Stuck on Red

My largest walleye, about 22 inches

As stated before, with Christmas being in the middle of the week, it was difficult to coordinate family schedules.  We had one on the weekend before and there was another scheduled the 28th or the 29th which ruled out the weekend after Christmas but then a reprieve!  The last celebration was now scheduled for New Years Day, leaving the weekend to pull the wheel house to Red and fish Thursday through Sunday, plenty of time to get some ice fishing in!  Although a lot of people want to go, coordinating their schedules can be frustrating as often it's simply I am leaving, do you want to go?  My friend Jack and his son Ben we off till January 6th, brother Steve had some work priorities in January, my friend Greg wanted to go real bad but he was going to Pasadena to watch the Rose Bowl so when the opening came up I took the first people available.....Jack, Ben, and my brother Steve decided to drive up from LaCrosse.  It would be a little crowded but what the heck, we were all friends and more importantly Ben had some good deodorant with!  Meeting at the pole shed we were off by 9 AM as we had to drop some stuff off at Bill Lundeen's, that took about 30 minutes then we headed up through Garrison, took 6 to Deer River then 46 to Northome and on to Red.  It is always a pretty drive and there was snow on the ground the whole 4 1/2 hour drive.  Arriving at JR's at about 2:30 we said our greetings then Adam warned up about the ocming storm...........What Storm, we hadn't heard anything about a storm.  He put us out about 3 miles, just west of the 2 1/2 mile turn to the left.  We looked for a larger unoccupied area as we we expecting Russ Praught, his brother Randy and a couple of friends to join us.  There wasn't that much snow on the ice so we headed off the road then found an area where we got turned around so we would face the road, just in case.  It takes about an hour to set up as one forgets about rusty pins, the nuances of setting up but we finally got settled in, which included setting up our satellite TV antenna and getting the DirecTV working.  Russ showed up and his brother probably wouldn't be here till Saturday.  The fishing wasn't very good the first few hours leaving us to have Tator Tot hot dish for Thursday night's meal.  We started picking up a few fish with Russ, just a hundred feet away, doing quite well, enough to go into JR's and have fish for Friday night.  Although not jumping through the holes, we did get enough to go back in on Saturday for fish.  In the meantime we were able to get some weather reports on the television as well coordinate any of these reports with Adam at the resort.  The word was, it's a bad one coming, make sure you have plenty of food, water, and propane because when it does happen, we cannot guarantee when you will be able to get out.  The Salem has two 30# propane tanks with an automatic valve that switches tanks for you when one goes empty.  Knowing we were using the last of on tank, it switched over on Friday so we had JR fill it. We were ready for the storm as the snow started falling on Saturday night.

Sunday Morning on Red

Waking up on Sunday brought reality to the situation.  Although it didn't snow that much, probably less than 8 inches, the winds were howling at 30 mph with gusts over 40.  The snow had drifted everything shut, one could not see more than 100 yards and there was no way we were getting out of our situation.  Russ was trying to move his truck so we went over, here his house was starting to flood.  Although there was plenty of ice, it isn't like you have 3 feet below you.  The weight of his truck and house puts pressure on the area he parked and the ice tends to bow causing water to come up through the holes and spread out on the ice.  The drifting snow piles up around the house and truck adding additional weight to the situation.  Russ was flooding, the water almost over his floors, he had to move.  We suspect he might have been on a low spot to begin with. We finally got his house lifted off the ice and he moved about 70 feet, enough to stay out of trouble then parked his truck away from the house to minimize the weight.  In the meantime our house had started to slush up around it meaning we were also flooding.  Luckily my house is about 6 inches above the ice and we were fine, but it was a situation worth monitoring.  Snug in our house we sat back with the realization that we'd be stuck till at least Monday morning.  The picture above was taken Sunday showing the drifts around the house as well as the tracks in the snow which at this time was slush from all the water coming up through the holes.   A quick call into JR's confirmed that no plowing was going to happen until Monday morning when the wind stops.  It is sort if nice having the satellite TV in the house as we watched all the games on Sunday and Sunday night, stayed up on the latest forecasts and it certainly helps when the fish aren't cooperating very well.  There were some nice fish caught on Sunday, the first picture was the second I caught on my jigging pole, a nice 22 incher.  Meanwhile in Randy's shack one of the boys caught a 28 inch walleye.  We went to bed with 4 walleyes in the pail with another one coming on the rattle reel just before we left.

Just enough width for the wheel house!

Waking up Monday morning meant it was time to get our outside clothes on and start getting ready to leave.  Deciding at about 8:00 to start shutting it down, we packed up everything and lifted the house off the ice.  Getting the truck in position was going to be the challenge.  Even with crappy tire chains, it wasn't easy.  By 10:00 the plow truck had gone on the main road and began reaching out to everyone on the side an escape route.  More digging and we finally got the wheel house on a path to the main road.  Once on a stable path we went to help Russ and his group which finally were free. What plowed roads they did have were only meant for one way traffic but at least we were on a road.  About a half mile down from our starting location was a plow truck facing us and blocking the way.  To our left was a plowed road that came into the one we were on at a 45 degree angle.  The guy in the truck stated, turn left and "Follow the Yellow Brick Road".  I told him he was crazy which he replied, 'Don't you have 4 wheel drive".  Okay but your going to have to push to get me out and then I buried it.  Okay Mr. Intelligent, let's get to work.  Here he wasn't even a plow truck from JR's but the neighboring resort and had made a path connecting his people to JR's road.  Apparently he sheared a pin in his plow and was fixing it.  As we pushed my truck back onto the road, there were 4 trucks coming down where he wanted me to turn.  The guy was an idiot and as well, blocking the road.  Pretty soon there were about 20 vehicles waiting for him to clear so we could get by.  I think he got the hint..either move your truck or the forty guys standing around will do it for you.  We even offered to help fix the plow but he was stubborn.   Quickly he pulled off the road clearing our path as we made it around a number of big slush areas that were plowed before finally arriving at JR's by 11:30.  The original plan was to leave my house up there but was told there were no parking spots plowed, we quickly cleaned our fish and headed south.  Because there was more snow predicted for Monday, we headed more west going through Bemidji, Walker, Brainerd, and St. Cloud as these are connected by main highways that would definitely be cleared.

Not eating anything we finally stopped in Hackensack at the Birchwood Char House, a really nice place to eat.  As I was going back out to the truck some lady stopped by and started giving me crap that me and my friends were parked on a road leading to where she lives.  I explained that the road wasn't marked, the other trucks there were not my friends, then showed her on my phone that there were other roads she could take........and we will be out of here in 30 minutes.  Although she wasn't very happy, I had enough crap for the day! Finally arriving home at 5:30 we parked the wheel house and everyone left with a package of walleye and memories of a great adventure!