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Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports by Cookie


cookie129

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The wife Step mother and stepbrother came up for a visit and wanted to go fishing while they were here. We headed out around 4 pm to see if we could catch dinner. As we were just going for a boat ride first to show them some of the area cabins and lakeshere property I was surprised how many fish I was seeing on the lorance fish finder. When we got down in front of my dads lakeshore property he owned before his untimly death 34 years ago I decided we would start there first. Tj had never caught a walleye so we sure wanted him to get at least one. It did not take long before both Linda and TJ missed a fish. I assumed they must of been little .A bit later Linda got a nice 18 inch keeper, followed bu a fat 15. Not long after that TJ got his first walleye a nice 15 incher. Not long afater that Tj was getting hungry so we called it a night and headed to westwind to have them cook up our catch.YUMMMMY another excellent job westwinf. It sure was nice to see the walleye starting to bite again.

To my surprise I stilll have not had a taker on my golfing special?

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with the low water and strong south east winds this last weekend kept me from going out onto the lake. For the last month I have been trimmimg up and going fast .I feel the boat lug over 3 sand bars and it sucks. This year I have damaged both my props .I even hit somthing with the kicker .

It is totally ridicuals they have not dug out the mouth of the river. They have been doing it for years why is it so complicated to get it done. I just do not get it. Had to vent I guess

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My plans again this fall is to fish as much as I can afford. This fall were also dealing with very low water conditions so theres some days I can not even get" Imagine That" our boat on the lake. The dnr or who ever is resposible for keeping the mouth of the river dredged out are dropping the ball. Huh Imagine That

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We took our boat out in front of our place on the southside this weekend and in the 20+ years we have been up there this is the first time I wrecked a prop, Took 3 rock hits but it's done. I remember one time in the early 90's when the lake was real low and grass was growing for a couple hundreds yards off shore but this is pretty close. It would be nice to have some the water back we had last year, Hoping for a lot of rain soon.

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http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/big_bog/index.html

Visitor Alert!

The water level on Upper Red Lake is below normal. The channel into the lake from Tamarac River is shallow. Boaters should use caution. Local free access one mile from park is deeper. The channel will be dredged this winter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

With the dnr dropping the ball an taking care of the mouth of the tamarac river my chances of getting out have changed dramaticly. It has not been the greatest summer here on upper red lake but thats the way the cookie crumbles. I'm not throwing in the towel as much as I'm venting how our dnr can not figure out how to take care of the mouth of the river. It has been a problem since opener,they spend a million dollars on revamping the parking lot and ramps,camp ground and new building then you can not access the lake.Where the double hell is the common sense. They should of built a golf couse if they do not want people fishing the lake

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Its not doom and gloom its just a guy gets spoiled when his boat is stored on the river . I pay a nice chunk of taxes here on the lake and also on the river lot. Its no secret the mouth of the river has been a problem since opener,they have had all summer to address this.. Its my opinion so i'm sticking with it. I relize westwind has dredged out there channle 3 times thats why they are and will continue to be the premier resort here on upper red lake.I pull in there marina to fill up as its so conveinant

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my new duck hunters this year had to bail on me. I plan on taking a trip out to my spot in the morning and maybe scare up a few off the lake for the guys on the tamarac river. Other then that I'll be hunting deer and grouse with my trusty recurve this year.

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The weather the next 5 days looks nothing but spectacular. With no wind predicted and two calm days in the books I expect the fish to be snapping this weekend.

I pulled my boat out of the river as it made no sense having it there when I can not access the lake. I do have my brothers 16 foot boat and plan on taking that out of westwind to do some fishing and see if its possible to get my boat "Imagine That" out onto the lake.

Yesterday I saw one whole boat on the lake. Sounds like Bob,Rick and Ty will be up deer hunting over mea weekend.

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Took my brothers 16 foot crestline out yesterday . It sure was different running a small boat with tillar after driving my boat for the last few years. It did not take long to catch my first fish on a pink spinner..I then switched to a black and silver rapala and caught a fat 19 inch keeper. I then switched up again and went with a plain hoook and two beads and landed a nice 181/2". So just as I figured with the warm calm days the fishing would be good . I fished for a bit more going after that 4th but I had other things a needed to get done while the nice weather is here. I think I saw two other boats on the lake and saturday she was swamped as there were atleast half a dozen out there.

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The next couple days it looks like the lake may be fishable if your a die hard. With the rain the last 48 hours I imagine the frogs migrated into the lake. Not sure how fast the water will clear up as its still predicted to be breezy. I would be more tempeted to get out with the big boat but the water level is just to low so its time to winterize the boat and put her away.The first fall I have not had work at the farmand the lake bites me .Oh well lets hope there s many more falls that I will have a chance to fish.

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  • 2 months later...

Welll even though we need the moisture it was good the snow missed us. There were quite a few fishermen on the lake again this weekend with good fishing reports. The first early ice fishing sure has taken off the last two years. The guys in the cabin did real well both days and had a good time. Our houses are still in the woods but ready to go . Now I just need to be patient as we slowly make ice.

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A nice start to the weekend. Brian,Aron and Kevin did well and had a fish fry last night. They were going to hit it hard this morning to try and fill out before heading home. Norm,Paul,Bob and Luey got a late start yesterday and ended up 5 short. They took there fish to westwind for dinner and are staying one more night in the cabin.

Jake and Jenny are heading up today so I took our california house out just past the first break so they have a place to sleep.

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Well it turned out to be a pretty good weekend. Norm and his crew went home with fish and enjoyed eating a few while they were here. Jake and Jenny managed to catch enough to take kellie and I out to dinner after fishing from 2 to 6 saturday night. Jake said the rattle wheels went off every hour all night long with the biggest fish a 22 .

I hung out with Jake part of yesterday and every where we set up I measured 13 inches of ice. All three spots we tried produced atleast 1 walleye. Jake came in around 6 and cleaned fish and had westwind cook up a batch to go so we had fresh walleye for dinner two nights in a row. He will help me move california before they leave today .

The rest of the day I plan on pulling the houses out of the woods and getting them staged to hit the ice.

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Jake Jenny and Gabrial headed home yesterday .They had a nice run of fish after 10pm on the rattle wheels .Jake finaly had to pull them up to get some sleep. He called last night and is already itching to get back up here.

I set up california in a new spot and Dave and Dave spent the night out there. I also got our first deluxe house out of the woods and got that out in front of our place as a couple of guys are going to use it tonight after fishing portables through out the day. Today the paln is to get the other houses out of the woods

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Hi Cookie, I am planning my 1st ever trip to URL this year. 1st full week of January. I am a new wheel house owner and an avid ice fisherman. After reading LOTS of reports here, I am wondering if you plow out spots for guys that bring their own houses to URL? I understand that you have a business to run and clients to cater to and I am willing to pay for your help in plowing me a spot to drop my house. I am sure there are guys that will do this for me but your reports seem honest and are informative. I understand that you are busy as hell so if you cant I understand.

Matt

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Hey matt with the snow condition as of now you would not need a spot plowed. Any of the guys with plows are more then willing to open up a spot for a little ware and tare money.

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thanks again cookie for the great time. although it was too short. we fished from 3pm sat afternoon til 9am sunday morning. Without question the daytime bite was slower. But at night the fishing was pretty steady and we were able to ice 9 nice keeper walleyes on sat night and 8 on sunday night with a few too small and one too big. Jenny and I figured we caught 24 walleyes for the weekend and too many perch. But the quality of the fish we caught made up for the numbers! 5 fish at 18' or better and the rest were right around that 16' mark. Definately nice to be able to keep those larger fish for a change and still nice to have to release those larger fish. Cookie had our house in 8 FOW and there was no daytime bite, on the other hand, the night bite more than made up for the slow day bit. we had rattle reels going off all night! So often that the wife made me pull in two of the three we were using, and the one loner line still kept going off! Lots of fun and another memory of Upper Red Lake that is always a keeper

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Not even one week in to the season and I have moved california twice and florida once. Yesterday Mike and his crew were up to nine when I checked in with them .They were spose to call me so I had a idea if there was a evning bite in the spot they were fishing. I have not talked to the guys in the cabin to see how there fared yesterday.

Bobby and here crew roll in today and have three of my four houses so I set them up in a triangle with in shouting distance so they should have a good time. Next week its get real busy then slows way down with open house over new years and every weekend in jan.except the 18th and 19th.

As the ice thickens I will migrate to new areas but as of now we should be good

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Cookie, We are heading up tomorrow for the California house. How deep is it and let me know the report on times any fish were caught. Plan on fishing portables until the evening bite.

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the 3 guys that fished it yesterday had 9 when i check in with them. Not sure how late they stayed and who is this?

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coney sauce ?

A big dissapointment last night when I went out to check on Bobby and her crew. The dead sea? I expected much better with california just 1oo yards away. So today evem though all three houses have not been fished 24 hrs I will be spending the morning move all three.

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With Bobby's crew all helping the move went really well. All three deluxe house's were moved a mile further out blocked,banked and augered in less then 3 hours. The fishing improved right away with Ron catching a bonus elusive upper red lake crappie out of his potable. Kellie and I visitted Daral and Bobby while Ann and Ron cooked up a fresh fish fry in old minnesota..

Yogi and Jim checked into california and then headed off in there portable. They had 5 when I checked in on them last night.

Blake,Josh,Chris and Angela stayed in the cabin and took there wheelers to the south and had a great time. They sure did a nice job cleaning up the cabin as you would of never new they stayed..Thanks guys.

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Bobby"s crew of 7 ended up with 25 total keepers so it was not great but what I would consider good.The boys had one two many and they awoke saturday morning with all there lines tangled . Jim and yogi went home with 8 and seemed satisfied.

Chuck and deb checked into florida and John and Angie checked into minnesota. Neither house was doing much last night so today may again be moving day.

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Yesterday after church I headed out on the lake to see how chuck and Deb did. The fish started to bite around 10pm and kept Chuck from getting a good nights sleep. I had told them I would move the house if they were game. Chuck wanted me to put the house where they bite from 3pm to 10 pm? I guess I'm not sure how to do that but I did move the house out a little deeper and a lettle further from the main road. John and Angie stayed put and for the second time someone has proposed in old minnesota? She said yes so both my boys proposed to there true loves yesterday. Wow and they did not even know.

We have everything booked dec 25th through the 29th then we have somthing open every weekend at this time.

Everyone have a merry christmas and safe new year

cookie

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