Heading up to Thunderbird on Rainy Lake on June 30th. Looking for report on Walleye locations. Are they on the reefs or are they still in transit? What is the best depth to start at? Thanks for any info.
Also going in mid August and was wondering is there a lead core / crank bait bite like Kab has in mid August?
Wayne, just got home from a week on a Rainy Lake house boat. I put 60 in the boat for the week with the biggest being 26.5″ and I would say 75 percent were over the slot with the rest real nice eaters. I caught all my fish casting 3″ swimbaits pearl and chartreuse on a 1/8th ounce jig. 4-8′ of water on rock and some off weeds near rock. Every single fish pounded it. Had a milk run of a bunch of spots in Hitchcock, Finlander, Marion, and Saginaw Bays. Caught fish in all conditions. Sunny days with a wind blowing in on the rocks were best but caught them in dead calm too. Rest of the guys and gals spent time deep as did I with zero results. Had them all casting shallow by end of week. Big pike on shallow rocks too and got a 43″ on last day. Played with the Smallies on calm evenings and mornings and caught quite a few in the 18″ range on skitter pops. Water temps in those bays ranged from 58 to 70 degrees. Good luck and message me if you have any questions.
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Damn DF! Pretty thourough report. This is exactly why I joined this site. 
Here’s a pic of the biggest pike of the trip but had some follows from other fish in this range.
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Here’s a pic of the biggest <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike of the trip but had some follows from other fish in this range.
Thanks for the great report. Are those locations in Canada? I will only be fishing in the U.S.A. Side. I do plan on trying Canada on my early spring trip 2017.
Minnesota waters only just East of the Brule Narrows but you could try shallow up in Canada and do great if in the right areas.
Thanks for the great report. What type of presentation did you try while fishing deeper?
Slow death and crawler with bouncer and various spinners with bouncer. Tried areas in the 20′ range that I know produce fish at times. Saw a few boats who were sitting on deeper spots for an entire morning or afternoon so they must have been into fish. They were jigging and rigging it looked like.
We just got back last night from a 4 day trip, and unfortunately didn’t do very well (imo). We caught fish at a WIDE variety of depths, and couldn’t really dial them in. Seemed to be pretty scattered, and only got into one school. Most of our fish were shallow, but we also got a few on the first break out to as deep as 25 fow. The only meat that worked was crawlers, not one on a leech, and the rest on plastics and cranks. We had a tip on fishing Kempton Channel, so that is where we spent most of our time. Between the 2 boats we probably boated 20ish eye’s, most in the 20-22″ range. Tough to be back at work today, but what an amazing place Rainy Lake is!!!
Thanks for the report Bigwerm, yes Rainy is a special place. I also read a report on the Kempton Channel, road thru it a few times to avoid rough water but haven’t fished it. That may change in the next week. leaving Thursday a.m. And fishing next 7 days. I will report on our success or lack of. Looks like I will be useing night crawlers. I also plan on giving slip bobbers a good work out as the jig bite seemed to be slow. Looks like run and gun till a pattern takes shape.
great reports for both of you. Im also heading up sat morning. Did any one try minnows or shinners? Shinners with big gold beads and blades is my useual go to spinner set up.
Did any one try minnows or shinners?
No, on the houseboat the minnows are usually dead within the first day or two, so we just stopped wasting money on them.
Thanks for the updates. I’ll be heading up to Kettle Falls on the 9th and will report back.
great reports for both of you. Im also heading up sat morning. Did any one try minnows or shinners? Shinners with big gold beads and blades is my useual go to spinner set up.
Where are you staying?
My mom has a cabin on Lynx island in black bay. Nothing big but it’s a great staging spot.
My mom has a cabin on Lynx island in black bay. Nothing big but it’s a great staging spot.
I’m staying at Thunderbird and will be in the bar each night if you are having problems finding fish stop and compare notes or post on this site and I will try and answer. Not the best wifi their.
If we get over that way I will look you up. Just hopeing for one of those great rainy weeks and we can tell fish stories instead of comparing notes!
One day left on our trip. Fishing has been a mixed bag, lots of 12″ walleye and loads of 19 to 22″ fish. Not to many eaters. 4 days of mostly clam water, not to often you see that on Rainy, also just a shower one night and a few sprinkles today. Some fish on the reefs and also some on the island points. Lots of good times with friends
Glad your havein a great time! Im at a loss with the walleye fishin. I have never marked so many fish. We have tried spiners with all the fixins. We have tried jigs crank baits. All with minimal results. Any help would realy be great thanks!
One day left on our trip. Lots of good times with friends
We sometimes get so driven and obsessed on the fish, which is what we envision when looking forward to the trip and time on the water. When it boils down, is it the fish or the people that brings the rewards? Both I suppose, we’d all answer but the fish don’t laugh with you or share the same treasures that friends and family bring that should remind us all what we are truly seeking?
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