Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports by Outdoors with JonnyP

[Random guy]

Glad you clarified those limits, guess I can put away the hammer and nails and get back to spoolin some reels........

It was a whopping fifteen minutes and I had hate mail about taking to many fish. Had edit that post.

By the way Bturk I see Mills has a sale on ice braids...150 yard spool. Should last you 25, maybe 30 years.

[bturck]

Maybe even longer if you keep me in the 8' ft depths. Might turn that job over to the wife this year.....

[Random guy]

...and here comes the winds. 26 mph by tomorrow evening and gusts of 32 mph by Saterday.

[traveler]

Ever think about starting a windsurfing business Jonny??:)

[Random guy]

No doubt. That is why five years ago I started scouting lakes and rivers within one hour drive. Now when the wind wants to get crazy I can go fish largemouth, smallies, musky, bluegills etc etc. Red Lake is an incredible fishery, just that falls victim to the wind easily.

[Sea Hage]

you talk about using downriggers on Red ! How far back are you running the baits when there is only 15 feet of water ?

[Random guy]

The key to it is small baits run slow. You want to push #3 and #5 cranks down to 14 feet.

So downrigging you run a #5 Lindy Shadling 20 feet back giving you 5' of dive, then you drop your rigger down 8' putting the lure at 13'.

Leadcore with say a #3 River Rocker, 30' braided leader and 30' of 18lb leadcore will put you about 11-12 feet down at 2.3 mph.

Yes deep divers easily reach depths of 20' plus, but you want a small tight wiggle bait for the Red Lake Walleye. Lindy Shadling, River Rickers, Cotten Cordell Wally Diver and even small Bomber Bass baits such as the Sqaure A work well on Upper Red.

[Sea Hage]

Thanks Johnny, I use riggers on the great lakes all the time and on LOW too but thought in the shallow water of Red you might be setting back 50 or more, Hope to try Red soon, it's a shorter drive for us.

[Random guy]

Fishing was a little slower today, as it always is after a big wind. Even with Wild Bill returning to Waskish we still were able to get a nice limit of decent sized walleyes and this pike.

Walleyes came on the small crankbait pattern I have been working. As for the pike they wanted it FAST ! 4-6 mph with lots of flash and dash. Bright colors and reflective surfaces. Pay attention to the moon phases, once again today peak activity with the pike occurred during moonrise/moonset.

[usmtsrocks]

Goin to be up north this weekend thurs-sunday. Never been on Red in a boat, I have a small boat(16' Rebel, 40hp Merc)so its all gonna depend on the wind for me if I give it a whirl. Where is my best bet to land the boat? Is there a landing off the hwy by the river on east side? I think there is, just way unfamiliar in summertime! Wouldnt mind getting out there and trolling some cranks around and see what happens!!

[Random guy]

There is a public landing on both the east and west wide of the bridge on the Tamarac River. Westwinds Resort and Beacon Harbor both have protected harbors with ramps. I launch out of Hillmans have a ramp on the river, Morts also has a ramp on the south shore as does Rogers.

I like launching out of the protected harbors. No messing with the winds or big crowds. Plus you get a bunch of amenities such as a fish cleaning house for a few bucks.

[bturck]

Up kinda late aren't you.......12:02am. Must be spoolin some reels up.

[Random guy]

I got sucked into the a string of old war movies.

[Random guy]

Back to shore we go. With the water temps dipping into the mid 60’s some decent walleyes are back up shallow, 4-6 feet to be exact. Many smaller fish mixed in but active fish none the less. The deeper fish caught a bit of lock jaw the last few days. You can mark them all day but getting them to bite is another story.

Best action both deep and shallow has been spinners with minnows. Golden shiner, Purple Smelt with the top producer for me being the Lindy Bluegill pattern spinner.

If I get a chance today I am going to take the new Lindy Little Guy out and give it a try, see what those deeper fish think of that new trick.

[paceman]

That does look pretty cool. Wonder if I could build one like it on my own?

[Random guy]

At $3.99 pre-tied and ready with 14lb. fluorocarbon , #2 Octopus hooks and Lindy metallic beads it is hard to beat. Basic components will run up the cost, not to mention you basically have a crank bait body involved. Plus it comes on a reusable spool that snaps together with other spools to make a tackle tamer style storage unit for Lil' Guys.

I just got in from the lake after giving the Lil Guys a full work out. Pretty cool lure, keeps clear of rocks and snags even on the stall out and super slow speeds. Ran it like a spinner with light weight at slow speeds then cranked it up and ran it with the Shadlings and River Rockers. A very versatile bait that did catch a lot of fish.

The bite has moved extremely shallow, trim your outboard up to troll shallow. 2-6 feet of water has been putting out fish with the hot zone being the drop from 3-5 feet. Drag spinners, Lil Guys and #3 River Rockers plowing the bottom. The shallow fish are running a bit smaller but having to sort through fish for your limit is not a bad problem to have.

For fewer but bigger fish run out to 11-13 feet of water and put Shadlings down that mimic the natural forage, perch, tullipee, shiner, etc.

[KrappieKilla]

Good reports Jonny. I enjoy reading them. With this recent cold weather, have you seen the fall bite start to turn on yet? I know there is a full moon Thursday and that will sometimes flip the fish to a fall feed. I plan on coming up this weekend. Any info on how the bite is would be cool. Thanks

[Random guy]

I actually have been off the water for a few weeks due to bear season. Hoping to get all the bear stuff put away today and head out tommorow.

[Random guy]

Looking the forecast 0f 25-30 mph winds I may give the lake a few more days before I return.

[traveler]

I made it out over the weekend in the waders....no dice, but thats just me:) After this cool weather sets in for good we oughta see some action hopefully.

[Random guy]

Hoping we have another great fall like the last three years.

[Random guy]

Went out today for a little while. Fishing wasn’t great, got my four decent fish but just barely. Water temps are down to 63 and almost pure mud from all the wind. Although the typical fall pattern is starting to show through. Very aggressive smaller cigar sized fish in shallow and bigger fish out deep that want nothing but BIG baits. #7 Shadlings, Bomber Long A’s and Cotton Cordell Magnum Walleye Divers for starters.

As water temps drop into the 50 degree range these fish will slam into the shoreline again and be after spinners for their last hurrah before ice up.

[Random guy]

Fishing is still on the slow side due to the nonstop wind we have been dealing with. The clients and I pulled in a nice limit of fish by utilizing bold colors and loud rattles. We located pockets of fish by running big cranks such as the Magnum walleye Diver and Bomber Long A or 25a model. Once we ran into a couple fish we circled around offering a more edible offering. #5 Lindy Shadlings pulled on leadcore was crucial in the muddy water. Patterns such as Bumble Bee, Firetiger, Pink Shiner and of course the classic gold put fish in the livewell when ran close to the bottom in 12-14 feet of water.

Today the clients decided one day of waves was enough so we headed south to a panfish lake and had a good go around with some nice bluegills, and nobody ended up with the green around the gills look.

[Random guy]

With the latest trend of of offering every option for everybody, I wonder why nobody has offered Upper Red Lake wind surfing rentals, maybe lessons? It would be a goldmine.

Had about enough of this wind, packing up the guide boat and headed for Lake X the next two days. Frustrating as I know if we just had a few calm days the lake is going to go nuts with the current conditions, minus the wind.

[Random guy]

Not really a Red Lake report but very close. These are the last couple days on my backup lakes. Always good to have a back plan in case the wind tosses a wrench in a Red Lake adventure.

This couple at first was a touch disappointed with the forecasted 25-30 mph winds, after some reassurance and the promise if they don't have a great time they won't need to pay me. They still came and stayed in the area and still had a blast no matter the wind. They are already booked for next year.

Within a short drive of Red Lake we found them their personal best Bluegill (9.5"), Walleye (26"), Smallmouth (20") and Largemouth.

[Portavilla]

Options are always good to have congrats on a very successful day.

[bak2MN]

The smiles say it all!!! Nice job Jonny.

[Random guy]

So many times we get focused on Red Lake itself and yet we have great fishing just a short drive if the wind comes up.

[Iceboy]

Wow - those are some beautiful pannies!

[Random guy]

We ended up with 13 over 8" and two hit the 10" mark. The big seed she is holding was 9 1/2". We were releasing the monsters but that one was hooked in a bad way.