them checked into old Minnesota I headed back out to move florida as Bob and Rick would be rolling in sunday.
I get back to old minnesota and the hammer says why did you move house if it was catching fish and Jonny says why did you not move over there. I told them the spot was great night spot. Wink. wink.
A hour later I go check on north Dakota and Joe catch’s his first upper red lake walleye. . We then went home for a fish fry . We go back out and bam Joe gets his second and third walleye on the rattle wheel. The green genze worm comes through again.
They packed up yesterday with there 6 fish so that was nice to see. The guys in north Dakota ended up catching 20 or so.
Last night I headed out to check on bob and rick and again the dead sea.  Stupid fish. Around 10 pm rick got a keeper we lost at the hole and then another small scuffit was caught which is a good sign of a elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie so I’m crossing my fingers they had a little action after I came home. Well it looks like a beautiful day to work on such a grand lake time to hit the ice for the 60th day in a row

Well the rest of the season I will not get up in the morning thinking its going to be a easy , gravy day. There is no such thing when your battling mother nature, mechanical breakdowns, getting taxes done, etc.
Sunday morning getting reorganized and meeting Jimbo on the lake I had him do a couple propane’s while I gathered all the things necessary to move montana over by florida. Not having the red baron I would have to give blue thunder a little bit more of a work out and utilize the road system I had created.
Sunday morning getting reorganized and meeting Jimbo on the lake I had him do a couple propane’s while I gathered all the things necessary to move montana over by florida. Not having the red baron I would have to give blue thunder a little bit more of a work out and utilize the road system I had created.
Once we had montana dug out I had no choice but to pull it from one side as one of the hooks had broken off earlier this year. My weld job lasted over12 years and a new hook is on the summer project list. I headed north and looped around where the snow had drifted in a bit and tried to power through but there was just to much snow and I came to a stop. A little digging and we were on our way again.
The spot I picked looked very fishy and again because of the broken hook I put the house in a pickle that will have to be dealt with when we move again. I guess that’s what happens when you try and speed up the process. Made me think of cousin Pete my mentor take your time slow and steady.
We fire up the auger and start to drill and the blades are dull again. ERR! Not sure what happen as they were less then a month old. We put a new set on and she now cuts like a butter knife through butter. I have 20 sets of strikmaster lazer blades. At 50 dollars a pop I have a 1000 dollars worth of blades and need to research how to get them re sharpened.
We then jumped over to florida and popped out those holes into the dirty, rough ice which is probably why my blades get dull so fast.
Bob and Rick rolled in I got them checked in and headed over to old Minnesota where a little prep work needed to be done for Ole arrival on Monday.
Jimbo would be checking in Jason and Whitney Monday as I had a appointment in Bemidji.
Its soo crazy that I have run out of time to finish my report as I have to race to Bemidji to pick up a gas tank for blue thunder this morning so this is all for today as I’m out of time to be continued……

All right I thick I have a window to finish this long winded fishing /work report.
Sunday evening when I got home from pool I headed out to check on Rick and Bob in florida. Here I expected a great fishing report only to be disappointed again, Stupid fish,
Monday morning I headed out again to check on the guys and get what I could get done before we had to go to the tax man.
Ole would be arriving later in the day and fishing in old Minnesota where rick, bob and I would join him to visit and wet a line. Rick said they were marking fish all the time but they just refuse to bite in florida.
We ended up catching 2 16 inch keepers with ole and headed back to florida with the hammer meeting me so we could go play a little poker with bob and rick. Rick lost one at the hole while we were there, then about 10 oclock I hit that wall and called it quits for the night.
I did check in on Jason and Whitney where it was slow all though she did get too battle and land a mid 30s pike. They come back next week so lets hope the fishing is better for them.
Tuesday morning when I hit the lake the winds were just howling out of the north north west. And I mean howling. I had taken the hammers trail blazer out as I had found a major gas leak on blue thunder. The road to florida and montana was fine but the turn was filling in. Then where I put montana the drifting in front of the house was piling up which would make extra work when I went to move it yesterday. I knew I created a pickle when I put it there.
Rick and Bob are old hunting high school buddies and are plans were to meet at my place around noon to go check out a hunting spot. Bob called and said the turn in the road was bad. I told them just kick the snow around and barrel threw? OOPS. The winds were blowing so hard that the snow drifts had all ready become rock hard and you could walk right over the top of them and a very fine snow to boot. mean while I’m here at the house pulling out the gas tank on blue thunder. I went up to North Country food and fuel where I barrowed Franks plow so I could go open the corner and get Bobs car un stuck.
We got back home where I sent bob and rick to check out the hunting spot while I continued to rip out the tank on blue thunder.
Ole pulled in to say he was headed home with two fish. stupid fish
  Bob and Rick  also only had two and two nice perch. They also decided to head home.
I headed back out around 4 to check on Jason and Whitney and clean old Minnesota and florida.  I get to florida just as the sun is setting and catch 2 walleyes back to back while Jason also landed one in montana  just as it was getting dark.
  Yesterday I was off to Bemidji too get new gas tank so I did not get to say good by to Jason and Whitney . I arrived back home and with Jimbos help we got the new tank in with only a couple slight problems.
Then off we went to move old minesota, north Dakota, florida and montana. The first two went real well but when we got to montana I had to cut a trail in front of the house. I decide to drive off in the distance where my old road was to check it out for the move and hit a few frozen ruts under the snow from when we had the January thaw. We had removed one of the tire chains as it had broken on the way out. Blue thunder needs new shocks as every bump you feel. After over 60 days on the ice i’m sick of feeling them so I was going slow and ended up putting my front wheels in a refrozen rut and at the same time my rear wheels and just like that I was stuck. ERRR!  Jimbo had to bah haw over to me and give me a tug. We then got back to work and after plowing a trail to turn around we had both house on the road and out of there perches.
I headed home with the plow down and a spectacular upper red lake sunset in my rear view window. Insert picture?
Today I have a ton of work to do so no dilly dallying for me.
Casey and his crew arrive for north Dakota and Warren arrives for old Minnesota. Tomorrow Jim has Florida and they are bringing friends with a wheel house to fish by them Vance is alos doing the same thing but they have a couple wheel house coming with them. HMMM?” I see a pattern here”.
Sunday we have family coming. Shell chick and her crew.
Then Dave rolls in Monday.
Jason and his family come Tuesday, Wednesday for florida and montana .
Mike the musician comes wed ,Thursday and I’m going to do my best to play a little harmonica with them this time.
Then just like that and its the final weekend of game fish and I head off in the sunset to look for the elusive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie on the grandest lake of all lakes, that just keeps pumping out fantastic memories ,laughter, shenanigans, adventures, good friends new and old.
I truly love this lake and it really makes me miss my grandma Olga today.” Insert picture of here” feeding the bear cubs in her yard. I can here her now EWWWI “Imagine That”
One last thought . When Liam our great grandson comes up here this year it will be 7 generations fishing here. I think grandma would be so proud.