Heading up to Rainy on 6/25

[bfisherman11]

Going to stay on the US side and can't wait. I have not fished Rainy for 30 years. Last few years we have gone to Kabetogama. Love Kab but when we were going in July the fishing overall was not the best. Before Kab I was going all the way up to Lac Seul. With the decreasing limits in CA, I prefer staying put and fishing the US lakes.

Hoping to get into the walleyes and catch smallies and pike in between.

My brother and I are taking my dad up. We have been treating him on these recent trips to pay him back for taking us fishing as kids.

Any tips?

Bill

[city slicker]

B- just got back last night. All the fish (walleye) that we cooked came from breaks on or close to narrow currents. Between islands that where pretty tight with water deeper than 20' in the center. Pitching jigs or dragging them will bend the rod, but casting cranks or slow trolling them (small) #5's worked for us. Have a great trip its a special place!city

[bfisherman11]

CS, Sounds great. Surprised they were in 20' of water. Kind of expected action between say 8-15 trolling shorelines.

 

Good report!

 

Thanks!

[city slicker]

B-not in 20' but there had to be 20' or deeper close.city

[bfisherman11]

Makes sense. I can't wait. ha

Boat is all ready, every time I walk by it I think  "getting close now". LOL

 

Bill

[bfisherman11]

Well the crazy wind and rain storms last week meant we lost about 2 days of fishing. Still got on some fish and did very well on our last day (Friday 7/1) which just figures. Ha.

We caught walleye, sauger, bass and pike in and around 10 fow. All techniques worked. Heck my dad even caught a few walleyes casting Mepps in the weeds for pike.

Oh, wind swept points and bays were the ticket.

Good time and we will be back!

Bill

 

[SledNeck]

Did you try any normal walleye tactics like trolling?

[bfisherman11]

Hello Sled, Sure did. That also worked. Pretty much anything we tried did. On the first day I caught about a 21" eye trolling in Jackfish bay. Next pass I caught a 26" pike, same spinner, same spot.

[SledNeck]

I was up last Thursday for the day and I noticed the fish were in transition. About the same as last year at this time if I remember right. We limited out but had to work for the fish. Lots of small ones as opposed to 18"+ sized fish. Lots of spots that should have been holding fish weren't and we'd catch 1 or 2 on every reef we stopped at but there wasn't enough on them to justify fishing them for any period of time. 35-42 fow held the most fish going by down imaging. The wind picked up later in the day and we caught them in under 24 fow on windswept shores. Crawlers did the best for us. Ill be up for the majority of next week, weather dependent. Should be 50+ walleye days by now I would think. I hope. We shall see.

[bfisherman11]

Sled, good luck. We fished the US side. I really like Black bay and points east. I appreciate civilization but I prefer to get away from all the shore line and island homes.... That said we did pretty good in Jackfish. The folks in camp that did the best went up into Canada. One guy caught a 30" walleye bass fishing and a 40+ in NP. 

I graphed no fish on the reefs I checked out. I did a drive by 3-sisters and saw nothing.

The wind and rain effected the fishing for us. Like I said Friday was good and I bet Saturday 7/2 would have been good too with a bit of weather stability.

As much as I love fishing Kab, We did way better on Rainy. 

My dad does not have a passport, ha I think he figures he is too old for one so we stayed on the US side. Anyhow, next year we might put more time in Cranberry and Dove bay. I really like the looks of the Dove bay area.

 

Bill

[SledNeck]

Yeah, I fish the US east of Brule only. I don't think Ive ever been west of Thunderbird lodge once. Never fished in black bay either.