fishing reports 2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)

[ZapMan]

Out from the south shore about 2 miles 12 feet of water. It's WINDY out here! Shaking the house. Yesterday 9 walleyes and today so far only 3. Staying till Monday morning. Hope we can pick up a few more. Kids need a little more action!

[tipup]

Red Lake + Windy = slow bite. Just a fact of life.

[Random guy]

Amen to that. Once the wind starts pumping the water in the holes is slows down.

[shaky legs2]

When we come up next week the bite will improve.

[Fishalittle]

I hope your right Shaky! We will be up friday - sunday and I am long overdue....I think its going on three weeks....darn weather messes up my plans!

[FlyRodAddiction]

I was up this weekend from Friday-Sunday morning. We caught a 6 man limit of nice 16-19 1/2" walleyes on Friday and fried all but the 5 19+" fish for dinner. On Saturday we did the same thing, fished a couple guys in the house and the rest of us moved around in portables. We had to work hard but ended up pulling enough fish to have a 6 man limit and continued to C&R until we left on Sunday morning. Even with the cold front we had some crazy action in 5' of water. I could throw a rock and hit shore from where we set up the portable. All in all a great weekend of fishing about 57 fish between 6 guys biggest was 24".

[ChompChomp_YANK]

We were up for thursday night got set up @ about 11:45pm and shut the lights out @ 2am with no action. Woke up friday morning with no rattle reels going off !! Tried jigging till 9 am and only had 1 eye and 2 perch. Called my buddy and said time to move!! We checked one spot and picked up 2 eyes, tried another spot marked fish but couldn't get them to bite. The ice was very rough and I buried the auger all the way to the head before it went through. We decided to go back to the 2nd spot we tried. We set up and banked the shacks about 2 feet high for the cold/wind that was coming for the weekend. Friday afternoon produced some good fish, a few rattles threw the night and a good sat am bite. It slowed down during the day but had good fish again sat night. We did not have one rattle go sat night and sunday am only produced a few fish. We decided to pack up around noon on sunday and head for home. Our Group of 2 guys, 2 kids with 2 wheelhouses managed 50 plus fish total. We had a fish fry and brought our 16 fish home. Our keeper fish were from 15"-19" and our biggest was 23". We set up in 12 FOW. Other than the wind on sat it was another great trip to RED.

[hib iceman]

Caught our limit today and more. Figured out the trick. Use a republican minnow. They work

[CaptainGary]

Went out of Hilman's on Thursday. Set up about 3pm. Fishing was a little slow, but steady. Friday the 3 of us limited out. Kept the eyes between 16"-19" and threw several back that were smaller. Caught a couple about 21" and 22", ofcourse had to release them also. Today was slower. Left only cuz I got sick.

[hugonian1]

Me and my son are out on the lake now.

We went out of Hillmans.

Caught 12 in a flurry at prime time and then it shut right down. Just finished a FRESH walleye dinner. Can't be beat.

[chaffmj]

Oh man that sounds good. Fish fry on Red!

[MNfan]

It is very good just finished overeating ourselfs bad part is it took most of our fish as it is slow on the south side.

Andy

[UglyStick12]

Another good weekend on red. Was on up Friday night to this morning. Went out of Rogers in 12 ft of water. Caught 39 eyes and 2 perch. Dead stick out produced jigging. biggest was 19.5. Best hook was white glow with plain red hook a close second. There seemed to be a lot less people up there this weekend which made it much easier to get away from the crowds.

[EMAGDNIM]

Had a great trip this weekend with my buddy and his cousin. Got up to red about 7:30am Saturday morning. went out of hillmans road Had our limit of walleye at about 5pm. Bite slowed down til after midnight then the rattle reels wouldnt stop, we didnt get much sleep last night thats for sure also caught some perch decent size. Caught about 30 walleye total. half jigging and half on the rattles. 2 Northern 27" and 28" Only got one this morning on a rattle reel. What a great Great trip though. Had a lot of fun! Thanks Chad!

28" Northern Jake caught jigging

Great sunrise saturday morning!

Catch of for the weekend

[MNsetters]

My wife and I were out of JR's Saturday 2 pm till Sunday 3 pm thirty walley 21" largest 12 keepable size, and 8 perch 10" long

[hugonian1]

Yes, a Red Lake Surf & Turf special.

Fresh Walleye & Ribeye.

[laportian]

I fished up there yesterday from noon until 6:30. I had planned on going to the north side or maybe out towards center bar but did not make it past the ridge on the southshore. The guys that run the furthest west road, off of the Sandburg Rd.,were working on a bridge yesterday and Jr's has one but I didnt want to travel that far down. We ended up setting up rite at the ridge. Fishing wasn't super great. (Im still blaming the nets!)LOL. We were marking a few here and there but not too many would commit. I ended up catching five and lost three or four at the hole. I kept three 14inchers to eat. Was also marking fish several times throughout the day four feet up off the bottom. Id raise up and never got one to strike. Kind of has me curious as to what they were. Where we were at it was 11 feet from the bottom of the hole to the bottom of the lake. My auger was about bottomed out yesterday so I'm thinking extensions from here on out. I'm going to head up Tuesday to give it a whirl as it appears that is the last day of this warmer weather. We'll see if a few days of nicer temps will get them to really pop off.

[bassinboy3]

I see the fishing has picked up since the last time I was up during that vicious cold front. MNsetters how did you like JR's.

[Lipriper84]

Went up from 1pm Friday until Sunday at 8am with 8 guys total. Stayed in 2 of the 10x20 sleeper houses out of Westwinds. Started catching Walleye right away which was very encouraging. Ended up with 25 keepers from that night and morning. Threw back a lot of 13 inchers and a few over 20 inches. The dead stick was definatly out producing. Plain Red Hook with a fathead out prodouced at least 5 to 1. Caught a few jigging purple and red glow rattling flyers. Some on orange glow buckshot. but for the most part any movement would send the fish straight to the bottom. Saturday's day bite was much slower for us than Friday. Only ended up with 6 keepers from Saturday to Sunday morning. Lots of small fish from 6-12 inches. And a few 20-22 inchers. Still good action at least can kept everyone busy. We were in 12 feet of water from the top of the hole. I must say that Westwinds runs a great operation. Everything went very smoothly.

[kelly-p]

Quote:

Fresh Walleye & Ribeye.

OK, who is missing a cow?

[hugonian1]

Just a small chunk.

It will grow back.

[shaky legs2]

Great pics Hugonian1. You are giving me ideas for next week's menu. Kelly, you better pass the word to the area beef cattle farmers that wolves are not the only predators out there.

[TylerS]

Fished Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, Jan. 25-27 out of Battle River Rentals. We were a lot closer to shore than last year, roughly 10 FOW from the bottom of the hole.

Started off catching walleyes mostly jigging with minnow heads. Rattles out performed non rattling ones. I couldn't catch a cold if I got sneezed on, so after watching everyone else catch fish, I threw on a lure I've never actually even got a nibble on: a Lindy Darter. My hopes were to keep off whatever little blips were down there by throwing on something large and in charge. Must have been a hundred little baitfish down on the bottom. Then, the screen went blank, and a giant red line exploded off the bottom and totally missed the lure. I was stunned. Jiggled it a little more, and back it comes. Strike two. This was unreal. Tried again, and wham-o. Third time the charge.

First fish five minutes after throwing on the Lindy Darter (19 inches):

Wound up catching four fish that afternoon on the Darter, and another two or three on a deadstick. After that, I didn't get another bite, and fished with Rattling Flyers or deadsticks instead.

We had eight guys up there, and caught our 32 walleyes to bring home, all between 15 and 19 inches. Threw a bunch back that were too small, but nothing over 19. I did catch one surprise on Saturday afternoon that really gave me a run for the money on my TB Perch Sweetheart.

Came in right at 29 inches.

Saw lots of cool sights. Tried fishing near a big ice heave near the reservation line, but only caught one eye there. Far and away, had the best success in the sleeper.

Saturday night the boys were knocking a few back, but I'd had enough so hit the sack. They all played dice at the other house, while I manned a couple rattle reels. Wound up with a double-double! Two eyes at midnight, and two more at 1 a.m. All perfect keepers between 16 and 17 1/2 inches.

Didn't catch another fish until we left. Not another nibble from 1 a.m. until 10 a.m. Oh well, we'd had our fill and our limits. It was time to go home. All in all it was a fantastic trip. Caught way more walleyes than last year, and much better quality fish, too. Last year the perch made the trip, but this year was definitely eye time. Can't wait to get back next winter!

[BartmanMN]

Sweet trip and great pictures.

[shaky legs2]

Great report and pics!

[kelly-p]

Nice report TylerS. After pushing snow around all day the picture of the house with bare ice showing made me want to cry. Maybe if we get a strong NE wind I can fluff some snow up and send it Battle River's way. But they would just wait for a SW wind and send it back to us.

[bassinboy3]

Looks good! I'll be back up in a couple weeks, hopefully the weather is better for me on this trip.

[H0LE HOPPER]

Hey guys just wondering what time of days you are finding fish most active lately havent been up in awhile, so is it still the usual low light hours and the random midnight bite or can ya find some little spurts in the afternoon? Doing a family trip so probably wont be out for the midnight trip in portables. And does anyone have any info on which side of the lake is producing a more consistant bite? Was thinking about going outta west winds or possibly hillmans road, Any info would be appreciated.

[Fishalittle]

It really varies with the fronts....last weekend our best fishing came from 10:30 pm to 1:30 am one night. The next night nothing. Usually a good flurry in the morning and evening. During the day I think it all depends if your on them or not?

Good luck if the weather stablizes it is in your favor for sure.

[H0LE HOPPER]

Alright sounds good thanks for the info. One more thing Are extensions needed or will it be close?