Red Lake and Parker Lake fishing report - end of July

Happy Friday!

We just wrapped up another great week and I wanted to share some amazing photos from the guys that just started their journey back home.

The weather continues to be optimal for walleye fishing.  A bit cooler, nice wind, with occasional rain showers is just what the walleye ordered!

Lots of quantity and quality again this week for walleye.  The guys had success jigging and backtrolling lindy rigs or snells.  Some boats reported leeches working better and other boats stuck with crawlers most of the week.  Fish were caught as shallow as 13' and as deep as 30' on Red and 6' to 17' deep on Parker.

Here are some of the bigger fish brought in the boats - all of which were caught and released!

Bill's 25.5" walleye off of Red Lake

Nice hat Bill!

His fishing partner, Jerry, also caught a 25.5" walleye on Red Lake on the same day!

Jerry also caught this nice 24.75" walleye this week on Red Lake

Tom caught this 26" walleye on Red Lake before breakfast...

...while Kermit reeled in a fish for a double!

And here is my 28.75" walleye off of Red Lake again...

Tom and I both caught our big fish with Dave this week - he is a professional guide!

Here is Dave with a nice northern on Red Lake

40.25" caught and released

Over on Parker we had yet another nice smallmouth caught and released.

Here is Jim with his 17" smallmouth.

It looks like a football!

And here is Jim with Mike and a couple nice stringers!

They enjoyed a nice shore lunch at the lodge this week with their sons, Mike and Andy.

Here is a picture of our youngest angler in camp this week - Jack and his dad Jim.

He was out there ALL day EVERY day - impressive!

Everyone braved the tough and unpredictable weather we had this past week quite well.  We got some awesome pictures as a result!

 Double rainbow!

Thanks guys for all the great shots from the past week.  We can't wait to see what August brings!

More Lunkers!

This week Carrie and Nick Mateja both caught 27" Walleye, creating a logjam on the leaderboard for biggest walleye of the year. We now have four anglers with 27" fish. Ryan Rote added a nice 25" Walleye out of Parker. Carrie's fish is pictured below.



Kari Marquardt also took the lead on the Muskie board with a nice 37" fish. See below. She also caught the first smallmouth bass of the year although we don't expect to see too many more.



The past two weeks have been dry and temperatures are gradually increasing with highs now in the upper 70s. The lake levels are finally dropping back down, but there is some rain in the forecast for the coming week.

Big Fish 2010

The excitement is building as the 2011 fishing season approaches. We're less than a month away and patiently waiting on the ice to melt in the Great White North. This year isn't going to be a repeat of the record setting ice out we experienced a year ago. Hugh Carlson from Viking Outpost measured only 15" of ice remaining in front of his place on April 21st. We're expecting the ice out to occur in mid-May this year.

We're making preparations for our departure in a few days and thought this would be a great time to review the BIG fish caught & released during the 2010 season.



Lake Trout
36.5" David Wein (pictured above)
24" Kari Marquardt

We didn't have too many people fish for lake trout in 2010 although many big lunkers still reside in the lake. You can still fish for them with single barbless hooks and no live bait and they remain catch & release only.




Walleye
29.5" Dennis Meyer
28.5" Mary-Jane Owen (pictured above)
28" Jeff Zwieg
27.5" Dave Mertes
27.5" Micke Juillerat
27" Grant Peterson
27" Grant Peterson
27" Dave Swan
27" George Matykowski
27" Travis Mack

Numbers of fish were great once again although 2010 was a little down for what I would consider really really BIG fish. Considering the number of total fish caught especially in the 20" - 26" range really has me looking forward to what this summer will bring.




Smallmouth Bass
18" Jared Oehrke (pictured above)

You won't find smallmouth bass listed as a species in the Red Lake system in any of the guides. But here's all the proof you need. Albeit this one was the only one caught.




Northern Pike
47"* Hays Griswold
45" Larry Andris
44" Jeff Zwieg
43.5" Randy Modra (pictured above)
42.5" Carson Mack
42" Bob Gouge
42" Andy Zwieg
42" Grant Peterson
41.75" Larry Andris
41" Kevin Smith
41" Jack Hughes

Alright...time to explain the asterisk. While Hays did catch & release a 47" Northern it wasn't by rod and reel. He happened upon a fish struggling on the surface near the boat. No evidence of disease or propeller marks was visible, but considering they were able to boat and measure the fish with ease I'm guessing this fish either ate an extra large meal and was having some digestion trouble or was close to succumbing of old age. Neat to see fish this big in the system though.

Rock Bass
9" Luke Nelson

Congrats to Luke for the biggest rock bass of the year! These little guys are capable of a great fight and I love hooking into them.

I'm hope you are as excited about the 2011 season as we are. See you soon!