The large crack from yesterday came together and refroze. It does not move at all when you cross it on our bridge. We did gain a new crack today, but we bridged it and continued to pull private houses. We have to cable houses across the crack to reach some of our territory, but not all of it.

The fishing I have been hearing about has been fantastic. Lots of big walleyes and even some jumbo perch in the deeper water. The slots have been harder to find, but we kind of expected that. If you like to catch lots of very nice walleyes, fish near Agate Bay Reef.

We have all of our rental houses out and you can drive to them. The ice is about 14" and there is some snow on top of it for banking and even riding sleds.

Large cracks with several pie shape pieces crossed our roads early Sunday Morning.  We are not allowing vehicle traffic.  We will not be able to pull any fish houses today.   Snowmobiles and four wheelers are ok.  No Trailers.  We appreciate everyone's patience and hope ice conditions will be better tomorrow.

We will be opening up for driving vehicles at noon today. Gas vehicles up to 3/4 ton pickups are ok. As always,DRIVE SLOW, which means 10 MPH TOPS. Stay on plowed roads when traveling and don't go adventuring. We have one bridge out and you DO need to use it.

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Computer glitch and I am sure you all can guess how good I am with computers. I do not know what changed but it worked tonight. Thank you computer gods who look out for people like me.

Yesterday we pulled out almost all of the rentals except 3 of the premier houses. It went well and we pulled them over the largest crack without it opening up.

The snow last night helped us in two ways. First it gave people some snow for banking. There was none before that. Second it allowed us to plow some roads and give the roads some definition so people can stay on the roads and find the bridge to  cross the crack.

Our plan is to pull private house again on Saturday, but not allow driving, at least in the morning. We will go out and look at the crack in the morning, pull some houses over it and then decide on driving.

Hopefully we will be driving by mid-day. As always, come up, get your name on the pull list and we will get to you as soon as possible.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas.

We checked ice this morning and there is 12" over most of our area. However, the south area where we had 6-7" earlier, there is still 10". In addition, there are still the cracks out in front. In order to get to Walleye Drive, we have to cross two cracks, one of which is 12-14" across with 3" of ice on it. We flooded it today and we will flood it again on Thursday. Then we will bridge it and try pulling some rentals across it. If things go well, we may be pulling private houses by Friday. I do not know what I will do about driving your own cars yet. Those cracks are dangerous after dark if you do not stay on the marked roads, especially with no snow to define roads.

I hope to have people out by New Years which is certainly an improvement over last year. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Was out checking ice and finishing staking the South Road, Perch Parkway, Moon Reef and Inner Archers. Ice was mostly 9-10 inches, although we did not make it down to where we had 6-7 inches on Friday.

There are some issues with cracks that keep opening and closing right out in front near the start of Walleye Drive. Some have opened 10-12 inches wide. For this reason, we are closing the access until we have a chance to go out on Wed morning and check the ice. The resort is also closed from noon on Monday, Christmas Eve until Wednesday morning at 7:00 am.

Our family would like to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Please enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends and rremember the true  meaning of Christmas.

Friday, December 21.2012

Just got in from checking ice and staking roads. I found 6-9 inches of ice with the thinnest ice towards the very south end of our territory, south of Agate Bay Reef. Most of the ice is 8-9 inches and it is coming very well. This is not to say that there are no cracks. It is still early ice.

We marked Walleye Drive, Lake Street, and Outer Archers. We started on Perch Parkway and the South Road. We will allow 4 wheelers and snowmobiles (not much snow on the ice) on Saturday, baring any more cracks.

As always this is early ice so you must pay attention to changing conditions and use good judgement on the ice.

Be safe and hope for cold weather.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

I was out on the ice this afternoon. We have 5-8 inches of ice. The 5 inch stuff is in a fairly narrow band not too far out from shore. If the wind does not do anything tonight, we will allow walkers out on Friday and I would anticipate letting 4 wheelers and snowmobiles out on Saturday.

On Friday, we will go out and stake  roads and this will allow us to drill many more holes over a much larger area. We will update this site and our answering machine, as well as sending out an email to those who have provided us with their email addresses.

The ice looks good and it will come even better with the cold weather coming.

Dean

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Access is closed. Too windy and what looks like some open water about 500 yards out.

I was out today checking ice conditions and found 3-6 inches of ice with the thinner ice closer to shore. It appears to be good ice with not too many cracks, at least so far.

It is not thick enough for ATVs or snowmobiles yet, but if someone wants to WALK out this weekend, I would allow it. If you do, you need to  be aware of what is going on around you and watch for existing cracks and any new ones that appear. Also, if the wind picks up, get off since that is when most of the problems occur this time of year.

I  do not have any forecasts for pulling unless you can guarantee a weather forecast for the next two weeks. The ice looks good and I am feeling very good about it. It just has not been cold enough yet.

I have a few things for sale:

Vexilar FL-18 Ultra Pack  really good shape with not very many hours on it with battery charger-$350

New in the box Eskimo Z51 auger with 10" blades-  $350

Marcum underwater camera black and white with panner like new nice unit-  $195

Honda 2000 watt generator-the quiet one- not many hours on it and good shape--$775

I will probably probably be coming up with some other items, especially Eskimo portable ice fishing houses and a Strikemaster electric auger. If you are looking for anything related to ice fishing, let me know. I may have it. I have accumulated so much gear over the last few years testing products that I need to clear some out to make room for new.

Friday, Feb. 24, 2012

We still have a few houses left for this weekend. We will give 15% off any rental of 24 hours or more which ends by Sunday noon. Our houses will be off by noon on Sunday and our access will be closing for the winter at that time. Thank you for your business and support this winter. It has been a challenging year, but the fishing has been great all year.

SEE YOU IN THE SPRING!!!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Roads are still holding up well. We will see what the warm weather Sun. and Mon. does. Our houses will all be off by Sunday, Feb 25 at the latest. If you are not coming up next weekend, please make arrangements to have it pulled before you leave this weekend.

The fishing has continued to be very good for walleye. Perch are still challenging to find in numbers, but the size is still excellant. Rentals are going great this weekend. I do have one Premier Ice Lodge (14 hole and 9 people maximum) available. The normal cost for this house for a weekend special (noon Friday-noon Sunday) is $950. I would discount this or even throw in Sun till Monday if someone has Monday off. It has been a very good house for fishing and you can see the details on the house on our web site under "Fishhouse rentals". Give us a call.

Monday, February 13, 2012

It just keeps on. I can not believe the walleye fishing is still this good considering how late in the year it is. Friday night and Sat. day were very good. Sat. night and Sunday day were a little slower, but still good. Last night ( Sunday) was great. All of our rentals did outstanding. I know of several 27's, a couple of 28's and a 29 incher all from our rentals last night. They all got some slot fish to keep also.

I had some people who came out for 5 hours this afternoon and they all got walleyes also. They also took home a few very nice perch too.

The ice is still doing well. Our access is holding up well and it does not sound like they are talking as warm this week as they were before. It is supposed to cool off a little by the weekend so the ice should hold up well.

This Monday is a holiday for some lucky few so remember that we honor our midweek special starting on noon Sunday. We also still have a few houses left for the weekend so give us a call. There are only two more weekends left for walleye fishing so if you want to take part in this year's great fishing, you need to act soon.

Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012

It has been a pretty good week. The ice has firmed up a lot and with the cold coming in this weekend, our access should heal up well. The fishing has been pretty good this week. Monday was off a little, but the rest was quite good.

Walleyes continue to bite well off Agate Bay Reef. In fact, last night a person caught a 34" 13.25 pound walleye near the Reef. I have not seen a walleye over 13 pounds for a few years. It was one of the nicest fish I have ever seen. The big fish continue to outnumber the slot fish, but we are seeing some that people can keep too.

Perch are still elusive. A school will come through and you will get 2-4 bites all at once and then the school is gone and you do not see them for a while. The perch we are catching are nice ones though. We are not seeing small perch. I really think the winners in the perch contest will come from Agate Bay this year. We normally do well anyway, but this year the size is good.

Our access is open to all vehicles and wheel houses. Please keep the speed down and hopefully it will stay open for 2 more weeks.

We have a few standard houses open for the weekend and one Premier Ice Cabin, which sleeps 5-7 people. For anyone booking a weekend special (noon Fri.-noon Sun.) on a standard house, we will take 10% off for anything booked after 3:00 pm Thursday. I will let the premier house go for $650 for the weekend special (normally $750).  The fishing has been good and the houses are nice. The premier houses are VERY nice. You can see all the details on our web site under "Fishhouse Rentals".

Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 (9am)

We have reopened our access to vehicle traffic. The cracks near the shore on our access have frozen shut overnight and are not moving when vehicles go over them. The cold coming in tonight should really heal them well. The ice out further was always 18-20 inches thick. Our only problem was near shore. If people would slow down going over the bridge and approaching it, we would have fewer problems also. People are still going WAY too fast on the lake. SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!

Sunday,Feb. 5, 2012

Our access is closed temporarily due to mild weather and cracks at our access near shore. The weather is supposed to cool on Monday night and we will probably open it on Tuesday.

The fishing this weekend was good on Friday night and Saturday until the fog cleared. After that, the fishing was not as good. Walleyes continued to bite well off Agate Bay Reef during the lower light periods and deeper during the day. Perch were a little harder to find this weekend.

The heavy traffic so far this year has taken a toll on the ice because it just is not as thick as it usually is at this time of year. In general, the problems we have are near shore, not out where the houses are. Hopefully we will get the cold weather this week. We need it to firm up the ice.

Call before coming up to make sure the access is open.

Thursday, Feb.2,2012

Will we ever see winter again? The warm temps this week have melted some snow, especially on the roads and we have lost some banking on the houses. The roads have not been impacted and the ice is still at 19" or so.

Fishing has been a little spotty this week. Monday and Thursday were a little tough, but Tuesday and Wednesday were very good. We are still getting nice walleyes along Agate Bay Reef. Best times are 7-10 am and 6-9 pm (not a real shocker there). Set lines on rattle reels and dead sticks have been outfishing jigging, which is unusual. Try red hooks on the set lines. A new jig which is working is a Snyder's Rocket Spoon in the 1/4 oz size with the head of a fathead minnow on it. I have heard of good catches of perch and walleyes on it.

I still have a premier ice lodge open for this weekend and I am willing to deal some on it. If you have a group of people and are looking for a great experience this weekend, give us a call. It would take up to 7 people comfortably and has a Honda generator, TV/DVD player, microwave, and a private, heated toilet with electric. I guarantee you will love the house!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

We started pulling out private houses on Wednesday and we have been pulling anyone who wants to go out since then. We had a new crack on the main road on Friday morning but we made a small detour and put a bridge out and it did not cause any problems. We had all the rental houses rented this weekend and ALL of them caught fish. Quite honestly, I do not remember the walleye fishing being this good this late in the season EVER.

We are catching more big walleyes than slot fish, but we also saw some people with a good mix( 50/50 mix). One person who has fished at Agate Bay for at least 30 years said they had NEVER pulled the lines up at night, but on Friday night they pulled them up at 2:30 just so they could get some sleep. I won't say everyone did that good, but it was very good.

We are getting some nice perch in around 27-30 feet around the gravel/mud transition and on the deeper break from 28-32 feet.The numbers are not huge yet, but the average size is good, not the huge quantities of little ones I hear about elsewhere.

The fishing right now reminds me of mid to late December. If you can, you should try to get up here for some of it while it lasts. Since some of the houses will not go out due to the late year, the pressure and noise is way down. Now if we could just get the idiots to slow down we could really enjoy our time on the lake.

We had a late cancellation on a 14 hole premier ice lodge for this weekend so if your group is looking for some fun, give us a call. The section on our website about "Fishhouse Rentals" gives the features on these houses and they are deluxe and really nice for couples, families, or just a bunch of guys. I KNOW you will like them. I also have a few standard 6 hole houses which are very nice with tongue and groove paneling and 4 bunks.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

We put the rental houses out yesterday and it went very well. We have houses from 23' on the rocks to 30' in the mud. We still have some openings for this weekend so give us a call. We have standard house with 4,6, or 8 holes and our premier ice cabins and lodges with 10 or 14 holes. See the Fishhouse Rental section of our web site.

We will begin pulling private houses out to our normal spots including Walleye Drive, Lake St., and Perch Parkway today. The ice where we are placing houses is 17" thick and there is a little snow for banking. The bite has continued to be very good for the people who have ventured out. We are allowing vehicle traffic on all of our roads.

Monday, January 23, 2012

The cold weather really helped a lot. It healed our crack so well that it did not move or open up even with the strong SE wind on Sat. and Sun..We expect to have our rental houses all out by Tuesday and begin pulling private houses out on the other side of the crack on Wednesday.

The ice out on the other side is about 17 inches and very good ice without rough spots. We are getting snow today so, hopefully, banking will not be so hard. The walleye  bite has been good along Agate Bay Reef. This weekend was very good for Big walleyes and not as good for slot fish, but this year has really been good for a mix of big and slot fish. They  are catching perch out in deeper water along the gravel/mud break in 27-29 feet along Perch Parkway.

Wednesday, Jan. 18.2012

We will only be pulling houses to the rocks inside of the crack. We can get to about 17 feet on the west side of the north portion of Agate Bay Reef. It is what we call Archers Ave..  This area is north of the resort.

There are also small rock piles south of the resort that we can reach. We will allow driving vehicles for anyone with a house out, but they must stay inside of the crack and just drive to and from their house.

Otherwise, it will be 4 wheelers only this weekend. You should be able to reach Walleye Drive, Lake St., and Perch Parkway by 4 wheeler. We will put out a bridge across the crack for 4 wheelers.

Most of our ice is 15 inches, but in the crack there is till some 5 inch ice. Also, there was still a large band of open water all along the north end on Tuesday. As long as there is still open water in spots and the ice in the crack is still much thinner than the surrounding area, there is still too big a chance of something opening up. I know of at least one vehicle and one 4 wheeler that have gotten into trouble in the last few days on the north and south sides of the lake.

I think this cold weather has helped a lot. I expect to pull across the crack sometime next week. The ice should be consistent by then. The lake should be frozen across and we will hopefully not have the large cracks we have seen so far this year. I expect to still have cracks this year like usual, but we have big bridges to handle that.

Sunday, Jan.15, 2012

The strong SSE wind today opened an 8 foot crack in the area of bad ice which is about 1/3 mile off shore so our access is closed until that either heals or gets pushed back together by a west or northwest wind. Our ice is still coming good and with the cold weather this week, we should heal up some of our bad areas. I do not know if we will be able to pull next weekend and if we can, we will probably not be driving cars or trucks. I do not think the open water fron last Thursday will be strong enough yet.You would have to have a 4 wheeler or snowmobile or ride along with the truck.

Fishing this weekend was very good. Walleyes bit well in 18-22 feet on jigging spoons and a good portion of them were slot fish. People who went deeper did well on perch with good average size. It was not a ton of small ones like I have heard of in other spots on the lake.

Keep wishing for cold temps with no wind!!!

Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

We have been out checking the ice and marking the top of Agate Bay Reef. The ice inside of the bad spot and outside of the bad spot is 10-12 inches. The rough area where we had open water about 10 days ago is very rough and has about 6-7 inches of ice on it. It is passable but you will not set any speed records over it. We have marked roads for 4 wheelers to fish near the reef. If you are going out either on a 4 wheeler or walking, you MUST talk to us first. We had open water is an area on Wed. and yesterday and we do not want you near there. Again, you must talk to us first before going out!!!!!

The good news is that the ice along Walleye Drive looks very good. We have not checked out by Perch Parkway but it looks good. We will be marking more areas next week and working on the rough areas getting out to the reef. At this time, we can not get to most of Archers and Moon Reef and it may be a while before we can.

If you want to fish along the reef, it is accessable.

Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012

Well we have good news and bad news. The good news is that we can not see any open water in front of us anymore. The main ice pack blew in over the weekend and only left a narrower patch of open water about 1/4 mile out. It ran the full width in front of the resort as far north and south as we could see. This froze over with really chunky ice and has not broken up, even with the warm weather today.

The bad news is that I do not think there is more than 3 or 4 inches of ice in that area considering how mild the weather has been.  Really though we are much better off than we were a week ago. At least we do not see open water.

If it is not broken up by Friday, I will go out and see how much ice there is in the thin area, but I do not think our access will be open this weekend. We still need a lot of cold weather to have the ice in the thin area catch up with most of the ice out there

The bath house will be open this weekend if anyone wants to come up and access on the south end where the ice is thicker.

THINK COLD AND BE SAFE!!!!!