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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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Thanks Kelly - I hear ya. I will be careful not to drill under my pickup!

grin Less then 8 inches of snow should be OK. 8 to 12 inches of snow is iffy. Over 12 inches of snow and it most likely will flood.

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when I moved the second time I should have drilled a hole or two to see if it flooded I was close to some bigger snow bank s cause there want many plowed spots left later on sat.so when i moved again i drilled a couple holes in the area I wanted to go and waited a bit to see if it wouldflood that seamed to work out ice thickness varied from 24 to 20 and 18.

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Thanks again Kelly and Slab n Eye. Am heading up with my brother in law on Thursday - Temps look favorable - more so as the weekend progresses. Looking forward to some good times fishin. haven't enjoyed a good cigar in a while - so that will be great as well!

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Did a little pre weekend scouting today, started out this morning in a around 14ft of water, in a area I refer to as the hump at about 8:30am, didn't even graph a fish till almost 10:00 graphed a couple around a quarter after ten, switched up my presention a few times from flyer spoons buck shots and a stop sign with no luck. Finaly picked off a keeper around 10:30 with a green varmint jigging with a full crappie minnow. This has been an area that has produced well in the past so i didn't want to jump ship. Fished till around 2:30pm with out being able to land a fish although I did have a couple light taps. Moved in to about 9.5 ft (rocky) water and had action right away jigging with a fathead minnow head stuffed with green maggot gulp and had my limit by a quarter after 3:00pm. The bite was slower today. I think that if I would have just dead sticked it and not been creative I would have got skunked.

It's a tough bite and a tough time of year, but if your willing to think outsided the box and get be creative as well as ambitious there are plenty of fish for the takeing

full-17441-5756-2011_02_09_16_52_44_562.

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Came up on Thursday and the Waskish Minnow Station put us on hard bottom about 13 ft. of water in what they call the Gap Area. The temperatures were cold and we could not fish outside. The water was bog-stained the color of coffee (Doc says VO colored). grin I think if it hadn't been for the cold front this would have been an awesome spot for a day-time bite. Fishing was slow but we did pick up some fish. The next day we moved farther west and the water was less stained and the ice thicker. Again we could not fish outside as the wind was gale force and the temperatures although moderating, were still cold with the wind chill. As the front moved through the fishing picked up. During the cold front the only bites we got was on the dead stick (red stripe demon) while the flyer was not producing. We had enough fish for a nice meal on Friday nite plus had missed a few more. On Saturday morning the front had moved through and the weather was mild and the fish went on a feeding frenzy. The only difference this time was that all of them came on the flyer. We caught our fish to bring home, released a few and missed some more. Thanks Waskish Minnow Station for another great trip!

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fished 58 hours on the south side of the laek in 13fow. picked up 11 eye. 4 were in the slot with the biggest 21 inches. 6 perch, broken line 2 times and missed a few. plain hook got all but 2 fish.

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A week ago nine of us spent three days in sleepers out of Waskish in 11-13 FOW and it was the very slow. We caught a total of 19 fish for the party: 8 in the 14"-16" range, 2 in the slot and the rest were small walleyes, perch and an eelpout. In three days of fishing I personally caught: 2-6" perch, 1-8" walleye and a dinky eelpout on the rattle reel at 1 am. No lure was better than anything else, however the best thing seemed to be to not pay attention to your line. It seemed that when fish were marked they would only look and not strike, but as soon as you turned away, or fell asleep while jigging like my buddy, then you'd get a strike. All fish were caught on something different, with the majority caught while jigging lightly very. I watched a walleye for over 15 minutes, on both the vex and my camera, just look at my jig or minnow on the dead stick. He'd move slowly back and forth between my presentations and finally swam off in slow motion. In the years we've been coming to URL it was by far the poorest fishing we've had. All the fish I caught were no different than what I catch on the little lakes near Faribault where I normally fish.

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Hey guys, I was up there on sat, very slow for me too. I went out of JRs. Went out to center bar and it was like a ghost town. I was there 3 weeks ago and there must have been at least 100-150 houses out there and there was only 1 abandon one out there on sat, what happened?. My father and I caught only 7 fish all day, one nice keeper 15.5 inches and the rest were about 11-12 inches. Moved about 10-15 times, and drilled lots of holes at each spot, never set up the house. Anyway I am planning on going back this weekend with a few friends. We will be all over trying to chase fish. Let me know if you want to meet up or something, maybe share any info on where the fish are biting. I will be up from fri. night to monday midday.

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I was there 3 weeks ago and there must have been at least 100-150 houses out there and there was only 1 abandon one out there on sat, what happened?.

The same thing that happens anywhere on URL when the people get too crowded together. The fish are either caught or they leave the area.

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Here it is the good the bad and the ugly.

The good is we saw a couple of limits this weekend. The bad is I only had one house rented friday. saturday.The ugly is Idaho was horrible last night.Or only having one house rented friday saturday. The good was florida had deccent action this weekend with Todd and is crew going home with atleast 7 keepers

The good is I did have california rented saturday, sunday and old minnesota was rented last night. Montana is also rented yesterday and today.The bad and ugly is all the water around california and montana.

The good is we still have 2 weeks of walleye fishing. The bad is we only have two weeks of walleye fishing

The good is bearpaws road froze after flooding the day they made it. We can now get out in a little deeper water. The bad is it took so long the ugly is when it broke.

The good is Montana had some action at sunset last night.The bad is thay did not land any keepers, the ugly was all the standing water around the house.

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Went out to center bar and it was like a ghost town. I was there 3 weeks ago and there must have been at least 100-150 houses out there and there was only 1 abandon one out there on sat, what happened?.

Map burn. That’s what I call it. The new lake maps show the entire public a portion of the structure in Upper Red complete with fancy little waypoints and pretty colors for those new to the lake. These listed waypoints become pinpoint targets for mobile anglers and for good reason. Now these small rock piles, sand humps and even the two documented waypoints that dictate nothing more than sonar anomalies get hammered day after day after day. Of course they burn off quickly as Red Lake structure does leaving an auger riddled spot that will continue to get pounded as every angler is going to be the first one to get there.

Now take a lake lacking major structural elements and put a rock pile that represents something that would be on a map of Mille Lacs dead center in the middle it looks very inviting. Throw in a couple weeks of media hype about this magical place that walleyes jump out of the holes and you now have a computer generated craze that becomes a Mecca for hundreds. Center bar truly is less of a fishing element and more of a very effective marketing tool. Ever notice Center Bar is never mentioned during open water season? Everybody and anybody can get to center bar and it does not redirect business or dollars. The fishing can be good on Center bar in the summer but seldom do I see very many boats in that entire region. No mention of it on the forums or even in the bait shops as anglers can launch anywhere and it loses its significance in the summer.

As Kelly said the droves of anglers congregating on any one spot on Upper Red Lake will kill it every time and it doesn’t take very long. Now take one single circular feeding center and tightly surround it with a couple hundred houses like circled wagons and all the traffic that goes with it I am surprised it last as long as it does.

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Well it finally happened...I got skunked on Saturaday! I haven't had that happen since the 90's and maybe not even then. I try to ice fish, in vain this season I might ad, Winnie pretty regularly and I can usually manage to sort through enough dink perch to at least say I didn't get skunked. Red has always been my standby, my tried and true. I live in Bemidji and I usually never have a plan on where I go fishing but probably 3 days out of 4 I turn north to Red. Week after week I have kept telling myself it's bound to turn any day now. And week after week it hasn't really turned on for me. I had a couple okay outings in early December. But since have struggled to catch a limit most days. On two outings in January I only caught 2 fish each time. I fish alot with my 14 year old daughter and I couldn't coax her out this weekend. She only told me to let her know when it gets better. I may have given up before I even drilled my first hole this Sat. though. In a tough bite diligence pays off when all else fails. I fished along side a really great guy, one of the less visible P's from the Upper RL area, and his grandson and they caught a couple anyway. But seriously once you've been skunked it can only get better. Right?

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Was up Thurs 7PM through Sunday 3PM with one other guy. Had a local outfitter plow us a spot for our 8x8 portable sleeper - it was out of west wind about 2 miles in about 12'. From Thurs 7PM to Sat 10AM we caught only 3 walters and 2 perch with 2 dead sticks and 2 jigs going from 7am to about 7 pm and rattle wheels the rest of the time. Then we took matters into our own hands - when we asked - Spider Johnson said take the portables out further on the lake and try deeper. On the way out we talked with another well known guide. When we asked where to try deeper where we could pull out to he said "Follow Me" and turned around and basically put us in a direction for success! We ended up in 14' and Sat from 11am - 7pm we caught 8 walleye and 12 perch. Same spot Sunday from 7am - 3pm and we caught 8 more walleye, 13 perch and two small northerns. That outfitter sure made the trip for my brother-in-law. It was his first trip to Red - said it was the best fishing trip he had ever had. We of course enjoyed a lot of beer, booze and cigars! I was using the glow red rattlin flyer in 1/8 oz with either minnow heads or whole crappie minnows. Dead stickin a single hook and one glow bead. hook was red or glow. mostly used small crappie minnows on the dead sticks as well. Didn't use the camera but the vex was great (FL-18). I did get a little excited when I saw suspended marks 3 to 4 feet off bottom - I have never caught one of the legendary slabs! But only had a hit once up there in all those times and it was a walleye. I wonder if it was schools of shiners all the other times? We marked a lot of fish at the bottom - I am not sure about the marks that didn't bite - I think most of those were smaller perch - but for the most part the walleyes we caught jigging were very aggressive hitters. By the way - back in our shack Sat night - not one bite on the rattle wheels. Can hardly wait to get back - I am sure glad we brought our portables!

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Just found out who it was that put us on fish - it was Tyler Brasel out of Bear-Paw Guides. Its not every day you find someone go out of the way to put someone who is not their customer on fish. Again - really appreciate it Tyler!

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I havent had much time to fish lately with putting improvements on the houses and moveing the fleet around. I did punch a two mile long road we self named sheep head trail and off of that we have karp alley, and burbout street. We had portables on Sheep head trail sence monday producing 7,5 and 8 keeper walleys. burbout street was fished all day by two guys working on their tan and landed 6 keepers. Karp alley was flooded because someone felt the need to drill a hole in the road.

Hot bait silver shinnes,

Hot hook Jrs tackle Stop Sign

Hot Color purple

Outdoor DannieB

A little side note to those who know me I have a 2.5 year old chocolate lab. Maize is her name. Currently she is pregnate. Shes due around March 1 and 6 to 8 weeks late they will be looking for a good home. If you would like one of the pups let me know.

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My wife and I were up on sunday, didn't get on the lake until around noon. went out of Beacon Harbor. caught a 16.5 in and a 15.5 in and two 13 in walleyes we threw back. had a lot of lookers late afternoon but only landed 2 of them. threw the tackle box at them didn't seem to matter. the ones that bit were fairly agressive the ones that didn't just stared at whatever presentation we threw down the hole. once it was dark the vexs went blank. we tried until about 7 pm but the last real action was around 5:30. red forage minow. demon with pick head, and demon with red dot. dead stick was really dead, only time the bobber moved was when the minnow got scared from a nearby walleye.

Would like to thank Dean and Debbie rooms were really nice, first time ever stayed there. from what i have read i think he pointed us in a good direction.

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Dannie - A big thank you to you, Jerry, and don for pulling my stupid butt out of that hole this morning. An even bigger thanks for pointing us to this spot. We got 6 walleye and a few nice jumbos. Real good action from right when we setup until about 1:30. Just waiting for the next bite to start.

Thanks again!!

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Dannie - A big thank you to you, Jerry, and don for pulling my stupid butt out of that hole

Sorry, come to find out I have bad ears, it was John that stopped originally to help. Thanks man.

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oMother nature sure can be cruel. Tuesday was such a beautiful day,but wendsday was unreal. We hit 55. Yesterday was a little cooler but another nice day . Now a complete flip flop as the winds picked up out of the west and the temps have dropped to 3 . I had a issue with a generator last night around 10. Headed out and I could not see a thing as the winds were hurricane force. I arrived to see the generator incased in snow frown. After setting the guys up with a another unit I was headed home at a snail pace as I could see about 5 feet in front of me at times. The wind is still howling and I not sure what I'm going to experiance out there this morning. I had this grand plan to wait untill the temps dropped and we got the 3 inches of snow before banking the houses and augering the holes. So now I'm headed out to deal with who knows what. I also told the guys in Idaho I will move them if need be. I would also like to move minnesota. I expect the wind has done somthing crazy as my houses are all blocked up with no snow banked around them so the winds have been whipping under them all night :doah: Then to top it off the winds are still howling

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Got up here yesterday around 2 staying until Tuesday. Went out of rogers about a mile. So far we caught 11 walleys and 4 perch. We only got one jiging the rest have been on set lines. Best luck has been on a pink duddle bug.

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Were doing much better out further. But will see hoe it goes the next few days. Id aho house was horrible so I was able to get it out a little deeper. The 3 inches of snow must of blown off the lake from the looks of it. There quite a bit of snow in my road over to westwinds..I was able to scrape just enough snow up to bank the three houses so that plan worked.

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Today picked up right where it left of yesterday. Top house had 14 and low house had 8. The low house was fishless intel I borrowed them my vexilar. After that 8pm intel 2 am they caught their walleyes. Today top house had 10 and low had 5.

Hot lure none

Hot color purple and white

Hot bait silver shinners

Have a good weekend and best of Luck to All

Outdoor DannieB

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Hey Dannie thanks again for helping me with the wheelhouse and putting me on that spot. We ended up catching 12 eyes and 4 nice perch (biggest one was just over 9.5"). I got three buddies in my house now until Sunday morning. They said it slowed down but caught a 28" and 29" pike. Other than that 3 eyes. Feel free to stop in and tell them they are terrible fisherman. They might even give ya a beverage.

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The best way to explain the bite ths weekend is a roller coaster. One house would be hot then couldnt buy a bite. Then back to good. Yesterdays top producer put 9 walleyes in the bucket. The bottom house had 3. Big pike of the weekend was 36 and another seen on the camera. Perch slowed down but still biting. Crappies yes two were caught. Red rattle jig. In 15 feet of water six feet off the bottom.

Hot color Blood Red, not pink red

Hot Bait shinners of any kind

Hot lure plain hook

Fishing 3" off the bottom with dead stick and bottom bouncing with the other.

Best of luck to you

Outdoor DannieB

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full-33398-6060-dscn0064.jpg

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fished 72 hours and ended up with 7 eye, 2 perch and missed a few. on the other side of the road some boys from southern mn caught 6 crappie in one night. im hoping next weekend my luck will improve.

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