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Upper Red Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The comeback of comebacks: tribal-state cooperation resurrected Red Lake's walleye, and the ice city that followed became Minnesota legend.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
55 / 61 F
Wind
SSE 13 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Upper Red Lake is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 13 mph, falling pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 61. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

White bassFair

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

CrappieFair

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 55 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Minnesota requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a Minnesota licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Minnesota, read off the agency, are on the Minnesota seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp55 F
High / Low61 / 49 F
WindSSE 13-24 mph
Pressure1013.9 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain6% cloud, 70%
Sunrise / Sunset07:50 / 18:15
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Upper Red Lake this week

The best day on Upper Red Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:54 AM-11:54 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
Minor period
4:18 AM-5:18 AM
Sun
07:50 to 18:15
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 22 mph
Rain chance
70%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Upper Red Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55Β°F.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

When to come: the Upper Red Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
White bass
Northern pike
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Upper Red Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 56 F, wind to 11 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 52 F, wind to 13 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 55 F, wind to 15 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Minnesota requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Minnesota license. Walleye: URL-specific slot/limits: check DNR current. Tribal waters closed: boundary GPS essential.

Access

East-shore accesses off MN-72 (Rogers', West Wind, public ramps); winter resort road systems.

About this water

48,000 state-water acres of the great shallow lake, Beltrami County, MN. The walleye resurrection.

Fishing Upper Red Lake: the full guide

The resurrection

Upper Red Lake's walleye collapsed in the 1990s: overharvest emptied Minnesota's great shallow sea: and the recovery that followed (Red Lake Nation and state co-management, a decade of closure and discipline) became North America's model fishery restoration. Today's abundance: fast limits of eater walleye: is a monument to restraint.

The ice city

Winter made URL famous again: the lake's shallow bowl (average 15 feet) caps early and safe, and December's wheelhouse city: thousands of shacks, plowed road grids, rental sleepers by the fleet: is Minnesota's hard-water Mardi Gras. Jigging spoons and setlines over 8-12 feet: the bite is legitimate and the culture is the point.

Open-water rhythm

May's opener crowds the state's east half (the west is tribal water: respect the line absolutely), summer scatters fish across the featureless flats (trolled cranks and spinners cover water: the lake fishes like a stained inland sea), and fall re-stacks the shore breaks. Crappie booms cycle through (the famous 2000s run may echo): when they hit, the lake doubles its pilgrims.

URL practicalities

Access concentrates at the east shore (Rogers', West Wind, the public accesses off Highway 72): the tribal boundary (western two-thirds) is closed to non-band anglers: GPS discipline: and the shallow bowl means wind writes the day: whitecaps come fast and brown. Winter roads follow the resorts' plowing: pay the access, follow the grid.

Common questions

Why is Upper Red Lake famous?

The walleye collapse and recovery: co-management resurrected the fishery inside 15 years: and the winter wheelhouse city that celebrates it. Fast eater-walleye limits are the daily proof.

Can I fish the whole of Upper Red Lake?

No: the western two-thirds is Red Lake Nation water, closed to non-members. The state's eastern portion holds the public fishery: know the boundary line cold.

Is fishing good at Upper Red Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Bemidji42 miCass Lake49 miLake Winnibigoshish52 miLake of the Woods66 miRainy Lake81 miKabetogama Lake83 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 48.1000, -94.7500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.