I can chime in here, I am pretty familiar with their operation up there.
How much gear are we probably allowed to bring on the transportation vehicle with us? We were talking about what to make for lunches, and if possible we’d like to bring along a small portable grill for lunch on the ice. Or is a cooler with some sandwiches and beverages of our own about the most equipment to bring, in addition to a few poles, tackle, electronics?
You can take a fair amount of gear per group. Most groups have:
– Rod cases
– tackle boxes
– electronics
– cooler
– beer
Obviously if you can combine gear it makes it easier to get your whole group out at once. Two rod bags instead of 4, etc. They will give you a 5 gallon pail with fatheads and a couple garbage bags for trash. I’d say it’s worth having an empty pail or two(they stack) for fish, to hold a trash bag. If you forget they might have extras but they always complain when people steal them. Keep your fish in the house, throw ice/snow in the bucket if you want, but they are a pain to clean if they’ve been deep frozen outside all day.
A lot of guys bring little portable grills, I’d try to bring as small as you can though. The worst that will happen if you have too much stuff is they will bring you out in two shifts, or the track van driver might give you some crap about packing like a ‘girl on vacation’ or something silly.
Bringing our own auger if we wanted to set up a couple tip ups outside the house on our own if the day gets slow? I’m assuming this is a no…? Do resorts check on you at all during the day or move you if it’s slow and there may be a bite elsewhere?
A little timeline of what the day looks like, from when you hit the ice to getting back?
I would call and ask about the auger. I think I’ve seen guys bring their own auger, but generally they don’t.
Here’s how it normally works.
7AM – 9AM:
People line up by the bait house in the morning(some groups go early, some get a later start), track van drivers will ask what group you are and direct you to a van based on where your house is. You load up your stuff and they drop you off at the house. You might have to wait a bit depending where you are in line, so make sure you are dressed appropriately. The houses are super warm and the track vans are warm, but waiting for 20 minutes outside is not warm. Like most houses, they are cold by the floor and warm near the ceiling, so make sure you wear boots and stuff. As you are unloading, they will go into the house and drill out the holes for you.
Plan on your ride being 20-30 minutes, could be more depending on where they have you fishing and if pressure ridges force them to take longer routes.
9AM – noon: you’ll just be happily fishing in your house, I’d expect to see an Arnesen’s dude at some point in the late morning to check in on you. This is a good opportunity to ask how other houses are doing to gauge how bad you guys suck, etc.
I don’t think they’d be opposed to drilling a couple holes outside of the house, but I’d ask them on the drive out. Something like, “Hey, if we throw you an extra $10, could you drill a couple holes outside the house for tip-ups? Maybe after you’ve got all the houses out?”
They will check on you likely a few times throughout the day, so that’s another good opportunity to ask if they could drill you a hole or two. They all really appreciate a pop, piece of jerky, snack, hot dog, etc. If you are friendly and not making their job harder then most of them are pretty cool dudes that are willing to help you out. Just keep in mind it’s a really long day for these guys and they drill hundreds of holes with those double extension heavy ass Jiffy’s, bank houses in all day, clean fish, and put up with some obnoxious idiots.
Afternoon:
You’ll probably get another check in sometime in the afternoon, at which point they often give you a head’s up when the shuttles back in will happen. The track vans are pretty easy to hear/see coming. If you really need to talk to them, walk outside and wave em down if they are driving by, or call the lodge and ask them to stop out at house #xx. They keep a map of all the houses they put out, so they’ll find you easily/quickly.
Sometime a bit before the sun is completely down:
They’ll pick you back up. Take their time estimate before and make sure your stuff is somewhat packed up. They are ferrying 300+ people in and out everyday, I know you want to maximize fishing time, but when you are sitting in a cramped track van and want to get back for dinner/beer/etc. you’ll be annoyed when the next house takes 20 minutes to pack up their gear. We generally start to pack up all the non-fishing items while it’s still nice and light out, then wait until we hear the track van coming to reel up our lines.
Once you’re back in, you’ll have the option to clean your fish yourself or to have the guides do it(I think it used to be $.75/fish). Most of them will take like 30 seconds per fish, I can’t remember if they deliver them to your cabin or if you come back to pick them up. I think they deliver them. If you eat at the lodge you can bring a ziploc of fish filets with you and ask them to cook them for you. I don’t remember the price, but they will fry or bake them(your choice), with a soup/salad, bread and maybe a potato. They generally do a really good job frying them up.
If fishing stinks and you want to try a new spot, make sure you talk to your driver on one of their non-pickup check ins. This is why I like to ask how well other houses are doing though, if you are underperforming compared to other houses, maybe consider a move, if you are on par it might not do much and could just take away fishing time.
Any expectations to catch anything other than walleye/sauger? Northern? Perch?
Most of your fish will be walleye/sauger, but at any point you could get a wandering perch, northern, tulibee, eelpout or even a crappie(pretty rare). We have caught the occasional northern with a tip up right outside our house. I wouldn’t bank on numbers, but if you were to hook up it would be a nice fish.
Make sure you are watching your electronics, the walleyes/saugers come in TIGHT to the bottom. If you see the color of the bottom flicker yellow(on a Marcum), there is likely a fish there. Usually you’ll have to get them to chase your lure a foot or two off until they will bite. Some of our biggest and most aggressive fish come in suspended. Really fast reacting/overly aggressive marks are often tulibee. Don’t be afraid to keep an eelpout if you haven’t eaten them before. Ask someone to help you clean them and the lodge will cook them up for you too!
Red and pink are great colors up there. Ratln’ flyers, buckshot spoons, etc. Don’t bother bringing a camera, you won’t see anything on it.
Bring a bucket and TP because you’ll be waiting awhile to twosie, and the rumbling track van ride doesn’t help quell the swell.
Don’t get frustrated if you aren’t fishing at sunup and sundown, LOTW is a total day-bite lake for the most part. Our best fishing is generally NOT right away in the morning and right before sun down.
