When weather conditions stabilize to to the point where there is nothing notable as far as wind direction what should you do?? Mow the lawn at the cabin?? Dishes?? Nice book??
RUKIDDING!?!?
First off from my perspective the goal for everyday always revolves around “Catching” the best walleyes we can in those conditions. Anglers realize weather can play a huge role in fishing success. Great “Weather” days can dramatically aid in a fishermans bag. While on the contrary tough weather conditions such as high skies and no diretional winds can make fishing mid-day a bit more difficult. Some of my most proud fishing outcomes aren’t necessarily the best overall fish number days or size days. As fisherman we play the hand we are dealt on a daily basis and do the best we can with it. This is REALITY FISHING in Minnesota. Currently we have a big mayfly hatch taking place to add to the challenge so of course this must be taken into consideration.
Yesterday we faced what I like to refer to as the “Umbrella Drink” walleye day. A day to slather up with sunblock 30 and slip the tropical umbrella in your fruity drink of choice. Listening to tropical tunes such as “Margaritaville” in your boat is based on personal preference, but fitting nonetheless. Wind was simply a non-factor as the I-pilot from Minnkota had a slightly difficult time figuring which diretion to face.
Shallow fish were not coming out to play in this newly found tropical paradise on the Canadian Border. We quickly gave up trying to work the “Aggressive Bite” that WE WANTED TO FISH. Keep in mind the fish most ALWAYS dictate to the anglers what will need to take place on that particular day, and NOT the other way around. Late morning we began casting and draggin jigs through yesterdays food funnels. It was my assumption that these fish would likely still be in the same general areas as yesterday, but much less active mid-day. The fish were not found up in the water column like they were with the influx of forage we located in our previous trip. Combing structure with our sonar verified most all of the good fish were belly to the bottom. Still the fish were clearly being printed on our Humminbird 1198C. We saddled up the I-Pilot and got busy………..SLOWLY. I assure you most anglers would insist a “Lindy Rig” would be essential to turn any fish. These fish were tightly located precisely where the Clay had mixed into a defined deep boulders edge. A rig would be very difficult to keep a slide sinker out of snags, and unable to effectively trigger the bite as effective as our jig technique. When dragging your presentation anglers needed to detect your jigs arrival to the Bouldered “Hot Zone”. When reaching the boulder line a quick snap and then micro-slow drag worked all day long baby. These fish were mixed into the bouldered pile and a jig snapped and dropped in their mouth was the “Gift that kept on Giving!!” Guys fishing too aggressive had PLENTY of time to finish their “Umbrella Drinks”. Still by simply curbing your excitement we were able to keep the “NET WET” high-noon on one of the most beautiful days of the year here on Rainy Lake.
All in all a respectable 45-50 walleyes with the biggest measuring 25 inches. Easy limit of great eaters for our group of 3.
****H20 Precision jigs in the 3/16 oz. size tiger pattern tipped with a fathead.
Congratulations to both Jake and Jerry on their first trip to Rainy Lake and their first WALLEYE fishing experience. Jake and Jerry had booked this trip with me here on the US side of Rainy Lake to follow up with their week long stay fishing deep into Canada on another well known fishery. On day one here in the Great USA the biggest walleyes of their trip were landed!! 
NICE!!
