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

[arcticm1000]

The best colors have been something in a perch pattern, red, and gold. Last weekend they didn’t like anything with a rattle. 2 weeks before that they would pound a rippin rap.

[CC Rocks]

Artic, I have tried Rippin raps several times without ANY luck. which color were you using? Do you tip them with anything? I must be doing it wrong, if that's possible....

[arcticm1000]

The colors I have been using are UV pink, yellow perch, and Fire tiger. It seems like sometimes the fish like them and sometimes they don’t want anything to do with them. A couple of weeks ago we weren’t marking any fish so I just started ripping one and then a fish came in and then I switched to rocking it a little bit and slowly raising it. And a fish smoked it. I will send you a PM also.

[Hoyt4]

Jigging raps are my go to bai right now up there .Calling in fish some hi the set line but most hit the rap.

[bowhuntermitch]

Headed up next weekend and going out with Red Lake Remote. It can't come soon enough!

[luv2fish]

Been up there twice with Red Lake Remote this year, last time last weekend. Let's just say my top two red lake fishing experiences in 7 years. Jonny knows how to treat his clients.

[bowhuntermitch]

Been up there twice with Red Lake Remote this year, last time last weekend. Let's just say my top two red lake fishing experiences in 7 years. Jonny knows how to treat his clients.

Thats what I like to hear!

[paper mouth]

I just got back from red lake remote. Johnny is a great guy will always have you on the fish. It was my second time there this year and both trips were great.

[Where's Walter?]

Spent the last 2 weekends on Red. First weekend 4.5 miles out from Hillmans and the second 7 miles out. Did ok, steady fishing, no night bite. 3 guys MLK weekend ~100 fish, 2 guys this past weekend ~25 fish. Over the 2 weekends (5 fishing days) we caught 7 fish over 17". Very concerning how few fish over 17" were caught. I'm all for protecting fish over 17 (on ALL lakes), but you'd think we'd catch more of them. I fished the weekend after thanksgiving on the first break out of JRs and we caught a bunch over 17. I hope I was just in the wrong spot and the lake is ok.

Ok - here's some tips:

Plain white hook on a set line was the favorite during the day. If they were going to bite your jigging line. It didn't seems to matter what you had down there. Call them in with a rattle and if they don't bite, watch the set lines! Good Luck.

[fishn45]

A lot slower for our group. 55 landed for 8 guys (although I would say a few of those guys were barely fishing, more the card playing type). Lost quite a few of the finicky biters too, it was a pretty light bite for us, but I agree with what Where's Walter said, the aggressive fish seemed to hit whatever. We had no night bite for two nights, and our last night the rattle reels seemed to go every 30 minutes to a hour.

[fishn45]

A lot slower for our group. 55 landed for 8 guys (although I would say a few of those guys were barely fishing, more the card playing type). Lost quite a few of the finicky biters too, it was a pretty light bite for us, but I agree with what Where's Walter said, the aggressive fish seemed to hit whatever. We had no night bite for two nights, and our last night the rattle reels seemed to go every 30 minutes to a hour. A great time out there as always though!

[Fishalittle]

My experience is the big fish are there....just not 4.5 or 7 miles out. Over MLK weekend we were out deep and bite was slower with smaller fish. Made an adjustment and did well but not many keepers. Just fun catch and releasing slot fish. Strange how the depth seems to separate the sizes though....???

[TylerS]

Came back this weekend from what was, without a doubt, the hands-down best fishing experience on Red I've ever had. Went out with Battle River Rentals and were on fish almost immediately. Caught 40 eyes between four guys between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday. Must have really been on the chomp before the front rolled through because it took all day Saturday to catch another 35. Wound up with a couple more Sunday morning before we left bringing the total to just shy of 80 eyes. Came home with 18 jumbo bonus perch, too, which was nice since the slot dropped to two eyes in the bag. Literally anything worked Friday. I could have caught them with chewing gum and a bent paper clip. My brother-in-law broke his curse and finally brought an eye through the ice, too. He had a hoot. We launched from the south side but were darn near to the opposite end by the time we got to the spot. Eight miles out I think they said, but hey whatever it was it worked! This is the sixth trip I've made in four years and it was easily the best fishing I've had anywhere. Probably cursed myself for the next four years, but man, it might have been worth it. Remind me again in 2018 when I'm on my dry spell...

[Bear 55]

Fished Sat 1-24 went up just for the day, my younger brother and 6 of his

buds from G Forks were staying with outfitter from the s shore fri. to sun

5.5 m out talked to him on sun said they only caught 35 for weekend.

My buddy and I got about 730am we did not have high hopes we thought that we each put out a tip-up and jig one drilled 6-8 holes setup the tip-ups

and started to jig marked fish right away I had my two fish within 15min.

Two 14in walls then it slowed till 1100 and a 15 guit jigging put out another tip-up to make burgers on the grill and a 16 at 100.We quit at 300

This is my buddys third trip and he not caught a fish maybe only got 5 fish

but all were keepers very satisfied with the day.

Stay Safe Good Luck

Bear55

[BassmanSD]

Fished with Bear Paw from Sunday at 3:00pm until wed 8am. 4 guys 65 hrs. caught 61 fish so about a fish an hour average. 7-9 am bite was ok day bite was a little slow but pretty much from 4-8 was fantastic and the rattle reels would go off every couple hours overnight. jigging was slow we picked up a few here and there on different jigs but set lines with pink or orange glow hooks were definitely the ticket. picked up 6 nice perch as a bonus. I will say I am more than pleased with Bear Paw, house was clean in good shape and perfect for us, service was outstanding and Steve and Tyler are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I will definitely book with them again.

[Reedo7]

Fished shallow this weekend. Did good Friday night and had a very exciting sunrise fishing on Saturday morning, then it was dead all day Saturday until, sunset. We then picked up only six more by Sunday morning when we decided to head for home. All our fish were over 16" with 21" being the biggest, so overall average size was up from the previous two weekends. The fishing definitely slowed for us as the Temps plummetted. 50/50 between bare hook and very small jigs with fatheads. The lake looked like a ghost town compared to past weekends. The limit must be keeping people away.

[bowhuntermitch]

Went up Friday afternoon and got back yesterday at about 3. Went through Red Lake Remote. Highly recommended. We were on fish the entire time icing about 80 fish over the course of 2 days. Some nice Jumbo perch, as well as healthy walleyes. If we would have spent less time recovering Sunday morning, we could have probably hit the 100 fish mark.

[Juan Grande]

We stayed in a West Wind sleeper house this past weekend. Got up there around 1:30 on Friday and left early Sunday morning. The house was set up 4 miles out in about 13' of water. Fishing was pretty good, but as Reedo7 said, really shut off on Sat. when the cold front moved in. Between three guys we totaled 38 walleye and 5 perch. Almost all of the fish came on dead sticks with glow jigs or a bare hook tipped with a fat head. Tried ripping raps, spoons and other lures with minnow heads but they wouldn't take them.

Our biggest fish was a healthy 20 incher. We had one at 17.5, three at 16 and the rest were 15 or under. The majority of the fish we caught were 14-15 inches.

We caught fish pretty steadily all day Friday with the usual flurry at dusk. Left two rattle reels down Friday night and they were going off every half hour all night. On Saturday we picked up a few at dawn and then nothing all day. The bite picked up around 4 and we did okay through the dusk bite. Left two rattle reels down again Saturday night and not one bite the entire night. Fished the early morning bite on Sunday with not even a looker and decided take off since it was 10-15 below zero. Combine those temps with a steady 10+ mph wind and that made for some interesting bathroom breaks. You literally couldn't push it out fast enough

When we were cleaning fish, two guys came in with a bucket of fish that included four crappies. All of them were 13-14 inches and thick as heck. Brought back some good memories of the crappie boom up there.

[cookie129]

The crappie boom was just amazing. Now the walleye fishing is amazing with a bonus elussive yet still catchable upper red lake crappie to boot

[BLACKJACK]

Is it Thursday already?? Been meaning to give a report....

Was up Fri - Sun 1/30-2/1 out of a NE side resort. We caught fish but it was slow, no really hot bite at dawn or dusk, just one here or there, about 20-25 fish for two guys over 2.5 days. Almost all the fish were caught on either set lines or rattle reels, I can't remember catching one jigging. Only two fish in the slot, one a 17 1/2er and the other a big one that I lost at the hole, tried to horse it out but lost it, kicking myself for not being more careful. Lot of small 10-12 inch fish, but we sorted thru and got enough for a fish fry.

Was checked by a warden Sat afternoon, nice guy, very thorough, asked a lot of questions, checked our fish for any slot fish, and even asked to look in our coolers. Good to see them out checking.

[Boreas]

Was checked by a warden Sat afternoon, nice guy, very thorough, asked a lot of questions, checked our fish for any slot fish, and even asked to look in our coolers. Good to see them out checking.

Checked us also, nice guys, actually had a sense of humor but still very thorough in making sure we were doing our part.

[Reedo7]

Once again bare hook was king this weekend. Second place was a #8 glow demon. Then pink uv buckshot spoon. Small minnows were best. Fishing wasn't fast and furious, but it was decent mainly a srise/sunset bite, but that was to be expected as we were fishing really shallow. Interestingly enough, all of our fish but three were over the slot. So it was nice to get into some bigger fish for a change.

[Reverend]

Reedo7 what area were you fishing?

[Reedo7]

South side of the lake 6-7Fow rockpiles and sharp breaks. You have to be quiet out here while you are fishing, noise and traffic definitely spooks them this shallow.

[Hoyt4]

We had a fun weekend the bite was not as hot as it has been. We did end up catching just over 80 Walleyes for a day of fishing on Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday till we headed home.

Red buck shot has not come off the rod for all my trips I would switch between that and a jigging rap when marks slowed down. But the red still caught most.

Shiners on the deadstick still did good also.I felt bad I must of been spot on spot Saturday I picked up 20 or so eyes myself so I moved a friend on my spot hoping they would do better and I moved over and I still kept catching. Saturday morning when we started before the sun came up I could not keep two lines down for the first 30 minutes it was a blast couldn't even get a heater going for a couple hours becase marks just showed up each time I would start to get things setup in the house.

Seeing houses where i have not seen them in many years. We let go a lot of fish this weekend. I was in a good perch spot but I only managed 3 keepers the rest were small but I had a run of 12 or 13 for a bit when I put some waxies on.

Few pike but nothing too big. I caught more Walleyes over the 17inch make this weekend then all of the season going up. Many in the 20 to 23 inch range.

[graf703]

We were up last weekend with Chad Benson's rentals. It was a pretty great weekend. We arrived Friday and were fishing by about 2 and left Sunday at 9. Hot bite was mornings and early afternoon. Only 3-5 fish overnight. We caught about 50 perch and around 40 walleye.

Overall, it was a great time.

[Bryce]

[Reverend]

Now that's a great Valentine's gift!!!

[MNfan]

38" pike this morning fun stuff!

[cookie129]

nice fish