Climate-controlled luxury while ice fishing? Done.
Minnesota may be called the land of 10,000 lakes but it actually has 11,842 of them 10 acres or more. It only took 3 of them to have a great time ice fishing there in February 2018. After staying in Pelican Rapids on the 18th my first MN guide Ross Meister met me on the morning of the 19th at a bait shop in the community of Ottertail and from there I followed him driving across the frozen surface of Ottertail Lake until we got to one of his fish houses. This was my first time to drive across a frozen lake. I didn’t have to be told the old cliche’ - don’t try this at home. With 36” of ice for a driving surface I was completely comfortable driving on this hardtop glacial lake.
Ross primarily rents out fishing houses in ice season to many clients instead of full guide service to each. So after talking to him and determining he was the guide I wanted for the west side of the state I talked him into a little bit more services and we agreed to a partially guided trip renting his ice houses and extra stuff for two days in this area with several lakes to choose from. Not much tutoring needed here after he briefed me on the depth, baits, and the target fish in which I was getting familiar with from my recent fishing trips.
Ross’s ice houses were complete with floors, hole covers, and heaters and equipped with rattle reel rigs mounted to the wall. The ice houses with solid walls were a welcome sight and greatly appreciated by me on day 1 that started with a temperature of the same number and staying in single digits all day. This 1st stop in MN was different for me because other than the plan of Ross checking on me periodically I was fishing solo. I fish alone at home a lot and enjoy that time with just me and the fish. Same here on day one where the occasional howling wind reminded me of how cold it was outside.
Although very basic by design it was warm and cozy and all I needed in the am hours was a full bottle of coffee, a little water, and some biting fish. I caught only Yellow Perch as they were consistent all morning and noon had my catch total at about 20. Culling being legal in MN allowed me to keep the best as I got the fish exchange going keeping 20 of about 40 total for the day. The afternoon brought me a visit from a fish and game officer named Troy. We talked about an hour about MN, TX and other stuff. I enjoyed the visit very much learning new facts about this northern state and it’s fisheries. With a lunch of PB crackers and diet coke, I had an appetite worked up for dinner and hunted a steak on the way to my hotel in Fergus Falls not finding one.
When I arrived at the Comfort Inn the aroma of something cooking accompanied me at the checkout where the clerk informed me that soup was on the house so I stayed in and ate. The morning of the 20th had a thick blanket of snow and a snow plow truck in the parking lot and heavy snow falling. So I cranked up Old Blue to warm up while I done the same with the hotel breakfast and after clearing the 10 inches of snow off the PU I headed out again.
This heavy snow stayed with me all the way back to Otter Tail Lake where I started the day in the same fish house. The temperature had not warmed up but the bite did as I caught about 95 more of the Yellow Perch and snagged my first fish ever on a rattle reel. A big drifting fish snagged himself in his side on the hook so my lone Walleye catch in MN was an accident but still fun as he tore out giving the wall mounted reel a good spin before I hauled him in back-wards. Hey whatever works.
Ross took me to another house on Otter Tail and while catching some of that total of 95 I heard feet crunching in the snow and opened the door to a visitor on foot. He owned a fish house and lived on the bank of the lake and had his PU stuck in the deep snow by his fish house. After we shoveled the snow away from the pickup body and tires I pulled him out and we fished a couple hours together in his house as I found it easy to make friends on Otter Tail Lake.
Ross tracked me down and I followed him to my final fishing spot for day 2 at Lost Lake where I caught a huge Northern Pike along with some smaller ones. The big Northern was one of my most fun catches to date on the rattle reel. He hit it hard and unwound about 60 to 70 feet of string before I got to it to tend to him. When I was done on this first half of my trip I had a pretty sizable amount of meat in the chests and had them naturally packed using snow instead of ice. Snow actually works better.
I left and headed to St. Cloud where I stayed for the night before meeting my guide Josh Hagemeis-ter the next morning and following him to Fish Lake and again driving out on a lake this one with 28” of ice where I fished from what is still the fanciest fishing perch I ever got in. Josh has an 18’ Glacier model camper with self contained generator purposed designed for ice fishing with the holes and covers of high quality and design. It was already set up on this secluded private lake that Josh had another conventional ice house on. Hey John and Ginger Elder, can y’all imagine watching color TV while catching those crappie right through the floor in a climate controlled kitchen/living room from a luxury chair. I don’t have to that one
Although we caught the most fish at the backup house it sure was nice to experience the Glacier for awhile. I caught many Northern Pike which was the primary target keeping a limit of 6. Also got quite a few Largemouth Bass and a few Crappie and Bluegill. Although I only got to fish one day with Josh, it was an awesome day of fishing and new friendship with most all day spent going back and forth from inside to out chasing tip-ups and back in to warm up. Not quite as cold here but anything less than 20 degrees lands in the bitter cold category for this Texas native.
Another nice catch for the ice chests again had me packing them in fresh snow. Before I headed out to Iowa we had another laugh at the irony of the common thread that ran through both my stops in MN. Let me explain. I had this trip booked about a month in advance. I didn’t know a single guide in MN so I got online and searched the hundreds of guides with listed ads and after going through my process of eliminations, Ross and Josh are the ones I separately honed in on. They each seemed like my kind of people and so I booked them. After my first day fishing with Ross, I called to touch base with Josh about our booked day and when I told him where I was at and what I was doing he said, “oh I didn’t know you were also fishing there-Who are you fishing with?”
I told him and he started laughing and I thought he can’t be laughing at the guide because Ross just put me on a ton of fish. When I asked him what was funny he said, Ross is my brother. While stunned at the irony I asked, So are you two step brothers? He said no we are real brothers. I said, but the last names. He said you will have to ask Ross about that. So I did the next day. Ross explained. The Hagemeister’s have German ancestry and the word meister in German means master. And so Ross appropriately goes as Ross Meister of Meister Guide Service. So out of hundreds of MN guides to pick from I booked with two brothers that live 125 miles apart and didn’t have a clue they even knew each other. So add irony to my fishing travels.
Ross is at www.meisterguideservice. com and on Facebook at Meister Guide Service. He rents ice houses for ice in and conventionally guides when ice is out. Josh can be found at www.minnesotaguideservice.com and on Facebook at Josh Hagemeister. Josh also rents ice houses, does conventional fish guiding in respective seasons, and rents that top of the line camper for overnight camping. There you go. Pick one brother or both for year round fishing in Minnesota. Both are born fishing masters (meisters), and both I count as 2 of my new northern friends. I feel like MN was represented by the very best. Thank you Ross and Josh for an awesome time, 2 big ice chests full of delicious fish, and helping me fulfill chapter 9 of Fishing America.
STATE # 9 - MINNESOTA FEBRUARY 2018 - OTTERTAIL LAKE, LOST LAKE, FISH LAKE
SPECIES CAUGHT - Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Walleye, Large-mouth Bass, Black Crappie, Bluegill