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

[Rick]

2020 URL, Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports - CLICK HERE. ←

Click Above for 2020 Fishing Reports↑↑↑↑

2009 to 2020 URL fishing reports below.↓↓↓↓

There are over 80 pages of reports with 25 posts per page. Click the link above for the current years fishing reports.

Please post upper red lake fishing reports and lake conditions only here. The Good, the bad, and the ugly.

 

Newer reports lower at end of thread and a little URL Show to get you jonesing,

[fishfindn]

We fished from Friday at about 3:00 PM to Sunday at about noon. 47 walleyes and 1 northern. We went out of Rogers. 13 feet of water. Crappie minnows and an assortment of jigs. The fish didn't care what we put down the hole. We had different jigs on each line. They hit them all. Of the 47, 25 were under 17". 4 were under 14". Therefore, by our definition, we caught 21 eaters (14+ through 16 3/4). 21 were in the slot. The slot walleyes were between 17" and 21" Of those, most were about 18" to 19". We probably had more than 50 dinks. They hit hot and heavy from the time we got there on Friday until sunset. They slowed from sunset through about midnight. Hit well from midnight to about 4 or 5. They slowed throughout the day on Saturday. We only caught 2 after sunrise on Sunday. Saturday night was slower than Friday night, but we definitely had a middle of the night bite on both nights. I was up frequently both nights with dinks and fish. If I had been there another day, we would have moved Saturday night or Sunday morning. Others around us in portables reported similar action during the day.

We were happy with the weekend and considered 47 fish through the hole a success. I'll be back up this weekend or next!!

[fishinmajishin]

Good report...How many of you?

[fishlakeman]

We were out this past Wednesday. Did a day trip. Took Hillmans road out around 3 miles. Bite was O.K. Caught 10 eyes. 5 eaters (14.5-16.9) and 5 over the slot. We had probably another 6 lost at hole or halfway up (had some rookies with). The fish that did come in were aggressive. Had some we didn't even mark on the Vex and they would come out of nowhere and just smack the buckshots! All in all it was a beautiful day to be on the water. And as always, I was impressed with the condition of Hillman's roads. Anyone who tries to skip out on the road pass needs a swift kick in the coin purse in my opinion. The money is well deserved for the way they maintain that freeway.

[Random guy]

“ I jiggled the hook and the fish didn’t bite, so I stopped jiggling the hook and the fish biteded the hook a lot”- 7 year old angler giving me tips on the hot bite.

Just as the young angler told me it has been a finicky but productive walleye bite the last few days. Walleyes are faced with cold fronts, pressure systems and even what appears to be some serious competition from a now very aggressive pike population.

Walleye anglers are seeing a new type of bite I like to call an electronics bite. With walleyes coming in on bait several times before a strike anglers utilizing quality sonar units are out producing the old bobber stare and silent rattle reels. Best bet has been a smaller but very colorful presentation such as glowing Demons, Frostees, and Rattlin’ Flyer’ spoons twitched in place verses a more aggressive jig while the sun is in the sky. Once darkness rolls across the snow covered ice of Upper Red Lake the tail hooked fatheads on a rattle reel or deadstick is the easy meal dedicated feeding walleyes are looking for.

Crappies are showing up as the classic clusters of gentle biting giants. Schools of the famed trophy class fish will slip in as they use their paper mouths to silently strip the bait from the sharpest of hooks. Remember these trophy class fish are old and apparently they have learned a few tricks in their later years. Crappies are targeting the same presentations the walleye are, only difference is the ultra sensitive rods and accurate electronics are detecting the light biters. I have spoke with several anglers with crappies in the bucket and a lost look on their face- “I didn’t even know it was there, I picked up the rod and it was heavy.” So zoom in those flashers and dial in the target separation when seeking crappies. Even as frustrating as it may sound by the time March shows up on the calendar these light biters will have multiplied and become super aggressive as they always do.

Numerous Perch are showing up all along the north shore for guys pounding rattling spoons, slender spoons and dropper rigs tipped with minnow heads or larvae. These bottom hugging fish are hitting with the ferocity of a poodle chasing the mail man. Many dandy sized perch in the ten inch class range are ending up in buckets and photos…could this be the next Upper Red Lake craze?

The fast is over! Pike are showing up in record numbers and some record sizes! I made the comment about a month ago;

As for the pike it has been slow with a few popping up here and there. Looks like we are going to have one of those years where they turn on mid winter and go nuts on the walleye jigs.

Looks like the pike had my back on that one.[whew] Sucker minnows and classic pike presentation have produced but not as well as the cute pink jigs. Walleye anglers need to be prepared to handle a large beast with a bad attitude when hitting the ice of Upper Red Lake this coming weekend.

For North shore location Hillman’s road is seeing some outstanding Multi species action at the six mile mark and the angle road heading NW towards the famed “Crappie Highway” at the six mile mark. Several crappies, limits of walleye and even trophy pike that make the paper are showing up in that region. Buddy did a great job this year punching out some of the best fishing grounds with super straight roads and great customer service. Make sure to have your Hillmans road pass visible and Buddy or any one that works on the Hillmans road will be happy to plow you a little spot for your house, assist you with any problems or just point you in the right direction. If you do not have a Hillmans road pass the story of how you got to the far reaches of the north shore without one should be an interesting tale at the least.

Good Luck and enjoy the outdoors.

[goingdeep]

well put

[lindyman]

Excellent Report. Thanks for sharing all that info.

[Random guy]

One of the Pike that are now showing up

[Northlander]

Holy Shiznit Johny thats a SOW!!

[B-man715]

we did the annual family trip last friday and saturday out of West Wind. It was the SLOWEST fishing I've ever had on Red. Six people, 5 fish kept (though none had to be released), over a day and a half. I just got back from lotw with some buddies. We fished out of morris and we did a little better, but it was slow and cold.

[cassius]

If you only caught 5 fish out of six people. Somethings wrong. I've been up there with alot of pressure and extreme cold weather and never caught less than double digits myself. What were you using?

[&JAG]

Fishing.... Tues. 1:00pm - Thursday 9:00am out of Roger's Landing

2 people

1 fishing

1 reading/fishing a little and relaxing a lot

10 - Walleye 12, 12.5, (2) 16.5, (2) 17, 17.5, 18, 19, 20.25"

No sign of Crappie

Pike action was intense twice. One was on a rattle reel, beat me down good, then one up to the hole but no go. They were both big fish! More slot fish than anything, but a bigger fish is always fun to catch.

[Random guy]

Don't feel bad guys fishing was very tough during the cold front/spell as it always is. I talked to alot of anglers that didn't do so hot last few days...thats fishing.

[B-man715]

If you only caught 5 fish out of six people. Somethings wrong. I've been up there with alot of pressure and extreme cold weather and never caught less than double digits myself. What were you using?

Like I said, it was the worst ever! Didn't matter what we used (bare hooks, buckshots, demons, chubbys, raps, etc etc) the fish were not active. I had a camera down for 5 hours and saw ONE walleye and one small perch.....

I spoke with other fishermen at the bar, some did a little better and some did even worse!

[ironrangegemneye]

Maybe the warm weather that is coming in the next couple days will get the bite back. Temps in the 20's sound good to me.

[Bigeye30"]

Swung into Red Lake on our way back from LOTW and all I can say is what a great fishery you guys have up there, setup out in the middle of nowhere lol well that's what it seemed like anyways and within fifteen mins the fish were on, managed to ice 6 eyes, didn't take any measurements just put em back, missed about another six in about an hour to an hour an a half and lost one really nice one just under the hole, red lindy rattlin flyer or pink glow on the deadstick with fatheads was the ticket for me. 12-13 fow The one thing that seemed odd was the bite that was going absolutely great just ended immediately once a perm plopped down a few feet away and started the auger, couldn't get anything to come in after that so we packed up and left for home.

[mhmklein]

Great report, good to here, ill be heading up a week from friday, 1st time to upper red, really looking forward to it!

[side_laker]

just got back from fishing. fished from 730 am till dark. jmarked 5 fish iced 3 and only one was a keeper at 13inches. moved a couple of times but still no action. talked to a couple of groups they had only 15 fish from thursday till tonight. just to let every one know the warden was around today.

[SCONASOTAN]

Father-in-law and I fished out of Morts on Friday and Sat. Very slow, Caught 7 walleye, 1 perch, 1 northern. Talking with Mort, the cold really slowed things down because things were going really well last weekend (story of my life). We were hoping with the warm up and dropping barometer it would have picked up for us but didn't happen. we missed another 6, either came unbuttoned on way up or bottom of ice. I would bet that with this warm up on the 3rd or 4th day of it they'll start biting again. OF the 15 bites we had only 3 were NOT on dead stick.. we had rattle wheels down at night and I switched lures like a mad man but if there are very few fish on the graph it doesn't matter what you have down there. doesn't matter though as that is fishing. talked with many people around us and very slow for them as well.

this week will be better, unfortunately I won't be back until late winter.

[SCONASOTAN]

glow hook and split shot was by far the big winner. only had fatheads

[shaky legs2]

We fished January 15-17 out of Hillmans. Fishing was decent during the day for walleye but things really slowed after dark. No crappies this trip

[Fish Slayer]

Fished out of Rogers from the 15th to the 17th and it was terribly slow. Caught only 7 walleyes total between three guys. Graphed some fish but they would not bite no matter what we threw at them. Only one bite on the rattle reels in two nights of fishing. Talked to the house next to us and they dident have a bite for 19 straight hours between four people. First trip up there so I dont think it is usually this tough of fishing.

[woodman]

18 guys 6 houses Thursday- Sunday am we caught aprox. 300 fish all together. Biggest northern 37.5 inches, biggest eye 22.5 inches, and one 14 inch crappie. Good job Jonny and Kelly on putting us on fish. Lots of good times and man did it get cold. The weather did not matter though, they bit all weekend in waves. 7-9 am, 11-1, 3-7 good bites, only a couple after dark in my house, another house had the rattles going all night. About 95 percent were on rattle reels and plain red hook, or a red eye dropper.

[kelly-p]

You guys and Shakey got out of here just in time as it snowed and blew most of the day. What a mess now. Now we're really missing the big truck. I'm getting real sick of this 225 miles to a tranny.

[Outdoorsman142]

kelly or jonny question on what depth to fish heading up early in the morning? thanks

[Alex = #1]

Fished yesterday (Saturday) from 9am - 5pm. 2 people in a portable about a mile down the NW angle road out of Hillmans. Caught a total of 6 walleye between 8 and 14 inches and 3 nice perch in the 10in range. All walleye were caught on a deadstick, even though one of us was almost always jigging kastmasters or jigging rapelas. One hungry perch was caught on a sucker minnow set on a tip-up.... only flag I had all day. No pike, no crappie.... Looks like i'll have to try it again some other weekend.

First trip to URL, "Shorty" from Hillmans was a very cool guy, will definetly revisit his bait shop and roads.

[teamtingler]

I just got back from URL yesterday. We fished out of Rogers campground and the fishing was tough. We fished Friday - Sunday and only caught 4 walleye's, 1 crappie, and 1 perch. All the reports from the outfitter and other folks on the lake were slow. It was a tough bite.

[shaky legs2]

Doc couldn't sleep Sat. night (not enough medicine??) and woke up at 3:50 a.m. Sunday. We got going about an hour later as the snow was lightly falling. We checked out the ridge on foot b/4 proceeding but everything looked good. It will be interesting to see what this warm weather brings. Thanks again for everything.

[shooter_mcgavin]

Had three portables and six people, fished about 18 hours in two days. Caught 5 walleyes. Tried 12-14 fow, out of Rogers. That's a lot of sittin and waitin.

On the bright side, the snowmobiling was great, and our neighbors were fun to party with.

[ENMIFDAD]

I was one of the 18 in Woodman's group and had a great time for my first trip to URL. Sounds like that was a tough bite, but if that is the case, I can't wait for my next trip back. The numbers may be a little deceiving as some of 18 in our group didn't fish too hard Those of us who paid attention to what we were doing were rewarded. You needed to know exactly where you were at in regards to the bottom. If you were off by a couple inches you were just staring a bobber or listening to everyone elses rattle reels I think I played more cribbage in the last 4 days than I have in the last 4 years I don't know when you will get to use it, but I hope you enjoy the cribbage board Jonny. People always say your living the dream, but you work very hard at your job. Thanks Jonny and Kelly for a great trip.