upper red lake

Ill be heading out on the 1st of the year for a trip to upper red. just wondering how the bite is. i have heard there is upwards of 16 inches of ice on there so that will make travel easy enough.

I am currently up here right now. Yesterday fishing was great. Today its pretty slow. We are in 11 fow and there is 18 inches of ice where we are at.

We were up there last Saturday, fished from 9-5:30. Caught around 75 fish. It was a blast

I will be going up there this weekend and fishing through New Years… My advice would be to get away from the crowds like normal and do not feel like you “have” to fish all the way out on Center Bar… The farther away from people on Red has been the ticket for me over the years. Especially with good ice conditions there is no reason to clump up in one spot. My brother was up there last weekend and did very well with anything Red (nothing new) however he tryed other colors and they just did not seem interested. Red/Gold/Nickel Slender spoons were the ticket, along with some on the red forage minnow and also had fish taking the dead stick line with a fathead.

Getting back to where? to go on Red… I have always have used Westwinds Road or Hillman’s anyway there are numerous places to go out, however I tend to notice the the bite gradually gets deeper as the year goes on, so last weekend my brother did well in 8ft of water, now I am hearing that 11-12 ft is doing well… Stick with the 11-13 foot range and I think you will do well. Slow period for them was from 11-2pm and then morning and evenings were good with large schools coming through and they had multiple doubles.

Good luck

How is travel off road? Can a guy get around with his 1/2 ton pickup?

Quote:

---

How is travel off road? Can a guy get around with his 1/2 ton pickup?

---

As of last Saturday yes

I was there yesterday – went out of West Winds – and a person can drive ANYWHERE. Fishing was so-so, yet I didn’t jump around much at all. Fishing with a 9 year-old doesn’t lend itself to run-and-gun. Not when it’s 10 degrees anyway.

We caught most of our fish on deadsticks (red Forage Minnows or plain red hooks) and a few jigging.

17 inches of ice and we were about 2 1/2 miles out in 10 FOW. Good luck!

What is the northern like on this lake i have never fished it before. just curious

I,m heading up in the morning out of Up North Fishing, will try and post something and pictures if I’m able to there. If not, when I get back on the 1st.

Just got back today. 15+ inches of ice can pretty much drive anywhere just don’t cross the pressure ridges. I would suggest Rogers on the South side or Hillmans on the East side. I would suggest getting bait in Grand Rapids or somewhere before you get to the lake as some of the resorts were having trouble keeping bait in stock. Fishing was good like someone else said get away from the crowd and be as quiet as possible in the house. Red is pretty shallow and the fish hear pretty well. 1 39″ Northern and 1 23″ Walleye and close to limits on 2 days of fishing. Good Luck