Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports by Outdoors with JonnyP

[kelly-p]

Quote:

I'm knows as "the bite killer."

AAHHH no don't say that. Just when I was going to tell you that there were some glimmers of hope. We had a guy fly in from California today. He had never caught a walleye in his life and I am not sure if he has ever even been ice fishing. He got here about 2 this afternoon and when I checked on him about 4 he had caught 5 walleyes. To say the least he was happy.

While waiting for Buddy to come move the bridge I talked to a couple just coming off the lake. They said that it was dead all day until just before dark when the bite started again and they limited out in the last hour they fished.

[TylerS]

when are you going to be there Tyler? I think I better make other plans for then

Friday through Sunday. Better give me a WIDE berth. Mile should do it.

[Fishalittle]

That bridge was scary when I crossed it. It sank enough to drag the hitch on the fishhouse as I crossed it. Is there a way to know if it will hold you before your already in the middle of it? My wife got a bit nervous to say the least! I've noticed it has to be moved an awful lot this year...too many temperature swings?

[kelly-p]

Yes the temps just will not stay steady. -20 to +20 degrees will move the ice sheet about 12 feet east and west. The cold spells have not lasted long enough to completely freeze what floods when one ice sheet is shoved under the other sheet during the warm spells. Where it broke last night the water that flooded when the ridge came together the last time was froze down about 15 inches but there was still about 8 to 10 inches of water between what had froze and the original ice sheet. The top sheet broke so everything was being pushed down to the original sheet. When Buddy came off with his plow truck it was fine. An hour later I came off and everything looked good but 1/2 an hour later when I went back out There were some issues.

Quote:

Is there a way to know if it will hold you before your already in the middle of it?

The main thing is to watch for cracks out towards either end of the bridge.

[hugonian1]

Coming up Saturday for 3 days with the wheelhouse.

This will be our maiden voyage on Red.

Plan on going out of Hillmans.

I clearly understand the advice to get off on your own away from others.

Should we be looking for any type of depth or structure? Or should we just look for some open real estate and start drilling?

I am sure we will get some great advice when we pick up our road pass.

Oh, and I have my extension.

[Random guy]

Right now its anybodies guess where the fish will be when the turn back on but I try to be at least 1/4-1/2 mile from anybody when I scout. Being all by yourself I feel many times is more inmportant then the structure. Some of the best fisherman I have ever known on the lake drive until they get stuck, thats where they fish...after they dig out.

[TKIII]

Johnny P, I really enjoy reading your posts. I haven't fished red in a couple of years and I miss it, but reading your posts has me itching to get back. I hope the fish God keeps smiling on you! Thanks again.

[Random guy]

I hope the fish God keeps smiling on you!

It's about time for some spiritual guidance or some type of sacrifice! Not sure what to do right now but the bite is tough. I’m thinking the lake is angry, some show up to take and never give back in the winter. Fortunately the lake always evens things out in one way or another.

I’m going to spend another day of good old school searching around and most likely find more fish on the Marcum camera that won't bite. In the summer these are the days we drop the down riggers or deep divers and just troll , troll and troll some more over huge areas looking for the 5% of fish that are still feeding. It is not as easy with the ice in the way, for hole hopping on Red to be effective you need to cover a couple mile square.

Let’s just hope for a mood change soon.

[Slabineye]

Not Much action on this thread as of lately hopefully that means the bite is picking up again. Just a couple questions for Jonny P we have a 4man sleeper rented this weekend curious if the sleepers have rattle reels and a table and chairs in the house or not. Looking forward to finnally stayin with an outfitter been up to red many times in the past years with my own permanent house but never with an outfitter this should be a real treat the weekend can't come soon enough.

[Random guy]

Yes the the houses have rattle reels, chairs, tables, stove, oven, private bathroom, gas lights,110 lights, ceiling fans , generator hook ups and a few other little things.

As for the bite it is still a bit slow.

[Slabineye]

Thanks for the info!! Hopefully i can turn that bite around!!

[bturck]

slabineye: You won't be disappointed in the sleeper houses. My wife and I were there last Wed and also headed back again this Wed. Houses were warm, clean and comfortable. And the inside potty was nice for the wife as well. Fishing was a little slow, but still managed to bring back perch and eyes for a fish fry, plus released a 19" and 21". Good luck.

[Xplorer]

Jonny,

Do you know if shaky and doc are still gonna be up this weekend?

Now that basketball is over and there is a break in wrestling, Junior and I finally have 5 days off to fish, from Thurs to Monday (fri,sat,sun we are using a friends wheelhouse on LOTW)

I'm thinking of hitting Red all day thursday and half a day monday, and Dylan said he'd like to stop and see Shaky, Doc, you, Kelly and Fred again. For some reason you guys left quite an impression on him last year !!

[shaky legs2]

Xplorer, We will be up Thursday - Saturday or Sunday. It must have been Doc that left the impression.

[bturck]

Shakylegs: If you are coming up on Thursday depending on the time of day we could be like two ships passing in the dark on the ice road. We will be leaving on Thursday and heading back around 1100am. Hard to believe that the season is coming to a close for another year. Looking to head back to LOW for a March trip. Hope you have a good bite when you are there.....

[TKIII]

I am sure the fishing will change soon. Maybe you should take a break and focus on your Valentine for a minute or two!!! Good luck when you get out Jonny.

[kelly-p]

Hopefully i can turn that bite around!!

If you can there will be dancing in the streets. Countless toasts drunk in your honor. Maybe even statues of you put up. From what I am hearing it has really slowed down across the "Line" on the Reservation waters also.

Today Jon and I reopened the first 3 1/2 miles of the old Hillman's NW road that we used early in the season. It opens up about 4 square miles that has not really been fished since early in the season so it has had about 5 weeks to recover. It also gives good access to the pressure ridge. Sometimes late in the season like now pressure ridges have some of the best fishing by them. The road has the bank on the NE side but I knocked holes in the bank for people to get through so they can get towards the ridge. Don't get too close to the ridge tho because with the forcasted warm weather I'm sure the ridge is going to blow. -20 degrees to +30 degrees means that the ice sheet is going to move about 15 feet someplace on the lake.

shaky, I'm thinking you should set up in the area where you were on the losing end of that 3 hour tug of war on your last trip last year. Maybe it is still waiting for you to come back and try to get your hook back.

[shaky legs2]

I can't wait. I am also in the mood for dancing this weekend. Please tell Jonny to leave his cell-phone in the truck if he stops in to visit. On a serious note, That is a good area and we were talking about it before your post. It has the potential for not only walleye but also crappie. I think it will be a good move.

[Random guy]

Please tell Jonny to leave his cell-phone in the truck if he stops in to visit.

Just got done fishing another one off the bottom last week. Got a shiny new one again!

[Xplorer]

Looks like I have the sleeper house starting tomorrow, so Jr and I will be heading to pick it up and be on LOTW by noon tmrw.

You guys have a great weekend and sorry we couldnt see ya!! Here's to catchin a bunch every day (a bunch of what is your choice ; ) )

Good vibes to all on Red this weekend, Jonny i just know you are gonna put "it" together and have a good last couple weeks!!

[Slabineye]

Just wanted to thank Jonny and Kelly was up this past weekend in the 4man with my parents for a couple days and the 2man by myself sunday night was a great time. Nice clean houses everything a guy could ask for even on the fish!! My parents did pretty decent in the house all weekend while i was out and about trying to find the hot bite. I ended up with 19 eyes and about 16 decent perch and even a crappie. Small jigged Minnows seamed to work best for me Think i drilled about 75 to 100 holes though.

[kelly-p]

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Think i drilled about 75 to 100 holes though.

Maybe the first day and then you got serious. You worked hard and covered a lot of ground. Every time I looked around you were trying another place. I was adding it up and you must have put close to 60 miles on your truck back and forth across the north side of the lake. I didn't see anybody all winter put as much effort in as you and I am really happy that you found some active fish. You earned every one of them.

[Borch]

What's the snow cover like? Thinking about making a run up this weekend and trying to decide if I need to get the sleds running, (no snow this year so far) or if I can get around well enough with the truck. Only thing potentially holding me back is this storm of doom the weather man keeps talking about for Sunday sometime.

[kelly-p]

It looks to me like a person can get around pretty good unless you run into a patch of rough ice where it is drifted up higher. If you are planning on heading to your usuall favorite area there are roads close to there and only 1 band of rough ice running NW to SE through it.

[Borch]

I like that combo.

Thanks Kelly.

[shaky legs2]

We had a great trip. Thank you Waskish Minnow Station for putting us in an area where we couldn't cause any trouble and where we could catch some fish. The bite was steady during the day but slow at night. However, how would we know as we don't put down any rattle wheels when we go to bed at night. We used to do that but couldn't hear anything because our earplugs were jammed in to tight. Doc puts down a jiggle stick with a lot of slack line and I put down a bare hook with the bail tripped on the reel and sometimes we get lucky. I am impressed with the fishery as all the walleyes were healthy, fat, and sassy. We marked minnows constantly from the top of the water column to the bottom so they have plenty to eat. The walleyes look like minature footballs they are so healthy and full of spawn. We ate a nice fish fry Friday night, brought our limit home, and caught and released several that were too big. We also brought home some nice bonus perch, the largest being 11 1/2 inches. Kelly told us that someone in one of his houses caught a 14 1/2 inch perch. It was nice seeing Jim and Patsy again. Fred ran me out of dog biscuits. I kept track this time. He ate 7 large milk bones and 9 medium ones. Doc said we had to go home becuase we were out of treats. The house is back at the cabin but the memories are stored in the one brain cell I have left. It was nice to see Scott Z., Kip, Panfish Guy and Goose, bturck, and of course the Petrowskes. Maybe next year we will connect with Labs. It's sad for us when we stop at Hillman's and Shorty or Marlys are not around to talk to but life goes on. A special thank you to the Petrowskes for all they do for us and all they do for their clients. It's impressive to see them in operation. We stopped off at Panfish Guy and Goose' house on our way out and they had a nice bucket of fish to bring home. I even kissed the googlie eye they had in their bucket. I hope everyone gets home safely from this weekend, and the Waskish Minnow Station gets their houses off the lake without any mishaps. Thank you for a great season.

[Random guy]

For the most part it was a great winter walleye season on Upper Red Lake. February got a little tough after the snow cover but that is how the Red Lakes have humbled men for generations. As for December and January it was borderline ridiculous. I’m actually anxious to sit down next week to take a hard look at the angler hours/pressure and the total pounds harvested. It should be some very interesting numbers.

It was a great walleye season with the rentals. Running a more personal smaller number of houses and also being able to reach out across the expanses of the north shore we seen some great fishing. Granted a every so often we would have a house struggle and a couple groups did downright horrible but for the most part we were able to stay on a good bite for the majority of the walleye season. Guess you can’t win every battle all the time but our catch numbers and limited out house numbers are through the roof this year.

I would like to mention it is nice to look back on our clientele and think we never had one problem or a single issue all season. Yes we had some guys forget stuff, sure a few guys made a huge mess and of course we had some groups that you had to force away from the card table to catch fish, but everybody I came across this winter was great. Years of building a strong client base sure does show through at the end of the year and is appreciated. Thanks to all of the clients that stayed with us this year! You guys and gals are great!

The houses are now sitting on the shoreline getting ready for summer hibernation. Patsy will give them one last solid scrubbing and sterilization as Kelly puts them up on blocks in preparation for next winter. The plow trucks will be stripped of their massive plows and the broken pieces gathered up and put back on as it is a ritual of spring.

As for me, I am hooking up the portable train to the Bearcat and will continue to guide for perch and crappie on ice for the remainder of the frozen season. Instead of futile plowing during the snowiest part of the season I will be utilizing a more mobile and stealthy approach with snowmobiles in search of decent crappie and perch bites.

Stay tuned for the latest on Upper Red Lake!

[bturck]

Shaky, great report. Thanks for the Email as well. Jonny/Kelly it was indeed a pleasure to meet both of you and spend some time on Red. We had a lot of fun, caught some fish and will definitley be headed your way again next year. You definitley run a very good operation, with very nice clean and warm accomadations. Good luck with the scouting for the crappies, enjoy the rest of the winter months. Will be looking for your reports...

[kelly-p]

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and the Waskish Minnow Station gets their houses off the lake without any mishaps.

They are sitting at the end of a very short plowing job. After we got the houses to shore Patsy and I looked at each other and both felt that we should be doing something. She baked some cookies and some carmal rolls, scrubed some floors and did some vacuming, shoveled the sidewalk and brought some firewood in. Me,,,if I sit here long enough I'll think of something to do.

[traveler]

pretty sure my driveway's snowed in Kel! Just sayin...hate to see you sitting there driving Patsy nuts:)

Just kidding really...I don't know if we'll get back up now for a few weeks. It was fun doing some scouting for you and Jonny this year, sure was a great season, especially early ice:)