Rainy Lake – Black Bay Crappies?

Heading up for our 3rd annual trip, fishing from 10/1 thru 10/4 and staying at the Thunderbird. We have targeted walleyes for the past 2 years and are starting to learn the lake a little. I hear about a good crappie population here and have heard in mentioned that the fall back in Black Bay is a good place to start.

Looking at Maps, there doesn’t seem to be much structure there, but I see the Rat Root drains into the bay. Having seen crappie fishing on TV shows in rivers for this area, I assume its there.

My question is, can you run a boat normally from the lake thru Black Bay to the river or are there rocks to watch out for? Also, if anyone can point in the right direction for crappies on Rainy or back in the bay, it would be greatly appreciated. Rainy Lake can get pretty mean when the wind blows so being able to duck in somewhere and catch a few fish is always nice

thank you

if it were me i would get in contact with rainy daze guide service

Or several other guide services.

bigstorm wrote:

Looking at Maps, there doesn’t seem to be much structure there, but I see the Rat Root drains into the bay. Having seen crappie fishing on TV shows in rivers for this area, I assume its there.

My question is, can you run a boat normally from the lake thru Black Bay to the river or are there rocks to watch out for?

The best fall bite for crappie I’ve ever got into was up in the Rat Root River itself. You can run, with caution, from Rainy up into Black Bay and into the Rat with a big boat.

Go up the Rat until the Rat opens up into a large shallow lake…start fishing there and work your way back downstream fishing outside river bends where you find deeper water and sunken timber.

Slowly drag small bright plastics like a twister tail on an 1/8th ounce head or pull a small minnow on a small spinner rig and light bottom bouncer. The crappie in Black Bay / Rat can be finicky buggers so expect to have to work to put a pattern together. The payoff is most of the crappie will be big and you’ll get some big walleye mixed in as well.

Thanks for the info James. We’ll take it slow so I can mark a safe route for future use

As far as getting a guide goes, I cant justify the cost of that for finding crappies. Our main target on Rainy is walleyes and we have been able to find those, I just think it would be a bonus if we could get into some crappies for an afternoon or two since its only a slight detour on the way back to the lodge we stay at

IMO it would be worth your time to get back into the Rat Root. It may not be gang busters fast fishing but all the fish you catch will be quality that time of year. Nice walleyes and jumbo perch will be mixed in with the quality crappies. The fall colors back there are worth the boat ride by itself.

joe-winter wrote:

IMO it would be worth your time to get back into the Rat Root. It may not be gang busters fast fishing but all the fish you catch will be quality that time of year. Nice walleyes and jumbo perch will be mixed in with the quality crappies. The fall colors back there are worth the boat ride by itself.

Thanks Joe, We’ll get back there, we’ve got 4 full days to fish so we should be able to get back there at least 2 times. When the wind blows and there are big waves, it really limits the walleye spots that we have found so those would be the days to try the Rat Root

bigstorm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joe-winter wrote:</div>
IMO it would be worth your time to get back into the Rat Root. It may not be gang busters fast fishing but all the fish you catch will be quality that time of year. Nice walleyes and jumbo <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch will be mixed in with the quality crappies. The fall colors back there are worth the boat ride by itself.

Thanks Joe, We’ll get back there, we’ve got 4 full days to fish so we should be able to get back there at least 2 times. When the wind blows and there are big waves, it really limits the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye spots that we have found so those would be the days to try the Rat Root

I know this thread is a cpl yrs old but figured id give it a bump. The subject is of particular interest to me because i am in the process of buying a house on the rat root river and have never fished it. So I’m curious if u ended up giving it a whirl while u were out there. …if so how did ya do? My realtor also happens to be a guide who fishes mostly kab and namakan has told me pretty much the same thing James is saying. He also added there are trophy class pike to be caught in the river as well. Def looking forward to the move from IL!!! My intention is to fish kab for the most part but the allure of only driving a half mile down the road to the boat launch, putting in on rrr and sneaking out for a few hrs after work has got me on a search for info about the rat root river, rat root lake and, black bay.

I assume your realtor is Watson. The only advice I can offer is spend your time on Rainy. Kab is OK but not the fishery Rainy is. Also on Black Bay, beware the shallow rocks. It’s a good area but use caution until you learn it.

Welcome to Minnesota.

We went back into the Rat on our trip in 2015 for a couples hours at the end of each day on our way back to the Thunderbird. We would catch a couple crappies each time but no more 3 or 4, but we also caught a few perch and walleyes there too. We mostly fished the center of the channel and would cast toward the shallows, working the jig back to the channel. We marked a lot of fish though and the average size of the crappies was big

On our 2016 trip, we only went back there on the first day, no bites and didnt mark much. We ended up finding a few spots just out on the main lake from Black Bay that we did really well on for crappies with a few perch and walleyes/saugers mixed in. This new spot ended up being our first spot and last spot of the day for the remainder of the trip

Dutchboy wrote:

I assume your realtor is Watson. The only advice I can offer is spend your time on Rainy. Kab is OK but not the fishery Rainy is. Also on Black Bay, beware the shallow rocks. It’s a good area but use caution until you learn it.

Welcome to Minnesota.

Yep watson. Thx for the reply and the welcome. By my standards kab is a great place to fish but then again by basis for comparison is illinois haha. Definitely gonna give rainy a try. Are u from the area?

No, I live just north of the Twin Cities. I have a seasonal trailer up there. If you have the gear (boat, electronics) Rainy is the place.