Spring Fishing Tactics

[Guest]

Alright, when is it going to warm up! I thought in the mean time we could all share some spring Rainy tactics that have worked in the pastor exiciting stories we may have to get that blood flowing. I thought we're all up here to catch & release anyway, so sharing a few secrets won't hurt. I've had my best luck about a week after the river has opened up, and the water is at its clearest. If you end up with "chocolate milk", it is TOUGH fishing. The typical presentation has been jigs (pink, pink/white, chartreuse and chartreuse/orange have produced best) tipped with a minnow. I have had very good success on plastics the past two years on the Mississippi River and I'm interested to try things up here. Has anybody had luck with plastics? We typically fish some of the feeder creek mouths in 12-14' around the Frontier area. We have also had good success in the "church" area. I have never fished the Birchdale area, but would be interested in some feedback from some of you that have. Has anybody tried fishing shallow water for the big walleyes? On the Mississippi, our biggest walleyes come from slack water areas in less than 8' of water. I know some anglers are tight lipped and don't like to share information, but for those of you that don't mind sharing general information, it's great to help out the people that are a little less knowledgeable. As any of you good fisherman know, it's usually the spot within the spot or that certain technique that it is still going to take to get those fish.

Happy Fishing!!

[Guest]

I plagurize. We have had great luck dragging raps primarily on the sandy Canadian side. Favs are #9 countdowns clown or chartreuse/white. When we mix it up and jig we are much more the novices. Have had luck with 3/8 oz. chartreuse, pink, white/pink, and orange/chartreuse colors. Sometimes in addition to the minnow we use a small plastic tail - usually yellow or white. At night while bottle bass fishing we usually catch a few sturgeon and suckers on minnows or crawlers on the bottom. Have caught several good hang-overs this way also.

[Beckman]

We too know the river best between Frontier and Birchdale, there are a few areas in this stretch of the river which are my favorite. I also like the "church" hole as well as the "chevy van" areas. But then again I guess any open water on the Rainy is my favorite. We found a hot stretch for big fish in about 8-9' of water 2 years ago, it didn't produce when we came back last year, but it pays to fish this shallower water sometimes, you never know. One thing we definatly have discovered over the years is that a gold or silver metallic color will get bit more (although the straight glow fireball is turning into a favorite), also the bigger the minnow, the better. I usually stick with fireball jigs in the 3/8 and 5/8 oz sizes, I noticed this year they make the 1/2 oz instead of the 5/8, I think the 1/2 oz will be the ideal jig weight at most times in the Rainy, but of course it all depends on the current. I have dabbled with plastics and can't say I've noticed more bites, or less bites really, but they are a definate must to have along in case you run out of minnows, just make sure that they are white in color. Tried trolling cranks a little last spring with minimal success, I know a few guys that have done well doing it, I think 3-ways with the cranks would be the way to go to be sure you're getting down near the bottom, I think I'll try that this year. Well this is turning out to be one of the later openings for Rainy, but I'm thinking it will be another good one once she opens up.

[This message has been edited by Beckman (edited 03-22-2002).]

[evntam]

We always use jigs. On dark days, I have out fished my father by using glow in the dark jigs that have been exposed from time to time with an old camera flash I carry along.
Here's one to think about: We were up by rapids by Franz Jevne a few years ago, and watched two guys do the weirdest thing. They anchored in the faster current and dropped heavy vibrating blade jigs over the side and let the current do it's magic on the lures. They did no jigging, and caught fish that way. They then cleaned a couple of fish, cooked, and ate them right in the boat. I don't think it was legal, but they had to stop eating a few times to reel in more fish. I've never tried vibrating blade jigs, but am thinking about dragging along some of the Sonars we use for lake trout the next time I'm up there.
Oh I wish there would be a melt....but I guess our spring fire danger up here in Duluth has dropped significantly over the past 3 weeks....

[Guest]

Just bringing this back to the top. The way this year is going, all we may have is to reminisce about fishing stories from the past.

[Guest]

Fished last year out of Birchdale with 3/8 oz charttruese/green lead heads. Found that adding an 1 1/2" yellow twister tail really increased our odds of catching fish. Might ggive the fish more to see especially if the water is cloudy.

[Dr. Bob]

I've never fished there before - hopefully I will next week for the first time.

Do you guys anchor and cast, drift with the current or troll while fishing jigs?

[Guest]

Dr. Bob

We trolled up stream as slow as we go and still be moving and then drifted back with the current. Most of the fish were caught when we were going upstream. We would cast back behind the boat and then reel up until we got just off of the bottom. Jigging it while trolling didnt seem to help, so we just dragged it along the bottom.
Give it a try, it seems to work well.

[Dr. Bob]

Thanks Ey!

Dr. Bob

[Guest]

Just back, I know there are a lot of variables but I think we noticed a preference for Whistler jigs over regular jigs. Fav color seemed to be orange/yellow combo and we always used a yellow twister tail.

Sometimes I was vertical jigging - usually with a 12-18 inch sweeping motion with my rod tip letting it down so I could feel the wieght (and hopefully the resulting bite). Other times due to wind or current we seemed to be doing more dragging/jigging than totally vertical jigging. My 10 lber hit on the down drop - she made 3 short runs - had her in the net within 60 seconds. That was with a dead spottail shiner - they really loved that bait with a liitle walleye attractant on it.