Still slow??

[onceacop]

I drive squaw lake to deer river 5 days a week. I've been counting vehicles and fish houses for years until I reach the casino on hwy 2. Several years ago I would see about 40 vehicles, 15 with wheel houses on a typical pre weekend. This New Years weekend counts were like 100 and 135 vehicles on Thur and Fri, 1/2 of those pulling ice castles. Last year I flew the lake in my plane I counted 4400 houses on a weekend and that was batching in groups of 10 and 20 so some error. No doubt the lake will buckle under pressure. It's inevitable. I believe the reservation line to the west of URL is probably acting as a sanctuary of sorts. From the air the scene unfolding is truly unbelievable. I've fished Red for 46 years. Fond memories of driving out of Kansas City road and trying to keep holes open by kicking them. Bobber was a mass of ice. There were few houses on the lake. Most anglers were on the ice next to cars idling. The was the early and mid 70's.

[kelly-p]

21 hours ago, grab the net said:

A friend was leaving the lake this morning at about 10:30.  Thought there was close to 5 miles of trucks and wheel houses, bumper to bumper leaving about that time.  They estimated 5K houses on the lake. 

 

That was 1 ice road on the lake, there are 10 other roads on the lake.

Gunner, That I know that has never been studied. I know the roads, bars and gas stations do well.  

Big A The numbers all come from the DNR Creel Census. I'm pretty sure that the DNR does creel census on LOW. The Area Fisheries manager should have the numbers for LOW. I'm fortunate that I first met our Area manager when he was just starting with the DNR and I was a night guard at the Waskish hatchery, about 40 years ago.  We've been through a lot together.

jigginjim, I always felt that the key to fishing URL was to stay away from the crowds/roads where the noise is. Look where the people are and then go the other way.

[ANYFISH2]

43 minutes ago, kelly-p said:

 We've been through a lot together.

jigginjim, I always felt that the key to fishing URL was to stay away from the crowds/roads where the noise is. Look where the people are and then go the other way.

Kelly, sure sounds like it is getting hard to do just that with 10 roads and 5000 fish houses!

I sure hope there is just excess forage in the lake making the bite "slow", and not a slumping population.

 

On the other hand, I have always found it funny how you hear of a 5,6,7... walleye day as a slow day.  Some fisherman have just become awful spoiled.

That's a great day here in Central Minnesota, and most of the state.  Just because one drives  2, 3,4, or 5 hrs to fish, as Cookie would say the lake owes us Nothing.

[cookie129]

Dave the old timer  that owned a resort on the river told me  told me its a grand lake and  it owes me nothing.. Side note I did the math for my customers 61 fish caught 33 fishermen counting 9 kids Friday through sunday ish

[gunner55]

I was thinking more along the lines of the family run type businesses, like WMS was, but that aren't necessarily right on the lake Like grocery stores, places to eat. It's probably not even possible to do a study like I suggest or at the very least not feasible.

[kelly-p]

14 hours ago, gunner55 said:

I was thinking more along the lines of the family run type businesses, like WMS was, but that aren't necessarily right on the lake Like grocery stores, places to eat. It's probably not even possible to do a study like I suggest or at the very least not feasible.

A bait dealer I know that is about 75 miles from URL says that when the bite is going good on URL his sales double.

I got some more numbers on fishing pressure/angler hours. From 2007 until 2012 we averaged 718,172 angler hours each winter. Since then 2013 was 796,799, 2014 was 1,080,987, 2015 was 1,753,502 and 2016 was 1,639,913

[gunner55]

I remember you posting the numbers for 2015 & having a hard time wrapping my brain around them. Finally it was 3 times the pressure in less than 1/2 the time of open water that put a little perspective on it for me. Our favorite bait shop is about that distance from Waskish & I see a lot more traffic there too when the bite is on at URL. We've been doing most of our bait business at Fred's just outside of DR for 20+ years

[swamptiger]

[MNsetters]

I have never seen such little reported! I guess people only report when they hit it good.

[kelly-p]

12 minutes ago, MNsetters said:

I have never seen such little reported! I guess people only report when they hit it good.

I'm thinking the opposite could be happening. Some people are doing fairly good and they are not saying anything. Last year a person I know did real good over 1 mile from anyone and called one friend with the coordinates of where to meet him in 2 days. He got back in 2 days and found over 30 wheelhouses right on his coordinates. His one friend that he told had then told another friend who told another friend and on and on. The key to ice fishing URL has always been to stay away from the crowds but now a good report brings in a crowd. Some of the business have decided that fewer fishermen having good fishing could be a better long term plan then many fishermen having poor fishing so they are not reporting good fishing.

  Me, I think the fishing this winter is far better then last winter. Most of the people fishing URL now learned to fish URL by going deeper and deeper for the crappies. Before the crappie boom very few fishermen went deeper then 10 feet of water for walleyes. If we got into crappies or perch we knew we were too deep for the best walleye fishing. Most of my fishing this year has been in 8 feet of water or less. But also I'm standing outside and not sitting in a house. On URL you will usually get 4 or 5 times more fish standing outside or in a portable then you will in a house. I think it is from the noise or vibrations. shaky and Doc could set their house in 6 feet of water and do very good but they fished very quietly.  When fishing they had no radio or TV turned on, no generator, stepped softly and talk in whispers,,,,and they caught a lot of fish. I've sat with a camera and watched walleyes spook away when the heating stove ignited, when I dropped a rod on the floor and when I slid a chair across the floor. That is why all of our rental houses had a rubberized floor, to dampen the noise. Every year more and more people are fishing in houses rather then standing outside or in portables and I wonder if that isn't going to change how many fish are caught for each hour of "fishing pressure"/angler hours.  Sure it is nice to sit in a warm house watching TV while fishing but at least on URL I think you will also catch less fish. It will interesting to see if the DNR creel census starts to show a lower catch per hour as the percentage of people fishing from wheelhouses increases. 

[gunner55]

A lot of good points there kp & many of them are not new, at least to me. People in the know on URL have been making similar points for a long time. Almost since then end of the crappie boom days & by the beginning of the wheelhouse onslaught for sure 

[MNsetters]

I have been not using the generator this year nearly as much,thinking thar it may be spooking the fish. To tell the truth I haven't noticed any difference on the bite with it on or off. I do run it in back of the truck, and park 100' feet away.

[Fishalittle]

I haven't posted in awhile and unfortunately it isn't because the bite is hot....we have had 2 trips of 3-4 days and found a tough bite. Some of it is caused by the ridges and not being able to move around as much. Pressure was high around Christmas but this weekend we saw a lot less houses on the northeastern end of the lake. Have fished in a portable and in a wheelhouse and its been a tough go. Maybe the fish are shallow, maybe they have moved, maybe I just haven't been able to hit the right spot. We have tried from 8-13 feet and fish the portable away from the crowd. The weather yesterday was wonderful and I even had a 5 and 7 year old wanting to fish on the ice out in the open, hoping to catch something. Last 5 years have been great, this year scares me......

 

Good to hear your catching some fish Kelly. Miss seeing your on ice adventures! Keep having fun!

[auggie78]

When you say this year scares you do you think the pressure has decreased the walleye population? 
 

Heading to URL this weekend so hopefully we find a decent bite.

[halad]

Certainly didn't increase it.

[bowhuntermitch]

Headed up on our annual Red Lake Remote trip on Friday and fishing until Sunday. Hopefully this warm weather and being on the far far north side of the lake away from the masses increases odds! 

[onceacop]

11 hours ago, auggie78 said:

When you say this year scares you do you think the pressure has decreased the walleye population? 
 

LMAO

What you can't see from 18000 feet are the thousands of fish-houses, just the road complex. Been monitoring this for years. Pressure and time folks, pressure and time!

                                                                                                                                            

 

[cookie129]

wow what a shot

 

[side_laker]

That's an impressive photo 

[Fishalittle]

21 hours ago, auggie78 said:

When you say this year scares you do you think the pressure has decreased the walleye population? 
 

Heading to URL this weekend so hopefully we find a decent bite.

  Yes the pressure has decreased the walleye population. My question is this....what is the target walleye population goal? I do believe there may have been an abundance of fish a few years back that would not be healthy for the lake either. Are we at the "proper fish level" now and this will be the typical pattern moving forward or where are things at? Only lake surveys and biologists can tell that story. You still see some reports of excellent fishing but I have heard a lot more poor reports this season than prior years but there are some environmental differences also....(snow levels, pressure ridges, cracks).

 

I don't make the trip to red to be able to fill my freezer.....I make the trip for my kids to have action and make memories. This last trip was a slow one but we had a beautiful 36" pike come visit and made some great memories as it tangled all the lines for my wife and daughters. I was called back to the house to assist as I was off setting up the portable for our next searching spot. Made it just in time to pull it out of the hole for her! Lots of smiles and some wide eyes from my youngest daughter!

9 hours ago, onceacop said:

 

Can you provide a date for this photo? Nice shot for sure, thanks for sharing!

[onceacop]

1/15/17

[kelly-p]

1 hour ago, Fishalittle said:

I do believe there may have been an abundance of fish a few years back that would not be healthy for the lake either. Are we at the "proper fish level" now and this will be the typical pattern moving forward or where are things at? Only lake surveys and biologists can tell that story.

From what I understand the walleye population is still a little high for the long term health of the Red Lakes.

 

1 hour ago, Fishalittle said:

You still see some reports of excellent fishing but I have heard a lot more poor reports this season than prior years but there are some environmental differences also....(snow levels, pressure ridges, cracks).

A perfect example of that is that Buddy just got across that pressure ridge Sunday so Hillman's road is just now getting to their normal fishing areas.

Awesome pictures once a cop. I'm getting old but I can remember when if there were 10 of us fishing on Center Bar it was too crowded.   Since those pictures were taken both Hillman's and Beacons have extended out another 2 miles.

[Vickie]

Whose road is that at the bottom of the picture? I am thinking that one of JR's roads is the one that goes off at a diagonal, the second road from the bottom of the picture. The road I am asking about seems more toward the reservation line.

 

Thanks.

[kelly-p]

The bottom road is Boondocks Landing.  Battle River Rentals and Chad Benson.

[monstermoose78]

My brother hammered walleyes and perch . Him and his friend ended up with 70 eyes caught and kept their limit and had 30 perch from 6 feet of water.

[ozzie]

really neat to see the lake from the aerial view!  Cool to see all the roads and the paths out there.  Kinda fun to look at the road systems and name what resort they are from...