Rainy walleyes in June… (Canadian side)???

My parents head up to Labelle’s on the Northwest arm of Rainy (Canadian side) every June. I used to go up with them as a kid and had a blast catching pike, but we never really concentrated efforts on walleye. I haven’t been up there for a number of years now as my kids are just a little too young to fish all day long/all week long without much else to do (soon, though!

Anyway, my parents aren’t exactly pro fishermen… They do scratch a few walleyes out here and there, but for the most part I think they tend to fish memories more than anything… And often don’t end up with many walleyes during the week…

I was hoping to gather some intel for next year so I can give them a gameplan, if they choose to accept it. They usually go up the second weekend in June. As far as the walleyes go, where would you start? Crawlers/jigs/bouncers/spinners? Trolling or casting cranks? ETC…

And as far as locations go, most of the NW bay is a relatively shallow arm which doesn’t have the deep water/deep reefs like some of the other sections of the lake (until you get out past Barry’s Narrows, etc..) Where to start location-wise? Emerging weedbeds? Rocky dropoffs adjacent to spawning areas? (i.e. Halfway inlet) Main lake mudflats? Island/sunken reef structure?

Anyway, just trying to help them out for next year. Not looking for anything real specific, but a general gameplan / plan of attack would be very helpful for them. Feel free to PM also if you can help out.

Thanks!

Mike

Happy to share a little knowledge. I would tell your parents that walleyes are there to be had. Both last year and this year I’ve done a week in June. I can DEFINITELY say the walleye fishing is much improved in the eight years I’ve been trying.

Our gameplan is to target pike most of the time and then take a shot here and there for walleye. This year we almost had better walleye fishing than pike.

My advice would be to target anywhere from 5-15fow with a few different presentations. Since you’re not looking for complicated presentations I would suggest trolling and/or crankbaits. Our two best producers were the trusty shad raps and did well at times with minnow raps too.

We don’t fish NW bay but in June I would think that would be a good area. Maybe fish are out on the main lake reefs but we didn’t evidence that they have transitioned out there yet.

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Check the Rainy lake forum for the couple weeks leading up!

Rolling spinnerblades or trolling Rapalas is a great way for the inexperienced anglers to both learn water and land fish. Keep a close eye on your graph and note breaks and turns that are holding fish. Mark these with Icons on your electronics so you can develop a pattern. You can then head back to fish jigs and minnows if you like. Locations are a bit scattered at times in June. Fish transitioning will leave some Walleyes shallow, deep and everywhere in between. It is the Mid-June timeframe in which gives anglers some of the most difficulty at times.