Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports by Outdoors with JonnyP

[bak2MN]

Bill, They only work if you have enough line spooled on the reel. LOL. It was there had to raz ya!!

[Random guy]

Not sure what jigs I gave you. I dio know the Rattle N Flyers, Frostees, Ice Watsits, Foo Flyers and event the Lindy Darter work great under a bobber for Panfish. In fact one of my favorites is a Darter double pegged under a slip bobber.

For open water it is still hard to beat the Little Nipper, Watsit Jig and of course the classic, Fuzz-E-Grub.

[Random guy]

Bill, They only work if you have enough line spooled on the reel. LOL. It was there had to raz ya!!

Luckily for the Turkster they are only in three feet of water. Perfect!

[bak2MN]

LOL!! Sure wish I could get up there to fish Been in OK since Thanksgiving. And no light at the end of the tunnel it seems like. Good luck and be safe.

[bturck]

You guys are killing me .......

[moose099]

Yes they do Bill, but, like a few others have elluded too, an adequate amount of line is required. !! Sorry Bill, couldn't pass it up.

[Random guy]

It has been a great time in the guide boat, 21 straight days until today's day off and I am ready for more! Between the incredible Upper Red Lake bite and the top notch lakes we have within a short drive of Waskish the Upper Red Lake Area has a lot to offer wind or not. Walleye, Smallmouth, Largemouth, Panfish and even some of those toothy critters.

Here are a few pictures.

[Random guy]

...and a short drive from the Upper Red Lake Area last night...

I love the fact that we have walleyes and big pike coming out of our ears on Upper Red Lake, 45 minutes later we are on bluegill, crappie or bass.

[bturck]

You definitley have the best of a good life right in your backyard, and surrounding area. Some awfully nice fish pics.

On a side note: the Lindy Watsits are still putting fish in the boat for us down here. Sure glad I found that post you had a couple years back, crappies, eyes, sunnies and norts. It is a great all around bait

[Random guy]

That is what makes the Watsit so cool. What is it? It could be a hellgrammit, hatching lavea, mayfly nymph, baby cray or just about anything. With the little legs and tail constantly undulating it mimics so many things. Plus with the Watsit Jig, Grub and Watsit Spin you have sizes and colors from small ice panfish to the big 2" FAT Watsit for tanker walleye or smallmouth bass.

A great bait indeed.

[wild bill]

Great Looking fish

Better looking fisherman

Looking forward to the next trip

[Random guy]

Better looking fisherman

You are correct Bill, once you left the fishermen did get better looking.

[Random guy]

The bite is still on if you cover water and look for un-pressured areas. Picked up a nice four person limit of 15-20" fish, a few slot fish and even one over the slot today.

Big Bob, at 6'5" and a solid 290 lbs made this nice 27" walleye look small.

[Random guy]

A little slower today but still a Red Lake limit.

[Random guy]

Recently I left for my annual pilgrimage to Central Minnesota for a week of bass fishing. As I was preparing for weed fish by changing up bottom bouncers for frog baits Red Lake was also undergoing its own annual change up. The walleye suddenly slammed the shoreline striking in 12 to 18” inches of water, and then the little walleyes showed up in droves. This was all too familiar, as I pulled out of Waskish I told my fishing partner we would be returning to a completely different Upper Red Lake.

I returned home to find bait shops closing early, the public boat ramps almost empty and I the boat count on the lake lost a couple zeros. The fish went one way and the fisherman went the other. The fish have scattered into the deep, finally, after an extended spring season.

The Red lake walleye may be gone from the shorelines but they did not get out of the lake, they have to be somewhere. They simply scatter and move out deep, same thing we need to do. Get out to 10-12 feet of water and start covering ground. Think nomadic wandering fish. No big schools or ultra-aggressive wolf pack style hunting for these fish. It is now all about staying cool and feeding when feeding is easy. Make it is easy for them and increases the odds by running slow small cranks or fast moving spinners in the deeper water. Run into the active fish offering a easy meal, something they cannot resist. No matter the mood.

The spinner option is easy. ½- ¾ oz bottom bouncers long lined at 1.4 to 2.0 mph. Look at the #3 Indiana blade or willow leaf blades for speed with bead patterns offering a hint of pink or purple. Young of year forage have a pinkish/purple sheen to them and the fish are looking for it. One of my favorites is the Lindy spinner in the “Rainbow Smelt” outfit. Close runners up are Alewife and Purple Smelt, noting they all offer pink beads, the beads are what the fish see, not the blade.

Now spinners are great and will put numbers in the boat but to target the larger, active fish, you have to pull cranks. The summer Red Lake walleye loves a small bait such as the #5 Shadling or #3 River Rocker. Of course these smaller offerings have limited depth capabilities so you will want to push them down with leadcore line or down riggers. Keep the cranks on the low and slow thumping them along at 2.2-2.5 mph.

The fishing is still great, just not great where they were caught in in May. From the time we pulled out of the Westwinds boat canal until we were in the fish cleaning room with our 8 fish was 90 minutes, that’s good fishing.

[paceman]

Awesome detailed report Jonny!

[bak2MN]

Nice report jonny. What kind of cordless knife do you have there? Does it hold a good charge for large stringers? thanks looking for a new one.

[fitchin_fanatic]

Looks like a Berkley Lithium-Ion fillet knife. If it is, it's one of the best cordless knives on the market, IMO. Easily cleans 30-40 fish stringers (1 hour continuous runtime) and charges quickly. It can also be used while plugged in charging (nice feature). Also, one of the lightest knives I've used. A little spendy at over $100, but well worth it if you clean a lot of fish.

Nice report!

[Random guy]

Yes it it the Berkely Lith-Ion and I love it. I do know it will do 60 bluegills on a charge and if it does die it charges back up in just a few minutes. It is a touch slower than a 110v knife but still does a great job. I purchased the slim blades for it and found they work faster/better on panfish.

[bturck]

How was the central minnesota bassin? What general area were you at?

[bak2MN]

Thanks! sounds like a good knife I haven't been any where that I have seen one for sale but will do some looking for one. I clean a lot of fish!! Unfortunately spaced out over along period of time.

[Random guy]

How was the central minnesota bassin? What general area were you at?

Mostly in the Ottertail area. We did really well for a walleye guide; the Nitros and Skeeters sure look at ya funny when a 20' camo Alaskan with down riggers comes crashing in on the pads. "He must be lost."

Lots of quality fish, always a fun trip.

[bturck]

Nice big mouth. I can imagine they thought you may have made a wrong turn from surviving Alaska series. Guess you showed em how to catch fish though

[TyGuy02]

If you have a camo alaskan, I will have to grow a beard and I can be your "fishing double". Maybe to throw the crowds off of your scent! Mine is only the 18' camo canadian, but to the untrained eye can be very similar

[Random guy]

I did run into a guy with the same boat as mine and a shaved head on Upper Red about three weeks ago. He trolled up alongside as I jokingly told him "Oh, you poor bast..d".

We shot the breeze for a bit before he replied "Now I know why the warden came straight for me and nobody will wave back at me".

[bturck]

[Random guy]

Fishing has been pretty good for bad conditions. Normally this time of the year we are singing the blues but so far so good. Deeper applications have been paying huge dividends. Small baits such as the #5 Lindy Shadling, #3 River Rocker or #5 Walleye Diver pushed down with leadcore or downriggers have been putting fish in the boat. Attack walleye in the early AM and late PM, save the midday day doldrums for chasing big pike. Walleye will bite all day with much slower action from 10-4. Saturday I was lucky enough to pull off a three limit day!

OK, before everybody gets wound up and starts building the gallows, I guided in the AM and limited those guys out, then I had a second two man group late AM early PM and we filled our limits. The evening was blocked off for painting the basement floor. Once done Brenda (the painter) wanted to go out for the last bit of sunshine and sure enough we caught her 4 fish limit before dark. Thats 24 keeper walleye 15-19" fish average all in 11.5 feet of water or deeper.

The fish did not stop biting as rumored, they are just biting in a different spot.

[CANOPY SAM]

Love the pic of the first bass! Bet it's a little challenging to keep your mind on fishing with a bass like that in the boat!

[bturck]

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

[LABS4ME]

fishin' line waaaay too short..... gallos rope waaaaay too long! You just can't win!!!

Keep working on it Bill! You'll get there!

Good Luck!

Ken