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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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prob been ask millions of time yr after yr but I just retired my old jiffy which I have an tension.... n got a new eskimo z71... if I should need an xtension yet.. hard to find one local without ordering... planning a trip to url in 2wks..

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Have to give credit where its do. Not just our rd. Chad Benson and his brother Ryan are a huge help maintaining the rds and bridges. Our I could say we're helping them.

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3 of us did the "Run and Gun" on the lake today, fishing from about 9 to 4:30. We fished probably 6-8 different spots and really only caught fish in one spot.

We ended up w/ 6 nice walleyes and 1 10" perch. We caught a couple small perch and about 6 small walleyes that went back.

Crazy wind up there, got some windburn on my face even.

Lots of finicky fish up there today.

MN DNR CO Keith Backer also checked on us, which was nice to see. He said from what he saw today, it was a slow day overall.

Brian

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prob been ask millions of time yr after yr but I just retired my old jiffy which I have an tension.... n got a new eskimo z71... if I should need an xtension yet.. hard to find one local without ordering... planning a trip to url in 2wks..

just a thought, why don't you just get one anyway? You never know if you need it and bring it along as you go fishing.

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Up on Upper Red lake right now. in 13 ft of water. Marking tons of fish. but have only iced 3 walleyes scince last night. kept 2!

If you are reading this and are wondering if you need an extension for your auger, it would be a good idea to bring it.

I cut my holes inside the wheel house and the motor head was all the way to the floor when I broke through. I did not bring my extension with me. Ezily 24" ice where I am at.

There was standing water on the lake and as I drove out to where I am I noticed most of it was froze already with some slush but only an inch or so.

Made it difficult to bank the house until this morning after the snow came through. Snow drifted in areas around te truck and the house and I was able to use that. otherwise the snow pretty much has blown across the lake.

Hoping to get at least a couple more to fry up.

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Did the snow at least drift a little around the heaves and broken ice? With the updated forecast for next weekend it would be hard to keep the house warm with no snow to bank with. Calling for -20 next weekend. Hope it changes.

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I don't know if it has or not. We have not left this spot and probably won't until I pack up to go home tomorrow.

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Caught 8 eyes and one perch since last night , lost two keepers, with two on the ice. Smaller eyes and slow going. We will see what tonight has in store.

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We fished Thursday and Friday on the north side out of Beacon Harbor in 8 1/2 ft. of water near rough/cloudy ice. The fish bit all day both days and also in the evening. They must have sensed the front coming in. Thursday the fish were smaller (15-17") with a few larger ones thrown in. On Friday the bigger ones *18-20") showed up along with several slot fish. The perch were numerous and very good size. We caught quite a few in the 10-11" range and they are very fat and healthy. The best baits were fire tiger and purple smelt flyers during the day, especially when the sun was shining and the red glow flyer at night. On dead sticks glow red spoons and green or red hooks worked well. We caught an equal number of fish on the deadsticks and by jigging on Thursday but on Friday they were attacking the jigs. We had two big meals of fish , practice C&R most of Friday and brought our limit home plus our limit of big perch. When the front came through on Friday about 4:00 p.m. they shut down.

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One of the Westwinds Resort crew sent me this today and asked if I would share it. Westwinds Resort this year has pumped out a 27” walleye, a 10 year old a landed a 27 ½” eye and now this 28” fish. Looks like some of the little babies are all grown up now.

full-10775-28884-img959739.jpg

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Do the strain of Walleyes stocked in Red have the genes to make it a great trophy fishery? That eye still looks young with not a mark on it. Looks like they are growing fast up there.

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I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the stocked strain will be a little bigger than the genetics that were previously in the lake. Hopefully the trend of these nice fish can continue.

I honestly dont know why anyone would drive all the way to LOW anymore. That is a real good lookin fish.

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The walleyes stocked in Red were from Vermilion because Vermilion was stocked with Red Lake walleyes years ago so the genetic match was very close.

With URL being shallow with a dark bottom it warms up very fast in the Spring. A fisheries guy once told me that the fish in URL have about 6 more weeks of growing time versus a deeper and colder lake.

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That's my brother in the picture! That fish started off our weekend.. He pulled it up 15 mins after we dropped our first line! Took some pics measured and released!

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Nice healthy fish!

I was up there the 1st weekend of December and I couldn't get over how healthy all of the fish coming out of that lake looked. Not skinny, not all "humpy", great color, great lines. Hopefully URL can maintain this for years or decades. I know I'll be back every year for 1st ice as long as the fishing is half as good as it was this year.

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As long as people keep letting those big girls go, it should be fine. The last time I was up there, I drilled a hole and had 5 baby shinners come flying out when I pulled the auger up. The lake has plenty of forage for them also.

Awesome fish guys!!

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Pictured is my son Eric. I was with him when he caught that fish. I've fished a lot of years and I have never seen a more beautiful fish. It took 10 minutes to get her up. Measured 28 and a quarter and almost 10 lbs on our cheap scale. We thought about mounting or a replica mount but decided to put her back to provide for the future. Thanks to Westwind !!It was our 3rd year at WestWind..its always been an awesome trip.

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I went out of West Winds yesterday (1st time on URL). Went out to the crack and fished for about 3 hours. Kept a 19.5" & 16.5" eye and put back a 13" eye. Lost about a 17" eye at the hole and missed about 5 fish until I switched to a little bigger hook. I was impressed and certainly will be back soon. Ice is 22" and the road was in good shape.

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Out on the lake right now with the fiance! Dropped the lines

Around 1030 am and as of right now we are at 18 total walleyes

Got our 8 in bucket 14-18". 3 slots. 20.25",20.75 and an absolutely

Beautiful 26.5"er at 2pm. If someone could help me post the pic

That would be awesome! Released her to be a 28" next year!

Also have caught around 10 perch with 4 10" keepers. Time for

A fish fry and see what the overnight brings!

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How deep are you fishing usmtsrocks, I have two buddies up there right now and really slow for them, any tips for them I know they would appreciate. Are you south or North?...

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