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

[pmcrawler]

Fished out of JRs during the cold spell this week. 14" ice and 2-4" of snow. What didnt work: 6 lb line, Jigging spoons or using large rainbow or large fathead minnows. What did work:4 lb line,  bobber, glow, teardrop, and small fathead. The bobber would go down 2" and sit there. Set right away and nobody home? Count to 5 and set, fish on. Wish we had crappie minnows. Small and light was working during the cold weather.  We did manage to fill our limits. Good luck.

[Glockwinger]

Currently out of Rogers. 3 13" and one keeper 15" walleye.  Very slow.  Barometer and temperature not helping ;-).  Overnight was -30.  All fish hit rattle lines. Nothing jigging.  Tough bite.

[Glockwinger]

Update. .. midday run. Caught 3 nice 16" walleyes on still lines between 1 and 3pm.

[SaintPaulPaul]

Just got back from Red yesterday. Rented a sleeper for Sunday afternoon to Monday a.m.  from Chad Benson (Chad's Guide Service and Fishouse rentals). It was cold, and to be honest, I didn't expect much of a bite. Chad and Thad Lambert put us in a house 5 miles out and we had good success....took home our limit of 12 and put back another 30 walleyes. Not bad for a little more than a day, considering the temps (-20F). No huge fish, but some nice 18's in  there also. Very healthy, pretty fish. Presentations varied, I had good luck on a white glow bubblegum jig with a large fathead, small rattling jigs, and red hooks with a whole fathead. Switching things up often and working the lines was key...we caught quite a few fish, but we were working it the whole time. No night bite to speak of....fished in 14' fow. Thanks to Chad and Thad for a great time...I'll be back soon this winter!.

[SaintPaulPaul]

Never been to Red before Sunday but couldn't get over how pretty/healthy the walleyes are...beautiful

 

[Zelmsdawg]

We just returned from a 3 day weekend out of beacon harbor. Only went about 2 miles out (15ish inches of ice) and sat in 12 fow. Didn't expect much with the cold weather and high pressure but did ok. Between 6 of us we caught about 30-35 walleyes with a dozen perch mixed in. Almost every eye was 14-15" with a few up to 18" and one or 2 runts less than 12". The perch around 7-8". A couple came on jigs but the majority were on deadsticks and rattle reels. We caught most fish between 3 and 7 and stayed up to about 10pm. Weirdly only had one rattle at night and then would get nothing fishing in the morning until the after the sun came up. Still had a lot of fun though and can't wait to do it again.

Zelmsdawg

[Reverend]

We will be there in 25 days and I cannot wait!! We are going out with bear paw and Steve and Tyler have always put us on the fish. We love reading the posts and you are all the best!!

[Weathertite]

Zelmsdawg did you find any Crappies to put on the ice ?

[fins_n'_feathers]

Take a picture and let those crappies go, they look way better swimming back down the hole than they do flopping on the ice.

[Weathertite]

They actually look really nice swimming in the deep fryer. And they taste as good as they look..

55 minutes ago, fins_n'_feathers said:

Take a picture and let those crappies go, they look way better swimming back down the hole than they do flopping on the ice.

I am not saying that you should fill a pail , but a few for dinner is ok in my mind.

Mike

[fins_n'_feathers]

release a crappie, eat a walleye, you'll be doing everyone a favor and your taste buds will thank you too. Those crappies are true trophy caliber and in my opinion are no good to eat, they are mush if you fillet one. id rather let em go so someone else can get the rush of seeing that big mouth come through the hole. every time it still puts a huge smile on my face and putting em back is even better knowing someone else might get the same rush.

[Hoyt4]

Those crappies taste just fine . We don't keep a bucket full but will mix in a few when we do find them. No problem taking a few of them home. I've been catching them on Red since I was 8 years old everyone fished Walleyes and we would go up for the crappies as kids and you could get all the walleyes if you wanted.

Hope to try a few new spots this weekend not worried if I do not bring home my fish for the weekend. It's been a good winter on Red and we have done well.

Good luck to all going up and enjoy the warmer weather.

[cookie129]

The elusive yet still catchable crappies are a very special fish here. The iridescent colors  are amazing. If you get a wall hanger its hard to not get it mounted. There thick is 2x4s. If you happen to hit the mother load, keep a meal or two. Last year we had a few that kept the 40. Ouch! They will always be here if we keep releasing them, especially females when they are spawning. Kellie my wife the hammer and I will keep 3 for a meal if we find them this year . Once they are eaten if we land on them again we may keep another 3. There is no reason in my mind to keep 20. Last year Ole kept his 10. He fishes the lake once a year and he planned on giving some to his family and I saw nothing wrong with that. There are guys that will come back after taking 40 and try for another 40 a week later. What the heck are they doing with all those fish?

[JacobG]

There are very few of those crappies being released however I think there have been more and more people releasing more and only keeping a few. And I think that's great. Last year we had a trip where we caught a solid 50 -75 crappies. My wife and I kept 7 crappies (nothing over 13") and a few perch. That made for a big fish dinner for us and a few friends. But to keep 40? To me, in my opinion. That's not necessary. I agree with fins. The eyes taste better. Good luck to everyone. Should be a great weekend of fishing 

[bowhuntermitch]

Headed up tonight to fish all weekend! Will try to post a few pictures and keep everyone updated on the action. 

[jBohmer]

How was the fishing Bowhuntermitch?  Myself and a few buddies are heading up there this weekend and I am pretty excited since this will be my first time out this season.  How was the snow cover on the ice?   We plan on getting a road pass but want to pick our spot we will not be pulling a trailer and hope that we can get around relative easy in my truck.  Thanks in advance for any info and hope you did well over the weekend. 

[bowhuntermitch]

1 hour ago, jBohmer said:

How was the fishing Bowhuntermitch?  Myself and a few buddies are heading up there this weekend and I am pretty excited since this will be my first time out this season.  How was the snow cover on the ice?   We plan on getting a road pass but want to pick our spot we will not be pulling a trailer and hope that we can get around relative easy in my truck.  Thanks in advance for any info and hope you did well over the weekend. 

Snow cover on the ice is fine. You can pretty much drive anywhere on the lake. The biggest thing i'd worry about is pressure ridges which are avoidable by using the road systems. Our sleeper was on 20-22" of good, solid ice. 

I stayed in a sleeper through JR's and wont be doing it again. Too many issues and them not caring. Furnace didn't work properly(they had the stove top burners going to heat the house when we arrived.), 2 chairs in a 4 man sleeper house, we were brought a dead battery, we requested a new battery and 2 more chairs, but they never brought it out. Turned out to be impossible to get a hold of someone back at the store/bar. No-one ever answered their phone # listed on their site. 

I'm usually not a negative person, and am not hard to please, but this was just a bad trip all around. The slow fishing just added to the frustration. 

To say fishing was slow is an understatement. We caught daily meals, but that was about it. I ended up going searching for fish, and did find some, but it was still slow. A lot of marks would come off the bottom, check out the numerous bait presentations we tied, to head back down to the bottom. Our sleeper was in 15' of water with no surrounding structure. I'd refer to it as the "flats" (pretty much all of red is flat) about 2.5 miles out.

Houses around us caught fish as well, but also mentioned it was slow. We usually leave the lake having caught 70-100 fish over the course of 2 days. This trip we'd have been lucky to hit 30. 

Many other resorts to choose from on the lake for sleepers and I'd recommend it. 

 

Edited January 25, 2016 by bowhuntermitch

[jBohmer]

thanks Bowhunter!  Sorry about your experience it sucks when to have a disappointing trip like that when it should be one of the best times of your life.  My buddy and I are staying in his insulated clam pop up over the weekend so we are hauling all of our own gear.  We were wanted to make sure that we could get around or otherwise we would have to pay extra to have a guided plowed spot.

[bowhuntermitch]

2 hours ago, jBohmer said:

thanks Bowhunter!  Sorry about your experience it sucks when to have a disappointing trip like that when it should be one of the best times of your life.  My buddy and I are staying in his insulated clam pop up over the weekend so we are hauling all of our own gear.  We were wanted to make sure that we could get around or otherwise we would have to pay extra to have a guided plowed spot.

A day pass through JR's was $10. Completely worth it. 

[fishingsfinest]

Spent the weekend up on Red with four friends and stayed in a rental 6-man sleeper out of the South side of the lake.  (the house was already plenty big, but the extra room and unused bunk were sure nice!) 

I will say, I fish not nearly enough during the year but consider myself a good angler and one willing to put in the work to find fish, and take one good winter trip a year with this same group of guys.  For me the numbers of this yearly trip never seem to amount to the expectations and the anticipation of what I want to be, but we always catch fish.  Two years ago it was Red Lake on the north shore out of a rental unit, last year we changed it up and went to LOW and stayed at a resort and this year it was back to Red Lake.  We all want the numbers, those 50-75 fish days where at times you can't seem to keep the lines in the water, but it just hasn't happened, especially with this group where 3 guys for sure would never leave the house if the fishing was slow to search out active fish.   It took along time to realize that it isn't always about the numbers or sometimes even the quality of fish, but rather enjoying the time away and allowing myself to unplug/recharge the batteries.

That all said, if I remember correctly, we were just over 5 miles out fishing in about 13' of water. Fishing was pretty slow, but we caught enough fish to take home and enjoy at a later date.  Ended up taking home 13 keeper walleyes between the 5 of us, all 15"-19.5" (four over 17") with a bonus perch that eclipsed the 12", (nice to see a true jumbo!) and a bonus Red Lake slab that just fell short of the 13" mark and was for sure the heaviest and most well built crappie I have ever caught.  That crappie slammed a UV Rippin' Rap early Sun. morning, had all 6 hooks in its mouth, so fun to see!  All in all, I would say we averaged just under a fish an hour or so with the smaller walleyes and perch that were let go in between the keepers (not to mention all the swings and misses), so like I said, hard to complain!

[BringAnExtension]

56 minutes ago, fishingsfinest said:

It took along time to realize that it isn't always about the numbers or sometimes even the quality of fish, but rather enjoying the time away and allowing myself to unplug/recharge the batteries.

You have won the ice fishing jackpot!

[SaintPaulPaul]

Went up  Mon-Wed last week 25th-27 Jan. on the south side. Caught this fat 23" right off the bat on a rainbow and red hook. Very shy bite, best results were on bubblegum jig, glow white; red hook and red bead, and white glow teardrops with any red or black accents, topped with a whole fathead. Electronics were vital to catching fish...either they hung tight to the bottom or they came out of nowhere. Not just having electronics, but knowing how to use them and see the subtle changes on the flasher and knowing how to react. I out- fished my buddy 4 to 1 as he doesn't have much experience with his new Marcum. You had to keep a vigil by the vex in order to make things happen. Having said that, I should note that some of my biggest fish were caught on a deadstick.  Morning bite slow until sunup, bite slowed at sundown. I caught 38 walleyes (all eater size, just 2 dinks), 4 perch and hooked into a massive Northern the last day that put up a 15 minute fight but sure wasn't coming up that little hole! A good time, had a fish meal on the ice and took our limit home.

.

 

[jBohmer]

Got to Red around 3:00pm last Friday and drove out of Rogers with a couple buddies and set up a few miles out.  Only caught one eye and a couple decent perch over night.  The next morning we packed up and moved hoping to find more action but did not have much more luck by the time we drove off Sunday morning we had 5 eyes and 5 perch between three of us (of course one guy caught almost all the fish).  Very slow fishing a lot of lookers but few takers we threw everything we had at them but the best luck was with small glow jigs with whole crappie minnows, we had shiners and fatheads too but not much luck with them.   All the eyes were healthy ranging from 14 to just under 17 and we threw back only three perch that were too small.  Weather was wonderful we were able to drill a bunch of holes and hole hop on Saturday and never got cold sleeping in my buddies big calm insulated pop up.  Even though the fishing was slow we didn't get skunked and had a fantastic time telling bad jokes and old stories, even rigged up a portable DVD player to deep cycle marine battery and were able to watch some movies between bites.     

[SCONASOTAN]

Heading that way in a little over a week. How are the water levels looking? and what kind of water temps are you seeing along the first break around the opener?

 

thanks

[kelly-p]

It's a little hard to get an exact water level with all the wind but I would guess that it is about 1174.6 which puts us within about 5 inches of normal. The water levels came up quite a bit this Spring with all of the runoff from last fall when things thawed out. As far as temps I do not have a clue. I know it has been too cold for the shiners to run.

[JohnnyO]

On 5/16/2016 at 9:28 AM, SCONASOTAN said:

Heading that way in a little over a week. How are the water levels looking? and what kind of water temps are you seeing along the first break around the opener?

 

thanks

Just got back a hour ago, out in front of the river its 52, I was surprise it was that cold but with the temps they had over the weekend it makes sense 

[StarShooter]

Great day on the water yesterday, always fun to fish this lake. We ended up with enough walleyes to bring home for a meal and released plenty for others to enjoy, but the real fun was just getting to fish such a great resource. Bottom bouncer pulling a spinners with a crawler seemed to be the ticket. Not many places you can do this style of fishing in 4-7 feet and catch walleye.

[RiverChuckNorris]

Fished Friday (4-ish arrival) through Sunday morning (8:00 AM) this past weekend out of Rogers.  We parked the trucks near shore and pulled the two castles out with a wheeler.

Set the castles up in 9.5 fow and experienced occasional action throughout the day but very little overnight.  Fished 12.5 fow on Saturday and then went into 8.  Had a nice run of action near sunset in 8.

It was colder than he!! and we had endless gear issues.  Overall, fishing was the slowest I've ever experienced up there, although we still managed our limit across 10 guys of eyes from 15-20".  

Was nice to see some variety in sizes including a few 12's and multiple 20"+ (biggest were 23, all over 20" back swimming .  Also caught a 9" perch and a 4lb pike.

Ice was 13"+ everywhere we drilled.

Warm up should improve things drastically moving forward.  Good Luck!

Edited December 20, 2016 by RiverChuckNorris

[MNsetters]

Thx. for the report! We are headed up in the morning for a couple days.

[tfin]

Fished Sunday out of JR's.  3 fish from 2pm to 5pm with a few misses.  All bites on the dead stick and really had to pound a buckshot to bring them in. Only saw 3 fish on the vexlar as they just weren't tempted by anything jigs i sent down.  Was in 12 fow on no particular structure.  The water was still very clouded with visibilty 3 to 4 ft down.  The fish were all about 14 to 16 inches.