I apologize for the late report. When I got back to my computer getting caught up at work was more important than talking about my fish. 
I headed up to the land of sky blue waters with my girlfriend. She had never ventured north of Duluth so I knew it was going to be a treat to show her a little slice of heaven on earth. We beat the weekend rush and set up camp on Arden Island. It was a great site with a dock. We sure have a great national park system. It’s hard to believe it’s still free. It makes it a little easier paying my taxes every year.
Like many others we targeted the reefs for ‘eyes. Different than past experiences, I didn’t mark a lot of fish on the reefs. The fish I did mark though seemed active.
I tried a total of 5 reefs and really couldn’t get a bite, other than on one reef. We caught all our fish there and focused on depths from 25’ to 32’. We pulled rigs with leeches. I tried spinners, but did better with rigs. I experimented with snell length and found around 4’ to 6’ worked best for me. I marked some fish a little off bottom so I added a floater, but really did best with a red hook and a bead.
I did not try crawlers at all. I had a few dozen go bad in the heat. I cut a few ‘eyes open for dinner and they were either empty or had leeches in them. We had a couple burping up some shiners, so that may have been something good to give a try.
I found it better to work my rig slow. There were a couple spot on the spot locations that I would just hover over until I got bit.
My girlfriend had little fishing experience before dating me and was curious about why I like to play with the guts when I clean my fish. I told her if you cut me open you would find bacon, eggs, steak, and some beer. If you were trying to “catch me”, putting a big leaf of lettuce wouldn’t work as big chunk of steak. I saw the light bulb go on.
I apologize for the shirtless photos. It was so hot I was in survival mode. It’s hard on the eyes to look at a shirtless fat boy, but I find it easier if you focus your eyes on the fish.
This was an especially good trip to introduce Kathryn to Rainy Lake. Not only did Kathryn catch her first walleye, but she was able to put a 23” ‘eye on her fishing resume. She’s a pretty good stick. My biggest was 24”. I wasn’t able to give a good pose, because right when he bit there was another boat window shopping this reef. The biggest northern was 29”. We didn’t catch any trophies, but sure had an excellent time.
I apologize for the shirtless photos. It was so hot I was in survival mode. It’s hard on the eyes to look at a shirtless fat boy, but I find it easier if you focus your eyes on the fish.
Sully
