I went out to Upper Red Lake out of Jr's Corner Access on Thursday 12/30/2021 with Chris. We were after walleye and this day was forecast to be the warmest day of our week in northern Minnesota. Neither of us had been there before. Red Lake is the largest inland lake in Minnesota. Most of the Lake is within the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The west half of Upper Red Lake that is the portion open to everyone. According to the MN DNR, the max depth of this portion is 15 feet with the average depth 12 feet. The lake doesn't have much for structure and is an open basin. With this in mind we weren't too picky with choosing a spot to fish.
The weather was overcast with temps in the single negative digits all day. There were hundreds of ice houses, possibly thousands. Mostly wheelhouses with an occasional hub or portable. Vehicles moving in and out on the plowed ice roads. We were using Chris' old Otter Lodge complete with patched up canvas, pin holes and a zipper that lost a tooth earlier in the week, leaving a hole for the heat to seep out. One of those treasured items, full of memories of years back when life was simpler, yet able to produce just as much happiness as any new icehouse with more creature comforts and bells and whistles could.
We stopped at 2 different spots during the day. Due to the drive from Longville and my need to participate in a work meeting until 9:30, we didn't head out of the landing until 10 am. The first spot we chose was about 2 miles out, over 12 feet of water. The ice was at least 18 inches deep with one to two feet of fluffy snow on top. If the snow was cleared, you could easily expose smooth ice. We marked lots of fish on sonar and had a few bites but didn't land anything. We got to listen to booms of the ice moving and the water level bobbing slightly in our holes. After a couple hours we decided to pack up and try a new spot.
Our second location was about 4 miles out over 13 feet of water. We also marked lots of fish at this spot. Shortly after we arrived, Chris caught a couple 10 inch perch and I hooked a walleye that I ended up losing while trying to get it out of the hole. We continued to mark fish almost constantly. Around 3:30 we each caught a walleye. Chris a 14 incher and I a littler 10 incher. Shortly after we got out lines reset, I had a fish on my dead stick. While reeling it in the fish it got hung up on my other line and I ended up losing it in the hole. Then I realized I had a fish on my other line! At first, I thought it was just the tug on the tangled lines as I was working to reset my other rod. I lost that one too! : ( Clearly, I need to practice ice fishing more! We continued to mark fish and get a bite here or there but didn't catch any more fish. They were interested in our bait following it around on the sonar but lacking commitment. Around 6:30 pm we decided to head in.
What a great day! At night the lake looks like a city. I could hear cheerful voices in the distance and observed many different colors of lights and flags. Guessing many people would be spending the long holiday weekend on the ice to see in the new year. On the way home we reflected on our tackle and bait choices and were thinking we should have tried some smaller bait and lure options. On our live sticks we had tried both gold and silver slender spoons tipped with a fathead minnow head, hair jig with a full fathead, super glow rainbow Forage Minnow tipped with a minnow head. On the dead sticks we tried red, bronze and pink hooks tipped with a full fathead.
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