Fox Island

We are camping in a new area this year on Rainy and looking at the map the area around Fox island appears to have some good structure to hold walleye and bass. Has anyone fished this area with any success? We generally pull bottom bouncers, cranks or bobbers around submerged humps with pretty good success on other parts of the lake, I’m guessing this area will fish about the same.
I’m wondering how much more boat traffic we will have being closer to the launches and with the border closed again this year. I’m sure a fun time will be had anyways. 16 days on the countdown!

I have only tried up there 1 or 2 times over the years, and it was in early October. We did get a few walleyes dragging jigs in the channel between Fox Island and the island to the west.

lots of structure by Fox Islands, fairly good for eyes, never caught bass there. With Canada closed lots of fishing pressure west of the Brule so be first in the am to beat the competition.

Wayne – does that area normally get a lot of pressure?

Have you been on Rainy yet this year?

I’ve fished there a few times but never had a hot bite there. Usually not much boat traffic there. Last year there were a few boats that looked like they were on the Canadian side of the border. Make sure you know where you are. Could get costly if you cross over.

We will be up there the same time . The walleyes shud be done with there transitional time by then. If you cant find em around the fox islands, there are a ton of other humps and bumps around the fox islands. Your presentations you spoke of will work.
As for pressure I don’t usually see any more pressure by the island than any other hump .
But I agree with Wayne be the first in there and it will help your odds. Or get to mark your spot.

scottaheller wrote:

Wayne – does that area normally get a lot of pressure?

Have you been on Rainy yet this year?

Just came back June 1st from 4 days on Rainy and will be back July 5th. We did good especially since we got there right as a big cold front hit. 33 at 8 a.m. and 29+ winds.

The humps near there get a lot of pressure but not so much by islands, best spot is small hump on very tip of that area on west side, it has two peakes and Walleyes like the the cut between them. I have found this area sensitive to pressure and do best with a run and gun approach also more lunch fish with few over 17″ Be prepared to eat 13″ and 14″ fish as perfect 16 and 17 fish are hard to find.
Also check out the structure east of the “cans” at entrance to Brule, can be another good spot for lunch fish. With all the fishing pressure this year consider using live bait rigs rather then just a jig. Sometimes Rainy Walleyes prefer Shiner’s, pricey but can be just the ticket.

good luck, Wayne

Thanks for the great tips Wayne!

Any word on the mayflies? I’d seen one video where they were thick, just looking to validate if the hatch has happened.

We’re heading up June 26.

Nick Stenberg wrote:

Any word on the mayflies? I’d seen one video where they were thick, just looking to validate if the hatch has happened.

We’re heading up June 26.

I get an update once we get up there but I’m thinking we’ll be in the thick of it when we get there.

Heard the hatch happened 5 days ago. How are you guys doing, Scott?

We are finally finding some walleyes on mid lake humps all over north of lost bay. Very finicky and mainly on leaches. Drop shot has been the most effective. I’m spending a lot of time with the electronics to locate them then vertical fish. May flies are everywhere. Water temp is 62-65.

Glad you are finding them. Tight lines.

Our best fishing this last weekend was midlake humps and island shoreline breaks 25-33’. On bouncers and slow death crawlers. Didn’t pound em by no means but caught fish.

I just got back yesterday from being up there for a week.
We did very well in the buoy 38 area on lindys with leaches.
On the way back to rainy lake house boats on Saturday. I fished a hump west of fox islands for a couple hours and caught another 4. 3 of the 4 were over 18”.

We caught probably 20+ that were 10 to 13” as well. Which is nice to see new recruitment in the lake.

Ended up with keeping 18 walleyes between 5 people and catching 20 that were between 18.5 and 24.5” for the week.

Edit
We kept 18 that were between 14 and 18” with 20 overs thrown back.

First post might have been confusing but didn’t realize it until I hit reply.

Michael, Scott, Nick or anybody thats been up recently, what kind of temps were you seeing on the main lake?? How about bays?

Also it looks like the water level is about at the bottom of the rule curve, did it look down to you where you all were at?

Headed up to the far East end with the family next Tuesday for 6 days. Portaging over thru Kettle Falls this year. Sounds like the eyes should be out on the rock reefs when we get there, just waiting for a juicy leech/crawler rigged past them

Topwater temps hover around 71 on main areas and bays are 74, flirting with 75.

Thanks Nick! Were you East or West of the Brule, and how was the trip?

We had temps in low to mid 70’s last Friday west of Brule Narrows. If you are headed East the whole area around the last green bouy to the red bouy west of it North of Rabbit was very good. At least lots of walleye on the electronics and we could usually pick up 2-3 from each group then locate another pod and do the same. Vertical presentations worked best for us, drop shot leach about 12″ off the bottom and jig/minnow/leach. Other boats in the area looked to be lindy rigging and getting fish but not the quantity.

Thanks Scott.
Yup thats where we’re headed, Logging Camp site right next to Rabbit island. There’s a bunch of small humps north of the cans also all the way to the border line. Should keep us busy for the 6 days it sounds like.

xplorer wrote:

Thanks Scott.
Yup thats where we’re headed, Logging Camp site right next to Rabbit island. There’s a bunch of small humps north of the cans also all the way to the border line. Should keep us busy for the 6 days it sounds like.

You will be busier keeping away from all the boats down there! This was our 5 year on rainy and by far the most boats I’ve ever seen. Several times we were on humps by ourselves catching a couple and within minutes we have 3-4 boats on top of us. Couple guides were really bad. We saw one guide with binoculars watching us then after a couple fish pretty much jump right on top of us. But on the most part the fishermen were courteous. Good luck!