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2020 - Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports (URL)


Rick

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We set the house 4 miles out of West Wind and drove/fished mainly 13-14 feet 5-9 miles. Had better luck when it was warm and sunny, the snowy day it was hard to get anything to bite. 1 crappie in the house the others where out farther.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Well we just got unpacked after a very nice weekend up on URL. First off mother nature was about as cooperative as she could possibly be with warm temps and sunshine. There was plenty of snow but after the last two days I'm sure it will be much less of an issue for getting around. I was really surprised by the total lack of fisherman on URL with the gorgeous weather. Well now to the report.

We hit URL Friday around 1pm, had a quick chat with Jonny and unloaded the slad to treck acrossed the lake heading west into the vast area without a fishouse or person fishing anywhere. After several moves and drilling over 150 holes along the crappie highway we had 1 small walleye to show for our efforts. It was the toughest day of fishing I had ever encountered on URL with very few fish marked.

Saturday we again hit the wide open spaces, and let me tell you there is a lot of space out there right now. The weather was amazing and we were fishing in long sleeve t-shirts out in the open. Right away we were feeling more positive. After only drill 30 holes we had marked fish in three of the holes. Within and hour we had a couple slabs on the ice and were seeing fish in a number of holes. I cut an additional 60+ holes looking for active fish while hole hopping. We ended up with three cappies before it got dark. Here's a pic of me with a couple of them.

DSC00533.jpg

We got the house setup for the evening. Once it got dark the flasher lit up and the bite was on at a frenzied pace. In 45 minutes we caught an additional 22 slabs with several doubles and a triple plus many missed or lost fish. Hot baits were glow power minnows on a #4 Optic Jig or a glow red jig and a fathead. Here's a pic of my wife Wanda with a couple slabs from the evening bite.

DSC00535.jpg

When we packed up to head in we were still seeing fish although they were much less aggressive. We didn't fish today but instead got an early start home and save our sunburned faces. Looked to be another beautiful to be on the ice. Hopefully the landings hold up as I'd like to make it up there one more time.

Good Luck!

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Those fish Wanda are holding are tankers man!

You are the man Borch, don't know too many people who'll work as hard as you to catch those crappies. Well deserved!

Power Minnows... eh? winkgrin

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Beautiful fish Borch, a little hard work pays off. Well a lot of hard work from the way it sounds. I drove by there Saturday and back again Sunday and couldn't believe how empty the lake is. Come opener, that will all change though.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Nice report borch, these are two awesome slabs Wanda is holding!

Thanks. I thought they were bigger than they ended up being. Both measured 14.75" with the mouth closed. Thought for sure both were over 15". Beefy fish though.

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All I have to say Borch is,,,,,,, SHOW OFF!! gringrin

I saw where you were Sunday so today I drove out there today to see. You were 102 feet west of GPS cords. "Buddy1" and 378 feet east of "Buddy2". They were really good in 2002 also. grin

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

All I have to say Borch is,,,,,,, SHOW OFF!! gringrin

I saw where you were Sunday so today I drove out there today to see. You were 102 feet west of GPS cords. "Buddy1" and 378 feet east of "Buddy2". They were really good in 2002 also. grin

I could have swore that I was 487 ft south of "Buddy6" and 97 ft east of "Buddy3" wink

The way I have it figured though is that since I wasn'y fishing Sunday that someone else was borrowing my "Borch7" spot based on your directions. laugh

That wave of crappies should be coming through you guys any time now. wink

See you guys this weekend. It's the last weekend I have open through the end of April. I'm guessing that I won't need the sleds to get around after the past few days.

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We fished with the P's this weekend in a 4 man sleeper. Fri night was pretty good. We got 4 slobs (it's our new term for URL slabbers) & a 5th was lost right at the hole. I'm still kicking myself for the way I tried to pull in the vex cord. About 15 walleyes got in the way. 3 jumbo perch were a pleasant surprise also. Sat found us heading for lake of the woods at 5 AM. We did well up there. On the way back, we dropped off our fish at Hillmans for them to keep overnight. Sat evening was SLOW for us. We only landed a few walleye & no more slobs. A few walleye's came overnight on the rattle wheels. Sun AM was just as slow as Sat evening. We packed up around noon. Before we got on 72, we stopped by hillmans to grab our fish & tip them out for doing us the favor. We had a blast on this trip. The P's houses rule. We talked about the slobs all the way home. It's an incredible fishery up there. Although I wish I could have been in on the frantic Crappie action of the past 5-10 years, I am glad I finally landed on this lake & have 5 URL slobs(2 this trip - 3 from previous) in the freezer to put on the wall eventually. My collection is complete and I can't wait to start another one next ice season wink

Jonny - We checked out that 6 man on the way out. When do the books open cool Thanks for the awesome holiday inn on ice.

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You're right it was Saturday. I slipped another cog. confused I think they are starting to move a little. I worked 5 places east of where you were tonight. Hit a little flurry right at dark but after that it was just lookers.

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Not to hijack this thread or change the subject, but JJohnson, would you be willing to share your report from Lake of the Woods?

Roscoe16

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Well we were able to make one last hardwater trip up to URL for the season this weekend. My brother, son and I hit the ice at 10 am and by 10:30 my brother had the first slab on the ice before I had even drilled my first 30 holes. Things were looking good!

There were a few crappies in the area and we lost a couple and landed one more before they were gone. Then it got slow. Very slow and if not for a few eyes you wouldn't have know there were any fish around. We decided to stay in the general area and keep looking. I ended up going through a tank of gas in the process and shortly after a few freinds stopped by it happened. They found some slabs in an area 50 yards away and at the same time my brother found a hole with a pile of slabs underneath it 70 yards in the other direction and was hammering them on Gulp Minnows. I both cases the bite was fast and furious but short lived and we weren't able to get back on the fish. The evening bite did not pan out and we ended up ended the day 16 slabs and a 10" perch. My friends who met us out on the ice later in the day had 9 slabs when we called it quits for the day but were stayinbg out a bit longer.

Here's my brother Wes, son Travis and myself with a few slabs from the day.

DSC00543.jpg

Sunday we woke up to wind blowing hard out of the East. The bite was really tough and we ended up connecting on only 2 more slabs, another 10" perch and several eyes before we packed up to head home. We had covered even more water and left the ice riddled with holes. With over 250 holes drilled only 7 or 8 kicked out crappies for our group. The lake had really taken a beating with the warm temps and wind. Lots of deep potholes and water on the ice.

Looks like the end is getting close for hardwater but there will still be some time for those dedicated late ice fisherman. But for me it's time to get the boat ready.

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thanks for the report borch i i ended up getting up to url at like 4:00 on thursday and started drilling holes about 3 miles out didnt find any thing right away so i moved out to 6 miles and in the 5th hole i got my first crappie so i thought i was on them come to find out i drilled till dark and only found 3 more

friday morning i had a great waleye bite going on in my sleeper house butt no slabs. So i decided to head out friday mornig to some lakes in the cross lake area where a buddy lives and that paid off for me got a limit of sunnies and nice crappies not as big as url slabs butt they were nice and a lot of action with a little bit of drilling. any ways just wanna say thanks to Hillmans for storeing my wheelhouse all year and the rest of the boys on url the run a great operation up there.

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"With over 250 holes drilled only 7 or 8 kicked out crappies for our group."

If only 7 or 8 holes produced crappies why did you drill the other 242? Practice????? gringrin

Good job! In this case hard work was rewarded.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Kelly,

If you'd have left me a sign telling me where they were I'd of gladly just drilled 7-8 holes. wink

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ummm Borch you where in charge of the signs remember? Red suit, four hole trapaziod pattern, one snomobile track pulling a sled the other one not , broke off Power minnow heads etc etc. winklaugh

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I'ld like to drill 7 or 8 holes also but with this bad ankle that is 6 or 7 holes beyond what I can do. grin

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

ummm Borch you where in charge of the signs remember? Red suit, four hole trapaziod pattern, one snomobile track pulling a sled the other one not , broke off Power minnow heads etc etc. winklaugh

Sssshhhh.....

Jeez Jonny! Don't get me started..... wink

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Hey guys just wondering how the ice is doing? I am praying there will still be ice the weekend of April 10th for a ATV trip. Is anyone still letting people stay in there fishouses on shore?

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As cold as the Forecast is it is looking good to be still be out on the lake then. We moved our houses back home Tuesday just to have them put away so we could move on to other things. I was surprised how good the shoreline had held up during the rain. When were were hooking the houses up to the tractor water gushed up through the holes in the ice but it is a 20 ton tractor so that wasn't surprising. We have parked a couple houses that can be used and Buddy has parked some that can be used year around including one right on the lakeshore where the road hits the lake. As slow as it is around here as far as people I'm sure it would be no problem finding a place to sleep whether it is a sleeper house or a cabin.

addition

So I guess that I was a little wrong about the shoreline holding up. We lost a chain somewhere when we were moving the houses home so today I tried to drive my Ranger out to where the houses had been parked. OPPS!!! I was suddenly parked in 2 feet of water. blush When I called Buddy for a pull he said that he was "on the way". I asked how did you know I was stuck there. His response was, "I saw you do it, I was watching because I tried it yesterday with my truck. But I made it about 10 feet further." grin

So in any case the shoreline is bad for trucks. Buddy took his sled out yesterday to pick up trash on the lake and said the old road banks were bad also as they had a skim of ice frozen over deep water.

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