Lake of the Woods or Upper Red

[mabr]

Of these 2 lakes which would you go to next week?

I wanna make a quick mid week trip and cant decide. Both regions report the fishing has been good to excellent.

What does one have over the other. Limits are more on LOW right? Going to have 3 people going and staying on the ice.

[Vitreus]

I'd always opt for LOW if you can. The consistent quantity and quality on that lake is phenomenal.

[castmaster]

IMO I guess it depends on what you want to target as well. Total #'s may be better at LOTW, but one must take into account the majority of those fish being caught are small 12-14" saugers. Red you'd be more likely to get into some nice chunky eyes. Also if you'll be staying on the ice Red has a better chance of picking up some fish overnight whereas lotw has a pretty limited nite bite.

Some friends hit both over New Years weekend. Caught 100+ fish a day on lotw, with only a handful being walleyes and most of the saugers were under 14". They caught around 50-60 walleyes in 2 days on Red, with most of them being 16-19".

[CigarGuy]

Why not do both? We are hitting Red Thursday and LOW Friday-Sunday. Best of both worlds!

[mabr]

Thats a thought. First time to either lake, always went to rainy and that was during open water.

Any recomendations on resorts or areas to stay on LOW? PM if you want.

[JBMasterAngler]

zipple bay. Last march was our 1st ever trip to LOW, and they treated us great in every aspect!

[pikeandchester]

just got back yesterday. stayed in a sleeper on upper red friday,satuday and sunday night. fished lake of the woods out of adrian's satuday and sunday during the day. lots of walleyes and sauger on lake of the woods. 12 walleyes at night on upper red. if i had to choose, no question for me, lake of the woods.

[mabr]

Looks like it LOW then. Now to find somewhere to stay.

[Bigslugger]

Like stated before URL has better quality for the fish you catch. More than likely you wont catch the mounter 32", many fish between 15-22" (great year classes), did see some HOGS on camera this weekend that would have went 8-11# though. Down side only 4 walleyes in possession. From what I have noticed they swim in schools so may pick up several fish in 5 minutes. Also night bite is present. Always able to find fish that are biting no matter what the weather.

LOTW has better numbers by far due to the fact of saugers. Many small ones. Best action will more than likely be up there, unless planning to run & gun on URL, the chance of a mounter is much greater, and you will be able to keep 8 fish no more than 4 eyes. Downside pretty non existent night bite, if any. When it shuts down up there its shut down, they are tight lipped when it comes to that

Like CigarGuy said do both, and find out what you like for future reference.

[theicehooker]

Low not even a question. Was just there and had great action and did catch a 29" walleye. The chance at the big girl is way higher and good percentages. Fish 15-17 ft. at sundown and you should catch a few dandy's

[herefish101]

I was up at LOTW thu - sun, we absolutly killed the fish! Lots of them were walleyes, and the sauger keep you entertained. The fishing up there is better this year than i'v ever seen.

[whitebassman]

Going to LOTW this weekend. Did Upper Red late last season, and it was "meh". If you hit Red, hit early, just like anywhere else. It's a very shallow lake given its large size. Of course Lower Red has all the depth that Upper doesn't. Have fun either way.

[pooly_31]

i'll have to disagree with UR having better quality of fish than LOW. It all depends on where you are. I was on the west end of LOW last weekend and caught 30+ eyes in one day and they averaged 18" easy, biggest being 25" and we were throwing back 17" fish to keep the 18 and 19's. Is it always like that? of course not but it isn't always a bunch of dink saugers on LOW, just a different perspective for you i guess.

[laportian]

Red is going to really be putting out big fish in a few more years. Somedays finding a slot fish is a chore. I'm up fishing it 2 or 3 days a week right now and there are tons of fish in that 17 to 22 inch range. I've caught up to a 25 inch fish this season and lots of reports of fish in this range and bigger. It'll happen, the stocked fish were from Lake Vermillion. These fish will get big.

But yeah I'd go to LOW. I go a few times a year and it is more consistant. Red will turn cold on you. We had a hot bite throughout last month though. I had 10 fish an hour catch rates on several occasions. No dinks either all qualty fish.

[magnum mike]

Good luck finding a place to stay in Baudette...

[Northlander]

No doubt Lake Of The Woods. The bite up there has been very good and the size can be way better than Red. Guys that have been going to Red say they got a lot of cookie cutter 14 to 22" fish. Not many bigger. LOW will increase your odds of a trophy.

[tunrevir]

If it was me and I had a weekend, I'd do like I have in the past and hit UR on the way up and then fish LOW for the rest of the weekend. I assume you have porty's. We would haul the porty's and fish upper Red on the way to LOW and have a room booked on LOW for the weekend. That way you get the best of both worlds. If this isn't an option then I'd go LOW versus Red from my experience. Sounds like a pretty decent bite up that way right now but I have heard Red has been on fire in certain areas as well. The thing to think about is Red is a shallower lake and will be more fickle to weather changes then LOW so if I based my trip off of that solely, then I would certainly take LOW.

Tunrevir~

[mabr]

Well I spent 2 and a half hours calling every listed motel and resort in Baudette with no luck for this coming weekend. I should have planned better I know. About gave up and through a friend on here decided to check C list. No LOW house but Red had one, I called and they were alreay booked but knew of a guy that just mite have one. It worked out, so were headed to Upper Red, I know we'll find them going mobile, just hope the house is on fish.

Thanks for the help.

[randallt]

URL

[gurkster]

If you are mobile you could always use URL as your base camp and drive up to LOW for the day bite and then use your URL sleeper for the night. The bite is hot on LOW right now and IMO worth the time to do this for a day. Just a thought.

[mwalleye]

Have not been to red this year but I have made two trips to low fishing great both times so good I'm on my way back 3rd week in a row day trips have been working for me.

[mabr]

Well we went to URL and we didn't regret it one bit.

Limit of 12 15-17" eyes, caught around 60 total, ate fish every night, the BONUS was the 22 Crappies all over 14-15.5 inches. GREAT TIME!!

[leech~~]

Well we went to URL and we didn't regret it one bit.

Limit of 12 15-17" eyes, caught around 60 total, ate fish every night, the BONUS was the 22 Crappies all over 14-15.5 inches. GREAT TIME!!

Nice work guys. I should have stayed one more day and move about 200 yards closer to you! I had a fun weekend with what I caught and another 32" pike on 4lbs line was fun. Way to mark off the house!

[hanson]

22 Crappies??? I haven't ice fished much in the last few years for various reasons but used to fish URL quite a bit (quite a bit may be an undertstatement)... my permanent shack is still sitting at Roger's Campground. I'm dead serious when I say I would be dang proud of that accomplishment!! Very nice trip!!

[kevfish1]

Why limit yourself-- Do both. We went to Red this weakend and it is off to lake of the woods next weakend. Had good fishing on Red for Walleyes and am sure lake of the woods will be the same or better.