Devils Lake or Rainy lake?

With our plans changing and not being able to do our Canada trip, we have narrowed it down to going to Rainy Lake or Devils Lake in late July/early August. Main target is walleyes

I fish Rainy Lake in early October so I have an idea of what to expect there, fishing reefs with jigs or some type of lindy rig for the most part. If we could get into some crappies, that would be a bonus

I have not been on Devils Lake open water at all but from what I am finding, the bite can be had with jigs, lindy rigs, spinner rigs with meat and trolling cranks

Scenery would be better at rainy, but as far as a fairly consistent bite with good numbers, I dont know what would be an average day at Devils Lake.

I would have to believe better scenery on rainy and better fishing on devil’s, wind can be a issue on devil’s too.

You would probably have more variety at Rainy (Walleye, Pike, Smallies), but that time of year can be tricky up there with the mayfly hatches and everything. Scenery is definitely better at Rainy, and you can still fish in a sheltered bay if the weather is bad. All that said, Devils will probably put up better numbers of fish.

Thanks for the responses. With all of the bays and roads/bridges, it would seem possible to get out of the wind if needed. Im sure we would get random northerns mixed in at both places, is there much of a perch bite at Devils in the summer?

bigstorm wrote:

Thanks for the responses. With all of the bays and roads/bridges, it would seem possible to get out of the wind if needed. Im sure we would get random northerns mixed in at both places, is there much of a perch bite at Devils in the summer?

Not really. You can pick a couple up trolling for walleye but I’ve never seen or heard of anyone getting on a perch bite in the summer. I would go rainy, but that’s because I fish devils more often.

Both are great lakes but if you’re going to rainy in October, I’d definitely give Devils a go! It’s a fun lake and you can catch fish just about anywhere!

I love rainy lake. No doubt in my mind I would go there over devils any time. The scenery is amazing up there and all the wildlife you see. Plus the fishing can be amazing. But it can also be a challenge.

I can’t speak for Rainy as I have never been there, but Devils can definitely be intimidating if you’ve never fished it. It’s essentially 6 lakes in one (East Devils Lake, Black Tiger Bay, East Bay, Main Bay, West Bay and Pelican Lake) and this isn’t including the feeder lakes or Stump Lake. This is a lot of water to dissect but at the same time, it usually means fish are biting somewhere in the system. It’s the most fun lake to fish in my opinion due to the different structure it presents you with (sunken road beds, old shorelines, sunken trees, etc.)

No experience with Devils, but I’ve fished the East end of Rainy at that timeframe for about the last 10 years. We camp on the east end, usually in the Blueberry/Shelland island area. That is big fish on the reefs time, lindy/leech or spinner leech/crawler. Anywhere from 22-35′ there can be eyes. They seem to group by size alot that time of year. Few years ago my son, wife and I caught 23 straight eye’s between 20-22.5″ off the same small reef. Sometimes finding keepers (slot of 18-26″ throwback) can be tough (Not a bad problem to have)
I’ll be up there that last week of July with the family, camping east of Shelland. Reefs are not hard to find, that time of year there will be boats moving between them all day. Smallies can be had all over too, shallower on the reefs and around the islands.

Oh, and no mayfly hatches that time of year on Rainy. Skeeters and ankle biter fly’s, yes.

Rainy is my favorite lake and I look forward to every trip there, however I would probably go to Devil’s as I haven’t been there and my impression is the fishing is a little better/more consistent. Can’t go wrong on a choice like this!

I certainly enjoy my tips to Rainy in early October every year, and have had some very challenging bites there.

Just trying to get a comparison between the 2 lakes when it comes to walleye fishing.

thanks for all of the input

Ended up booking a week long stay on Rainy, we were looking at the last week in July or first week in August, not a lot of availability left at the resorts on the MN side, think a lot of others that usually go to Canada are doing the same thing.

Will be interesting to see how the fishing compares from the 1st week in August to when we normally go up to Rainy in early October (still doing that trip also)

Never been to Devil’s. Fished NE SoDak a bunch. Loaded with fish. I hear Devil’s is, too. The problem is it’s always windy. Nowhere to hide. Ive been to Rainy a few times on the Canadian side. You can always get out of the wind. Biggest surprise was the big crappies mixed in with the walleyes. With a guarantee of no wind I’d go to Devil’s. Maybe I’m just a whimp.

I know the decision has been made already but I thought I would mention there are quite a few boat ramps around Devils Lake. I think you can usually find one out of the wind.

If you’ve never fished Devils before, prepare to donate 1/4th of your tackle to the lake and watch out submerged trees. The problem is that’s also where you’ll find the fish.