Upper Red Lake , Mn.- March 11th and 12th, 2005

Our group of 11 fishermen met at Hillman’s Store at 9 am on a snowy Friday morning. After contacting our guide, Pat Foster, by cell phone, we learned he was on the main road out about 1 mile waiting for our arrival. The wind was blowing and he advised us there was white out conditions. We were to drive out and meet him and then we traveled about 6 more miles out to the houses we would occupy for the next 2 days. After plowing our way out to his houses he said that without a GPS he would have had a hard time staying on his original road. With conditions like this we were forced to stay in the warmth of the houses and not venture around the area looking for a day bite.

We did pick up some perch and a few walleyes while waiting for the evening bite to start. The bite was slow for 2 of the 3 houses but the size was typical for what Red Lake has been known for. The crappies ranged from 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 pounds. Here is a partial group picture from Friday’s catch. These fish were cleaned and fried up for Saturday’s dinner, which was fantastic.

Here is a picture of Paul with one of the 2 fish that tipped the scales at 1-3/4 pounds. He was able to share the big fish pot with this one. The next picture shown is my house mates, Jack and Corey, with some nice fish.

Overall our group took 60 crappies for our 2 day stay. All 3 houses caught close to a dozen walleyes with the largest coming in at 4 pounds. All the walleyes we caught were very healthy looking. The proposed walleye opener for 2006 should be one that attracts fishermen from all over the state.