Recent Report on URL

Just got back from a parts of 3 day trip to Beacons on Upper Red Lake. They have 9-11″ ice out to the 1st crack. Water is very stained due to all the rain runoff from bogs this fall. They put out a Steel bridge on Sunday allowing for ATV or snowmobiles out another mile to a 2nd crack. 8-9″ of good ice in that segment with the water clearing by the outside crack. The resort is being careful restricting traffic to these areas that they have found safe.Fishing was good but slower than normal for early ice. Several fish coming in from the side 2-4′ off the bottom over 11 fow. Need to keep one lure high. Bobber rods worked early and late but not much during the day. Fish are nice sized with several in the 21-23″ range,…fun! Take time to put ur transducer in a dedicated hole as the big ones put up a tussle. Body baits didn’t work all that well. Tingler spoons and jigs better. One crappie caught. We ate a bunch, brought a limit home, and released the fish from the last morning. Last morning abbreviated so we could get home ahead of the snow.

Thanks for the report! Will be up there on Friday and will report back

Thanks for the report! I’m headed up there the second week of December to break my Upper Red Lake cherry and cant hardly wait. (I have literally had dreams of setting the hook into some fat and sassy walleyes for the last two weeks…) What do you think the odds are that we will be able to stay on the ice in a 4 person ice castle? I would think there would be enough ice by then, but who knows…

jech84 wrote:

Thanks for the report! I’m headed up there the second week of December to break my Upper Red Lake cherry and cant hardly wait. (I have literally had dreams of setting the hook into some fat and sassy walleyes for the last two weeks…) What do you think the odds are that we will be able to stay on the ice in a 4 person ice castle? I would think there would be enough ice by then, but who knows…

The weather forecast for this weekend does not look good. Could get up to a foot of snow and heavy winds. Both are bad news for the ice right now. I wouldn’t count on being able to take a wheel house out by the second weekend in December especially if they get the full brunt of the predicted snowfall.

I’ll do my best to chime in as the weekend progresses but no promises due to service. Weather looks rough. Bite today was not great but we also didn’t try too hard to get away from the crowds. Everything came on deadsticks plain red hook with a minnow. Actually pulled up a burbot believe it or not. No rhyme or reason as far as putting something loud down, something quiet, etc. SO MANY GD PEOPLE HERE. Will check back in tomorrow with a full day under our belt and hopefully better info. Heard toward the pressure ridge was better out in 12+

Thanks MS Steve. Add any updates as anyone is able…. planning to come up the first weekend of Dec barring any significant deterioration of conditions.

moustachesteve wrote:

I’ll do my best to chime in as the weekend progresses but no promises due to service. Weather looks rough. Bite today was not great but we also didn’t try too hard to get away from the crowds. Everything came on deadsticks plain red hook with a minnow. Actually pulled up a burbot believe it or not. No rhyme or reason as far as putting something loud down, something quiet, etc. SO MANY GD PEOPLE HERE. Will check back in tomorrow with a full day under our belt and hopefully better info. Heard toward the pressure ridge was better out in 12+

that lake spoiled me for life! I never plan on returning due to the massive amount of people like you stated! Only lake on the planet where you can catch close to 100 eyes in a day. Did it twice in the spring. Imagine how well the natives are doing on the other 87% of the lake

eyeguy507 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>moustachesteve wrote:</div> Imagine how well the natives are doing on the other 87% of the lake

Deleted due to the idiotic statement made above…… fished URL since 2002, it’s easy to see where the problem is the last 5+ years.

Fished Friday the 29th out of Jr’s and it was slow. 2 walleyes for the 2 of us. Fished anywhere from 8-11′ of water. Pretty similar story from everyone we talked to. Oh well still good to get out for the first time

xplorer wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eyeguy507 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>moustachesteve wrote:</div> Imagine how well the natives are doing on the other 87% of the lake

Deleted due to the idiotic statement made above…… fished URL since 2002, it’s easy to see where the problem is the last 5+ years.

what’s idiotic? that I had 100 fish days or that the majority of us don’t get to fish past the rez line?

Very disappointed today as I had a “date” planned to finally get there this morning and fish URL for the first time. All the hype I’ve been hearing and then the IDO road show being there earlier this week had me ready to ride a rocket to get there. Alas, what brings the ice also can bring the snow as excess baggage. And that is what ended my Red Lake trip before it even began.

Sorry…no pics

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Very disappointed today as I had a “date” planned to finally get there this morning and fish URL for the first time. All the hype I’ve been hearing and then the IDO road show being there earlier this week had me ready to ride a rocket to get there

Does anyone know when that Red Lake episode will be posted online?

lindyrig79 wrote:

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Very disappointed today as I had a “date” planned to finally get there this morning and fish URL for the first time. All the hype I’ve been hearing and then the IDO road show being there earlier this week had me ready to ride a rocket to get there

Does anyone know when that Red Lake episode will be posted online?

The show airs on FSN tomorrow at 800AM. We’ll have it posted online shortly after that.

James Holst wrote:

The show airs on FSN tomorrow at 800AM. We’ll have it posted online shortly after that.

Thanks James

Does anyone know when that Red Lake episode will be posted online?

The show airs on FSN tomorrow at 800AM. We’ll have it posted online shortly after that.
[/quote]

Only of you don’t have dish network. Dish and Fox still in a pi$$!ng match.
I’ll have to catch online.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Very disappointed today as I had a “date” planned to finally get there this morning and fish URL for the first time. All the hype I’ve been hearing and then the IDO road show being there earlier this week had me ready to ride a rocket to get there. Alas, what brings the ice also can bring the snow as excess baggage. And that is what ended my Red Lake trip before it even began.

Sorry…no pics

Andy what was it specifically that put the kabosh on your trip?

Anybody have a first hand report on how much snow they got up there yesterday? Looks like they are in the clear today as the snow is staying south of them.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>
Very disappointed today as I had a “date” planned to finally get there this morning and fish URL for the first time. All the hype I’ve been hearing and then the IDO road show being there earlier this week had me ready to ride a rocket to get there. Alas, what brings the ice also can bring the snow as excess baggage. And that is what ended my Red Lake trip before it even began.

Sorry…no pics

Andy what was it specifically that put the kabosh on your trip?

The snow storm. I only had Saturday and planned on driving up from Garrison early morning and then back to Garrison in the afternoon, about 3 1/2 hours each way. Was planning on fishing from 8 ’til 4. With the storm would have doubled my travel time not to mention dangerous whiteout conditions with the wind. We probably have 12-14″s of snow in Garrison now and 3-4 foot drifts. Curious if anyone got out on Red yesterday? With the wind and snow, I can only imagine it was a challenge.

Ice Cap wrote:

Anybody have a first hand report on how much snow they got up there yesterday? Looks like they are in the clear today as the snow is staying south of them.

I was up through yesterday, we got about 4 inches, it was blowing sideways so there is still areas of bare ice and areas with 1 to 2 foot drifts.

Not bad on the wheeler still. As far as fishing goes it was slower than normal for this time of year, but average size was biggest we ever had. Lots 20 inches and bigger, biggest was 25.

Thanks for the report? How thick was the ice? Was it easy to get away from crowds on a 4 Wheeler or is everyone kinda stuck in the same area(s) due to cracks, etc?

Image from 12/1/19 still shows a visibly large crack running the length of the lake (most likely smaller less visible cracks also). Id guess people are going to be restricted to roughly the same areas others have been fishing for the past couple weekends. If you want to avoid crowds your best chance is NOT going on a friday or saturday.

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lindyrig79 wrote:

Thanks for the report? How thick was the ice? Was it easy to get away from crowds on a 4 Wheeler or is everyone kinda stuck in the same area(s) due to cracks, etc?

Measured 11 inches, Friday was a zoo, Saturday was alot slower due to the storm, we were able to get som distance on the wheelers

Alright sorry I’m just getting around to a report but had a couple Hamm’s and wasn’t in the shape to update. Was up Friday through Monday out of JR’s. About 11-12″ out to the deepest you can go before falling off into open water. Tough to stay away from crowds with being limited by cracks/pressure ridges. About 3-4″ of blowing snow on Saturday but not bad if you were already up there. Wheelers/sleds handled it fine.

Friday was rather slow for us. Fished a bit shallower 8-9 FOW and each guy got about 1 plus a bonus eelpout. Saturday was absolutely nuts. We had a 5 man limit by noon or so and were putting them back left and right. I think the storms kept a lot of people away so that helped with pressure. Sunday remained good to great with many fish caught – just had to be careful about the regulation changing at midnight Sunday morning. Best seemed to be 10-11 FOW but there was actually a bit of a current to deal with out that deep near the open water. Didn’t fish yesterday as it was for travel.

Most fish were 17-21″ with the biggest caught being 23″ and the smallest maybe 15″. What these lacked in lenght they made up for in girth. These were all absolute fatties.

Oh I forgot…loud didn’t seem to be the game. Tried rippin raps and slab raps but they seemed to prefer flutter spoons and the like. About 50/50 jigging and deadsticks. Color and size didn’t seem to matter much

Thanks for the report Moustachesteve. I am heading up Friday with my uncle and we are going out of JRs also. My first time up there so hoping the bite stays decent.

I’m heading up Thursday morning and staying until Sunday. I have a 8X16 2 man wheel house that I can pull with my wheeler easily. It’s been up there for 3 weeks. I’m hoping they will let me bring it out on the ice. I hear they are bringing 4 man sleepers out by the weekend so I’m hopeful they let mine go out.

If not it’s the wheeler and the flip over and sleep in the wheel house on shore. Thanks Moustachesteve and others who took the time to post their recent reports.

I’m hearing some resorts on LOTW are opening to wheeler traffic this weekend too. Hopefully that takes some pressure off of Red. That place is going to be like a D Day invasion this weekend.
Also hearing the DNR is out checking pretty heavily. So double check your lengths. Friend of mines had one 1/8″ of a inch over 17″. He got the fish confiscated and a warning so they are out checking.