Ice fishing in the "Polar Vortex"
Last week we went up to Red! Rented a cabin on shore & fished portable shacks. The plans where made well before the forecast came out for the cold temps.
We stayed at http://www.redlakecabin.com/ . Great place for anyone looking for a cabin. Very comfortable, warm, good beds, and lots of parking. There where even outside outlets to plug in the one diesel truck that was with. With 7 guys we had both units, and plenty of room. Other years the lake has been accessable by vehicle right from the cabin, but deep snow prevented that this year.
We accessed the lake from JR's Corner Access. $10/day for use of their landing & roads, and often have day shacks and/or sleepers for rent. JR's also has a nice warm place to clean fish, and will cook your catch with fries for $5/ person. Very good light batter, well seasoned. Best I have had in a long time. Beer is avialable there as well as "set ups". They have bait & some tackle too, but limited selection.
Sunday afternoon we took a stab in the dark and set up shallow on "center bar". 9 FOW under the ice. A few issues came up right away. Slush was on the ice, and water flowed up out of the holes unless we where on part of an old abandoned ice road. The wind was a bit much for the hub style shacks we had with, but lots of anchors & tied off to the trucks we where ok. -31F when we set up! -36F when we tore down. 7 guys in 3 shacks managed just 5 fish, but the size was good. 16-19" walleye.
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Monday the forecast called for winds up to 25mph & high of -25F. We wimped out and got a "day shack". Could not get in until almost noon to the rental, but with the weather we didn't have much choice. Fished on the south side of the lake, 14FOW & caught enough fish to call limits for everyone, but sorted a lot of small ones. Also had a few keeper perch. A line was set in memory of a friend we lost this last year to a heart attack. was always a part of this trip in the past. "His" rod went down the hole with a fish on. An hour later it tangled into another line & got both the rod and fish back! Monday night we took our fish in to JR's to be cooked. 2 huge trays & we where stuffed!
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Tuesday mid day we where back to the hub shacks. Set up northeast of "center bar" in 14FOW. I found a small blue jig tipped with just a red micro plastic to be the walleye's weakness in the daylight.
[/URL]Some guys had luck on other jigs too, but I had more hits, but small fish. Kept a few perch & walleye, but just before sundown the bit picked up and the bigger fish where hitting. 16-19" keepers & 1 slot 21.5" all came later in the day.
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Wednesday we got our earliest start (more on late starts later) at 9:00. Back to the same spot as Tuesday, but in a balmy -16F- the warmest temp we had for the trip.
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Again the same fish- small early, size improved as the sun went down. We kept a few more perch this time since I told the guys I'd clean them. Another fish fry at JR's that night.
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We all caught fish, no giants, and not on par with the hero stories of Upper Red. Sure more or larger fish would have been nice, but good meals of fish & good times where had. I learned that I don't care for hub style shacks. Just not my style. I prefer a flip over.
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We stayed at http://www.redlakecabin.com/ . Great place for anyone looking for a cabin. Very comfortable, warm, good beds, and lots of parking. There where even outside outlets to plug in the one diesel truck that was with. With 7 guys we had both units, and plenty of room. Other years the lake has been accessable by vehicle right from the cabin, but deep snow prevented that this year.
We accessed the lake from JR's Corner Access. $10/day for use of their landing & roads, and often have day shacks and/or sleepers for rent. JR's also has a nice warm place to clean fish, and will cook your catch with fries for $5/ person. Very good light batter, well seasoned. Best I have had in a long time. Beer is avialable there as well as "set ups". They have bait & some tackle too, but limited selection.
Sunday afternoon we took a stab in the dark and set up shallow on "center bar". 9 FOW under the ice. A few issues came up right away. Slush was on the ice, and water flowed up out of the holes unless we where on part of an old abandoned ice road. The wind was a bit much for the hub style shacks we had with, but lots of anchors & tied off to the trucks we where ok. -31F when we set up! -36F when we tore down. 7 guys in 3 shacks managed just 5 fish, but the size was good. 16-19" walleye.
[/URL]Monday the forecast called for winds up to 25mph & high of -25F. We wimped out and got a "day shack". Could not get in until almost noon to the rental, but with the weather we didn't have much choice. Fished on the south side of the lake, 14FOW & caught enough fish to call limits for everyone, but sorted a lot of small ones. Also had a few keeper perch. A line was set in memory of a friend we lost this last year to a heart attack. was always a part of this trip in the past. "His" rod went down the hole with a fish on. An hour later it tangled into another line & got both the rod and fish back! Monday night we took our fish in to JR's to be cooked. 2 huge trays & we where stuffed!
[/URL]Tuesday mid day we where back to the hub shacks. Set up northeast of "center bar" in 14FOW. I found a small blue jig tipped with just a red micro plastic to be the walleye's weakness in the daylight.
[/URL]Some guys had luck on other jigs too, but I had more hits, but small fish. Kept a few perch & walleye, but just before sundown the bit picked up and the bigger fish where hitting. 16-19" keepers & 1 slot 21.5" all came later in the day.[/URL]Wednesday we got our earliest start (more on late starts later) at 9:00. Back to the same spot as Tuesday, but in a balmy -16F- the warmest temp we had for the trip.
[/URL][/URL]Again the same fish- small early, size improved as the sun went down. We kept a few more perch this time since I told the guys I'd clean them. Another fish fry at JR's that night.
[/URL]We all caught fish, no giants, and not on par with the hero stories of Upper Red. Sure more or larger fish would have been nice, but good meals of fish & good times where had. I learned that I don't care for hub style shacks. Just not my style. I prefer a flip over.
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Good to see someone is still getting into them. I sort of slack of fishing in the winter and pick back up hiking and outdoor photography. Nice walleye also! 0 -
I will be on upper red this weekend, we start Friday morning and will leave Sunday morning. We are not planning on leaving the ice unless we need beer or bait. [8D]. Im not expecting much for a bite, a guy I work with only caught 2 perch in 22 hours..with 4 guys [:0]
Great tips on the lures I will be sure to post a report when we get back.0 -
Red Lake fishing is very hit or miss. If you are on the fish, it is nearly non stop. If not, you will be washing a lot of jigs.
Good luck on the trip.0 -
We struck out last year in LOTW and none of us have fished red, so here we are. We are going to rent from redlakemnicefishing.com..apparently they will move us if we are not on the fish..we shall see.[:)] 0
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