Is the bite slower than past years?

[MikeR77]

It seems like the bite is a lot slower than the past 3-4 years for early ice. Our group has been up the past 4 years as soon as houses were allowed out and easily caught 150-200 fish over three days. From the reports I am seeing this year, it seems to be very slow in comparison.  Best reports I am seeing is 20-25 fish per day for 2-3 fisherman and most seem to be in the 12-15 fish range.

Does anyone have possible explanations for this?  I know the lake had a lot of fish taken out last year. This fall though, the DNR made it sound the lake had more fish than anticipated and said the lake was under harvested or had too many lbs of spawning size walleye. If that was the case, shouldn't we see more fish being caught?  Or are there some other factors.

 

Just wondering how  they were in panic mode last year because they thought too many fish were being caught. Then changed their mind this fall and said they may have too many spawning sized walley  

 Now, from reports I am reading, and from people I have talked to who have fished the lake this year, it seems the catch rate is down significantly. I know the DNR and Band have to come to an agreement, so that may be one factor. I also know that a 15-20 fish day is a great day on most lakes, just not what I have been used to (or spoiled by) over the past 4 years on Red.

[kelly-p]

32 minutes ago, MikeR77 said:

it seems the catch rate is down significantly.

So are the areas that can be fished. It is barely into letting wheelers out and you are comparing it to when houses are out and people are scattered all over the lake.

31 minutes ago, MikeR77 said:

Our group has been up the past 4 years as soon as houses were allowed out and easily caught 150-200 fish over three days.

Hard houses are fishing 24 hours a day. Someone walking or wheeling out is fishing a few hours a day. Last winter day trippers averaged 6.5 hours fishing per trip and put 173,000 hours of fishing pressure on the lake. Hard houses averaged 41 hours per trip and put 1,580,000 hours of fishing pressure on the lake. The rapidly increasing number of wheelhouses and resulting increasing hours of fishing pressure will mean that fisheries management and limits will all have to be changed as well. There is no way the DNR can plan winter harvest not knowing if it will be a winter like last year when houses had easy access all of the lake or if it will be a winter like so far this year when houses have had no access to the lake. Last year houses had been on the lake for almost 1 month now.

 

34 minutes ago, MikeR77 said:

Just wondering how  they were in panic mode last year because they thought too many fish were being caught.

Too many fish were being caught from the State waters for the recovery agreement we had with the Band.  We were heading completely over the top of our "Safe Harvest" which would result in a complete shutdown of walleye harvest from the State waters. As it was we did go over the top but the Band was nice enough to allow us to continue walleye harvest until the agreement was reworked  The recovery appears to be over and the agreement with the Band has been reworked for the long term health of the lake.

 

 

[onceacop]

Sorry but after Winnie and Mille Lacs going downhill I cannot have complete faith in the DNR. Red lake has a significant unknown harvest IMO. I did my part using TIP with action being taken thankfully. The pressure is tremendous on the resource. But what do I know, I only base my observations on what I see and experience as a sportsman that follows the rules. I'm not a big lake specialist with the DNR.

[MikeR77]

Kelly,

 

I was hoping to get your thoughts. I hope your right on harvest rates being related to the amount of accessible water. 

 

We brought a skid house up 5 years ago to Red. It will not be moved to another lake so I want to see the fishery remain healthy. I am hoping past catch rates are not an anomaly. I make the 4 hour drive 4-5 times a year during the winter. I may be in the minority, but I would not have had a problem with a one fish limit as long as a person had the chance to have a 50-100 fish weekend. I also know this would have been very tough on the local resorts as it seems a lot of people base satisfaction on how many fish they can take home vs. number of  fish caught when traveling a bit of a distance.

 

I  liked how I could bring kids up to the house and watch them catch fish as though they were on a fly-in trip to Canada. I hope it is possible for this  to continue in the future.

[monstermoose78]

8 hours ago, MikeR77 said:

Kelly,

 

I was hoping to get your thoughts. I hope your right on harvest rates being related to the amount of accessible water. 

 

We brought a skid house up 5 years ago to Red. It will not be moved to another lake so I want to see the fishery remain healthy. I am hoping past catch rates are not an anomaly. I make the 4 hour drive 4-5 times a year during the winter. I may be in the minority, but I would not have had a problem with a one fish limit as long as a person had the chance to have a 50-100 fish weekend. I also know this would have been very tough on the local resorts as it seems a lot of people base satisfaction on how many fish they can take home vs. number of  fish caught when traveling a bit of a distance.

 

I  liked how I could bring kids up to the house and watch them catch fish as though they were on a fly-in trip to Canada. I hope it is possible for this  to continue in the future.

Catching 50-100 how many are dying from being caught? I know Upper Red Lake is not deep but some people are not good about cutting a line to save a fish. They will rip the hook out to save the hook and the fish swam away and dies later. I love catch and release as well, but it does kill fish. The walleye fishing is great in some areas, but as mentioned before you can not just go where ever you want this year.  Maybe there was a huge shiner hatch, perch, crappies, or some other minnow that is providing easy meals for the walleyes. Everyone I have talked to is still excited about the walleye bite they are finding. I hope you when you get up there your kids have fun and remember sometimes it is not the best fishing but you can make the trip awesome by coming up with other things to do. Maybe trying to catch a huge pike or going to look for moose, deer, grouse, or take a drive to see if you can find a elk. Good Luck

[Weathertite]

Spot On Monstermoose , To me its about creating a fun and memorable experience. Its what you do with the day , Not How many fish you catch, Deer you Harvest , Birds you shoot , ETC . Its about being able to be in the outdoors doing what you enjoy doing and teaching friends and family about the outdoors. Its not whether you win or lose , its how you play the game.   Mike

[fishin4sum]

Good for you Weathertite.  I hate losing and I love winning ;)

[Hoyt4]

I have not problem with how the winter bite is going. Hope people thinks it's too slow maybe not come up :).A lot of bad ice still  and not being able to fish most the spots yet.

 

This will still end up being a good winter for Red. Fun place to get the kids out

[Weathertite]

Wasn't trying to offend anyone , Just pointing out that we may look at the trip by How many fish or animals we brought home rather than if we had fun and made Memories or possibly New Friends. That's All. Good Luck too all and have a Wonderful Holiday Season !!!  Mike

[Roosterslayer05]

On 12/23/2015, 7:58:45, monstermoose78 said:

Catching 50-100 how many are dying from being caught? I know Upper Red Lake is not deep but some people are not good about cutting a line to save a fish. They will rip the hook out to save the hook and the fish swam away and dies later. I love catch and release as well, but it does kill fish. The walleye fishing is great in some areas, but as mentioned before you can not just go where ever you want this year.  Maybe there was a huge shiner hatch, perch, crappies, or some other minnow that is providing easy meals for the walleyes. Everyone I have talked to is still excited about the walleye bite they are finding. I hope you when you get up there your kids have fun and remember sometimes it is not the best fishing but you can make the trip awesome by coming up with other things to do. Maybe trying to catch a huge pike or going to look for moose, deer, grouse, or take a drive to see if you can find a elk. Good Luck

He said he comes up during the winter.  Hooking mortality is almost zero during the winter.  Hooking mortality highly correlates with water temperature and depth.  The higher the water temperature the higher the hooking mortality.  There's plenty of scientific studies on this.

[fish_hunt_guy]

To the original poster to answer your question....yes the bite has been a bit slower overall than in the previous few years early ice. 

[wetaline1]

How about the after sunset bite? Has there been much of one??

[RiverChuckNorris]

Yes and it seems to improve each year as the season goes on, the water "settles" and clarity improves.

[JacobG]

There has been a steady bite after dark and before sunrise. Unfortunately most guys are getting off the ice when it's dark and very few are venturing out before sunrise. There was a group up last week that did fair after dark. And had little success during the day. Once the houses are on the water and we have customers fishing round the clock we will see a more significant night bite

[Hoyt4]

We have and having great luck just before sunrise. Our group I would say has been doing well and does not seem to be off pace from the years past. Once we get better ice we can make a couple moves but we are still getting good numbers.

That bite for us before the sun is up can be our best bite. They are not shy and just smack the bait.

During the day this year seems like the dead stick will get hit a lot compared to jigging rods. Shiners on the dead sticks seems to be best.

[redneckdan]

Last I was over there the daytime ticket was the fattest rainbow in your bucket on a plain hook. Fish would come in an look at the spoon then take the minnow as they were leaving.

[kgpcr4]

On Tuesday, December 22, 2015 11:00:04, MikeR77 said:

Kelly,

 

I was hoping to get your thoughts. I hope your right on harvest rates being related to the amount of accessible water.

 

We brought a skid house up 5 years ago to Red. It will not be moved to another lake so I want to see the fishery remain healthy. I am hoping past catch rates are not an anomaly. I make the 4 hour drive 4-5 times a year during the winter. I may be in the minority, but I would not have had a problem with a one fish limit as long as a person had the chance to have a 50-100 fish weekend. I also know this would have been very tough on the local resorts as it seems a lot of people base satisfaction on how many fish they can take home vs. number of  fish caught when traveling a bit of a distance.

 

I  liked how I could bring kids up to the house and watch them catch fish as though they were on a fly-in trip to Canada. I hope it is possible for this  to continue in the future.

It wont be good forever as even though you only kept one of the 50-100 you caught many of those will die. Kept one and killed 10. C&R is a joke Fish still die even though they are not kept. A guy who catches 3 keeps them and quits kills fewer fish than a guy who catched 60 and keeps none of them.

 

Edited December 28, 2015 by kgpcr4

[JacobG]

C&R is a joke? I disagree with that statement. If you are catching fish outta 25-30 feet of water......heat of the summer, sure some mortality. But catching fish in 10 FOW when water is 38 degrees? Not a problem. Yes some fish will have delayed mortality. But have faith and believe that other fisherman are just as good of a sportsman as you are and use proper release tools. Those fish are fine. To think that 1 in 5 or 10 is gonna swim away and die is not even close. Last fall I caught a 51" Muskie, the same 50" muskie I caught 2 years ago. I have caught the exact same Muskie on a few occasions. There have been many documented catches such as mine. Believe me catch and release works! 

There have been several articles written by biologists on delayed mortality for both open water and ice fishing. Some very noted biologists at that. 

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On 12/23/2015 at 9:32 PM, MikeR77 said:

It seems like the bite is a lot slower than the past 3-4 years for early ice. Our group has been up the past 4 years as soon as houses were allowed out and easily caught 150-200 fish over three days. From the reports I am seeing this year, it seems to be very slow in comparison.  Best reports I am seeing is 20-25 fish per day for 2-3 fisherman and most seem to be in the 12-15 fish range.

Does anyone have possible explanations for this?  I know the lake had a lot of fish taken out last year. This fall though, the DNR made it sound the lake had more fish than anticipated and said the lake was under harvested or had too many lbs of spawning size walleye. If that was the case, shouldn't we see more fish being caught?  Or are there some other factors.

 

Just wondering how  they were in panic mode last year because they thought too many fish were being caught. Then changed their mind this fall and said they may have too many spawning sized walley  

 Now, from reports I am reading, and from people I have talked to who have fished the lake this year, it seems the catch rate is down significantly. I know the DNR and Band have to come to an agreement, so that may be one factor. I also know that a 15-20 fish day is a great day on most lakes, just not what I have been used to (or spoiled by) over the past 4 years on Red.

I here u. My first year there this year. 20 or so on our best day with 2 guys. But our average was 18" or above. Took a while to get a few under 17"

[Living_The_Dream]

We had no trouble catching fishing, 2 days of fishing and I caught 88 walleyes.  Sure there was times 1-1.5 hrs went by with no fish, but then the fish would come through and we would catch 3 fish every 10 minutes for 30-40 minutes.  It is all about location, location, location when you fish URL.

[Hoyt4]

Another great weekend on Red we did very well before sunrise again. Just for us you have to work the fish a little more at night but you could still get them to bite. Nice thing no one near us and not a lot of traffic all our fish were caught in 7 ft to 9.5 of water all weekend.

[kelly-p]

I think the next week or so will show how the bite is as the roads on this side of the lake are finally starting to break out and cover some lake.   Anything plowed or drug down now will freeze some ice down with the cold spell coming this weekend. I only go on Hillman's or Beacon 's roads so that is all I really know. I didn't get a chance to talk to Buddy Hillman but looking across the lake it looked like he was working towards the "Fish Eye" area. Today Beacon's was able to clear a road off to the area I call "Hardbreak". That is where we used to like to START the winter season so you can see how far behind we are compared to other years.

  After the cold nights Saturday and Sunday we should be in good shape to be able to move around. The cold weather will contract the ice sheet so there will be a lot of new cracks showing up. After weeks of 20 degrees these -15 to -20 nights could cause some wide cracks so keep your eyes off the GPS and watch what is ahead of you.

[Muskiemanzan13]

I've been up twice this year and I've yet to notice a difference. Between two guys in about 15-20 hrs of fishing we pulled 88 walleyes with a 24" and a 26" being the big fish of the trip. This year it seems slower because the masses haven't made it out there in trucks and wheel houses yet. The reports will come. Just be patient and let the cold do its thing.

Good luck,
-zander