Red Lake report

7 of us cheese heads from Eau Claire went to Red Lake on the 9th, 10th, and 11th of Jan. for the world famous crappie fishing…3 days, 5 crappies between all of us. We probably caught 40 Walleyes, a dozen Perch, and 1 35 in. Northern…Nobody was catching Crappies at all, guide says it was to warm. Walleyes will be legal starting this spring and will make the fishing on Upper Red a LOT more enjoyable. Will definetly go back next winter. The Crappies we did catch were on glow jigs, pesky Walleyes were on anything.. Never thought I’d say pesky eyes but when you cant keep um, pesky fits. Red Lake = sub zero weather..good luck! mikest1r

Next winter should be a good time… constant walleye action thru the ice is a hoot.

What was the ‘average’ size of the walleyes you were icing?

Jim, smallest eye was 13in. biggest 20in. ave. 15 to 17 inches. most were caught with in a foot of the bottom.Very healthy looking fish, nice girth and color. went out from West Wind 3.4 miles on GPS, around 15 ft. of water. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply… those sound like nice eaters. Or at least they will be this spring.

Mike,
I sure thought that 15 feet would be alot further out than 3.4 miles. From what I remember last year out of WW, that distance would be easily under 10′.
Jack..

Has anyone heard if the Crappie bite was picking up at all? A little more than a week and JohnL and I are making the trip.

I haven’t heard of anything so far. We’re going out of Bear PAw I think! I’ll send a PM with my number. Give me a jingle!

I live in Bemidji and get the report on a regular basis. It is still the same old story. Walleyes are biting like crazy and most people are catching 1-3 crappies if any at all. It also sounds like the big pike are getting a little more active. You can also check out Roger’s Campground website. He gives a pretty honest and recent report. Here is the link: http://www.rogerscg.net/welcome_page.htm Good Luck!

Just got back from URL…7 guys, thurs – sat. 16 crappies…11 on thursday, 2 friday, and 3 sat. I would not say lots of walleyes or perch, but enough caught during the day to keep you awake. Drilled lots and lots of holes…ice was anywhere from 12 inches to 30. When the walleyes, perch, northerns or the few crappies showed up on the marcum, they were hitting it. Only had a few times the whole trip that fish would come on the screen and not take a swing at the bait. I hope it picks up…everybody we talked with up there says the same thing. Eight shacks with 0-1 crappie…next shack has 2 or 3 and maybe one shack comes in with 10 or so. There was some reports of heard from someone who heard from someone that so and so caught alot of crappies last night…but no reports of where. Good luck to everyone heading up…keep us posted on how you do.

Just got back myself. We got had similar luck. We did manage to get a 41 1/2 inch pike on 4# test though the hole after a 2 hr 35 min+ fight! Where did you go out of?

Just got back last night. 2 of us managed 14 crappie, about 10-15 perch and about the same number of Walleye. Walleye size ranged from 6 inches to about 22 inches. The majority of our crappie came mid morning thru about 4 pm. Caught a few after dark Saturday nite – but not a single one after dark on Friday. Went out on Hillman’s road, and got away from the crowds. Heard of 1 group of 7 that brought in 50 crappie – and heard a lot more than came in empty handed. Overall, a great trip.

We went out of Rogers thursday…got away from the crowds..drilled holes all day…then drilled one hole and bang/bang 3:15 p.m…..yelled to the other guys to come over…drilled a circle around my hole…pulled 11 out with probably 4-5 lost on the way up…15 minutes and gone. Drilled more holes in each direction and never found them again. Went out in the same area friday…one guy caught two crappies in my same hole from the previous day…we searched the in every direction…only two for the day. Sat. we went out of WW…BearPaw Guide said he had some of his shacks on a few fish, so we got away from the big group..drilled ALOT of holes all day sat. until 8 p.m. 3 fish from one guy at 11 a.m. and that was all she wrote. It does sound like hillmans is the best right now…but it seemed to me that either the schools are pretty small, or they are moving through pretty fast. Lost a couple big northerns that would hit…scream line out and break the line…I couldn’t imagine the fight to get one of those in on 4# test. Great job.

How’s the ice? Are you able to get around off the plowed roads with a 4 wheeler?

Thanks,

Matt

With a 4 wheeler, you should be fine about anywhere – just watch for drifts – found some slushy areas under the deeper snow. Good luck.

Are we fools for not bringing a few rattle reels along for a two night stay in a sleeper shack? I’ve never used a rattle reel before, also looking for information on how to target perch on URL. And any info. on what’s working well on tipups for Northern would be great. And one more thing, if someone could tell me the Crappie bite is really picking up that would be great!

Matt

Thats the kind of report I was waiting for….Not because you caught fish but you moved and drilled tons of holes and got fish. Guiding trips up there, thats exactly the only way you’ll take your limit home. Good to here that. Thnks fot the report.

A little belated but:

Fished Red Friday from 3 PM to Saturday 8 AM. Managed 2 – 13.5 inch crappies and one nice 38” pike (released). Two other crappies were lost at the hole. Perch were biting along with half dozen or so walleyes.

I was out of Hillmans – all the way to the end of the road and to the north ½ mile.

Regards,

Chris

4 of us Went out of WW dropped snowmobiles and proceeded to scout fish. started early, first light, about 11:00 found the fish, just went crazy in one hole, probably 30 fish out of that one hole. things slowed enough to allow a portable to be setup. that spot continued to produce fish. moved around more and found some again. We were back to WW by 5:00pm with our limit. Also had 23 perch, average size 10″, crappies were all 12-13″. We had a total of 85 fish for the day. Yes we worked at it but when it happens, it was great. I believe the keys to our success were: we stayed away from the crowd, looked for something different, rough ice surround by clear ice, and didn’t get locked down on any one location, drilled holes 10 at a time, probably 100 or more for the day.

Great post Frank,
that is the way to stay mobile to find and stay on fish. How is the ice conditions for bringing up my car soon. I have a delivery for YOU.
Jack..

SO there is some hope. We will be up the weekend of the 28th and plan on having wheelers and a sled to be very mobile. Last june 3 of us boated over 300 eyes in 2 days. It was nuts. We also faired pretty well on the crops for the first time. Never had that good of action on the ice but Im always hopeful and mobile.

Spent most of the weekend working on the ice. conditions were good. most places had 24″ plus ice. if you go cross country you could still find places of slush. Fishing seemed to be better on friday and slowed as the weekend progressed. Suspect it had to do with activity and the weather. This last week produced some of the best northern pike fishing i have ever seen or heard of. He is what i am aware of on the pike seen: wednesday a 26.5 pound fish on 6 lb test 5 miles out. Thursday 2 15pound fish from 2 guys spearing. Friday spearing produced a 27 lb. Saturday 2 40″ plus pike one 5 miles out one on the south shore. Sunday another monster 28lb on a tipup. Fish seem to be extra aggressive, and really fat getting ready for the spring. maybe this has something to do with the slow in activity as the weekend progressed, not sure. I know one thing, if i am out i will always have a cisco or sucker minow available.

Frank,
thanks, that really is some bruzzer Pike action. how long is a 28 pound Pike up there??? 45-47 inches ???? pretty cool. will try and call tonight.
Jack..

Are the perch getting bigger on Red lake?

Years past they were all about 7-8 inches.

A 10 inch perch is a keeper.

With the walleye and pike sizes i was amazed to see perch the size we did. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of catch and release size perch, but we have been seeing a larger size overall. Gotta love the perch in the frying pan, they are always the first to disappear!