1st time Rainy Lake

Starting to pack for my first RLHB trip late Aug..As I look at the table with 20 some falcon & plano boxes.A gym bag of plastics and so on.It looks like someones moving!I have surfed a bunch and it seems what I see a lot is jigs or a colored hook with weight and live bait and a few crank baits.Over 7 days I would like to sample smb,and maybe some tooth critters along with walleyes.Can anyone help on what to bring {and leave home}.Any need for lead core or boards.As this is also my first houseboat trip any thing there you can think of not on their list.Also any mooring suggestions mid lake or less,US side.Close to fishing,protected from the weather.Last thing,any secrets for keeping week supply of bait.Have a Omaha Steaks box for crawlers.Looks like hot weather will be letting up by then.Thanks for any help.Steve

There are so many fish up there a handful of jigs will do just fine.

Spent 4 days up there 08-1-12 to 08-05-12. We found the fish to be pretty deep, most of the fish we caught were in 28 to 34 feet of water. We fished islands, points and reefs with mostly bottom bouncers and spinners with either leeches or crawlers but also caught some fish on jigs. The fishing was very steady and we caught quite a few slot fish. Rainy Lake is a beautiful place enjoy.

Granrud day one and slay the fish with what you learn the remainder of the trip Probably wont get him with this short notice, but boy he sure shortened our learning curve. Have fun and leave most of those boxes you have on the table at home. Jigs and crawlers or jigs and minnows will do just fine.

Adding to the post by Midnight – don’t forget to bring some Slow Death hooks to rig with your bottom bouncers. A 4 foot snell and 3/4 of a crawler and you should be in business. These rigs seemed to outperform the conventional spinner rigs on Friday/Saturday…and given the fact that the worm is hooked “Texas Style”, they don’t snag the rocks nearly as much as regular spinners do.

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Granrud day one and slay the fish with what you learn the remainder of the trip Probably wont get him with this short notice, but boy he sure shortened our learning curve. Have fun and leave most of those boxes you have on the table at home. Jigs and crawlers or jigs and minnows will do just fine.

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I am fishing with Chris mid week.Even though he was ice fishing when I booked with him didn’t realize our boat reservation overlaps the IDO gtg.So I’ll be winging it for 3 days.If you were going to chase “those with teeth” what would be good to throw in.Looks like smb eat same as walleye with maybe some shad raps thrown in.Gold,perch sisco colors?Thanks for the help so far have eliminated a lot already.Steve

I second deerdragger’s tip on the bottom bouncers with a slow death hook & 3/4crawler. I’ve always used a lindy rig with a 4′-6′ leader and a walking sinker. However, the bottom bouncer has been triggering more hits and has been very effective for catching Rainy Lake walleyes. Leeches with a bouncer have been very effective, too.