Hi Sean
After reading ypur fishing report on the home page about 14″ & 15″ crappies being the norm for Red Lake, I gotta’ ask you two questions….
1) – What type of open water bite can a guy expect to see in the early spring after the ice goes out? Do you see the typical pre-spawn bonanaza that I guess I’m used to running into in my neck of the woods or is the late-ice bite the ticket to get in on those slab crappies?
2) – When can I come with my camera and ice/light gear to get after those slabs?! I heard mention that Hawger might be headed your way… “me too, me too!”
Thanks for the info.
H2O,
From now til the end of June the slabs are active. The last ice is unreal but my favorite time is ice out, just because I’m back in the boat. The bite is going wild already, but thats if you land on them, in about 2-3 weeks, it doesnt matter where you go, for the most part, they are literaly jumping out of the holes.
Then there is the walleyes and northern, opps, I mean huge northers, which are active now, but its pretty common to catch a bunch of 20-24″ walleyes and a kicker 10-20 lb. northern along with the slab crappies. Its a great trip, and if you haven’t been up here to try it out, your missing the boat. As for you coming up to try this out, I would be honored to bring you out ang show you what Northern Minnesota has to offer.
The crappie bite for numbers holds strong until Mid June, but ice out would be a great time.
A friend of mine fished Red lake 2 weekends ago and had good success. One thing bothered my though-he said that the lake is catch and release for walleyes, and the resort owners are having such success w/ crappie fisherman that they “suggest” that people kill any walleye caught before throwing them back. They are concerned that if the walleye recover that it will hurt the crappie fishery.
Anyone else heard stories like this? I found it a little hard to believe and harder to stomach.
Boy I would like to know where he heard this. The crappies have always, well at least from the early 80’s, been in Red. Most people never went to the 15′ mark for walleyes so from my knowlegde, they were rarely fished. Yes with the walleyes coming back strong, I think it will affect the crappies, but the resort owners will have plenty of business for those walleyes. I’m excited for the walleyes to come back and one can fish them early in the day in the shallows, the towards evening move out to catch some slabs. Red is an amazing fishery and in my eyes will always have something of unreal size or numbers to catch.
Sean,
A friend of mine, Mike Connors (Waseca, MN) just drove up with a load of Red Lake Crappies! He and two of his friends got over 100 nice ones, last night! He went out of Westwood Resort and rented a house that belongs to Kelly Petrowske (218-647-8652) who guides out of there. Mike Connors said Kelly puts his houses on the fish for them, for about $100.00 a night. The bite he says has been good for several days. They got one huge northern too, about 18 lbs… Hawger
Yep, Red is producing some unreal numbers right now. I plan on doing some winter guiding up there next year as well. Did you get a chance to look at the fish. I bet he had some dandies, I have yet to see a crappie smaller then 10″ this year, I caught that one on the first trip of the year, its the only small one I’ve caught. Well think about catching 100 crappies a piece in one day during the early spring bite. For the last two years, from five days after ice out til mid to the end of June you would not believe the number of fish that one catches. A note to that the first boat or open water trip last year, along with the 100’s of crappiers we figured we landed over 200′ walleyes. Well the season is getting hot up here and with me just having shoulder surgery on Feb. 5th, I won’t be able to hit the ice until at least the 15th, so I just keep trying to pass the good news and let others enjoy the great fishing on Red Lake.
Sean,
You have quite a treat up there. I was up there 4 times this winter and we iced crappies everytime. Of course some were better than others, but still cannot believe the average size of fish that continues to produce there. A close friend of mine has been fishing them for a long before the craze started up there. He just mentioned that the average size has slipped a little over the years, which is natural after all the attention Red has been getting.
Catching crappies out the boat is one of the things I look forward to doing every spring. Something magical about it, I cannot describe it. Although I have ever experienced Red on a open water bite, I can only imagine. I would be thrilled to death to join you guys as well.
James and Hawger, Let me know if you guys want some company up there when you go.
I think road trip would be ideal. Hook up the caravan!!
Ubet… I wish I was there right now! Man the weather is great.
Please twist my arm!
Hawger
Well we made the trip up there and boy are those crappies nice. Left home at 4:00 am Friday and headed to Winnie,fished for perch untill around 2:00 and headed to upper Red. My first trip there. Got on the lake about 4:30 or so (we went out by the baitstore Hillman’s).Cooked up some venison steaks,and fried potatoes and about the time we were starting to eat the bobbers started down. We had great luck for a couple of hours.We ended up keeping our 15 each and calling it a night. Boy was it snowing when we left. Everyone on the lake must of had there limit or 8:30 is the time they quit biting as everyone else decided to leave then too or so it seemed. A stream of lights in the mirror from shore all the way to the North cribs it was a remarkable sight. We ended up going to Grand Rapids for a hotel and left in the morning for Mille Lacs. Only caught one northern on Mille Lacs but that was the first time on the big pond for me. Boy I sure love that clear water of those lakes. Gave it up about 6:30 and headed home. Made it back about 10:00. 42 hours,Winnie,Upper Red,Mille Lacs with a friend and return safe it doesn’t get any better than that. Does any one have the number to the motel in Squaw lake. I forgot to grab their number for future trips. It was a great time and I plan on doing it again. Hey Hawger TWIST TWIST is your arm sore yet. You got to try those crappies.
Steve
DeeZee and Crew,
The crappie action is only getting better, each day as we get closer to the open water season.
Another great weekend for Red. Nothing real huge but 14-15″ crappies are tough to complain about. As for the open water bite, I will keep you posted on ice condition as we get closer to ice out, then all that are interested, I would be happy to lead the way. We could have a great day of fishing, a shorelunch and make it a trip that will be unforgettable to all that head this way.
Sean & All,
How was the bite this week? Have you been out at all? I was thinking about heading up this weekend but the Outdoor News report for this week says the bite has been spotty. True?
Thanks!
Well,
I was out this weekend and Friday night the bite was spotty, I was in the wrong spot, but Saturday, we went east of Rogers resort and stayed close to shore and we did real good. The main group of anglers are still fishing out on the pressure ridge, which is about 3 miles out, we fished about 3/4 mile out and there seemed to be alot of fish where we were. So is it spotty, yes but its going to get better every day as we get closer to ice out. I would suggest moving if your not catching fish the fish are biting throughout the day and into the evening if you find them. Try to find a patch of rough ice or white ice, these areas seem to hold a bunch of fish. Good Luck.
James, swing by Hastings on your way out of town! The Spring bite????Pogie lives up there…fishing crappies out of a 202 TS would be fun!!!
Sean,
I’m coming up on the 13th. we are staying up at LOW and plan on fishing the river , the lake ,and red. i’ll call you at the # listed when we get in on thur. maybe we can hook up. If the river is snappin you can come up and fish with us in the boat.
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