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Open Water Advice

broken line

By broken line
in Upper Red Lake Fishing Reports - Hunting

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broken line Community Regular

broken line

Posted
Posted

Will be arriving to the big lake tomorrow morning and camping at Big Bog Park. From there, we have no plan as this will be this first time to Red on open water. Looking for any basic advice from you experienced folks as far as where to start, what depth, bait of choice and so forth. In a perfect world, it would be nice to bring home pics of crappies, pike and walleyes. Thanks for any suggestions.

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Pikeslayer Community Regular

Pikeslayer

Posted
Posted

Pray for lightwind,Go out far enough so you have 6 feet of water,go to the left,troll slow with a jig and minnow. If you dont get fish there move in shallower!I troll all the way up the shore past the cabins to the clearing where the power lines are,I also like to zig-zag when Im trolling.Go slow for craps and eyes,faster for pike! confused.gifIm sorry,I should have said when you come out of the river go to the RIGHT not the left!I hope sumday my wife will teach me how to edit on this thing! grin.gif

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crappeyeslayer Enthusiast

crappeyeslayer

Posted
Posted

I have also never fished up there during open water and would like some advice on what methods work the best? Jig and minow colors? Twister tail or not? What about lindy rigging? Cranks? Or just plain floating with a slip bobber?

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Scott K Grand Master

Scott K

Posted
Posted

I am also coming up this weekend, and was wondering what I should have for live bait, shiners, crawlers, fatheads leeches? All?

Sorry to jump in on your post but thought it may help you out also.

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dolsmi Enthusiast

dolsmi

Posted
Posted

Fished Monday with 3 friends in boat.

On the Lake about noon out of the public access in Waskish.

Went about 500 yards north of access and drifted south.

Every fish caught was marked on the GPS.

Caught 59 eyes, (1 was 29", released) 1-15# northern, 1 crappie and 2 sheephead.

1/4 oz. chrome color jig with either shiners or fatheads bouncing them off the bottom.

Left lake at 4:00.

Awesome day for us. This was all of our first trip to RED Lake during open water.

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Pikeslayer Community Regular

Pikeslayer

Posted
Posted

Like I said,go north of the river,thats where I have got all my good fishing.I used to stay at Hudecs when I camped up there and Donny always put me on fish!He may not be there but the fish didnt go no where!I hope!! wink.gifwink.gif

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PerchJerker Grand Master

PerchJerker

Posted
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We went out Saturday and Sunday.

First order of business was to get away from the flotilla of boats in front of the tamarack river. It's shallow water and crowded, and we wanted to fish somewhere that wasn't in the middle of a mob. In the area we fished there were usually only half-a-dozen boats in sight at any time.

We started by drifting jigs and minnows (shiners or fatheads) or by moving around with the electric motor and pitching jigs. And watching our electronics and setting icons over good areas. This let us identify which areas held fish, and get a feel for if the fish were along the break or off the break, and if they were concentrated or spread out. I prefer jigging over rigging but the guys I was with mixed in some rigging with the jigging.

When the fish seemed to be spread out we switched to trolling cranks. When we found fish that were concentrated or when they seemed to be tight to the break we anchored and either pitched jigs or used slip bobbers. When the action slowed we were quick to pull up the anchor and start moving around again.

We caught fish all day long and the action was incredible at times. When we were anchored we had several stretches where one of us would catch fish on 4 or more consecutive casts. We had one stretch where all 3 of us each caught fish on 6 consecutive casts each before one guy broke the streak. That was 18 walleyes on 18 casts, and we were all casting in different directions - that was incredible. And fun.

Most of our jigging was with glow pink and white, although we used other colors like blue, white and green with just as good of success. I mostly used 1/8 ounce, occasionally dropped down to 1/16 ounce with a fathead. The guys that were rigging were using 1/4 ounce weights and plain hooks with a bead. For crankbaits we mostly used shad raps, shallow shad raps, and little rippers, in colors like clown, chrome blue, and firetiger.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

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broken line Community Regular

broken line

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Thanks to all for the advice....leaving to go north in an hour. Will post (hopefully all good) results on Saturday.

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