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

[slimy]

The walleye fishing on Red has been excellent 11'-14' of water south shore rocks, center bar, north mud , you may even find a crappie there. Others have nailed monster northern so come up enjoy.

[JaySt.cloud]

Breu, we were about 1.5 mi out. We were kinda by ourselver...lots of guys out another mi or so. The bite for us slowed on Wed into thursday...caught a few but not the Red Lake bite. I think the cold front slowed them down a bit...here's hoping it picks back up in a week...we are heading back up there.

[kelly-p]

wow...you guys rocked the house! We had one of Kellys the next nite and it was actually pretty slow. Most of the fish were 14-15 inchs, and very soft biters. Thats fishing...

2 thumbs up to Waskish Minnow Station's operation though, we'll be back!

You guys were there at the same time. "Living the Dream"'s house was the closest house to you just to the NW. It all depends where the schools are AT THAT TIME. Tonight the results could be the oposite for the 2 houses.

[traveler]

Yup...thats fishing. Thanks again for running a good set-up Kelly!

[MNBIGBEAR]

Anyone fish out of Red Lake Adventures on Kansas City Rd this year? I have never gone out of that access before. Looks like a pretty nice operation from the website.

[pjskip]

Heading up tomorrow, just wondering what the lastest reports are?

[Portavilla]

The fishing slowed some with the cold snap on New Years Eve so we spent the day today checking out new areas and moving some houses, tomorrow we will move 6 more. They started picking some up this evening and we will see what it looks like in the morning. It has been a night bite all the way with a huge moon overhead all night. The day bite has been dead by my standards but the night bite has been slow to ok with a few areas doing real good.

The big plow is a road maker that’s for sure and we named it Big Bird because it’s yellow and has wings.

[Reedo7]

Just got bach from 3 days/nights on red. Fishing was ok. Definitly not much during the day. The evening was so so, but overnight we was pretty good. We caught 60 walleye and one small northern between 2 people. A very good mix of year classes were present. If I was going up now or could do it again I would sleep as much as possible during the day, and fish all night. As bright sunny days coupled with bright moon nights made things tough during the day and maybe easier at night. But I am not used to that schedule so overnight I just had rattle reels down, with bare hook and shiner on 2, and pink jig w/fathead on 2. I bet if you would have had at least one line down jigging as an attractor ( like a big rattle spoon) you could have done really well. We could have caught more but I got sick of the alarm reels a couple of times. Like last night when we got our 60th eye I said enough and opted to sleep so I pulled them all out. So fishing wasn't bad but we have definitly seen better out of red recently.

[traveler]

Reedo; Maybe...I was on Red tues. night and had about the same bite pattern as you (full moon), but they were biting so darn bite i could get nothing to go on my jigging spoons, which they usually slam pretty good up there. I did try jigging afternoon, eve, and night, all to no avail. Just light biters this time around.

Gonna head back up wednesday i think, hopefully they'll light up a little.

[pmedic]

Fished fron Wed. afternoon through Fri. morning. Went out of Hillmans and stayed in one of Kelly's houses. 2 adults (or that is what we call ourselves) and two 11 year olds. The kids just love this trip and look forward to it all year. As for the fishing, we had great fishing and the kids are still grinning. We saw a steady bite throughout the daytime but the bite definitely picked up starting at about 10 pm - 4 am. Not alot of sleep with the rattle reels going off at a steady pace. Plain red hook was the best followed by glow hooks. The smaller the profile the better. We kept a limit all between 15 1/2" and 17". Lots of fish just outside of this range. Got a few on a jigging spoon but most on the deadsticks. Fish seemed in a neutral mood for the most part and would not chase.

My advise would be to get away from the crowds. I heard of several in amongst the masses that did not do as well. Walleyes on Red are a country fish, not a city fish. GET AWAY FROM THE ICE HOUSE CITIES!!!

Thanks again Kelly. Waskiswh Minnow Station run's a first class operation we look forward to seeing you again in Feb.

Totals for the two days: 62 walleyes through the hole, 1 northern, 6 scoops of minnows, 13 tangled rattle reel lines, one 11 year old leg down the hole, two new years eve party hats, one bottle of sparkling apple cider, and 4 big memorable smiles. --- Oh how I love Red Lake!!!

[SCONASOTAN]

Sounds like an awesome trip with the kids. I can't wait until my boys get to the age to fully enjoy it. Mind saying how deep Kelly had you boys sitting in? Be up in a few days and want to figure out a good starting depth.

thanks for sharing.

[pmedic]

It really was a great trip. I hesitate to give alot of info as far as where we were. Kelly and Jonny work their tails off putting their clients on fish and I just don't feel right giving too much out. Sorry. They would be the ones to ask.

[tori's dad]

Really sounds like you had a great trip John- nice to be up there and get rewarded- wouldnt it be great to have a resource like that down here?

[DrStizo]

just rented a 4person from Portaville for tomorrow night, bringing 3 guys with that have little no experience ever sleeping on the ice and real new to ice fishing. Cant wait to get there, let everyone know how we do when we get back monday night.

[Portavilla]

We set the alarm for 4:00 AM because we new it was going to be cold it got to -36 degrees on the ice and we knew when sunrise hit we may have propane problems and got some fresh tanks ready and sure thing, bam it was game on. The boys were on it before the phone started to ring, we got everyone switched to a hot tank and the crew was back in action. One of the groups we sent up to the resort for coffee and we threw another regulator on, you have to have backup everything. The same group put the smack down on a 40 inch gator in the middle of the night. The Walleye bite slowed during the cold snap but guys were starting to pick up more this evening.

We took advantage of the calm day and started our third move this week. It was a little on the cold side but one can’t procrastinate, snows coming I don’t know when but it’s coming. One of our groups invited us to a spaghetti dinner with them and after eating meat and beans for seven days we pulled the pin and took in some chow. It was fantastic, I told them next year would you make another bucket of that stuff for us and we will make it worth their while. We ended the day with a flat tire on the truck and the boys changed it and got straight to bed round two starts tomorrow.

[hardwater55319]

portavilla- We watched you change your tire. It looked like you had a group of guys that were getting the job done. We were in a house not to far from you. We got a late start and got set up around 2:30 saturday afertoon. Once we got our lines down we had a few bite off and couples of keeper walleyes 14-16. Then had another decent between 4:30-6:30 and then not a bite until 8:30am sunday morning. Then we took off for home. We will be up another trip or two this year. We will return back to Rogers CG he was very helpful and friendly. THANKS Brad

[Tbuchho]

For those of you not able to sleep during daylight hours, such as myself, move out to deeper areas south of Center. We fished out of JR's Corner Access for 3 days just before the cold moved in. Houses are (were) set up in 11' and the night bite was slow so we moved around in portables during the day. Once we got out into 15' we marked fish in several locations. We set up and caught 5 limits in about 3 hours starting at noon. Hot lure was a black and red 1/8 ounce jig. We got out of the houses early so JR could get those moved out deeper for the next group. Great accomodations, food and guidance from JR and his son Adam. When we left they were adding several roads out and around that area. Hope to get back up soon...

[steeplechaser2]

Sorry for the delayed post....New Year's and family travels....three adults and two kids stayed with Kelly P on 29th and 30th....we found the overall bite to be pretty steady...but the day bite could be quite slow at times....however, the night flurries could be really wicked....I dozed off at 3:30 am and awoke to 8 of 10 bobbers down....I managed 6 walleyes and 2 tangles in the mess.....overall, we did really well. We managed many, many 15" to 16.5" fish....and at least 20 fish over 20"...in all, we totaled 1 northern, 1 perch, and about 115 walleyes over the two day stay. Kelly and Jonny were great as usual...many visits and tips and stories...great service. Our unusual "trick" for the night bite was a #8 glow white hook with the smallest fathead in the bucket.....

[HotPocket]

Fished out of Mort's Fri-Sun morning. Fishing was good 38 walleyes total (two guys).We fished in 15.5 fow. Most of them over slot, but still got are limit of 16"ers, and what a cold weekend!

[SHANTY]

Hey Guy thanks for the info!

I am looking to make my first upper red lake ice fishing adventure this coming weekend. I have open water fished the lake and did well. Looking for a few trips and other information where to set up. Any info would be a huge help! Plus if i see ya out on the ice ill make sure to give ya a drink or two...

Do u need any kinda of licence for bringing up a trailer/permanent to fish out of? Not planning on leaving it unattended? Fish 24 7

Where is the best place to drive out and is there a fee? I know Rogers has a fee but i from what i hear is a good place to drive out?

How is driving on the ice? From what i hear a person can pretty much get around anywhere?

Where u guys having your best luck in any particular area? or just random 10-15 FOW?

Stay close or away from crowds?

thanks for the info and best of luck!

[can-man]

Stayed with Portavilla for Friday and Saturday 8 guys in our group rented a 6 man & 4 man best shacks we have stayed in. We used the 6 man as our main camp plenty of room for all of us to eat together. On saturday we invited the portavilla team to join us for supper we had 11 guys in the 6 man and still had plenty of room. These are some of the most comfortable houses you can rent. We had a great time caught a limit of fish best place to stay and best people to work with. Almost forgot the big bonus they have heated bathrooms with toilets that flush a big plus when its 36 below. Thanks guys will be back and with spaghetti and egg rolls.

[Portavilla]

We have houses out 1 to 5 miles. The houses in will do good for a couple of days and then the houses out will do good for a couple of days. The fish are on the move and the bite is real light. Dead sticking is working the best and you got to let them run with it for a while or you get a lot of missed fish. We are starting to have a better morning bite with still the best fishing being at night. Red is still the best color.

[jc_higgins]

Fished 1/1 thru 1/3 at the end of Hillmans Road. They were extending the road out further yesterday. We were in a 28' ice castle. After enduring minus 40 degrees on Friday night I have a new respect for outfitters and sleep house renters. For the cost of staying with an outfit, you buy a lot of peace of mind. We had a rough night Friday. The propane jelled and the brand new Honda generator would not run unless the fuel was almost full? I don't know if it was just the cold or something wrong with it, but we had to keep adding gas about every hour. We had 2 propane tanks so we would alternate bringing one into the house to warm up every time the furnace would quit. Didn't get much sleep, and when we did, I woke up after 1 hour and the temp in the house was down to 28 degrees. The forecast called for -23, so now I am out to get the weather man. Seriously though, it was a learning experience and fishing was o.k. We caught about 40 walleyes and 1 - 30" pike, bite was only on after 5:00 pm. Hillman's road is in excellent shape. Drive slow to keep it that way.

[terrible_fisherman]

I fished this weekend out near the Red Lake Adventures outfit. Some pals of mine rented a house and I brought one up. They had four guys and caught about 30 walleyes from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. I had three guys in my house and we ended up catching about 25 eyes and 2 small pike over the same window of time. Missed some fish as well. The bite slowed down significantly after Friday night with that cold snap.

The fishing was not lights out but the Red Lake Adventures people were very friendly and helped out with any issues we had. They plowed a spot out for me and even rented me a generator when mine quit due to the cold weather.

[madfisher]

The family and I were out of Hillmans 5 miles from 1/1 to 1/3 in 13' fow. We caught landed 8 and missed 2. Very slow for us. Not sure what the issue was as I see the reports by us were not bad. A big thanks to the guys at Westwinds as our furnace started acting up at about 12:00 friday nite. I had started out with 2 half full 20# at about 11:00. The guys at Westwinds filled them and got me a new regulator. I put the new tanks on and all was good. Lesson learned was to have full tanks hooked up in those temps. JC Higgins, we were right by you guys I think, we were in the grey house with black suburban. Anyway it was a good family trip, the girls enjoyed it.

[fishnhooks]

jc,

Sat night wasn't that much better out there. I didn't have any trouble with the propane, but others in our group were having problems both fri and sat nights.

"hooks"

[kelly-p]

Fished 1/1 thru 1/3 at the end of Hillmans Road. They were extending the road out further yesterday. We were in a 28' ice castle. After enduring minus 40 degrees on Friday night I have a new respect for outfitters and sleep house renters. For the cost of staying with an outfit, you buy a lot of peace of mind. We had a rough night Friday. The propane jelled and the brand new Honda generator would not run unless the fuel was almost full? I don't know if it was just the cold or something wrong with it, but we had to keep adding gas about every hour. We had 2 propane tanks so we would alternate bringing one into the house to warm up every time the furnace would quit. Didn't get much sleep, and when we did, I woke up after 1 hour and the temp in the house was down to 28 degrees. The forecast called for -23, so now I am out to get the weather man. Seriously though, it was a learning experience and fishing was o.k. We caught about 40 walleyes and 1 - 30" pike, bite was only on after 5:00 pm. Hillman's road is in excellent shape. Drive slow to keep it that way.

As I understand it propane quits making pressure at -27 and stops at -40 unless heat is applied. Seeing as we were at -37 on shore and usually the lake is 6 to 7 degrees colder we were in a bad situation right at sunrise across URL. We try to keep 2 full 100 pounders on each house before a night like that and we had 2 stoves shut down even with that. I can not imagine what it was like with a wheelhouse and 20 pounders. After a weekend like that I don't care how the fishing was, I'm just relieved everybody came off the lake OK.

[MuleShack]

I was out of Hillmans on Friday and had problems of my own. Had a spring break on the way up. Had a cable break when trying to let the house down. replaced cable and had it break again before the I got the pins out. I almost turned around and went home...but banked up the house well and fished with out lowering it. I only caught 8 fish, but whiffed on just as many. It was slow, but was too lazy to move with a wounded house.

Quote:

The propane jelled and the brand new Honda generator would not run unless the fuel was almost full? I don't know if it was just the cold or something wrong with it, but we had to keep adding gas about every hour. We had 2 propane tanks so we would alternate bringing one into the house to warm up every time the furnace would quit. Didn't get much sleep, and when we did, I woke up after 1 hour and the temp in the house was down to 28 degrees

I didn't have that issue this year...learned from last year. I ran a seperate gas line with regulator into the closet (which stays fairly cool) and kept my 20lb'r in there. when the 30lb'r started failing outside, I switched the valves in the house and ran off of my 20 over night. Nice and warm. I wish the fishing would have been as hot. It sure was cold.

[walleyeRyummy]

fished sunday from 3pm to 9pm, 13.5 fow..... sloooooooooowwww

one of the walleye we caught at 16" was super fat like he had been gorging...on what idk....

[SHANTY]

looks like it is going to warm up this weekend. hopefully the fishing will pick up!