Red lake trip

My brother a few of our buddies and my self are leaving for red this upcoming Thursday 11 29, we do it every year. Normally leave after Thanksgiving dinner but it didnt pan out for all of us and new families this year. We do the same thing every year. Travel all over the lake in the day time. And then we each bring cots and camp in our portables. We are staying out of Hillmans. Not much sleeping ever happens. Maybe a few drunken naps through out the weekend and then crash hard Sunday night and regret not sleeping when the work alarm rings at 4am Monday.

Is any one else going to be up there that weekend.

I will be on Saturday. Leaving the wheeler home so walking is my option. Might regret that

Walleye Hungry wrote:

I will be on Saturday. Leaving the wheeler home so walking is my option. Might regret that

Buddy is up now. Says 9 inches of ice

Snow cover?

What kind of portables do you guys sleep in? I’ve always wanted to camp out in my pop up

I sleep in the otter resort, other guys have the size smaller. It’s pretty awesome. I set the cot up and two rattle reels. Make a bed for my german shepherd in the sled and it stays cozy.

One guy has a clam six pack I think and brings ply wood for a make shift floor. But he uses a lot of propane

Walleye Hungry wrote:

Snow cover?

No snow cover

I’m leaving tommorrow. Any one else going up?

Leaving Friday morning. Will definitely get there for the night bite. Three of us staying in a cabin at West Winds resort until Sunday. Can’t wait to get on a hot walleye bite!

Wanted to be up there this weekend, we sleep in our portables too, but we all have eskimo 9416 insulated pop ups. We bring the four wheelers and generator so we have can have fans running and cook. Looks like we are going next weekend and appears its gonna be colder.

Good luck

Brandon S wrote:

Leaving Friday morning. Will definitely get there for the night bite. Three of us staying in a cabin at West Winds resort until Sunday. Can’t wait to get on a hot walleye bite!

The weather looks very promising

My daughter and I will be up this weekend.

I will be up Saturday, probably heading out of JR’s.

Heading up early Friday morning, parking an ice castle at JR’s and running portables from there.

I just got back from Red on Monday. Stayed at Bear Paw. We ran our wheelers out of Hillmans staked road. He had it staked out two miles. Zero snow cover so have a plan to anchor your portables and a way to bank it as the wind has been howling on the lake. I use a chain to wrap around the skirt, it really helps. The bite was HOT. No need for shiners, fats worked just fine on a dead stick. If you don’t have a wheeler the drag is pretty easy, just plan on walking quite a ways. Most people are out over a mile. Our best fishing was in 10′ of water. Good luck!

Thanks big beard I appreciate the input. We are bringing wheelers with. I will plan on bringing lots of fat heads. Hope the bite stays hot and the wind let’s up

Was out of Jrs Black Friday and Saturday and smashed them in 8fow and 12fow. Did not matter a blind person could have caught 30 fish easy. We missed many also, I blame it on cheap hooks that come on the jigs I was using.

I’ve always wanted to do this trip.

For guys sleeping in portables…. do you use Big Buddy heater or something similar that is safe heat? And/or bring a portable CO detector?

lindyrig79 wrote:

I’ve always wanted to do this trip.

For guys sleeping in portables…. do you use Big Buddy heater or something similar that is safe heat? And/or bring a portable CO detector?

Yes that’s what I use is a big buddy and co detector. But I leave it off at night. Get it scorching hot before bed and then turn it off. If I get cold and wake up I’ll re warm the house. The big buddy supposedly turns off when oxygen runs thin but I dont want to test that while sleeping

Just an FYI-
Plenty of places around the lake that rent houses on shore. Kinda nice to have a place to lay your head, change clothes, make a morning pot of coffee before heading out onto the lake.

Francis K wrote:

Just an FYI-
Plenty of places around the lake that rent houses on shore. Kinda nice to have a place to lay your head, change clothes, make a morning pot of coffee before heading out onto the lake.

Yeah I know it. It’s our tradition to do the portable camping. It’s a ton of fun, not torture by any means. Otherwise I’d pull the wheel house

Some resorts (West Wind, Bear Paw) are planning on letting single axle houses out, pulled by a wheeler. Not a bad option for basecamp!

Leaving after work of Friday. Fishing all day Saturday with a half day on Sunday. Staying in a 5-man house on shore through Rogers.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
I’ve always wanted to do this trip.

For guys sleeping in portables…. do you use Big Buddy heater or something similar that is safe heat? And/or bring a portable CO detector?

Yes that’s what I use is a big buddy and co detector. But I leave it off at night. Get it scorching hot before bed and then turn it off. If I get cold and wake up I’ll re warm the house. The big buddy supposedly turns off when oxygen runs thin but I dont want to test that while sleeping

I just run a sunflower in the eskimo 9416i. we crack the windows right above the heater and then usuallu have a couple other windows cracked as well. generally have a fan going as well. we bring a co detector with and it has never read anything.

Francis K wrote:

Just an FYI-
Plenty of places around the lake that rent houses on shore. Kinda nice to have a place to lay your head, change clothes, make a morning pot of coffee before heading out onto the lake.

the early ice cots are some of my favorite. If you go in your missing the night bite

I’ll be heading up to Red for the 1st time on the 13th of December. Any particular resorts that I should be getting access from or are they all good with good fishing options?

Will have truck or wheeler pending ice conditions.

Went to red lake for the first time last year. West wind is great, they will take care of you.

you guys are making me jealous
I have one more tag to fill before fishing begins

bearcat good luck up there!

curleytail wrote:

I’ll be heading up to Red for the 1st time on the 13th of December. Any particular resorts that I should be getting access from or are they all good with good fishing options?

Will have truck or wheeler pending ice conditions.

Hillman’s has the best road from North end. West wind is really nice but too rich for my blood. pretty sure road passes are the same price all over the lake. Obviously there is no snow cover so go anywhere the resort says is safe. Like others have said, anyone can catch walleye out there. UPRL has no structure so get to the first break and you will pound them likely. I kind of miss that big lake but it spoiled me for life.

I like going to hillmans. It’s not a real fancy place and I think that’s what I prefer. The fishing is always good and they always treat me great.