fishing reports 2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)

[ZachD]

Was out last sat

10.5 fow

uv light rippin rap caught one seemed to scare off most

tumbler spoon caught one

set lines with small shiners or fat heads caught about 20

tip up with a larger rainbow caught 2

one 27inch northern on fat head set line

[iffwalleyes]

A group of us were up this past weekend some guys were out Friday the rest of us were out Sat through Sun. The guys Friday went out of JRs and we directed to center bar. That proved to not be the most steady action pretty spotty at best. Upon a tip they made a moved to a little deeper water back actually closer to shore and instantly were on fish. My house and crew got out on Sat morning and right away began catching fish. It was never super fast and furious but was steady all day long. Probably the longest sit without fish probably was a 1/2 hour. Several times a small school moved through resulting in a double a good number of time even had a one triple. They bit very well on jigging spoons for us all varieties but best would have been red buckshots and pink and white buckshots. Set lines with a plain pink hook below a split shot produced enough fish to wear the pink paint off and still was catching fish. Guessing color might not have had too much to do with that. We also had a small pink jig on deadsticks that did well too. Several slot fish were caught and no issue with getting our unders between 16-17 and several less that 16 caught along with a few bonus perch. One pike was caught no crappies. I am guessing on this fish total but would guess in the two days we were out we probably had 50-60 fish come into my house with similar numbers for our other guys house. Sat was better than Sunday for fishing for us but there was a definite weather change on the way you could feel.

All and all a great first trip and good enough that there will be a return trip somewhere in the future this winter.

[TylerS]

Is the water pretty stained yet, or has it already started to clear a bit?

[sportfish]

Stained . We have caught 38 in 24 hours , slow this morning and midday sofar . But I'm lazy and don't feel like moving . Lots of people on the ice to day

[busse3775]

Planned on fishing LOTW Friday thru Sunday this past weekend. We got to Morris point around 7:30 Friday morning and the fishing was very slow. We moved around from shallow water to deeper water and couldn't find anything. Made a big decision and drove to Upper Red. Got a sleeper house from Dons rentals and it worked out perfect! We were in 15 feet and instantly on fish and it was pretty steady Friday. Saturday the bite seemed to die so we moved around and got away from the crowd. We marked more fish and picked up a little more but they were not aggressive at all and a lot of times wouldn't bite. Saturday night we caught a couple 19"s and a 21.5" which was our biggest. Overall I think we made a good decision on heading to Red and leaving LOTW so it was a good weekend.

[BJ HILLMAN]

we got across the ridge and the fish are biting. Please stop at the store for your saftey before heading out we have three bridge's you have to take to get out deeper and we will tell you where they are. again please stop in at the store.

[Reedo7]

Pretty slow for us the last two weekends. Not anywhere near the action of the first two weekends in December for us, those were good times. Hopefully when the weather gets a little more stable the bite will pick back up. There is now enough snow to bank the wheel house well, which is nice. Travel is not too bad, just have to avoid the drifts. Bare hook has been the best overall, but the pink doodlebug produced the most this weekend. So far the ripping raps and darter have not been producing for me this year,which is too bad for me, because I love fishing them.

[terrible_fisherman]

I fished inside of the ridge this weekend with a buddy and did pretty well. Pink jig heads during the day and low light hours, bare hooks at night worked best for us.

[DREZLER]

Fished all weekend out of Beacon's Harbor Resort. Fishing was a lot slower than last month but still not terrible. For 10 guys we iced about 70 walleyes. The best set up was a plain pink or red hook on a bobber or rattle reel. Fish ranged from 12-23" with a lot of keepers mixed in.

I strongly recommend Beacon's Harbor they had first class service the whole time you were there. I have fished a lot of places and it is rare to see an outfitter go that far out of the way to make sure you are having a great trip.

[isleroyaleguy]

Another thumbs up for Beacon Harbor Resort.

Fishing was a little slow but had no problems getting our limit of 15's-17s for 4 guys. Probably around 30 walleye in our house, ranging from 13"-19".

Nice, warm, clean house even at.-°30.

Thanks Beacon guy's

Cheers

IRG

[bturck]

Mark an X on the ice for me. Will be back there in 2 weeks...😆

Nice fish

[Mr Icefishin]

Set up in a private sleeper house off of the Rogers access at about noon yesterday and left at about noon today. Only caught two walleyes, a perch, and a northern between 5 guys. Graphed fish all the time, but nothing wanted to bite.

[ozzie]

and you paid for that? just kidding. hope you had a good trip despite the poor results

[Getanet]

Set up in a private sleeper house off of the Rogers access at about noon yesterday and left at about noon today. Only caught two walleyes, a perch, and a northern between 5 guys. Graphed fish all the time, but nothing wanted to bite.

My buddy and I set up in a similar location (probably same outfitter) this past weekend and found a really tough bite too. We did a little better - kept 5 walleyes, but had to fish most of the day Friday and all day Saturday for them. Also caught 2 really small walleyes we threw back.

Kind of a bummer when that was my big trip of the winter, but what can you do.

[jb426]

I'm starting to wonder if the south side isn't showing signs of "over fished" Or possibly too much traffic, sure seems slow over there. I broke away from the crowds last time I was up only to be surrounded within 4 hours. The snow on the ice should help as wheelhouses will stay closer to the main roads.

[SDS]

I would credit the low pressure weather that moved through Friday for the slow bite more than the high fishing pressure.

Fish need to be stacked up to do good during low pressure and of course good luck always helps.

[DrStizo]

Every year I plan a trip to Red and bring 2-3 people who have never ice fished with, typically I have gone out of Rogers but this year we are going out of West Wind, we have 2 of their 4 man deluxe houses rented Thurs - sat, I also will be bringing the portable as I have not fished the north side much. I'll post updates on how we are doing and did. If anyone wants to point me in my a right direction to try , don't hesitate to PM me.

[PRO-V]

We fished out of the south end in a rental sleeper from noon on 1/10 thru 7a.m. on 1/12. Fished hard around the clock and only got 4 bucket fish, 2 too small and 1 slot for 4 guys. Worst trip I can recall for many years.

[westrush]

Fished South end did all right got some big perch and two walleye limits

Friend were out they got about 50 walleye in two hours one after another I had fish house troubles so I couldn't move very easy so we stayed put . not sure I would go south end again Maybe got false info from resort wasn't happy .

[MIDNIGHT777]

Same here pro v. 3 of us fished Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning out of jrs in my wheel house. 6 miles out in about 14 fow. No one within a half mile of us. 5 walleyes caught (all nice keepers) and about 25 perch with 15+/- being keepers. By far my worst trip to url. Thursday and Friday were some of the worst weather days I have had on the lake. Man that wind and cold was something!!!!!! Saturday was beautiful so we took the portable out looking for active fish......no luck after trying a handful of different spots. Some we spoke to had decent luck but most had similar results to ours. I'm sure some did decent but not us.......

Matt

[Reedo7]

Actually this weekend turned out ok. Not great but worthwhile. Fishing was slow on Friday night at our first set up, so we ate breakfast and moved further out. Then it was still slow until about 2pm, when we started finally catching them, averaging two per hour until sunday morning when we packed up and headed for home. So not a bad trip at all. Plain red hook was best by far, second place was a tiny demon in glow color with an orange dot on top. They definitely didn't care for rattling baits. Also off road travel remains good, even while pulling a wheelhouse. Just watch out for old house set ups.

[smg04]

How much ice you boys got up there? Heading up Friday morning, got a sleeper rented but bring my portable to stay mobile. Can you still get through with a standard drill or is an extension needed? thanks

[bturck]

Smg04: where are you headed out of on Friday. I'm headed that way FRIDAY as well, I'm booked through Beacon Harbor

[Reedo7]

28" of ice. May as well bring an extension just in case.

[searching4slabs]

We did terrible. Last yr it was so easy to find fish. We tried three spots then hoped they would move in towards dusk and only a few did. Fished from 930 am to six pm we caught 7 fish between three guys. Heard better stuff from beacon harbor, we went out of westwinds.

[smg04]

going with Greater MN Rental

[Getanet]

going with Greater MN Rental

Let us know your thoughts on them. Looked into them earlier this year, but didn't find a lot about them. Houses sure looked nice.

[smg04]

Went through them 2 years ago, 13 guys, we rented there cabin and 3 icecastles, all were really nice, reasonable price, and we cought fish.

[hockey1286]

I will be fishing upper Red Lake for the first time this weekend. Any information on how the bite has been? What colors or combinations have been working best?

What is the cell phone reception like up there? Any help is appreciated.

[arcticm1000]

What part of the lake are you going out of?

Are you going with a rental or out on your own?

We went out of Rogers last weekend and it was a little slower than it had been, 23 walleye for the weekend, 9 keepers 13.5” to 16.5”, and a couple in the slot, a 18”, 21”, and a 23.5” . Starting Friday you can only keep 2. Spoons in the 1/16 size seemed to work best. We are planning on going up again on Thursday night.

Cell coverage seems to vary by what side of the lake you go out of and how far out you are and which provider you have and how many people are on the lake trying to use their phones. I have Verizon and it seems to work most of the time.