Aqua vue makes some portable systems that are pretty handy, about the size of a kids gaming system like a Nintendo Switch. Mine fits in the pocket on the side of my flasher. I also have 2 that were the old tube tvs that you had to lug around…of those, Marcum made the better product.

Like Glenn said, if you’re outside with any kind of sunshine they are a pain to see, similar to looking at your phone’s screen in bright light. On the contrary, the camera doesn’t work well in low light conditions or on stained lakes. Something like Mille Lacs or Winnie that are gin clear, they work well, but during the day, and while inside a shack. I’m sure you can get some that you can play with the display and make them a little easier to see in the sunshine.

Excellent tools to keep kids occupied as well.

The north end can be tricky for a dock. We have 3 sections that span over 30 yards, probably closer to 40 when it’s all said and done. Ours are aluminum, with a scissor lift over the wheels that can raise or lower it. We typically keep ours pretty high to avoid the said waves, but we’ve never had a problem. We have a plastic decking that goes out in 3 footish square sections. I’ve heard of people zip tieing the decking down, but only do it on one end so if the waves are large it’s lifting the decking, not your dock, but the decking stays there, if that makes sense. Where we’re at, think close to Barnacles, it doesn’t really matter how far out the dock goes. The sand has dunes that rise and fall all the way out to the break, but doesn’t really get deeper than 2 feet the whole way out. We just find the “low point” and that’s where the boat lift goes.

The last few years have been very shallow up there. One year we had to get our toon out in July. Another year I helped shove all the neigobr boats off of lifts because it was so shallow at the end of the year. Vertical lift is a must on that end. We found the lift that gets the lowest of all the brands, I believe ours is shoremaster. Having said that, if you have a pontoon, sealegs might be a better option.

We can’t get a truck back to our dock area, so a wheeler or side by side with a heavy winch comes in handy. Our neighbor uses a skid steer to push and pull his. He doesn’t even take his sections apart, basically drives it like a train. We have a steeper section to get to the water, so putting in is a cake, pulling them out without a winch is a 6 man job.

First time lake ownership, putting in docks, etc is a comedy of errors. Mistakes will happen. Just learn from them and enjoy your cabin.

Lots more ice this year than last year, so I think March is a long shot. I’d say April 15.

We were on the north and east side over the past weekend. You can get off the roads in spots, but there are some drifts out there that are hard to see. We saw anywhere from 4-8 inches of snow off the roads. You can do it, but bring the appropriate safety gear in case you get stuck.

We saw 26 inches of ice. I gotta imagine we gained a couple more this week.

No, but we had a jumbo spit out a partially digested fish that was 4-5 inches long, couldn’t tell what it was. They’re not just feeding on bugs out there.

And of course the picture won’t load…

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20250216_081744-scaled.jpg
   

If they can grow that fast in just a few years it could be very good for the lake.

I was googling that a 13 inch perch is 10+ years old. Obviously that depends on many factors and can vary. But I’ve been trying to figure out why that perch bite just started, because they’ve been there several seasons minimum. I started catching them in numbers this past summer and thought I was catching a mythical unicorn, now it’s the only thing in the lake that’s really biting. The last two ice seasons not being great is certainly plausible. But the DNR saying there were no perch in the lake was less than the truth.

LOW 15 years ago at least, it was April 1st, it was almost 60 degrees out, and we were drilling through 60 inches in some spots. The next year same time it was open water.

I’ve maxed out an auger with no extension on Mille Lacs before, but again, almost 15 years ago and was in March.

I think what Walleye635 was saying is that Hunters Point posted a picture of 60 jumbos caught in one day on their sight. So critique of fisherman talking about bites could be warranted, but are you also calling the resorts and telling them to stop posting about it?

When we went out of red door the owner and or operator said that that pass could get us out of either red door or barnacles. Both mornings we went by barnacles it didn’t look like anyone was inside, but he specifically told us we could go back and go out of barnacles if we were trying to get to Carlsona. So maybe you have to get your pass from red door but can use either access??? Might be worth a call.

FYI you can’t get to the Calrsona break from Castaways, there is a heave. You can get close. You can get there from Barnacles, but that was before the snow came. I’m sure they’ll still plow out there because they had about 60 houses on that break.

Red Door told us if you want to catch 12 inch perch, head to the second break, you’ll catch 40 in a weekend. We ventured out to the mud, and did just as well. Walleyes were all smaller than 8 inches, perch were all 11-12 and super fat. I also know people that did well in the sand. I don’t think it really matters where you go right now. Not sure how long it’ll last but it was a fun time. Was a super light bite for us, you’d have to see if your rod would load as you slowly lifted away from the marks. Didn’t matter what was jigged, they’d hit everything, however we had no bites on set lines.

I’ve thought about the public access before, but like the idea of a “plowed road” that someone is checking ice thickness regularly. I realize there is no snow at the moment, but it’s also nice to support a few of the businesses that seem to be dying off up there.

I second Finny. Always go suckers on set lines over anything else.

Went out of the Mille Lacs Angler last weekend, they had 17 inches, little bit of slush under the ice.

North end was a sh1t show. Pancake ice, drilled through at the first break, pancake ice kept coming up the hole. Felt through with the spud bar, I was hitting more pancake ice 4-5 feet below the ice. Couldn’t even get a line through.

Any idea if they’re going to do regular ice updates? Last they have posted was from November! Doesn’t really help promote going out on the north end if you have no idea on ice conditions. One thing I love about Lybacks, you get a good report every day.

worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov

Found it.

For whatever reason, the Hornady SST in 165 grain groups the best out of anything for my 308. I’ve tried dozens of rounds over the years. So many half used boxes of ammo in my safe.

Christ I had an Atari when I was a kid…pacman, frogger, and the guy that jumped over crocks and swung on vines like tarzan. Sucks getting old.

I say take advantage of it. Eat nothing but protein shakes and kale. Get yoked. Don’t have to smell your own protein farts.

As soon as the slot was opened, I didn’t catch another walleye. May, June, and July was the easiest walleye fishing on Mille Lacs I’d seen in a long time.

I stopped at the Casey’s in Ogilvie last weekend and I could swear their pump said 87 non oxy. I thought it strange at the time and wondered if it was a typo or a scam. Now I’m wondering.

Here’s food for thought. Rose had a lifetime ban. His life is over. Was there any mention of a posthumous induction to the hall of fame in the original punishment? As Mr. Jordan stated, baseball is embracing gambling now and it seems hypocritical at best. I believe that had he just admitted to gambling in the beginning, he would be in the HOF now.

I only know him as the Reds manager with a bad haircut so I don’t care either way. But you can’t deny his stats. You also can’t deny that Sosa and McGwire, juiced to the gills, probably saved baseball since the sport was dwindling in popularity after the strike season. How many lives did Lance Armstrong save by selling yellow bracelets for cancer research even though he was 90% EPO at the time? The ethical and moral versus “on field” accomplishments has always been at the forefront of modern sports. We just don’t seem to have any consistency in deciding who gets a pass and who doesn’t.

We ended up taking the docks out this past weekend. Bittersweet. The lake looked like Fourth of July weekend. Swimmers, kayakers, boaters. Insane for this late in the year. I would guess the shallow water on the north end was above 70 degrees. No bibs required this year.

As far as water level, I think it’s down from the spring. I saw a lot of lines in the sand from lower units dragging. I know I made a few as well trying to get out.

Ryan said everything. For my two cents, I would go with Lybacks. He’s providing regular updates on the ice and fishing, very safety conscious with his roads, and all and all runs a tight ship. You can get access to a lot of different structure from down there. And, it’s on the south end cutting your drive time down if you live south. Lastly, you’ll always get out a little earlier on the south end vs. the north. My second would be hunters point just because you can access any kind of structure from there.

Having said that, the last 2 years have been dog$h1t like mentioned before. To much snow or not enough ice really hampered the last tow seasons. We’re on the north end and I don’t think Red Door/Barnacles even opened up to car travel last year, and the year before I believe it was only for season pass holders and that only lasted a short time if I remember right.

I didn’t notice much shoulder over the past weekend.

I was fishing walleyes, yes, but the baitshop said a lot of people had switched to trying to catch smallies. I haven’t heard any reports about that.

Yea you’d think mid to late September the water temps would be much lower, but we’ve had basically August like temps for the past several weeks. Water levels have really gone down as well. I noticed it was down at least 4 inches from mid summer. High temps and no rain…

Went out Sunday morning. The north end was still 68 to 69 degrees. Marked lots of fish, still not much happening. The bait shop lady actively tried to talk us out of fishing lol. Everyone I talked to said the bite is super slow.

I’ve been to Craigs and know others who have used him. He’s legit.

I also had some work done by Matt’s Firearms in Chisago City. Brand new AR would only fire one round then it was done. Something was not in tolerance and he got it squared away.