Did our first trip to the North Arm a few weeks earlier than normal. Was pretty slow for the first 5 days and then got better. Story seemed to be cold water, followed by a big cold front to make it even colder, and then fishing recovering after warmer days and warming waters.
Targeted pike 80% and walleye 20%. See Raptormaster’s post in the other Rainy thread for some walleye info.
Water temps: Saturday 5/27 was 50 at the dock and 54 up the lake. Warmed up a few degrees and then the cold front pushed it back down. Thur-Sat saw quite an improvement with main lake temps around 60 and shallow bays coming up a above that.
Pike: Shallow spawning bays in 1-4 fow. Saw many, including true super tankers, the first two days. Very lethargic and not many would feed. Cold front pushed them somewhere else for 4 days. On Friday 6/2 they were back in the shallow bays and got active later in the day. Expect this pattern to last a couple more days but then fade as the water warms too quickly.
Walleye: They were not in the 12fow or less that we expected. Our early season spots were plainly not producing. Exception was in the worst of the cold front trolling cranks on a downwind shoreline. Friday evening we gave our spots another go with much better success. Don’t have live bait and chose not to fish deeper.
Misc Observations: Seems the transition from very early season to early spring was happening thurs/fri. Thur evening was the first time crayfish were in the shallows at night. Friday we started seeing minnows in the shallows too. Seemed like the whole system “woke up” for the season. With the water temps clearing 60 the shallow water bite might come on for the next few weeks.
Big pike: 13#, four over 10# boated, several hooked up and lost in the same class
Walleyes: smaller males and no big girls. 23″ or so was our best
Smallies: happy accidents to pick up a couple nice footballs
