Rainy Lake Houseboat Trip!!

[bak2MN]

Well that time has come again for our trip to the Rainy Lake on our houseboat trip. Can't wait to hit th water next Saturday with our freinds from Rainy Lake Houseboats. There will be six of us on this trip. We normally come up the end of July but had to come earlier this year do to schedules. So just wondering where to start looking for the fish. We normally fish in pretty deep water at the end of July but with it being earlier should we be looking shalower? Is it more leeches or crawlers or minnows. Planning on haveing alittle of each on the boat but wondering what has been working lately.

We may look at hireing a guide for a day or two but we normally do well but I am unsure of myself a little this time due to being earlier in the season. Any input would be great and will be posting a report on our return. We will be on the boat for a week!! Cant wait.

[bak2MN]

194 reviews and no response I sure hope everyones out fishen! Well if no insights we will just try our smae spots and see what happens. Thats fishen. Good luck to everyone and will post when we return. 4 days and counting!!

[yamo]

Late report. Fished RLHB on June 9th- 16th. Fishing was very good. We moored the houseboat in Andersens bay on the MN side but fished CA side the whole week. Willow all the way to stokes. Water temp when we arrived was mid 70's, by mid week it had cooled to mid 60's and then topped out at 71 when we left. Walleyes were still shallow, we never had the boat in more than 10 ft of water while fishing. Any consistent wind blown banks and we had no problem catching eyes on gold spinner rigs and crawlers trolling at 1.2-1.7 mph. Eaters/ slots you name it. We also had a solid crank bite on x-raps and HJ. You had to change colors as the bite changes. One day it was clown the next day it was yellow perch, next day maybe blue and silver or gold. Honestly we had a couple rookie fisherman and they were avg 15-25 fish a day just casting cranks. Bigger eyes all ate cranks. 28" being the biggest. There was a pretty good cabbage bite so don't be surprised if there is still a good population of fish snapping near weeds. I would guess you will need to focus on three things for eyes. Reefs, wind swept points and then find cabbage. We also had a pretty good fishing for pike even though we did not have what I would call pikey weather. We had sunny days the whole week. We caught 9 pike over 37" biggest being 41". Spinnerbaits, top water, the usual pike stuff. Pike were still in the weeds as well. I know like most guys that post, you want answers but really you just have to get the boat on the water and start testing and measuring. I would probably hire a guide if I were you. Try Matt or Ryan from Border Country. I usually hire one of them for one day to put the newbies with and they always come back smiling. You will almost always pick up a new pattern and a new spot or two. If nothing else book your guide early in the week and get your confidence up. Bass were done spawning and small males were tight to the bank near any bolders. We caught decent bass in Willow, Moose, Cormarant, and Pound Net. The folks at RLHB are pretty darn good about helping put the customer on fish. Bill typically has a typed up fishing report with good detail, and it is worth hanging around the office between 7-8 as there are usually a few guides around getting ready for their days. Always good to intoduce and ask for a tip or two. Just remember these guys do this to provide for their families so giving a little something for this is generous. Hope this helps......

[bak2MN]

THanks for the input.