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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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Nice report shaky, and I appreciate you thinking of your fellow fisher people, especially me, and leaving some for seed. Boy weather sounding kind of nasty for the week we are set for. Not sure yet what's going to happen, my wife has rehematoid and that deep cold is not good to her. They are saying coldest in 25 years, hmmmmm weather people are. Never wrong are they????.??.. smirk

when are you going? I know it's suppossed to cool off towards next weekend, but nothing like coldest in 25 years??

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[]

when are you going? I know it's suppossed to cool off towards next weekend, but nothing like coldest in 25 years??

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We are going up on 1/16 for an overnight sleeper. The temps are not a major issue as I know Jonny and Kelly's houses will provide plenty of comfort. As mentioned my wife has rheumatoid and severe cold really raises hell with her joints, just being out to any degree. I think we're. Going to be good to go though. She loves to fish so she is pretty well packed already. High humidity and severe cold are not mfriendly to her condition. I give her an injection once a week to help control this situation. Maybe double shot next week,a nd a shot of scotch for me too........lol

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Really? 5 ft?

They were the only fools I could talk into trying in that shallow. crazy Plus I knew that other then the constant arguing and bickering that they fished very quite and were light concious at night. The houses that have done the best the past week have kept things very quite in the house. At night they only used small lights and they fished outside as much as they could.

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Don't get bummed out. While the weather can affect fishing, if you go with the Waskish Minnow Station they will always have you on fish. It might be slower that what we experienced this past week but you will not be disappointed, plus the stories are worth the trip. If you have not read the "End of the Trail" which is about Kelly's grandfather's experience in the area you need to do so. I think it might still be at Food and Fuel in Waskish. What a read. I have read and re-read it many times. It gives you a good appreciation for what those early homesteaders had to do to settle in the area and try to make a living. The current generation is no different. They have to farm, work the lake, trap, and do other things to make it a go. They are the salt of the earth and a privlege to know.

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I know we are going to go once inside things will be warm and toasty. Good place to be regardless of fishing, those are always a bonus. Looking forward to it for sure. Yes I have read the book. Several years ago Labs4 me picked it up and sent it to me. Great read, one of the best I've ever read. Told Jonny and Kelly both last year they should write the sequel. Another good series of books has to do with bill calles ( spelling). Who was a game warden up in that area. Those are also great reads. I found them at mills fleet....

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Yes I remember Kelly being mentioned. Another warden he worked with Dave mick was the son of my dads long time hunting partner. It was a great read, man they had some guts back then.

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Fished out of JR's from the 2nd-6th. The first day we went left out of the access, and out about 2 miles...just before the big crack in the road. Marked what seemed like a thousand fish. Caught 9 keepers, and about the same number of overs and unders.

Thursday we decided to move, went to JRs for lunch, found out fishing was slow everywhere and that we did pretty well. Went out 6 miles, south of center bar. Good perch action, slow for walleyes, but kept another 9. Dang it was cold!!!

Friday went to JRs for lunch again, heard we were doing better than most. Decided to go back to spot #1. Fished a couple hours, didn't mark much. Moved 3 more times, ended up near spot #2. Did pretty decent, not spectacular.

Saturday brought a raging hangover for me, so we stayed put. Good fishing in the morning (for the other 2), then it died. I crawled out of the sleeping bag around 3, caught a walleye right away. It was good until dark and then it went totally dead. Only night we had zero rattle reel action.

Trip total was 40 walleyes, 25 perch, and one small gator. Not bad, not great.

Great service and facilities at JRs. Nothing fancy. Road was good until we drove out this morning. It is really cracked up. I've never seen SO many people driving so fast on the ice, so its no surprise. It seemed like every other truck was going 50.

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We caught fish on glow green jigs with rainbows and fatheads set 8"-12" off the bottom in 13 FOW. For the jigging lines, the fish only hit at daybreak and at sundown. The most productive baits were 1/8th oz glow red jigging spoons jigged aggressively with the head of a rainbow or fathead. I also am putting the pics of the fish we caught. full-43080-28557-image.jpg

full-43080-28558-image.jpg

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Out here on upper red as i type! It's been an unbelievable day, my dad and i are at 32

Walleyes since 10am. 31 of them from 13.5-18.5". One slot fish at 5pm,

A beautiful 23 1/4". Action has slowed drastically since 5. Did get a double at

7. Jiggin was the ticket for dad, but i only got 2 jigging. Shiners have worked

Well. We are in 9ft. Just finished up a great fish fry, time to get some sleep!

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I was out of JR's on the south side. We were fishing on Center Bar. Morning was better for the keeper fish and the numbers and evening was good for the aggressive fish that hit the jigging lines.

Good luck!

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Just left the lake at 1030 this morning. We fished a 24 hr period and our total was

45 walleyes for the two of us. All keeper sized fish from 13.5-19". 2 slot fish, a 20" & 23 1/4"

And dad got a bonus 14" crappie this morning!! No pike no perch. Flyer spoons and

Shiners worked best.

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Nice report, thanks. Would you cre to disclose which side of the lake or access, not looking for your honey hole just general location

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Just got back today and it was pretty slow for us. Around 35ish fish for two guys over two days. Some nice sized fish though so at least that was a plus!

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I agree. We did not do as good as you did but most fish hit on red glow jigs or red spoons of some sort. Perch hit on a lot of stuff but the walleyes seemed to like the red.

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As far as reports of the fishing slowing down there are a couple of things to consider. The earlier reports were from people fishing out in the open or portables. They will usually catch 2 or 3 times more fish then people sitting in a hardhouse at that place and at the same time. Now we have more of the reports coming from people fishing in hardhouses so it appears that the fishing has slowed down. Also people fishing out in the open or in portables tend to stay more spread out then hardhouses do. A pickup can get to far more places then a pickup pulling a hard house. If the fishing is slow people in portables can pack up and move fairly fast while moving a hardhouse takes a lot more time so the hardhouses end up stuck in more of those ugly little crowds of fishermen.

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Couldn't agree more Kelly. On a side note how is Fred doing? Is he on his A game for locating fish. When he stops and lifts his leg you can set us up there and we'll do our best.......lol

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Just got back from a day and a half at Red. Ended with around 30 fish. Slower than last weekend but still caught some fish. Jigging way out fished dead sticking at least 5:1. Did get some really nice sized fish with the biggest at 24.5.

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moving a hardhouse takes a lot more time so the hardhouses end up stuck in more of those ugly little crowds of fishermen.

depends whose hardhouse doesn't it Kel:) I have my time down to 12 minutes...gonna make 10 yet!

We're more mobile than any portable out there, except maybe a flip over behind a snowmobile...!

See you tomorrow nite, fishing thur-sat morning:)

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Went fishing with Jerry and Matt at Battle River Rentals on Red Lake this past weekend as we have done for the past 5 years or so, sometimes twice a year. This was another great trip. We ended up catching over 60 fish for the weekend, lots of quality fish in the 17 to 19 inch range. The biggest walleye was 24 ½. The largest northern was 27 inches. They really liked the Lindy Darter in Red with glow. Jerry and Matt were always there if we needed anything, just like every time before. Their customer service is excellent. If you are fishing Red Lake, Battle River rentals is the right choice to go.

Thanks again

Troy Myers

full-16729-28682-4452.jpg

full-16729-28683-imag1428.jpg

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smile Good to hear You, Doc and Brenda did a number on the eyes. I was up fishing with Kelly and Jonny after Christmas and into the new year. As always happens, when the Boy's are leading the way, fish just seem to follow them. The Lake being down as it is, is making choices as to where to setup interesting. Just curious to know what the lakemaster map said the depth was vs the 5.3ft you measured. The two different places I fished, the map said 10.5 and it measured with a steel tape 7.5 and 8. Did ok the first day in 8', but the second day just pounded them a little shallower. The reports were that not much was biting out deeper, which made me start thinking how shallow can we go? On the second day I started fishing at 7:30am and ran out of my two scoops by 12:30pm. I was chilled to the bone and had had enough fun for the day. The next morning started at 7:30 again. -15 for a temp and it started all over again, froze out this time earlier must be getting old, can't seem to handle the cold outside as long anymore. I guess I'll have to invest ina a flip-house. Your 5.3 report confirmed what I was thinking. As the season progresses it will be interesting to see when and if they start moving out deeper.

Later Shaky, hope to run into You and Doc soon. Plan on heading back up in a couple of weeks.

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I am staying with them this weekend also.

They run a top notch service. They check on you often to make sure you are comfortable and everything is working as it should.

And they will not hesitate to move you when the fishing is slow in a area.

You just got to put up with Jerrys storys! And you will have a great time!

The houses are ALWAYS clean and on fresh ice.

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Ice is fine not much snow and a lot of standing water. Hard to keep the house bunked. Melts as fast as I bunk it.

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I have been up using Jerry and Matt's road the past two weekends and the fishing has been great. We have a group coming up this weekend to rent 4 housing for them. We always look forward to the trip. They are great hosts.

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