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Hi all my group will be up there on potatoe lake june 1 looking for any fish ideas and how toos especially pike and smallies were from Iowa large mouth country so i need help love some pan fish too

In preparation for mt first trip to the Boundary Waters, I decided we might need a good, lightweight fish cradle to land the giant pike we're so sure to catch there. I shopped around and decided I could make one as good or better than what was available. After buying the materials needed, I ended up with enough to make more of them than my group needed. I'd like to trade for hook remover, jaw spreader, lure packs, or most anything useful to some rookie pike fishermen. I'll consider just about anything.

Went and checked the first ice lakes and found .5 inches to almost 2 inches. If you go out please bring a buddy and dry clothes.

Greetings fishermen and women! Its great being back in the swing of things and better yet in the boat! Both the MN and Ontario season is now open and fishing has been great! Staffers here at Flag Island Resort have been busy getting ready for the upcoming summer months with some deep cleaning, window washing, grounds work and remodeling! On the Minnesota side anglers have been catching nice saugers, walleyes and perch. Soon the crappies should be finding their way into the shallows around Angle Inlet and other small creeks and the walleyes have spawned out over the past couple of weeks. With the warmer temps that started out last week anglers were finding fish in shallower water between 5-17 feet now, with the cooler temps, rain and winds most of the fish have been pushed deeper into the 16-26 foot range. Points and reefs close to large land masses adjacent to sand and rubble have been hot locations. Anglers have found fish near Soldier’s, Little Oak, Oak Island and NW Point. The water surface temp has been in that 50-55 degree range. Right now it seems like everything is working from ¼ to 3/8 jigs to slow trolling with raps in the shallows as well as trolling spinners keeping on the move at 0.9 mph. Over in Ontario, the walleye, sauger, crappie, perch and pike have been hungry. Perch and crappie should be spawning soon. Crappies are being caught around the 20 foot mark . Sandy bays and points have been best for the walleye and crappie bite while the perch are still caught in the rocks. Many pike have been caught in areas with current. There have been reports of a lot of smallmouth mixed in with the walleyes. Jigging with a ¼-3/8 ounce jig has been the ticket and the water temp has been around 49-52 degrees. We hope to see you up here soon! Until next week, good luck fishing! Guides Dan Schmidt, Jeremy Glessing and Cale Albers Flag Island Resort 218-223-8011

Hello again from Sunset Lodge on Oak Island! Hope everyone had a great week! Here in the Northwest Angle, things are about as good as they can be, the weather has been decent and just a few showers and storms to contend with. And the fishing has been good! The water temp was between 70 and 73 degrees this week. Stateside, anglers are finding that pulling night crawlers behind spinner rigs has been working well and catching walleyes. Depths range anywhere from 8 to 25 feet with hammered gold, copper, orange, and pink being the best producers. Areas to target are the flats and mud between Oak Island and Four Blocks, Little Oak, and Crowduck Islands. The South and East side of Oak Island has also been producing fish. Pulling crankbaits in 8 to 12 feet of water has also been working well. In Ontario, the Musky action has definitely been heating up! With numerous fish being seen and landed throughout the week. Reports of some larger specimens have been steadily coming in but the majority of fish being landed are between the 40" to 45" mark. Rock reefs and points seem to be the best bets for finding one of these giants. Casting bucktails and large spinnerbaits have been the best producers. Walleyes can be found among the reefs and rocky points in Bishop Bay, Tug Channel, Deepwater Bay, Monument Bay and Skeet Island. Big Narrows is also a good bet. Jigs with frozen shiners and fatheads in depths of 20 to 30 feet have been producing limits for anglers. Gold, pink, chartreuse, and orange are top colors. Hope everyone has a fantastic week! Come visit us soon at Sunset Lodge! Cale Albers ---------------------------------- The bug hatch is over! Fishing picking back up again. Up in Ontario, small reefs are all holding fish and the big reefs down in Little Traverse are all starting to have fish on them, too. The best fishing was in 22-26 feet right on the edge or top of the reef. Little Traverse is the place to be if it is calm enough to fish there. Otherwise, the reefs up by Skeet Island are all holding fish now too and you can get out of the wind. The best was a fluorescent colored jig tipped with a minnow. Jumbo perch are being caught along with the walleyes. On the Minnesota side, there have been boats all the way from Four Blocks down to Garden Island. Once again, fishing the edges of the reefs if pulling spinners. We took 9th in the Musky Bowl at Wiley Point this past weekend. Seen a lot of fish but they just wouldn't eat the bait at boatside. The winning team caught 5 muskys in the two days. You can already sign up for next year. It was a great turnout for the first year with 20 teams in it. Until next week good luck fishing! Forrest Huset Sunset Lodge

Hi All, I'm new to this site. Was over on IDO but there's so little activity on the Rainy Forum that I started looking elsewhere. Wondering what everyone does for trophy pike in mid to late September and what is the biggest pike you or one of your friends has landed there. Is a 50" pike something that you have heard of actually happening or is that beyond what this lake produces? I seem to find plenty of photos with 42-47" pike but nothing bigger to my knowledge. The owner at Northernaire Houseboats told me he has landed a 50" pike but it sounded like that was several years ago. Does anyone try contour trolling with big baits? I have generally just stuck to cabbage beds but need to have a backup plan in case the big girls aren't in the bays yet. We haven't found anything bigger than 42" and I want to hit something bigger if possible. Thanks for any advice or fish stories you can provide!

As the weather warmed up, so did the ice fishing. Ice roads are allowing half-ton trucks onto the lake when not towing a trailer. Ice averages 14-17”. As always, stay on marked resort trails and talk with your resort about ice conditions in their area. Fishing in 24-34’ seems to be the best. Glow colors remain hot and the two way punch of jigging and dead stick remains the go to plan of attack. Ice electronics are key in catching more fish. Walleyes and saugers caught primarily in late morning with flurries in afternoon. Lots of nice saugers in the mix throughout the basin. The Rainy River is iced over and being fished in spots but mainly by locals who know the ice. For safety, work through resorts. Safety first. Most anglers fishing the lake. Up at the NW Angle, fishing is hot. Ice is 22” where resorts are traveling on Minnesota side and 14” on the Ontario side. Limits in 24-28' adjacent or on reefs for walleyes and 30-34' for saugers in the mud. Jumbo perch, pike, and eelpout in the mix. Large crappies (in 30-33') and lake trout (via snowmobile and guide) being caught on Ontario side.

Anybody have any tips for fishing crane lake and namakan aug 16th thru 20th 2015 for pike and smallmouth?

Excited to catch a big northern pike at the cabin near Brainerd, an angler casts a lure all week, yet, day after day, only has success in reeling in skinny, snake-like pike. In the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a large pike strikes bait not far from the rocky shore of an island. With the fish landed, the angler debates whether to keep it for dinner. On a lake bordered by farm fields, a teenager hooked on fishing has constant action from largemouth bass and panfish but long-ago gave up on casting fruitlessly for pike that are few and far between. These scenarios illustrate pike problems in different parts of Minnesota. In hopes of improving northern pike fishing, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants to expand the dialogue with anglers and darkhouse spearers about the problems. One concept the DNR will discuss entails creating three pike fishing zones that could solve unique challenges with pike in northeastern, north-central and southern Minnesota. “There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to effective pike regulations,” said Don Pereira, DNR fisheries section chief. “However, a zone concept, if enacted, could protect large pike in the northeast, increase pike populations in the south and eventually solve the problem of an over-abundance of small pike in north-central Minnesota.” In hopes of engaging anglers and spearers about the zone concept, the DNR has developed a Web page at www.mndnr.gov/pike that includes a video outlining the concept, frequently asked questions, a comment form and a space where people can sign up to receive information via email. During the coming summer months, the pike page will expand to include presentations on the idea and include times and places of meetings where people can hear more, ask questions and offer informal comments. Accommodating people who spear fish from a darkhouse is an important consideration, Pereira said. DNR has started dialog with leaders of the Minnesota Darkhouse & Angling Association to determine what regulations may work to conserve and improve their sport as well. “The DNR manages pike fisheries in more than 3,000 lakes,” Pereria said. “With good dialogue and support from anglers, spearers and all of our stakeholders, we should be able to improve pike fishing for those who are harvest-oriented as well as those keen about pursuing trophy northern pike.” So what is the pike problem in Minnesota? There isn’t just one problem – or one solution – because pike populations differ in various regions of the state. “Our primary objective is to manage pike as a fish for harvest. We’re asking anglers and spearers to consider a change in direction from the regulations we now have in hopes of making pike populations healthier and improving fishing in the future,” Pereira said. Northeast In the northeast, pike are present in relatively low numbers. They reproduce naturally. Although they grow slowly, they can grow quite large because relatively few anglers scatter limited fishing pressure across a large number of lakes. In this area, overharvest of large fish would be detrimental to pike populations. “In the northeast, there are large fish in the population,” Pereira said. “A zone concept could aim to protect these fish while continuing to allow opportunity to harvest smaller pike. A change such as this would not increase the pike population.” South In the southern area of the state, pike are less abundant and don’t reproduce as well as in the north. Southern Minnesota has high fishing pressure and a high harvest rate relative to the number of pike; however, these fish grow fast. “In southern Minnesota, we could increase pike numbers and harvest opportunities through supplemental stocking, a minimum size limit and a two-fish bag limit,” Pereira said. “Anglers in such a scenario would harvest fewer fish but they would be larger, and the total pounds of pike harvested would remain about the same. Anglers would be catching larger fish within a year or two.” North-central The north-central area is plagued by too many small pike, also known as the hammer-handle problem. There is moderate to high fishing pressure and high harvest of large and medium size pike. Pike grow slowly here. An over-abundance of small pike is the result. The overpopulated small pike eat large numbers of perch, which may have a negative effect on panfish populations. Overabundant pike also eat stocked walleyes, reducing the effectiveness of walleye stocking. And small pike eat proportionately more than big pike – for example, 10 one-pound pike eat significantly more than one 10-pound pike. “North-central Minnesota has the hammer-handle pike problem to the detriment of not only pike but also stocked walleye, perch and panfish,” Pereira said. “With any new regulations, we would hope to see a gradual but moderate increase in the average size of pike.” More information A zone concept, depending on what shape it takes, would be unlikely to create more trophy pike, as there are already special regulations that achieve that goal on individual lakes. The zone concept would leave existing special and experimental regulations in place. “We want to improve northern pike fishing in the entire state, but pike populations are vastly different in different areas of the state. DNR technical experts are working to determine which regulations may work best and will be talking with anglers and stakeholders this summer and fall,” Pereira said. Check www.mndnr.gov/pike for updated information about the proposal, including frequently asked questions, maps with zone locations and pike densities and information on how to comment. What do you think?

Does anyone know if there are "cabbage" beds in the Wahkon & Isle bays? Looking to take my niece out for some pike action. Thanks

Pike caught with 111 crappies... 111 crappies in it's stomach.