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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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Fished off Rogers and Greater Minnesota this weekend and did ok. Some small fish and slower bite, for some reason the best time was in complete darkness. Kept 7 walleyes and one perch, and alot of fun, will be back.

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Fished this weekend with Portavilla out of Roger's. Fishing wasn't very good in comparison to the half dozen day trips I've taken to URL this year - total walleye catch for 2 guys over 2 days was 11. 5 of the fish were on rattle reels overnight. 4 of the fish were "eaters", 2 were too small, and the rest were slot fish with the largest being approximately 23".

Most of the houses around us were reporting similar catch rates - the guys on either side of us were in the single digits when we last talked to them. A couple of houses a few hundred yards away were getting some action though, so it wasn't completely dead out there.

Portavilla, however, was great as always. The houses are clean and warm and the generator power is very nice. The new 2-man deluxe houses are so much more roomy than the old 2-man houses, I highly recommend them!

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Thanks traveler im gona be up there at first light on wed have a house from spider johnson for wed and thur nights but takeing the portable to fish wed morn and fri till dark i think spider guides out of westwind anyone know for sure? Thinking im going out of jr's wed am and out to center bar anyone fish through there or out to that bar i read you can get there that way

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First trip on the ice with the new wheel house. Dad and my 5 year old son were with. We were on the ice around 11:00am friday out of West Winds. Easy to get around on and off the road with the 8x16 house, 18 inches of ice. Drilled some holes south of the 2 mile marker, 11 ft. No marks in 15 minutes. Talked to a guy setup nearby and said they had been there for two hours and caught two perch. Moved out around 3 mile marker. Found some contour away from everybody in 13ft. Drillled some holes and caught a 16" walleye right away. Dropped the house and set up shop for the rest of the weekend. Friday afternoon was good and then seemed to die down around dusk when the wind picked up and snow/ice started sputtering, caught around 15 walleyes by Saturday noon, most 14-17". Around 7 perch, 3 keepers. Saturday afternoon through Sunday 10:00am we caught another 8 walleyes and 4 perch. Again most walleyes were 14-17". Biggest walleye was 6:00am Sunday on the rattle reel, 21". We were using gold macho minnow, red rattling flyer, green ratteling flyer and glow jigs on the set lines. Off the ice, fish cleaned, and headed home at 11:30am sunday. Good trip over all.

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Arrived at Rogers around 11 am on friday and fished with Alpine fish rentals. The house was clean but Jerome said he just moved the house because fishing has slowed down. I asked why he moved it where he did and he said he just went 2 feet deeper. Got set up and had our first fish a jumbo perch followed by a 16" walleye. We caught a total of 5 keepers before dusk. The wind and snow picked up and only had 1 fish on the rattle reel over night. Saturday morning fished the house and didn't have a thing, not marking any either. We moved out about 3 miles and drilled about 40 holes and caught our limits of 15- 16" walleye plus a few perch. Only had 1 northern the whole weekend that kinda surprised me.

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Drove up to Red this morning, used the access at Roger's. Set up in 12 feet of water, and had lines down by 8:30. First fish in the bucket by 9:15, and had our limit by 2:30 (2 guys). Pink glow with gold back for jigging was all that we used, and a plain red hook in the rattle reel performed well. Caught 6 in the slot, biggest was 19, one too small, and all of our keepers were between 15" and just under 17". Only complaint for the day were the two guys who buzzed our house going 25+ mph pulling their houses. The were less than 20 feet away when they drove by, and we were not on a road. If we were in boats, it's hard to think that somebody would buzz somebody that close...what's so different about fishing in the winter that makes people lose their minds?!?!

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...what's so different about fishing in the winter that makes people lose their minds?!?!

LOL! That is, the million dollar question.

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sjlund,

Bill said you guys did pretty good considering the current slow down I am glad you had a good time and sounds like the guys took care of you. The guys that have ventured around in portables have been doing better and that is why our guys have been doing pretty good during the slow action most of them have been moving around. We try to give guys a front seat to the action and try to keep them covered so they can focas on the hunt. Sounds like some of the groups really stacked up the cans this weekend.

I can't wait to get back up there. I have been back doing company books and government forms a real drag in comparison and all the guys calling just makes me even more ready to take off. My son Mike has already packed the truck and won't let me out of his sight he ready to go.

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We absolutely had fun! It's unfortunate we couldn't bring any fish home, but at least we had a few meals on the ice!

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Went out of West Wind in one of their 2 man sleepers. Got there at about 2 p.m. Friday. There for just one night becuase we were off to L.O.W. in the morning. We fished until about 11 P.M. and caught 14. 12 of the 14 were caught on the 1/4 oz. red rattle n flyer, glowed up often, with just a minnow head. Moving it very aggressivly when we maked fish on the vex to get the attention and then kept moving the jig up until they hit it. Never stoping the jig, if we paused for a hit they would just turn away and go back to the bottom. kept 6 between 15-17 the rest were either too big or too small. Nothing huge maybe 22 was the bigest. Nothing on the rattle reels overnight and not one fish on the bobbers.

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Spent the weekend with son and grandson out of Mort's (great people)definetly slower and the fish were smaller then the last three trips we did manage our limit of eyes a bunch of slot fish 3 perch and a 47" pike. 15' of water by the broken ice red or pink jigs and red hooks the best. Good trip with the kids!!

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Spent 4 days up there (Thurs thru Sunday) and Thursday was by far the best. I was located on the break from 10-12' along the north shore. The house was on 10.5', but 50' away it was 12' and 75' the other direction it was 9.5'.

Thursday it was steady action with big fish most all over the slot and after sunset i was able to pick up some keepers. It was fairly steady thru Friday afternoon and then it suddenly stopped. Only 2 fish thru the evening and one over night on the rattle wheel.

Saturday was pretty slow as well, with a few perch mixed in and a couple small eyes during the day. I drilled a few holes out around the house to hit different depths in the afternoon and picked up a nice 14" crappie off the red flyer and had more down there but couldn't get them to hit the same bait. Picked up a few more slot sized eyes on the shallower hump and then it was over.

Sunday was a nice day, but the fish were not cooperating. I drilled more holes around to check for activity, but nothing on the graph. I tried numberous colors and lures, but the only thing that caught fish on sunday was the 1/4 oz silver minnow rattlin flyer. I caught 5 eyes with that on and 2 bonus perch, but then got bit off by a nice fatty right under the hole...that was my only one and didn't get a fish after that.

Went home with a nice limit and had a meal on the ice, great fishing and a fun time. I wish it wasn't such a long drive up there or I would go every weekend.

It is kinda scary driving over that clear ice, watching the ice crack as you drive...much rather have snow cover grin

Friday morning, I saw a dark pick up truck with a dog running out in front of it, assuming that was kelly-p?

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Quote:
Friday morning, I saw a dark pick up truck with a dog running out in front of it, assuming that was kelly-p?

The dog wasn't just running he was working. We think of depth, bottom type, break lines, ice type and depth of snow cover. All of it just to try outsmart a fish with a brain the size of a pencil eraser. Sometimes we need to just sit back, relax, and let the dog pick the spot to fish. grin

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Kelly,

That's good, I would bet we find the dog to be just as good most of the time. Fish they can drive a guy nuts. Look at all the stuff we have and then someone puts down and just crushes your day. I think dogs are smarter than people.

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Fishing has been tough, but with that said we are still catching limits, one 20.5" a 20" a couple 18's all the rest have been keeper fish. Lot more perch the walleyes, but still consistent fishing. Had to do a lot of thinking outside the box to catch em the last two days but I managed 2 fish while typing this... Just lost the hot jig, and we are anticipating fishing to slow a bit now being we only had the one in the box...!!! Bummber.... But a thanks goes out to jonny and Kelly p for setting us up good, and even bringing us out bait today when we ran out!!!! Thanks guys, looking forward to the next trip back up here with you guys. Kellys dog must have picked a good spot for is this time...

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Slowish day today. I caught 8 walleyes that varied from 12 inches on up two a chunky 22 incher. I also caught a few 10 inch perch and two 3 poundish pike. i was camped out in 11 feet of water. I noticed that once the wind stopped blowing and it started to warm up I caught no walleyes, only perch and pike.

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Fished friday afternoon thru sunday afternoon out of Hillman's with "slow" fishing but after reading some posts this morning maybe it wasn't so terrible. Kept 7 walleyes (13-16.5), 7 nice perch and a 14.5" crappie with 2 others missed. Lots of rattle reel action from 2-5 A.M. including 2 unwanted elepout!

Moved 3 times to try and find more luck with no success. Lots of small perch and some smaller walleyes (8-12")out deeper along with the crappies. In closer a couple keepers and slot walleyes and even shallower- dead. Was up 2 weeks ago and had lots of big slot walleyes....they seemed to be missing?

Looking back probably shoud have stayed on the first spot and hoped for more crappies. Maybe next time...?

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Friday and Saturday was extremely slow from what we have been used to this year. Cant really give a detailed report due to the fact we barely scratched enough fish for a 9 man fish fry.

Deeper water seemed better on the transition lines to mud but had to keep running and gunning to keep on a fish or 2. Center bar was dead. We fished the whole bar drilling about 300 holes to find nothing and mark 3 fish for 9 guys. What we did catch came off of whole emerald shiners on spoons. Not really a "hot" spoon either.

Hopefully when some warmer stable weather moves in it will pick up so it wont be so much work.

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The first trip to Upper Red Lake is in the books. I feel we did ok since I was the only one to really fish while we were there. Went with wife and two young daughters. Went out of Rogers arrived Saturday around 4:30 pm and set up in 13fow. Didn't catch a fish until 730 pm ended the night with two walleye's (17 1/2 and 15). The over night was slow. Two rattle reels went off but both let loose before I could set the hook. Saturday was perch all morning until 130 pm then the walleye's moved in. Rattle reels out produced the jigging 3 to 1. Ended Saturday with a dozen perch from 9"-12" and 10 walleyes between 12"-17". All in all a good trip. Kids reeled in a few for dad and even got to do some ice skating in the sun on Saturday. Will definately be making the trip again.

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This report isn’t a Tale, Pics to prove it. Had a great weekend on URL, Final tally brought home for 3 guys from Saturday morning until Monday 1/16/12 at noon, 12- eyes ranging from 15-17 inchers, I don’t have the final count on the perch but I’d guess around 20ish kept No small ones , 1 - White fish, and the KICKER!!!!!! 22 - crappies ranging from 14-15.5 inches. Also shown in pics are 6 Saugers from LOW my buddy gave us. Not shown are 2 Northern in the 30 inch range that went back

Caught at least 60 eyes over the 3 days and feed 6 guys fish every night, I Honestly don’t know what the total caught was as we lost count but that’s pretty close for our group of 3. My buddy who also came up caught more than we did on the eyes, but didn’t get into the crappie like we did. We went mobile one day to see if we would do better and we did. Fish seemed to come in spurts, school would go through and be there for short periods and then be gone for a while, but never more than ½ hour without some action, not always bitters but enough to keep interest. Lots of small eyes, but surprisingly not many too big. I think we only caught like 5 over the 17” limit with a 22” being the biggest. Also once you seen an eye on the flasher they were not finicky, they hit hard and fast!

Deeper was better, 14-15 ft., tried shallower but they weren’t there in any numbers so we stayed at that depth. Lure was as posted by JonnyP. Lindy Rattlin Flyer in red, close second was a buckshot rattln spoon in purplish color.

Crappies- Boy were we surprised by the number we caught, we had one odd ball early Saturday, but the other 21 all came in one day and they bit for 4 hours plus. And the plus was there were several age class’s with them, 6” all the way up to the 15.5”. I was requested by the person who suggested we go where we went to try and hide it if I posted pics, so that’s why the house is whited out sorry folks; I’ve got to keep my word

Anyone debating going? MAKE THE TRIP!!!! If you are willing to put the time and effort into it they are there. We didn’t have a TV or book to read, we fished. Sorry for being long winded but it was a GREAT trip, one we won’t forget in a long long time.

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SHOWOFF!!!! gringrin

Quote:
We didn’t have a TV or book to read, we fished.

Hard fishing paid off for you.

I think I recognize that whiteout. grin

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Nice work nabr. A few years back, post major crappie boom, we got into a mess of both crappie and walleye like that thanks to JonnyP and Kelly-P. I believe it was the mystic of their "old hunting shack" they pulled out of the weeds for us to use that weekend. I am sure your trip was an absolute blast!

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