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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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The funny part about that as I do not even own binoculars or a spotting scope,or a gps. All you need to do on this lake is find a fishy area and fish it hard. The reason I move my houses the way I do as I like a clean fresh spot for my customers.I have also never figured out how to keep the fish coming under my houses. i have experimented the last couple years leaving a house on a certain spot thinking walleyes will keep coming to that area. That has not panned out that well although I have had a house or two this year that did do good the third night. I have alos left old minesota on a good spot and fished myself or with family and friends and again it has not got better.

I have seen other guides go to areas after fishermen have left that had good fishing I have even had friends that found fish and the next day there were other outfiiters houses in those areas? California caught a crappie last night thats two out of that house. Anyone want to fish by it it is out of westwind at the end of the road.I'll even go one better does anyone want to go fish in it this weekned for free. They can use it as a warming house and a place to sleep and fish while they look for the mother load to the west north west. I punched a road two more miles from there and burned up my tranny in the process. I can not give you a gps cord becauase I do not own one. You can borrow my binoculars but they are kinda small as they are really a cig lighter and nigt light. I goota go now as I'm going to move idaho and spend the rest of the day fishing in old minnesota

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cookie wow u will really let someone stay for free this week end I just pulled my wheel house all the way back home and I really didnt plan on coming up again this year since I have been fishing every weekend since JAN 1ST but I would drive up if u are serious about staying for free .I live in the Detroit Lakes area and would drive up but if it is for free u will probably get 50 people who will want to stay in it so how will that work?

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all you need to do is track down my number. I bet theres not 50 fishermen on the lake this weekend. I have heard that business was 80% down this year. I would agree on that as I've rented the cabin 3 weekends all season. This was the first year in 8 years that I had more then one fish house open on a weekend.

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how tough is the economy. Not one taker to stay on the lake in california this weekend. I thinking there will be less then 20 fishermen on the lake this weekend

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me and my brother will be there on saturday to stay with you cookie smile thanks again, darren

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I drove into Kelly P. on the way out today and talked a little bit where to go for some crappies...I already had a plan in mind when he also advised a spot to try out but I chose to go with my plan first and did get into some crappies and few walleyes. My girlfriend likes to sit and thinks fish will come (it actually works) while I like to drill and hole hop. We marked fish all night from 1-4 ft off the bottom and would follow the bait but most would not eat. I may be back out tomorrow, so I will leave a report if I do. Will post pics sometime later.

Kelly- Thanks again, I will have to check out the spot you were talking about tomorrow if all works out. Good luck to everyone who's out there or heading out...the access at Hillmans is in great shape!

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I worked that area I told you about with about the same results. A few small walleyes and the rest were just lookers. I gave it up just after dark tho. I was able to go cross country a little bit which was nice. I think we still need this snow cover to drop before the crappies start to hit good.

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I went out again yesterday with a friend and worked close to the same area I was fishing Saturday night and found some more crappies but they stopped biting 20 mins after dark and it was all about marking fish and sniffers just like Saturday night. It gets frustrating but oh well it works like that sometimes I guess! Here are a few pics from the weekend, didn't take many pics. I was also surprised that we did not catch as many walleyes I thought we would.

a couple from Saturday

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Sunday

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Hey I know that spot! wink

Sounds like the bite we had the weekend before with a pretty small window of good activity. Nice pic with the sun trying to poke through late afternoon. Looks like there a lot of open space to roam.

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I love all that open space to the West gringrin! I caught some crappies and gills this weekend but it's not the same as those URL crappies all though we did have a couple at 13 1/2". Nice Pictures!

P.S. I hope you like Coneys and Brats if you are coming up this weekend. grin

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Not so much! smile

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why is it a problem when I want to fish the north shore? You would think other resorts would welcome the business. I just do not get it.Can someone tell me who owns the north shore as I would like to rent it this weekend.

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Hey I know that spot! wink

Looks like there a lot of open space to roam.

Pretty quite out there Borch. When I ran out there late yesterday afternoon there was 1 portable set up on the cribs and 2 people standing out in the open at about 6 miles. That was everybody I saw. It always amazes me how when it is -20 with wind and snow in January there are fishermen all over but now when it is so nice out there very few people out fishing. I didn't even take an auger along as the same holes I drilled 5 days ago are still open. The biggest problem I'm having is that it looks like the crappies don't know where they are supposed to be. Stupid crappies. grin

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It always amazes me how when it is -20 with wind and snow in January there are fishermen all over but now when it is so nice out there very few people out fishing.

My guess would be because Red is for the most part a Walleye/Pike lake and right now you can't fish for them wink

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

I'll bring my auger anyways. Sometime 15 feet can make all the difference in catching or not.

Btw,

I'm hoping we find a bunch of stupid, hungry crappies this weekend.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

why is it a problem when I want to fish the north shore? You would think other resorts would welcome the business. I just do not get it.Can someone tell me who owns the north shore as I would like to rent it this weekend.

Cookie hope you guys have a good outing as I'm guessing you're having a get together this weekend somewhere up on the north shore. Not much of a coney dog guy and prefer to fish with a smaller group.

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Originally Posted By: kelly-p
It always amazes me how when it is -20 with wind and snow in January there are fishermen all over but now when it is so nice out there very few people out fishing.

My guess would be because Red is for the most part a Walleye/Pike lake and right now you can't fish for them wink

That's right but you never know what's going to happen when you drop the hook down the hole. One year I tried one place twice a week for 5 weeks. Never caught a fish. Nobody, not even Patsy would go back to that place and try it with me. But that 6th week. laugh The snow had melted off and I stood in water to drill the hole. As soon as the hook cleared the ice the Marcum lite up like an X-Mass tree. That bite there kept on until we couldn't get on the ice anymore.

One year there was not a lot of snow and the north shore was really crowded with fishermen and outfitters who all felt that they had to go to the north shore to find crappies. It was too crowded there for me and Buddy so we headed south to a big area with no people and started drilling holes. After about 60 places tried I had caught 3 crappies. frown As I was waiting to meet customers one day I pulled about 150 feet off the road and drilled a hole. Right at the junction of big road going NW and another big road going west but why not try it. I didn't even have to drop a hook. As soon as the flasher got a reading it was obvious that I was on top of a lot of fish. We pulled a big house there and it sat there for 5 weeks putting out limits of crappies. A writer came up to do a story about URL now that the crappies were gone and we put him in that house. From 11:00AM until 1:00PM he caught his limit of crappies, his 2 walleyes and a 36 inch northern to boot. As he was looking out the window at all the traffic flying past the house going north he asked where they were all going. When he was told that all the traffic was going to the north shore to find crappies I thought he was going to die laughing.

Those are 2 success stories. As far as the 100's of times I've left the lake with my tail tucked between my legs and no crappies knowing that the crappies had won again. That's another story. grin

Hey Borch, as long as you're bringing your auger along could you drill me some more holes? Mine are not working,,,,,,,YET. grin

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Any idea if Hillmans road will be up and running this weekend? I was supposed to go to Winnie with the wheelhouse and after calling a couple places sounds like some of them might not be open by this weekend and even some places on lake of the woods might not be open. I was up that way about 3 years ago and since it seems after walleye season ends there is not much traffic was hoping the road had a better chance of lasting and i would take a long shot on the crappies.

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Any idea if Hillmans road will be up and running this weekend? I was supposed to go to Winnie with the wheelhouse and after calling a couple places sounds like some of them might not be open by this weekend and even some places on lake of the woods might not be open. I was up that way about 3 years ago and since it seems after walleye season ends there is not much traffic was hoping the road had a better chance of lasting and i would take a long shot on the crappies.

I think it will be fine as long not much rain hits up there but the first part of the access will probably be messy and slushy. There is still good 2 feet plus of ice out on the lake. I hope to get out there next week so maybe it will be wheelers only. Who really knows...I may have to bring my waders. grin

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Kelly, I think by far your longest and most successful bite has to be the "presssure ridge" bite south of the the Hillman Road. The only way in was the sneaky-snaky dead end culdesac road route. Even after you thanked people for keeping their mouths shut the bite continued for several weeks until people found a way to loop around the T from the west and it got to crowded. That's one bite of many that I will always remember. Too far to the North and you got a harder bottom and very few fish. Farther to the south in dirty water and a stickier bottom it was gangbusters. The best part was there were very few people fishing in the area and it was not in the traditional North Shore area. Later in the year the "Crappie Highway" where you had to drive practically to the North Shore to loop around the crack was terrific as well. That has to be one of the best years of the many you have had fishing for crappies.

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Yes that was a great year. I remember that house sitting there. There was a area I past that same year where rough ice made a x. I must of drove by it 100 times before I drilled a hole there and we hammered them for two weeks. I then moved to another area of rough ice and again the week of the slabfeast The guys hammered them . The guys even invited the the slabfest perticpents over to fish with them.

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Any idea if Hillmans road will be up and running this weekend?

I'm pretty sure it will be. The shoreline is getting a little wet but the main road has been in the same place all year so there is a lot of ice under it and it has a great hump to it so it will stay dry. This time of year is when you really get rewarded for building a good wide and straight road in the first place. If the shoreline breaks up there clean untracked ice just to the north to move over to. The snowcover is still on the lake so the sun isn't getting to the ice yet. I haven't seen any places where the water is sucking down the holes yet. I will check with Buddy on what he is planning and post it here. He was busy today plowing a superhighway to quackaddicts holes. grin He saw that blue truck go back to the same place the 2nd night. grin

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He was busy today plowing a superhighway to quackaddicts holes. grin He saw that blue truck go back to the same place the 2nd night. grin

grinwinkwhistlelaugh

Good one Kelly!

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Originally Posted By: wmn luv me walleye fearme
Any idea if Hillmans road will be up and running this weekend?

He was busy today plowing a superhighway to quackaddicts holes. grin He saw that blue truck go back to the same place the 2nd night. grin

You can't be serious!?! Haha, oh and a blue truck...eh? wink

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You'll like the new road signs too. "Only 5.3 miles to Quackaddict9's holes", "Turn left at the orange highway cone to get to Quackaddict9's holes", "Quackaddict9 fished here!!!". You're famous and will have lots of new friends to fish with. grin

Buddy did have something happen today that was either comical or sad depending on how you look at it. The roads are all in good shape so you have about 30 miles of road plus the snow has dropped enough and is soft so you can go cross country. There are 4 houses in all of that area. 2 of Buddy's rentals and 2 wheelhouses in about 15,000 acres. Buddy takes his customers out to thier rental and finds one of the wheelhouses set up right alongside the rental. The really amazing part is that it looked like the people in the wheelhouse were worried that the noise from their old and very noisy generator might spook the crappies so they had the generator in the back of their pickup which was parked on the OTHER SIDE of Buddy's house with the powercord running around Buddy's house to the wheelhouse. confused

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The spot only stays secret between you and me, Kelly!

Actually it was 6.3 miles not 5.3 miles. So move the orange cone another mile! I'm in the cities over the weekend for the state tourney so I'll have no reports for you guys this week. Next week I'll have good reports of walleye fishing! grin

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Hey Quack, I have a question for you. It doesn't have to do with this thread but want to ask a few questions. If you could, would you email me at [email protected]

Thanks! Ben

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

I'll bring even more extra gas so you have some holes to fish out of Kelly. There's usually plenty left behind when I'm finished with an area. You just have to find the right one or two. Shouldn't be too tough. wink

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Thanks for the offer Borch but I'll stick with the holes I've been working. Depending on how you look at it I'm either determined, stubborn or I don't learn very fast. grin Can you imagine the look on Quack's face when we post some pics of the crappies he misses out on this weekend. frowngrin

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