rainy lake Rainy Lake Fishing Reports by Capt John

[CaptJohnWis]

Had to grind em out most of yesterday. But hit the bass jackpot right before we quit. Well one of us did anyway - har. I think Mike will be buying some smoke Lunker City Grubsters. I know I will, as my free sample is just about gone. Ended up with 37 fish. Biggest walleye 24-3/4". Lots of bass 17-18" - biggest 18-3/4". 

No big pike.

[OnAFly]

Hey CaptJohn - What's the water temp up in the North Arm right now?  Hear anything from the walleyes guys on patterns (deep/shallow/points/humps)?  We're not usually up there this late, so I'm not exactly sure what to expect. 

[ATXJay]

Read that Padre was released from in patient care! Doc gave him a go for light jogging!! Yet, he will still attend out patient therapy.

Awesome news! God is good!!

I know it may be awhile but looking forward to read of his first fishing report!!

Edited September 16, 2015 by ATXJay

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished with Bryan and Mike out of the big Ranger. I started out good with six quick beauties, But the other guys were having problems. Things really slowed down after our first stop. Rest of morning a bust. Then we got into small walleyes in the after noon and ended up with over 50 fish. Nothing big.

[CaptJohnWis]

Yesterday started off sloooow. We didn't wet a line until after 9:00 a.m. All morning pretty much a bust. We were about to leave an area we had done well in day before (but zip this morning). Gave it one last shot and ended up with 94 fish for the day. Nothing big, nearly all eater walleyes except our last stop had on a double of 24-inchers. Windy points best.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Fishing was horrible slow this morning. I moved to windy side of lake. She was rough and my trolling motor batteries died on me. Finally marked some fish at my last spot so lowered my electric anchor. Had to pull it up by hand as it is on same batteries.

The bass were extremely active at noon. Got hits on almost every cast with a spoon in about 20 FOW. Picked up a few earlier on windy points but these were on a hump. Landed about 20, biggest 19-1/4". Quit early when they stopped hitting at this spot. Just too windy to move around with no anchor (hard for me to lift by hand about 40 lb.) or trolling motor. Talked some folks at landing and they did well on pike casting weeds. Said they got a bunch of bass yesterday casting shorline right near boat landing.

.

[CaptJohnWis]

Got a late start again today so only fished 9 hours. 40 fish mostly nice bass with a few slimers and bottom feeders thrown in to keep us honest.

Spoons, flukes and Lunker City Grubsters were working. mostly 23-29 FOW. Marked a ton of bait and perch in 42 FOW  but only caught a few slimers and walleyes there.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished six hours yesterday. Landed about 20 fish, nearly all bass - no monsters. Water was still 62 after air being in 20s all night. It was pretty much the same story as last few weeks. One here and one there. Then found two good spots that produced most of the hits. Only fished main lake points and humps. I was surprised to catch some fish in less than 10 FOW. I figured with the cold front they would all be deep. 20 FOW was the best though.

 

It was one of those days where they were hitting hard but tough to land. I doubt if I boated more than one out of three. I was losing them on spoons and 1/2 oz jig with swim bait trailer. Finally switched to 1/8 oz jig head and catch rate went way up. But tough to fish that combo in deeper water if there is any wind.

 

Marked very few fish and not much bait even in deep water.

[CaptJohnWis]

Fishing slow again yesterday. We put on at least 50 miles on Mike's Ranger but only caught about 25 fish. One big pike and a few nice bass plus some eater walleyes. Marked almost nothing all day. Bass and pike were shallow. Walleyes all depths. Most caught on Lunker City Swimming Ribster.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Fishing has been OK the past week but haven't hit a jackpot in a long time. Had a buddy up the last few days that couldn't fish in Canada so we stayed in Minnesota and fished several different lakes. Lunker City Swimming Grubster was our best lure. All fish caught in about 10 FOW.

 

Edited October 8, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Back on Rainy with my dentist and his wife

. We ended up with about 20 quality fish and two eaters. Mostly bass on Lunker City Grubster, Ribster, and Fin-S-Fish. Points and humps both produced 10 FOW best.

Edited October 10, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Weather was unusually warm today. Bass went on the feed. 36 smallmouths in just over five hours. Biggest 20" - 4.18 lbs. They are finally on the humps and hungry. Also got a few pike and one walleye. I caught them on just about everything I tried. Won't be headed south for awhile if this keeps up. Best depth 20 feet.

 

Edited October 12, 2015 by CaptJohnWis
removed duplicate video

[CaptJohnWis]

Only fished four hours today. Wind was too rough to go where I wanted. Mike and I only landed 3 bass and one 32" pike. Marked almost no fish.

[CaptJohnWis]

Fishing was good today. No big jackpots but a few good fish off nearly every hump or point we tried. In nine hours we landed 40 fish. The last one of the day was Mike's personal best bass at 20-1/2" and 5,02 lbs. It looks dinky in the pictures but it was a beauty. Fish were at many different depths from 4 - 30 FOW. Spoons and soft plastics accounted for most fish. Biggest pike was just shy of 40" and biggest walleye 24".

 

Wind was a mite brisk even though weather man said otherwise.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Monday we had a good time with 56 fish landed. Mostly bass, nothing huge. Today only got 36 fish, again mostly bass. Great weather today. Even had to take off out coats for a few hours. Most fish about the same depth 14-20 FOW. The usual Lunker City Ribsters, Grubsters and various spoons.

 

Mike got one that wouldn't let go of his spoon, It was in the slot so had to throw back.

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Monday Oct. 18 video. Our first try with a Go Pro.

 

 

[Tony S]

Awesome guys.  Capt. John, you are truly a man of many hats.  No, seriously you wore a lot of different hats throughout the day in that video.  Long-time fan of your posts.  Thanks!

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished by myself today from 1:00 - 6:00 p.m. 27 quality fish. Many nice bass with the biggest my best of the year at 21" and 5.25 lbs. Got that one on a Ribster. But many lures worked today. Wind required heavy lures for most of afternoon. Once it let up some I went to 1/4 oz head and Lunker City Grubster. Lots more bites (that I could detect!) on that combo.

 

Some boat was on my spot so I ended up on a hump I haven't fished all year. Sure glad I ended up there as it was excellent fishing.

 

Edited October 25, 2015 by CaptJohnWis

[CaptJohnWis]

Beautiful weather the last two days. No wind and full sun. Fished a total of 12 hours and landed over 60 fish. Mostly bass on the usual lures. Water finally dipped below 50 today. I had one jackpot with fish on in ten consecutive casts.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Yesterday was a sad one. We had the funeral for my fishing buddy and friend Dave Erickson. He was probably known by more people on either side of the river than anybody in International Falls and Fort Francis. The church was packed to overflowing and Dave had a great send off. I almost lost it during the eulogy.

No matter where we would go fishing up here, he knew somebody that we would bump into. He could remember their names, names of their kids, what sports they played and when, where they went to university and if they made it to the pros. He was not so good at remembering when he was supposed to show up for a fishing trip. Apparently it wasn't just fishing trips he was late for. The minister commented on his "legendary lateness" and most in the church had to chuckle at that. I would get mad at him for being late, but could not stay that way for very long. If you knew Dave you know what i am talking about. He was too likable to stay mad at for being late.

I'll miss him.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Weather has been ugly the last three days and I stayed home. Today they were promising max wind of 12 so off I go. It was a mite rougher than that. I only managed to catch 15 fish in about eight hours. But all but one pike were quality fish so I was happy considering the conditions. Water was 48 and air a little less. Points were better than humps as two of my favorite humps yielded not one fish. At least I did not have to put up with claim jumpers.

Biggest walleye 27", bass 18-1/2"

 

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Mike and I fished this afternoon for about four hours. Got 20 on soft plastics and spoons.

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Mike and I fished close to home this morning. Too much fog to go anywheres. We had a buddy join us and he brought us good luck. Quit early.

 

 

[beanman]

Nice posts John.  Sorry to hear about your friend.  I'm pretty jealous of you guys living up north.  I have nowhere worth fishing where I'm located.

[CaptJohnWis]

Fished alone today. Got 24 fish in seven hours. Mostly bass. Biggest bass 20"= 4.40 lbs. Biggest walleye 27". Most on swim baits.

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Foggy again! And then we got rained on and had lighting storms. Fish were not biting. Only 14 in seven hours. One nice pike, couple walleyes and the rest bass.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Mike and I had a good bite but it only lasted for an hour. Some claim jumper saw us on out first spot and came over and fished the same reef. We left and went five miles north to another spot. Here comes the same guy and jumps ahead of us to where we planned to fish next. We were pleased that he caught ZIP on that spot. Really aggravating when there are only two boats on the entire lake and somebody has to come and fish next to you.

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Went musky fishing today on Rainy but all we got were pike trolling big crankbaits. It is quite a jolt when they hit one and you are going 4 MPH. But action was very slow except for one double we hooked.

 

 

[CaptJohnWis]

Mike and I went out in his Ranger which may be our last trip together this year. Weather looks lousy for tomorrow so we stay hame and rest after four long days of fishing.Got about 80 fish the last two days - mostly bass but a few bottom feeders and slimmers. All on soft plastics and jig or spoons. Deep humps the best.

 

[northernfishin]

John .any tips on where some mud flats are located on American side of lake? I know of a couple but looking for more.