rainy lake Rainy Lake Fishing Reports by Capt John

[AKD405]

Okfisherman - Not far from that area. Live in Purcell and work in Lexington. I would like to fish the North Arm again someday (we did in 2009). Have a great time on your trip and share some pics!

[CaptJohnWis]

Back from Springfield, MO. Attended the National Fishing Lure Collectors Club big convention. Met with many old friends and bought, sold and traded a ton of vintage tackle. No fishing but I did pretty well casting with some vintage tackle they had available in the convention center.

If any of you guys want a free appraisal of your old tackle just email me some pictures.Since I wasn't able to fish Rainy, you will have to settle for a video from the archives of my guiding days in Wisconsin.

Edited July 19, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Finally got back on the lake this afternoon. Only caught eight fish, 4 walleyes and 4 pike. But nearly all were nice ones. All walleyes over 20 inches and biggest 27". Biggest pike 38" and a fatty but I messed up the video on her. This site not allowing me to post videos or edit posts tonight. I will add a video when they git er working.

 

All on soft plastics with a 5" swim bait the best on 1/2 oz jig head. Got bit off by what I feel was an even bigger pike. Fish were in 8-20 FOW.

 

Edited July 19, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished Tuesday morning. About same as last time. Not many fish but all decent. Most on 5" swim bait in 20 FOW. Got a couple pike trolling cranks and missed a big eye as well. Lots of boats out and two came right up on me - arrrgh. I thought one was going to run into me as they were too busy looking for a marker they left out overnight (illegal) to pay attention where they were going. No fish there anyway so I did not say anything. 

 

Biggest pike 35", walleye 23"

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished the river today with the Padre. Good thing he has a lifetime job cause he won't be making big bucks as photographer. I landed two porkers of 49-1/2 pounds (60 inches) and 38 pounds (57 inches) . Big one had a tag 91738 which I reported to DNR. I was able to re-attach the tag.

I hooked another one on 6lb line and fought it till I got tired and turned the rod over to Father Ben. It eventually came off and was most likely snagged in the back on my bass jig.

[CaptJohnWis]

Father Ben in Duluth Hospital.

Went fishing Friday with Father Ben. Today, I put him on the helicopter headed to Duluth hospital. Today, he suffered a brain aneurysm and they had to ship him off to the big hospital in Duluth. He had trouble speaking but everything else seemed OK.

Nice guy and my fishing buddy so prayers appreciated.

[okfisherman]

HE WILL BE IN MY PRAYERS CAPT. JOHN. 

[Rick]

Prayers sent John!

[lexdog]

coming up this weekend and wondering about the perch fishing.  where would be a good depth or area to start looking

[CaptJohnWis]

A few weeks ago they were catching perch slow trolling small spinners with live bait near weeds. I rarely catch any perch casting with lures. I think they are one of the hardest fish to catch on lures - they like a little meat on the hook.

[bassbuster1]

I have customers in right now getting nice perch in the back of Lost bay on rooster tail spinners.

BB1

[okfisherman]

hows Father Ben doing John?

[CaptJohnWis]

Much better, Looks like he is out of the woods with lots of therapy ahead of him. Here is a link his parents have started with all kinds of info. 

Fr. Ben link

Edited August 14, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[lexdog]

Thanks for perch info. will post result when i return

Thanks for perch info. will post result when i return. always have meat on hook, altough i dint 

[okfisherman]

Good to hear he Is doing better John!    david and I will be up in about 10 days.  See you in the north arm.

[CaptJohnWis]

Visited Father Ben yesterday at St. Lukes in Duluth. He is getting around fine but has trouble speaking. He  remembered our last fishing trip together and held up two fingers and held his arms far apart = two big ones. The Padre will be sporting a huge scar on his noggin where they operated. His Mom & Dad are happy with his progress. He now is eating regular food off the menu. Ordered a hamburger, pizza and soup for supper so no problem with his appetite!

[bfisherman11]

Hope he has a full recovery. He definitely has someone (God) looking out for him.

Prayers sent.

Bill 

[ATXJay]

Visited Father Ben yesterday at St. Lukes in Duluth. He is getting around fine but has trouble speaking. He  remembered our last fishing trip together and held up two fingers and held his arms far apart = two big ones. The Padre will be sporting a huge scar on his noggin where they operated. His Mom & Dad are happy with his progress. He now is eating regular food off the menu. Ordered a hamburger, pizza and soup for supper so no problem with his appetite!

Hoping the best for Your Fishing Padre.

I'll offer up some words for him!

[CaptJohnWis]

Mike is finally up here full time. Yesterday started off great but got terrible slow the last six hours so we quit early. Big bass were on the shorelines in the morning. Lure didn't seem to matter much. If they were there, we got bit first couple casts no matter what lure we used.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Started fishing at 11:00 a.m. today. Caught a bunch of eaters and pike under the bridge but no big ones so I left. Lots of dry holes next several hours. Then they turned on and I ended up with a dozen BIG bass and a Dozen BIG walleyes. Most on 5-inch swim bait in 5-15 FOW.

 

Could have used a partner today. Many times I had a school of BIG bass follow in a hooked fish. But before I could get my lure back down, they would leave. When they are chasing like that it is a hoot to tag team em. Biggest walleyes 27-1/2" & 28". Most bass 18"-19", no big pike.

 

 

[ATXJay]

What's the water temp avg there, Cap'n?

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished seven hours today. Full moon didn't help. Only 18 fish. Biggest walleye 26", bass 18", pike 36". Same lure as yesterday. These big heavy swim baits get lots of action but you only hook about half the bites and lots of those fish you do hook shake loose before you land them. When I use light jig heads on smaller baits, I rarely miss bites or  have them come loose. 

 

Water temps upper 60s

 

Marked MANY fish in 25-32 FOW but most would not bite. Most likely small walleyes but several of the marks on sonar where pretty hefty so not sure. I did land a few eaters and small pike from deep water. But big fish came shallow.

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Computer died yesterday morning before I left. Should have stayed home. I have this "thing" that when the day starts off bad (like forgetting to put in boat plug) it will get worse.

Only caught 15 fish in eight hours. Kept losing them on the big swim baits. Hooks are very sharp but heavy head just keeps giving me trouble. Fish were spitting up 5" ciscoes.

Battery died on big motor Couldn't start it and I am 3 hours from landing if I have to use my 8HP Honda. The Honda is a pull start but this old model has a neat feature. It comes with a charging outlet. You plug in a wire and now you have a 12 volt source. Little motor started right up after not being used all year. I hooked up the wire and attached it to my battery on 115 HP Yamaha. Once I revved up the 8HP I was able to jump start the Yamaha. I always let my sonars run and guess they sucked out too much juice from my Yamaha battery.

At least the sunset was purrty.

Edited August 31, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Dozen big bass in first couple stops yesterday. Very tough rest of day. Only ended up with 27 fish, about half walleyes.

 

Fuzzy video as one camera setting was not correct.

 

Edited September 2, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished again yesterday with Mike. Morning was horrible slow. After noon things picked up and we ended up with 35 fish. About half bass - mostly nice ones. One 24-1/2" walleye and a couple 30" pike. Tried trolling during slow period but notta. Most fish 8-20 FOW. Fished humps and points. Did get this one huge bass - I held him close to camera to make him look bigger.

 

[lexdog]

You need longer arms to make em look bigger

[CaptJohnWis]

Started at 8:00. and had nine quality fish before 9:00 a.m. Big 5" swim bait on 1/2 oz head was getting the most hits but I missed more on it than I landed. Ciaught them on Ribsters, Swimming Ribsters. and flukes as well. Color did not matter. 1/8 oz head lots harder to tell when you get a hit in the wind but I didn't miss any on that lure when I hooked them.

Ended up with 42 fish. Couple small pike and the rest nice bass and walleyes. No dinks. Biggest walleye 28", bass 18"/

Fished alone or would have had lots more bass. They would follow in hooked fish many times. But before I could release  the one I caught they would disappear from the screen.

 

 

[Grindstone29]

Cap'n John - do you fish in Canada the majority of the time?

[CaptJohnWis]

We did fish Black Bay (USA) Thursday without luck. Moved over the border later in the day and caught some bass and walleyes off a hump. I fish the North Arm 90% of the time. Humps all over the place in North Arm and not nearly as many fishermen. Other spots are no doubt just as good but the North Arm is only a 2-1/2 mile boat ride away from Bowman's Landing.

My goal is to spend as little time possible boat riding and max time fishing. When I am on shore, I spend time getting everything ready for my next trip. Anything I can do on shore to save time on the water gets done. I pre-glue all my plastic tails to jig heads at home. I install leaders on lures that might attract pike before I launch my boat. Reels get fresh line while I am at my house. You get the idea. Every time you have to mess around in the boat rigging stuff up, is time you could have been casting. Even when I have to mess around with equipment in the boat, I will often troll with my rod in a rod holder. That way I can unsnarl a mess but still be fishing.

[CaptJohnWis]

Fishing was tough for me today. I got some beauties but never more than a couple fish in a spot. Marked tons of bait all the drop off on west side of North Arm but no big hooks under the bait. Biggest walleye 28-1/2" and a couple bass nearly 19" only one small pike.