Red Lake Ice Conditions

Well we finally have ice on most of the lakes in the area, some fishable and some a few days out. Red lake is reporting 6-10 inches of great ice. The one downfall is the amount of snow. This last storm dropped a bunch of snow on us and at the time red was covered with ice. If your planning on fishing Red in the next few weeks, the best bet for transportation will be a snowmobil, it sounds like the ATV’s that are trying to pull houses are having a tough time. Well let us here those reports if you get up there.

Sean,

Thanks for the ice update! As I have never fished Red in the early ice conditions, what are some things to look for to help you locate fish quickly? Depths?

Are the schools of crappies generally much smaller compared to the February/March time frames?

Thanks Sean, look forward to hearing some reports from anyone that plans to get up there.

My buddy just called to say he was on his way back from Red. He went out of Rogers and they caught 32 Crappies with the biggest being 14 inches. All fish were caught on Red Glow Devil spoons. The fish were not tight, you need to move around.

The key for us early in the year is mobility. Having the ability to move quickly if your not getting bit in 10-15 minutes until locating a group will help in the numbers game. With the walleyes coming back strongly, one needs to stay out in that 13-14 foot of water, and move if your only catching walleyes, as the crappies and eyes tend not to hang out together.

As for baits selection the glow jigs in both red and green or blue have been best for us. Some days the want small minnows, others large, then others just the old wax worm, so having a variety of bait should also help. I perfer the South end over the North end, as the fish seem a bit more concentrated on the south end. The early season can be great….but the best time is normally late in the year.

If anyone gets up to red, which we know numbers of anglers do, lets hear about it.

Well as of this morning the Northland is making some serious ice as it dropped down to 10-15 below zero. 12-14 inches of great ice with very little slush on Red. They are pulling permanent houses out today. Jerry at Rogers Resort has a road plowed out 3.25 miles and reports only one small area of slush. Should be a great weekend for those slab crappies as it looks like the weather is going to warm up some. If your headed to Red…bring a tip-up and try fishing for those monster Northerns, they are pretty active right now, infact one angler pulled in a 45 inchers this week. The crappie bite is starting off much better then it did last season, anglers that are willing to be mobil if there not getting bit are having the best success.