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

[Portavilla]

The night bite slowed down last night with most reports as real slow. The morning bite was a better and more guys are getting them now during the day. We just got done checking all 19 houses and green was the color of the morning with most folks and blue working good as well. We are all out in deeper water, the pike chased us out of everything in close a 42, 40, 40 & 36 and it was time to go. They are fun to catch but most guys don’t have the patience for it.

Our Navy guys headed out today and they had a good time. Last night they got a big Walleye and it got off at the hole, with some quick reaction time one of them went and dived for it. When he pulled it out of the hole you could here the hoot and hollering from across camp. They said they where coming up again and wanted to reserve for next year for fifty guys.

Billy, Dallas and I are taking some reprieve from are fishing assault and will set course a plan tomorrow. With all are ships in one area we will start spreading them out in new territory. We will now roll across the lake advancing the flag like a machine. Big Bird is sitting there ready to bust up new ground. Tonight we eat, drink and rest?

[bradyd]

Was up there from Wednesday til this morning and fishing was pretty slow. Ended up catching around 20 eyes for the trip with 6 in the slot. It was a good time except when the guy with a white ranger decided to fly by our fish house doing at least 40 mph.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Nice report Portavilla, I'm still chompin on the thought of coming up tomorrow or the next day.

[Portavilla]

Our fishing reports will now be posted on the Upper Red Lake Group page located on the top left corner of the fourm.

[opsirc]

was up yesterday with two others. we kept 5, loss three at the bottom of the hole and threw back a dozen or so small ones. started out about 4 3/4 miles out in the morning. bite was slow, after lunch moved out to around the 7 mile mark. picked up most of the fish there. alot came up to look at the bait, but would not take.

[walleyefreak33]

went out of morts on sat. only went out 1.5 miles in 15ft, fished 10am to about 6pm in portables and caught 12 and kept ten there was four of us so not to bad of day,going back next weekend so hopefully picks up a little, but hey still better than work.

[usmtsrocks]

My buddy and I fished in one of Kelly and Jonny's houses from 1pm Friday til 1030am today. The fishing wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectular either for Red lake standards. Our totals were 2 very small northerns, 3 perch, and 37 walleyes. Of the 37, 13 were keepers(13.5"-16.5"), 8 were slot fish(17"-19.25"), and the rest were small(13.5" & under). We were happy with that for fishing less than 48 hours. The fish would come in spurts, but daytime hours seemed best. 1am-6am was the really dead time, not a bite during those hours both nights. 1/3 of the fish came on Green glow jigs, another 1/3 on plain hooks, and the rest were caught jigging.

It was my first stay with Waskish Minnow Station and wont be my last. The house was very warm, comfortable and clean. Kelly and Jon checked on us now and then and we were happy to finally meet them!! Thanks again Kelly!

[usmtsrocks]

Here are some pics:

[kelly-p]

You guys really left that house clean. Thanks! Jim is fishing there tonight, I told him the pressure is on him to produce some fish also. This is his 10th year with us and he said every trip is a new adventure. Maybe I'll print out the pictures of your fish so if he doesn't get any fish he can at least look at the pictures.

[walleyeRyummy]

fished tonight from 4-7....slow....3.5 miles out westwinds road....most excitement was a huge "earthquake" that shook my house...seriously ..loud noise and shaking..1st time for that!!...as we left there was a pressure ridge 2 miles away that wasnt there before....perhaps that explained my earth quake!!

[bigfoot]

Fished out of rentals near rogers fri-sun. Had 10 people and caught maybe 16 fish. We weren't out too far, 1-1.5 miles. The bite was virtually non existant. Marked fish but rarely did they bite, pretty finicky. But good times were had by all. Pretty exciting listening to the cracks going at night when its -20.

[magic_minnow]

Fished URL 1/8 weekend. First day not so good, 5 walleyes, 2 in slot. 2nd day limited out on keepers. Finicky bite. Most fish came in at dusk, right when the sun was hitting the horizon. 12FOW, plain hook.

[kelly-p]

as we left there was a pressure ridge 2 miles away that wasnt there before....perhaps that explained my earth quake!!

-20 degrees to + 20 will expand the ice sheet about 12 feet.

[Stcloudangler]

Just got back from a weekend trip Sat-Mon, 10 people and the fishing where we were was pretty slow for Red standards. The totals are about 30 fish caught with 13 being kept. One little northern. We were out of the carsellas access on the south side in 15 FOW. The bite was tremendously light... sometimes the rattle reel would only turn J U S T enough to ting once, and then you would see the line move slightly to the side, and set the hook, feel the hook rip through the minnow. We missed probably as many as we caught. We had one good meal on the ice and quite a few laughs, so it was pretty fun none-the-less.

No night biters at all either night... first time on Red for us for that. Weird.

[bobbers up!]

Was up on Red this past Sunday and between 2 of us caught 62 walleyes in 7 hours, missed another 10. Also caught 5 jumbo perch. The smaller walleyes were biting on a plane hook and minnow. We were catching the bigger fish on glow jig and minnow.

[Guru57]

Got back from URL Monday. 7 guys fished Friday afternoon until Monday morning. 38 walleyes, 18 keepers. 2 pike. Fri/Sat were pretty good. Sunday aweful. No bite at all after 11PM. Most fish caught from 3PM to 10PM. Still had a great time fishing with Lonnie and will probably be back.

[NELS-BELLS]

Four of us were up Sat afternoon - Sunday, late morning. We were about 5 miles out of Rogers, just past Center bar. We ended up catching about 20 Walleyes and kept 13. The rest were to small. Had 2 northerns (I assume) bite us off.

Plain red hook and a Rainbow minnow seemed to be the ticket.

The best time was late afternoon till about 7PM. Nothing between 7PM and 7AM. Then we picked up 3 more before we left.

Nels

[chrismackmn]

Got back from URL Monday. 7 guys fished Friday afternoon until Monday morning. 38 walleyes, 18 keepers. 2 pike. Fri/Sat were pretty good. Sunday aweful. No bite at all after 11PM. Most fish caught from 3PM to 10PM. Still had a great time fishing with Lonnie and will probably be back.

We were up with Lonnie too but our 2 houses were dead. We got 20 in 3 days of fishing between 11 guys.

[lncstrz]

I'm coming up this week from Lincoln, Nebraska. Where does the best bite seem to be coming from. Hilman's, Morts, Rogers? Does anyone catch any crappie anymore?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[MuleShack]

fished tonight from 4-7....slow....3.5 miles out westwinds road....most excitement was a huge "earthquake" that shook my house...seriously ..loud noise and shaking..1st time for that!!...as we left there was a pressure ridge 2 miles away that wasnt there before....perhaps that explained my earth quake!!

Was this Sunday afternoon? I was out of hillmans at 7 or 8 miles at the end of their road and heard it coming from the west side and it literally shook me...first time for that also.

I was up from Friday Thru Tuesday, and the bite varied. Friday evening and late night were good, saturday was decent during the day and sunday was better. Monday at 2:00 pm it started to pick up and the bite was good thru about 8:30 then shut down. Tuesday was a totally different story, picked up only 4 fish for the entire day...the afternoon bite was non existent.

I caught at least 15 fish that were at or over the 19" mark which is pretty good from my past experience. I also caught a ton if the 10 - 13" small eyes which is a very good sign for the future as well. No Crappies and only 1 small hammer handle.

[Bigtime22]

I was up the 8th-10th and had moderate success with a silver and red macho minnow tipped with fathead tail. Caught 18 eyes, 15 were protected. I was the only one with any hits in our shack the entire weekend. The other guys refused to jig (this was the key). They deadsticked and I jigged. Seemed best to bounce it off the bottom a few times and let it sit for a minute or so. Fish seemed finicky, would only hit if the jig was still (after bouncing off the bottom). I had a pretty impressive northern on the rattle reel Friday night, after a 5 minute fight the line gave. Had a good time up there, was hoping for better but I can't complain.

[coombia21]

bobbers up what road did you take out and how deep were you

[Josher]

Hey Guys, headed up tomorrow on the south side of the lake. Sounds like Fatheads are doing better than Shiners. Just want to make sure I have the right (and enough) bait for 4 days up there. Has anyone had luck with Shiners, or have your set lines been Fatheads too?

[MuleShack]

Last weekend I only used shiners...didn't get hit at all with fat heads. Only used fat heads for tipping the jigging spoon.

[Guru57]

We bought 8 scoops of minnows for 7 guys and barely used 4. All fatheads.

[bobbers up!]

we went out of Rogers and fished 15 ft of water

[H0LE HOPPER]

hey just wondering did you use dead ones or live shiners?

[Quackaddict9]

I've never used Shiners up there, always used crappie minnows because I was going up there before walleye season opened and continued to be my best bait of choice for walleyes/crappies along a fathead sometimes.

keep the reports coming, I hope to make my first trip up there this winter soon.

[H0LE HOPPER]

ya we usually just use crappie and fat heads but that was after walleye ended sometime in march but this will be my first trip for walleys on hard ice up there but have been up there many times but last year i think was the last year for me and the slabs. Alright thanks for the infoill be heading up the 29 hope itll be good

[SHANTY]

was there jan 8-12 in the portavill sleeper. first couple of nights were slow. but the other days we did well. at least 30 fish a day. a lot of eyes, a few pearch, and 2 big notherns. One nothern was 40+ inches and was right at 20 pounds. the deadstick was dead. key was red glow jig with a live fathead. jig and bring the fish up.