Fishing Report 6/22/04

[Hines R]

Just got back last night from four days fishing out of the Rainy River.<P>We did the best out of Zippel Bay, but it was a challenge most days getting over their with the wind. We really weren't able to fish much on Friday or Monday of the trip. Saturday and Sunday we spent over at Zippel.<P>Everyone seemed to be doing the best on minnows. I could see people using hammered brass spinners, but we seemed to do the best on Silver. We we're making a drift and after I watched another boat pull in a bunch of fish I got a lot more interested in what they we're doing. They had silver on so I switched to that and started catching more fish. The little bit we got out yesterday by the inner green buoy in four mile bay I caught a couple fish with the silver spinner on as well. <P>I went out through the Morris Point Gap on Sunday, and didn't have any trouble. It actually allowed me to get over to Zippel Bay without taking a serious beating.<P>Ryan

[g'eye pilot]

<BR>Just returned from the annual June LOW run... We spent 5 days on the south shore. It ended up being the "Eco Challenge," with rapidly changing weather and large waves almost the whole time. We love fishing the reefs, but were basically restricted to shoreline fishing because of the waves. Here's the [PoorWordUsage]:<P>We did get action wherever we went, but nickeled and dimed through a lot of shorter fish to get the keepers. Spent the first 1.5 days fishing around Long Point and down the south shore. Did the best right out in front of the resort (green buoy) on the rocks. Used a combination of lindy rigs or bottom bouncers. A longer snell, leech or crawler, with the smallest hammered gold spinner you could find. <P>The 3rd day we decided to trailer over to the west shore in search of calmer seas. We put in at Springsteel. Once we made it across the bay towards Buffalo Point, the seas were pretty fishable. Again, picked up a lot of short fish with some keepers mixed in.<P>Fourth day was almost a complete bust, as the waves/wind were becoming too much to deal with. After lunch we trailered down to Zipple State park & snuck out by the trees. Actually boated a good # of fish down there, but keepers were realtively difficult to find.<P>Finally, on our last day (6-23-04), we woke up to calm seas and immediately bolted out to the rocks. The fish were there!!! We caught a nice bunch in a few hours, several upper teens and twentys. Also lost a couple real hogs. The fish were exactly where you'd expect them to be - on the windy side and windy edges of the reef. By mid day there was a large rain cell moving across the lake and the wind picked up significantly. That was it for our adventure. Bottom bouncers with small spinners were the ticket.<P>Would also like to recognize Fisky for doing such a nice job moderating this forum, and thank all the other folks who contribute. You all provide some excellent information!!!<P><BR>

[MJCatfish]

Thanks for the great reports! It's nice to know that maybe the fish are starting to cooperate now. Going up on Friday and will be there for about a week. I love fishing the rocks as well, so hope the weather permits me to do that. We'll get out there early to try to snap into them before the boat traffic gets there. Has anyone been fishing four mile bay with consistency? Had a decent enough bite there last summer pulling #5 shads to keep us interested. Didn't slay them, but mother nature wouldn't give us the big lake, so we stayed inside and caught enough to enough.<P>MJ

[fiskyknut]

Thanks G'eye for the compliment. More than anything we have a great bunch of folks on this LOTW forum....Not too many topics get going on a downhill slide here, we all keep it on a pretty even keel and I'll thank you all.<P>I was out yesterday and Saturday onto some mainlake reefs. Fishing was pretty good both days.Some very nice fish caught on Saturday, as well as some nice fryer fish.<P>This long awaited warmer weather should be a sign of good things to come!<P>Regards....fiskyknut