This weekends guide trip took me to Upper Red Lake and Lake of the Woods again. Friday afternoon we arrived on Red at about 2:30 PM and after drilling about 60 holes we were on fish. The bite was fast and furious while it lasted but unfortuately that wasn’t very long. It was long enough for my guest Alan Corzine to catch a limit of nice slabs in about 10 minutes. Here is Alan with a couple dandy’s for the wall.
We spent the majority of the weekend concentrating on Lake of the Woods Walleye. This weekend we fished anywhere from 21-26 miles out. The drive was well worth the effort as we iced over 120 walleye/Saugers on Saturday which is not bad for two guys! This picture is Alan with a couple really nice LOTW walleye that came in just under the protected slot.
Scenic Tackle Jigging spoons were the ticket for the day once again. We worked various areas and depths throughout the day but primarily we stuck with fish that were structure oriented. Some times we fished on top as shallow as 18 ft and out deep as 34 ft off the sides. The next picture is my two big ones for the day (yes, that is my under that guidewear..LOL)
Because of the great walleye action, we were able to spend some time targeting Perch. Those LOTW perch are unbelievable, but can be hard to target at times. Although it is a little early for the good perch fishing, we were able to hunt down several of those LOTW Jumbo’s. The next picture is Alan with a 13 1/4 inch perch that will weigh in excess of 1.75 pounds. Alan was fortunate enough to get two perch for the wall on this trip.
A couple more pictures from the weekends trip. Get a look at this 37 INCH POUT. This is my personal best and the biggest one I have ever seen alive.
Nice fish.
Man, I hope you kept that pout! Freshwater lobster!
Here is another picture of Alan with a 13 inch perch
Oh yeah, we had some spare time on Saturday afternoon so we decided to see if we could catch a few Tullibee. Alan said he likes smoked Tullibee so that was good enough for me. Here is Alan with a nice Tullibee.
Hey Scott,
I looked up the state record Burbot..it came from Lake of the Woods and is 19 pounds 3 ounces, it was 36.25 inches long with a girth of 22.75 inches….you might have a state record on your hands there…you should call the DNR!!!!
JB
I saw that fish from LOW, I think it was 2 years ago. The Girth on the state Record was huge compared to the snake I caught. I would guess this one to be around 16-18 pounds. That is just a guess though.
Scott,
Nice report. The pics, and those fish really get the juices flowing
dave
I am heading up to Red this weekend and was wondering if the fish were still 3-4 miles out?
Eric Ahlstrom
I have a Snomobile and trap.
Erik, Yes, the crappies are still 3-4 miles out, but they are also 7-8 miles out and lots of places in between. It is more a matter of finding a good sized school because they use the entire lake…just a matter of finding them.
As for my next trip. I may be putting together one in Mid March yet and it would require everyone bringing their own portables and snowmobiles. I would just be the tour guide. If you are interested, let me know.
From the pictures I’m seeing of Red lake crappies this year, it looks like there might be a strong year class coming behind the big slab class of 1995. If thats the case, these fish will be around longer than some people think. Are you seeing evidence of this Scott??
There are definitely some fish from later year classes. 10-12″ fish. I know one guy who has had some scales aged. There are quite a few fish from the 2000 spawn out there. Also a few from 2002 spawn.
I’ll be heading up the 11-12th. Hopefully the big ones will be going.
Borch
For sure Derek. As Borch said, there appears to be at least 3 year classes present with the strongest being the 13-14 inch fish. But there are 11-12 inch fish from 2000 that are filling a big gap. I don’t think the crappies in Red are going anywhere fast. Who knows, the next big year class could be in the lake already, as the spring of 2003 was a nice year for crappie spawning.