2020 Rainy Lake Fishing Reports & Conditions

[fatter1]

  FISHINGURU said:

Hows the fish biting with the warm weather? what about sled travel on the lake? thanks

+1 TTT

[fishmeister_86]

HI,

FISHED 6 PM TILL 8 PM AND SAW ALOT OF FISH IN 26 FOOT OF WATER. CAUGHT A 21", 20", AND NUMEROUS FISH 8" TO 14". STILL ALOT OF ICE, JUST A LITTLE SCARY GOING THRU ABOUT 10" OF WATER ON THE PLOWED ROAD., ONCE THE SNOW IS GONE, THE WATER THAT IS SITTING ON TOP OF THE ICE SHOULD GO DOWN., THAT IS WHEN IT GETS HOT!!!

SINCERELY,

FISHMEISTER

[fatter1]

ugh, that sucks about the water on the ice, portable will be filling up with water? how was the slush away from the roads? so far sounds like not a good time to go

[muskyposer]

i was thinking about coming up this weekend for some pike. could anyone tell me what the ice is like? we have a truck and 1 wheeler for 2 guys. can you drive around with a pickup? Never been to rainy lake so any pike information would be appreceated

[fishmeister_86]

STILL ALOT OF ICE, JUST A LITTLE SCARY GOING THRU ABOUT 10" OF WATER ON THE PLOWED ROAD., ONCE THE SNOW IS GONE, THE WATER THAT IS SITTING ON TOP OF THE ICE SHOULD GO DOWN., THAT IS WHEN IT GETS HOT!!!

SINCERELY,

FISHMEISTER

[dennisc]

I am having a lot of trouble deciding on where to fish on the weekend of the 28th of march, so maybe someone can give me a little help. i am torn between venturing up to the cabin on redgut for icing some crappies or heading over on the river with my boat. it sounds like the river may be an option by then with a boat but there are a lot of variables to that. what does it look like for ice conditions by next weekend out around redgut?

[fishmeister_86]

HI DEN,

WE STILL HAVE ALOT OF ICE ON RAINY & THIS IS A GREAT TIME OF THE YEAR TO FISH CRAPPIES, AND THE ICE IS OUT ALL THE WAY PAST LOMAN ON THE RIVER...YOUR CHOICE. I'M GOING TO FISH CRAPPIES IN N.W. BAY TOMMOROW.

SINCERELY,

FISHMEISTER

[dennisc]

thanks fishmeister, hows the snow situation? i just found out today my 4wheeler is on the fritz so i would have to bring snowmobiles as i would'nt attempt to drive my truck the 10 miles from the cabin to the hotspot with all the current out in redgut.

[WOODYWOODS]

Friday we had a front and fishing was sorta slow for the eyes. Yesterday the eyes picked up and we caught alot of slot fish with the biggest being 24". A group we had staying here from Janesville, Wisconsin was tip-up fishing for pike and did fairly well. Many 30"-38" with one 40" and alot under 30". We were able to drive our trucks anywhere the whole weekend (just stay off the ice roads where its rutted and people keep breaking through the crust). The little snow we have should be gone in a few days and fishing should be awesome from here on out minus any fronts of course. Woody

[lexdog]

is it still safe to drive a truck on the ice? we will be coming up next week and staying on moran/rice bay and wonder if anyone knows the ice and snow conditions there. also does anyone know where we could try for some cisco or whitefish? thanks for any info

[comin4you24]

fishmeister; how did you do in NW bay? I'm going on a trip up there this weekend with some buddies. Staying at Labelles. Got any areas we could try? Looking for some crappie action but are gonna put up some tip ups for pike and maybe try for some eyes. Any advice would help! Thanks!

[WOODYWOODS]

We had 40+ guests at our resort this weekend. Most were tip-up fishing for pike. Lots of ice and the landings were ok. Many, many pike in the 30-39" range. Several 40-43". Even with the cold blast we had guys that did alright. Next weekend and the following weekend should be off the charts for big pike. Check out our web-site for photos. Woody

http://www.fairlyreliable.com/

[comin4you24]

Well; got back from Labelle's yesterday. The crappies weren't biting at all in NW Bay, but we did manage to get on some decent pike and some really nice walleyes in one of the bays by the Narrows. Largest walleye was 28" 7.5 lbs; most were 20-22" and we managed to get some under 18" for the pan. Pretty fun weekend!

[WOODYWOODS]

A friend of mine, Josh Slatinski (Slat'z Lake Lunker'z Guide Service) pounded out 14 pike on tip-ups today in about 3 hours. They are really starting to move. For those of you who were going to give the river a try this is a great option should the water still be too high or muddy. Woody

[bassbuster1]

Right on Woody,I also heard of some nice eye's coming in off the lake.The river has been a little slow, checkout my blog on the Falls Motel website for more details.What a great area !

BB1

[Bill Powell]

I would really make a run up there tomarrow with my son and give them pike a try. But we have not been there for ice season before so Im not sure where to start we have atvs and snowmobiles but dont want to take the big drink or make more structure in the lake. Is this a easy and safe do it youre self kinda deal or should you have a guide kinda deal.

[WOODYWOODS]

Bill- you will not have a problem. I have about 12 guests out there as I type. We will have fishable good ice for at least another 10 days and probably longer. Check out our website and give me a call if you have any questions. Sincerely, Woody

[bassbuster1]

The river fishing continues to be slow,all the way down.A few eye's are coming in,one of our guess boated a 54 inch sturgeon.We had some other guys fishing the east end of the lake around blueberry the kept 4 eater walleye's,and put 12 slot fish and some pike back.They said they had to work for them.

The weather looks to be getting better this week with that being said, the fishing should really pickup when we get some SUNNNNNN!

BB1

[HeavyD]

Just got back from our first trip to Rainy Lake and I must say I was extremely satisfied with my decision to get one last ice excursion in vs. our normal river routine. Walleye were our target and using the knowledge of local fish magnet, Chris G., 2 of us were able to locate bunches of fish and spend 2 1/2 days trying to coax them into biting. Chris picked out numerous spots and had us targeting the steep breaks and current areas, with depths ranging anywhere from 50 to 22 feet. Hole-hopping, aggressive jigging followed by long pauses (orange buckshot with minnow head was hot) and small minnows under tip-ups were what worked best. We iced 22-30 walleyes a day (a few sauger), from 6 to 25 inches, with most being in that 13-16 inch range. Toss in 4 pike (28,31,33,34), a half dozen 9 inch perch, 3 giant burbot (including my new PB 38" that came in 26') and a couple sunburned faces to make the trip complete. Leaving the ice on Sunday was tough, especially the when the bite was on and the sun was out!! We sure had a blast in I-Falls and the pizza and burgers at the Border Bar are fabulous. We'll have to stop in at Woody's next time we are up visiting our new buddy, Chris G.!! We talked to a few groups staying there and they had nothing but great things to say. Thanks again for putting us on the fish, Chris! We will be back!!

HeavyD

[buckhunter21]

We fished this weekend mainly for walleyes and it was a little slow. Saturday morning started off good with about 15 eyes caught in a couple hours and then from then until dark we only caught about 5 had alot of marks on the vexilar but they werent very aggressive. All were smaller fish between 9-14" with the majority under 12". Sunday was even slower, we didnt catch a walleye in the morning so we moved and managed to catch about 5 before we left. The best lure too seemed to be an orange buckshot tipped with a minnow head and a jigging rap did alright too. Hopefully it picks up this week and i will maybe have to make one more quick trip up.

[rapman]

heavyd this is the rapman me and 4orthers were up on the weekend of 4-2 to4-6 and stayed at woody we had 4 wheeler and fish traps it sounds like woody sent us to the same locations as far as the depth we fished in 20 to 50 feed all we caught were small eyes fished on alot of humps and reefs iused a buck shot most of the time we did manage to get 20 perch in one spot all were 10 to 13 inches we fisd around grindstone dry weed aroud the opening of black bay it was ouer fist time to the lake hopefully next time there will be beter size fish i was woundering if you fished these spots we allso fished in sandbay the breaklines and a36 feed spot thates were we did the best

[WOODYWOODS]

By this weekend you should be able to get a boat into Tilson or Jackfish bays to hammer some big,big pike. Woody

[jigginjim]

What's the chance of a 18lb plus pike?

[CaptJohnWI]

Tried to go up the North Arm yesterday but she is still froze over right up to the Causeway bridge.

[WOODYWOODS]

Your odds would be excellent. Woody

[Foreverfish1]

Any recent reports?

Do people usually just catch the saugers in along with the walleyes or is there a different approach to catching them? I've never caught one and would love to when I go up next week on a houseboat.

[archeral566]

will be up there houseboating at the same time. the saugers will just be mixed in with the eyes so just go with the same approach. there just isnt that many, so you will pry catch a bunch of eyes for ever sauger you catch.

[#fishhunt#]

If you want to target saugers they are usually about 10 to 20 feet deeper on the reefs. Try jig and minnow approach.

[GrizzlyAdams]

Where have all the reports gone. Is no one out fishing?? Coming up in a month and have been reading this site several times a day and haven't seen any new reports for a few days. I am hoping that the fishing is so good that no one has time to post but please do. Living vicariously through you guys right now and need to hear some reports good or bad.

[SledNeck]

everyone is tight lipped

good thing the walleyes arent