rainy lake Rainy Lake Fishing Reports by Capt John

[CaptJohnWis]

Couldn't ask fer a better day in October.

Fish biting nearly every place we tried. Some quite shallow but best around 20 feet. All on lures. All released except the two smallest walleyes.

[CaptJohnWis]

Back from Texas just in time for ice out on North Arm.

Bass gave me a nice welcome back (no doubt missed me all winter). 51 bass between 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. Could have caught more but did want to wear out my welcome. Chased pike for awhile to no avail. Most bass 2-1/2 to 3 pounds with heaviest 3 lb.-10 oz. They were hitting anything I threw - spoons, Munchies, marabous, Fin-S-Fish but no stinkin minnows.

Oh I almost forgot, was the only one at the boat landing and never saw another boat! I'll have to pass on that river fishing this time of year when the lake is open.

[okfisherman]

didn't take you long to get back to it, sorry I misssed you on the way through, maybe another time. let me know if you head south again.

[CaptJohnWis]

Could not have been nicer out the last two days. No wind and full sun. Somebody up there likes me.

Water is warmer now than it was July 1 last year! 55 degrees in main North Arm this afternoon.

Fished 12 hours total last two days. 37 fish. Mostly bass. A few pike and one whitefish and one walleye (28" - 8 lb. 1 oz.) Starting to see some some following bass on hooked fish but only singles. They are on the banks but there is plenty of dead water for every good spot I found. My honey holes of a week ago completely dead.

Got my first bass on a Husky Jerk today. That is a good sign that they are getting more active along with the followers trying to steal the jig from their buddy.

[MYSTERY_POLE]

WHere on Rainy is the North Arm? Are you on the American side of Canadian side? Have a trip planed for the week of June 4th. With the early ice out we are having concerns the fish might be in deeper water than we are use to at this time. We fish almost exactly like the lure selection of jig and plastic throwing to the shallows. The last ice out around this time was I believe 2006 (April 16th). Caught a number of smallies, a good count of northern, but the walleye bite was not existant, only 8 for the whole trip. Any thoughts?

[Seven_fingers]

If you look at a map of Rainy, it could be compared to a chickens foot. The left toe goes north into Canada and is the North Arm. The right toe goes east, and is along the border with Canada towards kettle falls, and the center toe goes northeast and is Redgut Bay, (the best fishing I think) although subject of debate.

[CaptJohnWis]

I usually catch most of my big walleyes shallow until October (then I fish deep humps). Don't really target walleyes much but catch them fishing bass all summer. If you are after "eaters" they seem to be much deeper than the big gals. I catch hardly any eaters shallow.

Last year was a slow one for shallow eyes. But other years, I caught some of my biggest walleyes at mid day, full sun and no wind casting cranks to shallow rocks. Obviously the big ones don't mind warm water and bright sun. Last year that didn't work for hardly anything. The cold weather probably had lots to do with where the baitfish (and big ones) were.

I have only got two so far this year on the lake. 22" and 28". Hopefully they are off spawning somewhere and will show up along the banks soon.

[CaptJohnWis]

Last day fer sturgeon fishing fer awhile. A little moist out but kept the creampuffs in their houses and gave us more room to fish.

Marvin got the biggest fish he has ever caught and he's been at it awhile.

[CaptJohnWis]

Paul and I fished about 7 hours today. Mighty purrty out there. Never saw another boat and drove about 40 miles round trip. 44 fish mostly bass. Got 20 at first spot including 4 doubles! Thought we were headed for a 200 fish day but they really slowed down. Water 48-52 degrees. Bass were spitting up Mayflies and we even saw a couple mayflies flying around our boat.

All fish caught on soft plastics.

[CaptJohnWis]

Paul got his first ever bugle-nosed bass.

[CaptJohnWis]

I stayed home opener day but have been at it since. We got about 80 fish yesterday, mostly bass (good fish) but a few toothy critters of no size. No stinkin minnows required. Thanks to Brad for taking me in his boat.

Where are the reports from the rest of you guys? I heard the walleye bite was very slow. But who cares about bottom feeders when bass are snapping?

[gbuck]

What are the water temps looking like? We are due up the 4th of June. Will the spawn be earlier this year due to the warmer temps?

[CaptJohnWis]

Main body of North Arm 68 today, back bays warmer. Bass already on beds. I got my first one (18 incher) on a surface lure today. 31 fish by 1 p.m. but only a few on top-waters.

[gbuck]

Well hopefully the topwater bite will be on the first 2 weeks of June.

[CaptJohnWis]

Not a lot of fish today but some beauties. Good thing I didn't know it was a Canadian holiday weekend or I would have stayed home - naw, too nice out.

[pznak]

Thanks for the pictures John. Fishing must be tough up there, it looks like you are the only one that has posted any results in a couple weeks.

[TN Rick]

Cpt John,

Haven't heard much from you lately and was wondering what kind of luck you were having with the Smallmouth, and especially in the North Arm?

We will be at LaBelle's this next weekend for our annual fix of Rainy Lake fishing adventures and was wondering what your thought might be as to the pattern to expect and any techniques you might share. With the warmer weather we are anticipating the bass will have moved into their post-spawn pattern and be away from the shore and into deeper points and humps. I notice from your pictures that you seem to be using 'fluke' type baits or Lindy Munchies with a small jighead and no leader. Is this your 'standard' configuration for hunting Smallmouth?

Greatly appreciate all your posts and insights, and especially the pictures.

[CaptJohnWis]

You are right about the type lures I prefer.

Total disaster last trip Friday. Second day in a row that I caught not one bass. They have totally disappeared from the shorelines that had been so good for weeks. I also tried shallow and deep weeds, mainlake points, points in protected bays, and main lake humps. Zip - notta.

Did get about one toothy critter per hour the last two trips. Biggest pike 41" and mostly walleye 19"-28-3/4".

Then tore up my prop Friday loading the boat back on the trailer at Bowman's Landing. I have used that same ramp hundreds of times without a problem. The water has even come up about a foot since April (so easier now) but I shreaded my prop Friday. It looks like I hit metal so somebody must have thrown something in off dock. I am going to try to contact whoever maintains the landing and try to fish out whatever is down there.

email me direct [email protected]

[TN Rick]

Sorry to hear about your prop. Not fun and expensive I know. Have to get a new one, or able to do a repair?

Besides the obstruction at the ramp, I know that there are a lot of rocks on Rainy with prop gouges in them. Have put a scrape or two on a couple myself. I've learned you have to be especially very careful around points and small islands.

Sounds like we'll have to HUNT the Smallmouth as opposed to fish for them in the shallows as in the past. Sure am glad I bought all those new topwater baits to try!

Were you fishing for Pike when you caught them or Smallmouth? Can imagine that with no lears fishing for bass you would get a lot of bite-off from the Pike.

[Moskeeter]

Senko's were the key for our group all of last week with no weight if your looking for the smallies. Caught some on grubs but senko's outfished the grub 4-1. Didn't matter if you texas rigged or rigged them wacky. I think weather played a bigger part. If the sun was out, fish were shallow 2-4 foot in the round boulder/grass area's. Cloudy or raining they moved out or were more active on steeper rock near the round boulder cuts.

[TN Rick]

Moskeeter,

Thanks for the information. Any particular color seem to work best?

We have caught them on plastic worms, flukes and grubs in the past. Seems like we just have to experiment each year we come up, and sometimes each day in the week. If it was easy, then I guess it wouldn't be any fun!

[Moskeeter]

Watermelon red flake or straight watermelon senko's was all we used. Even threw watermelon strike king ocho's and they all caught fish. Grubs was definately green pumpkin, which of course I only had about 20 of that color (brought all watermelon with me).

Again, we found if the sun was out, the fish moved shallow on the round sandy boulders 2-4 fow. If it was cloudy or raining, the bite moved deeper or to quick drop off rocks, but they were still on or near the round stuff. The eater walleye were also holding to the big round drop off stuff as well, which we caught by accident, but no one seemed to mind those tasty critters. Most of the smallies we cleaned had their bellies stuffed with small crawfish.

[CaptJohnWis]

...had fun with bottom feeders.

Couldn't figger out why there were so many boats today. Many headed into Stangi. Even said "I wonder why all those guys are headed there you can't even fish there" - duh. Fergot it opened. But we struggled along on main lake and got about 35 fish mostly nice walleyes.

[CaptJohnWis]

Water is up on the river so wife and I went fer a couple hours. Got this one afore we could put out the second line. But after that nothing but red horse suckers until all the crawlers were gone. 55 inches.

[CaptJohnWis]

Had a very hard time marking any fish today. But the ones that were there must have been hungry. Fished banker's hours and ended up with ten walleyes (biggest 28") and three pike (biggest 39", 18lb -10 oz., a true porka). All on lures. Got about a third trolling deep running cranks. Not my favorite technique but it was windy and trolling made for easier boat control. Big pike came casting a Munchie Worm on a heavy jig head.

Fished alone so no pictures. I was surprised I didn't mark many fish. I saw more schools of bait today than I have all year but no big hooks under em. Kept one eater walleye (already et it) and released the rest.

[CaptJohnWis]

My buddy invited me over to Devils Lake this past week. The wind was awful but we still managed to have lots of fun with walleyes and white bass. No big eyes but kept a limit of eaters. White bass were a hoot.

Many of the roads we used a few years ago are now under water. The fish really stack up on those road beds when wind is blowing in.

Back on Rainy today with Paul. We done good. 53 walleyes and three pike fishing banker's hours. About half on Munchie worms and half on live crawlers. Mostly 22-31 FOW.

[CaptJohnWis]

Got 70 fish in last two days. Mostly walleyes and a few dandy pike. All caught on jig heads with plastic fluke tails.

Thanks to the bass tourney guys who stopped to take this picture.

[bklimek]

What size and color flukes/minnow imitators do you use? is Gulp a good alternative?

[CaptJohnWis]

I use mostly 4-5" tails. But I have a supply of bigger & smaller ones just in case. Gulp will work but when I have tried it I see no difference in results so usually use Lunker City Fin-S-Fish and Lindy Shadlings.

I have said many times before I think color rarely makes any difference. I know most guys on this board think otherwise but until they outfish me (in same boat) using a different color, I'll stick to that belief. Now SIZE is another story. I firmly believe it can make a huge difference.

Most of the time for tails I use pearl (31 incher last time), "opening night", "closing night", Alewife (28-3/4 incher last time), , and pirrana. But last time I tried an extra gaudy 3" solid chartruese and it worked just as well. I will admit pike seem to bite me off a lot more when using chartruese (3 bite-offs last time). For jig heads most of the time I use unpainted lead. But white, glow, and chartruese are also used. I use the lightest head I can get away with under conditions I am fishing. You definitely get more hits on a slow drop. And I have a much better hook-up ratio on the lighter heads. On heavy heads I seem to miss more strikes, and when I do hook up, more of them get off on way in.

[Mudcutter]

Experiece has also shown me the same thing capt JOhn is talking about. Get in the strike zone with the right size,, and bingo. color is more of an issue in clear water and shallow water,, frontal passages.