The 2nd Annual Rainy Lake Get Together was held this past week with nearly 60 IDO members in attendance. 10 houseboats were needed to accommodate everyone with the group departing on the morning of the 15th.
This first photo shows all the houseboats lined up at Rainy Lake Houseboats and waiting for departure on Wednesday AM. This photo isn’t out of focus… that fuzzy look is due to the slow and steady rain that greeted us at launch time. But our group was far from deterred. Quite the opposite was true as nearly everyone was eagerly awaiting their turn to launch and get on down the lake.
The first houseboat to pull away from the dock was quickly followed by the nine others. The guys that drew pilot duty of the houseboats stayed warm and dry while the guys that drew the short straw had to hold the fishing boats in formation until they could be tied to the back of the appropriate houseboat.
Pete Bauer is shown here giving the “two thumbs up” as his party pulled away from Rainy Lake Houseboats.
Our group of nearly 60 guys received high praise from both Bill Dougherty and several of his staff members for our group organization and quick loading of houseboats. As a result we were able to get nearly all 10 boats off the docks and headed down the lake in one formation. The joke heard over the radio was that we were going to pick our camping spots then go invade Canada. We never did follow through on that last part but it was quite impressive to see that many houseboats moving in unison down the lake with the fishing boats in tow. If you look closely you can count 8 houseboats all steaming for the Brule Narrows.
The first half of the day was spent getting down the lake and the houseboats tied up at the various campsites. You’ll never see a group of guys more motivated than a bunch of IDO’ers in motion trying to get camp set knowing that they get to go fishing once the work is behind them.
I’ll not post too many fish pics myself. I’ll leave that to the others that made the trip. Here’s one of my better fish from the afternoon of day 1. I caught it on a great white moxie in 18’ of water. For nearly all of this trip I fished two baits…. the new 4” Moxie and a 3.25” Paddletail on 3/16 – 3/8 oz. jigs with the color white being dominant over anything else.
The basic pattern was to target points or reefs in 15’ – 25’ of water that broke sharply into deep water (50 feet+) and swim or snap jig these plastics. If I remember correctly my big fish for the trip was 25.5” long with solid numbers of fish on the strong side of 20”. We never did hit on any big numbers with our boat usually seeing 15 – 25 fish per day but the hits were awesome and we always had a mix of smallmouth and pike to keep us busy.
B FISH N Tackle provided each and every participant on this trip with at least two bags of AuthentX 4” Moxie plastics to fish with on this trip. I know most guys focused on the jig and meat bite given the tough conditions but my boat had a lot of success fishing them. I’ll be interested in hearing how others did with these new baits and for those that made the trip… let’s not forget to throw out a big THANK YOU to B FISH N Tackle for providing us all with samples for testing.
But while we’re showing fish pics let’s not forget about Rainy Lake Crappies. A good number of those that attended this year’s event spent at least some time fishing for crappies with good results.
The photo above is Mr. Granrud with a pair of crappies that Dustin and I caught while fishing the Rat Root. While Dustin was cleaning up our mess of crappies I asked Chris to pose for a couple cell phone pics to post. The little guy on the left was pushing 11″. Most of the fish we caught today were in the 12″ – 13.75″ range… with the occassional super slab like the one above on the right to keep things interesting.
Between Chris’ boat and my boat we kept 15 of these dandies, releasing all but one of the little guys that we kept for a comparison shot to share here, in a little over 3 hours of fishing. Chris’ dad also caught a 26″ walleye and I lost a big ‘eye that ran me into flooded timber before breaking me off and leaving me to hang my head in disappointment. All of the crappies were caught up the Rat Root River with the big surprise being how many 22” – 25” walleyes were also boated along with some big pike. The Rat Root proved to be a great place to get into some awesome fish but also the perfect spot to get off the big water once the winds kicked up.
And kick up they did!
This sunset photo taken at the end of the first day shows some awesome colors and, if you look at the waves, you can see that the calm winds and light rain earlier in the day had given way to clear skies and strong winds that gained steam throughout the night.
Days 2, 3 and 4 produced tough conditions in the form of strong, relentless winds and some serious waves. The cold front that rolled through certainly didn’t do the fishing any good but that wasn’t the #1 factor impacting the success rate of those in attendance. The waves took that honor forcing many to travel slowly and to stick close to home base.
As is always the case, some boats struggled to catch more than a few fish while others reported daily catches or 30, 40 and even 50 legal walleyes with “many over 20 inches” in the mix. Jigs or spinners tipped with shiners seemed to be the top producing patterns for numbers of fish.
I fished with my #1 fishing partner Dustin Stewart (shown above with a nice eye caught on jig and shiner) and we saw consistent, although never fast paced, action throughout our trip on plastics or jigs and shiners if the fish decided to get a little stubborn. It seemed like all we had to do to catch a few fish was to move to a different spot, make a few casts, catch the few active fish in the area then move on to a new but similar piece of structure.
Here’s Dustin with one of his better walleye of the trip caught on a Oystershell Moxie.
Thursday was noon fish fry day. I recall asking Billy (shown below) what was the biggest group for which he’d ever cooked shorelunch… his reply was “this one!” I know I can barely cook for two back at home in a modern kitchen. To see Billy knock out fish, potatoes and beans for nearly 60 with some help from his son Joey (shown two photos down) was more than impressive.
Sturdiwheat’s Cajun Fish Coating was a big hit with the guys! I know this because for the second year in a row I spent too much time talking and taking pics and I showed up late to the serving table. So late in fact that I was left with beans, a few potatoes and buttered bread. Oh well. I’ve got nobody to blame but myself for all that yakin when I should have been eating!
I did however make up for the lost opportunity with the fish fry by eating more than my share when it came time for Sturdiwheat to make an appearance at the breakfast table! Sturdiwheat provided a 2# bag of pancake mix along with a bottle of their maple syrup for each houseboat. I’m sure all the others will agree… these pancakes taste phenomenal and given that they’re a “just add water” mix they make a super simple meal!
Friday morning broke cold and windy with temps in the mid 30’s to greet the anglers. After braving the big lake in the fishing boats several groups decided to relocate their houseboat back to the west so they would have a short run to the Rat Root River. This move got the fishing boats out of the wind and put several groups on a good crappie and walleye bite. Those that had bigger fishing boats stuck it out on the main lake. The good news was that by this point in the trip, after fighting wind and waves for three previous days, many boats had grown accustomed to the conditions and found ways to cope and catch fish.
I’ll wrap up my portion of the recap with two final scenery photos. The first one is of a lone pine tree that sits on the tiniest of little islands on the edge of the main lake. Every time I see that tree I can’t help but think about that “tough little bugger” that established a toe hold in one of the most unlikely of places and found a way to flourish.
And finally, I’ll end with a photo taken sunday AM as all the boats were heading back to Rainy Lake Houseboats. After multiple days of strong winds we woke to calm conditions, warming temps and several canoes paddling through the Brule Narrows where only the largest fishing boats in our group dared tread the days prior. Such is life I guess. Last year our trip saw 85 degree temps and we prayed for wind we never got. This year we get the polar opposite. The optimist in me predicts that next year we’ll hit it right in the middle. 
To all those that made the trip this year, it was my distinct pleasure to fish, eat and talk with each and every one of you and I look forward to seeing many of you again soon. Until next year. 
I’m not sure they would buy your story of “fishin’ cats” in the middle of the night. Most likely you would end up in a cell with Frenchy. 
trip, Thanks also to James and the hole group for sharing the information on the bite.
Below are a couple of Rainy tanks from that favorite reef. 
to those fish!
