I’ve owned a private houseboat on Rainy for 10 summers.
Any of the fishing lines you suggested will be fine in both braid and mono, whatever you prefer. Just about anything and everything can work for you: various crank baits in various styles and colors, jigs with minnows or plastics, spinner rigs, live bait rigs, etc. should be good. The water is still cold and fishing shallow < 12 ft is a good bet.
We’ve asked and tents are not allowed at houseboat sites; Park rangers may not ticket you for that and just ask you to take it down. Sometimes they ignore them. You can set a tent up on the roof and tie off to the railings (no tent stakes <g>). It should handle a tent about 8 ft wide, maybe 9 ft .
Your houseboat company will provide navigation maps, explain how to read the buoys, and recommend good sites to tie up. I don’t recall ever seeing a picnic table at a houseboat site, but you will have a table on the front deck of the houseboat. The sites will have tie off rings or posts, and fire rings.

Your houseboat may include a 16 ft fishing boat without a motor as part of the package. You can rent a motor or maybe pull the one off your 14 ft boat. Ask the company for recommendations for sites and fishing areas where you can stay substantially out of the wind. I would be concerned that two excited adults leaning over the side to land a really big fish could tip a 14 ft boat enough to fall out. Wear life jackets. The shock of cold water can suck the air out and disable an experienced swimmer – I saw that happen to a life guard/swimming instructor.
Be careful in your fishing boat anytime you are within 100 ft of visible rocks, rock markers, or shoreline. Boulders can come up fast and are hard to see.
Bring warmer clothes than you expect – the air gets cool as it blows over the cold lake water. If you travel east of the Brule Narrows, don’t count on cell phone coverage – its spotty at best. Turn off global roaming to avoid Canadian towers and billing surprises.

If you have questions or need help with anything, get on the marine radio. The houseboat company, their customers, and other private houseboats all monitor the company’s designated channel, and everyone is very willing to help. But don’t expect detailed fishing tips over the radio.
Don’t get too concerned with all these warnings – just relax, use common sense, and you will have a great time. Rainy Lake and the park are incredibly beautiful.
We’re heading up there tomorrow afternoon thru Memorial Day. We monitor channel 06 almost continuously (even from our fishing boat), and if we’re within range we’ll respond. Our boat name is Vagabond.
Have lots of fun!
Bob

“Base” is Rainy Lake Houseboats. You can barely see some of their boats in the upper left corner of the pic. They’re just west of Island View about 1/2 mi. You should have lots of options the week of June 27. There should be fish in shallow bays and also on main-lake structure close to the bays, maybe also further out. Everything depends on weather patterns and water temperatures. There may be some heavy mayfly hatches in some of the bays around then. There are several videos on the IDO site for fishing Rainy. Use the search function to find them. Also, search for different businesses in the International Falls area and see if they post online reports.

These pics are a couple weeks old. Catching fish but not taking many pics. One shows you can catch nice fish close to base. The other shows a rookie from Nebraska can learn to catch walleye. Fishing shallow bays, all our walleyes have been slot fish. Smaller keepers are expected to show up soon.

Hi Aaron,
Good to hear from you. I sent you a link to some photos of our “new” houseboat (the Vagabond). Let me know if you don’t get it. I would love to get you up there sometime!

Chris,
Thanks for offering this information well before the trip. Your closeup photos really help! I placed an order for a bunch of what you are suggesting a couple days ago from bFishntackle. Hoping to test it out on the opener, and expect to have lots of questions for the pre-launch seminar.

We filled a fishing boat last Thursday. I think that was the last opening?

We’ll be on a small private houseboat on Rainy, in VNP. If the weather is a challenge, we’ll drink hot cocoa and watch our bobbers out the window. Life is good…!

Chris,
How long (roughly) is a 16# pike from Rainy? How about the 5# size you discuss in your latest fishing report?

Thanks,
Bob

I would love to see your reports for Rainy! I’ll be getting up there quite a lot this summer, but I don’t know the fishing very well – lots to learn. I’m willing to contribute what I can to this forum.

Do you have a guess when boats will able to launch at the VNP Visitor Center? I know the water is low and there is still ice to melt.

I talked to a buddy this evening (Thurs) who is up on the NW west side. He said Terry’s Harbor (St Albans Bay) has wide plowed roads out to several good spots including deep rocks on Seguichi point, Sherman’s point, Sherman’s mud flat & fingers, Rockpile Flat, Brown’s Point, 7 Mi Flat, and some other spots I didn’t catch. He said the perch are hitting on the deep rocks.

Quote:

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either way…..to the left you have more rocks…to the right you have more weeds….both sides have been holding fish!!!!

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Doesn’t a left out of Terry’s take you to the weedlines?

Quote:

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Where did you find rocks in St Albans??????

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Calvin,
Sent you a PM.
Bob

Quote:

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bob,

last saturday night there were quite a few boats in st alban’s bay, that may have put off the bite some.

Congrats on the nice fish you caught.

Jack..

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Yes. Since I was solo and there was some breeze, I tried to keep away from other boats, which may have kept me off the more active bite. Thanks.

Al,
Did you get the PM I sent you earlier today?

Are you willing to tell us how far south you moved to find fish? Were you finding them along/on weed lines or over rocks?

I’m taking one or two IDA members out on Sat nite on the west side. Debating between launching at Sha Bush Kong(sp?) or St Albans. If the weed bite is still on, then Sha Bush Kong may offer more wind protection. If its a rock bite, or we need to explore both rocks and weeds, then I know more spots near St Albans , but more exposure to S winds.

Thanks.

Al,
Dan and I have hooked up for Sat nite. If you don’t connect with anyone else we are open to making it a threesome. We’ll be working out the details on Fri evening. Dan is pheasant hunting that day, so we don’t expect to launch until about 8:00 pm or so. Dan’s tele # is in the 1st message.

I am interested for Sat nite, but I have to see if I can change my schedule for Sunday morning. I’ll try to let you know later tonight. Our boats are similar, the key is having the T-8.

I’ve been fishing the fall nite bite for several years, but only about 5-6 times per year. I know several good spots on the west side, a couple that get minimal pressure. I tried a new spot last Thurs and caught a 26″ and 22″ is less than a 1/2 hr, then I quit for the night. Looking forward to exploring it more

(just to clarify – those weren’t the only fish I caught that nite – also caught fish in two other spots before that last one.)

I am not an attorney or an expert, but I have some limited experience in this area.

– when you file, you must state the amount of your claim, but you don’t have to prove it until the hearing. You may want to add something for your time and expenses to pursue the claim, and the judge can decide how much, if any, to include.
– the court clerks will automatically add the filing fee to your claim.
– if the other person does not show up, you win atomatically. I think its always for the full claim amount, but I am not sure.
– prepare 3 copies of all your documentation; you will give one set to the judge and one to the other party. The judge may (will?) set a rule that no documentation can be added once testimony begins.
– make the documentation real quick and easy to read, possibly with a table of contents to find detail items such as contracts, receipts, photos, etc.
– the judge will flip through the documentation as you present your case. Even if he says otherwise, you must assume that he will NOT look at it after the hearing. He will write down his decision before you make it out the door. So don’t waste your time writing a long narrative, and don’t skip verbally stating key facts thinking he will read them later.
– try to anticipate any lies the other party may state. Think of comments they’ve made to you on the matter. Include your proof/rebuttals in your documentation.
– include in your documentation a log of all the calls/contacts to resolve the matter with the other party. Create it now from memory if you have too. Note date, time of day, who initiated, what was discussed and results.
– in the hearing, be very polite and respectful of the judge and the other party. No angry outbursts, name calling, etc.
– the judge may suggest a compromise settlement and ask for your response. Try to anticipate what he might suggest and how you will respond.
– practice what you want to say so you can be complete but concise. The judge may tune you out if you get too long winded and/or get off on tangents.

Hope this helps.

Unless plans change, the seat has been filled. looking forward to a great night!

Don,

As of 9:38 am your message has not shown up in my inbox. I just sent a test message from my work address to my personal address and it arrived instantly. Can you check to see if your message bounced back and/or try again?

Thanks. [email protected]

OK – I found your message in the private messages here on this site – I forgot about that feature. I sent you a response…

On your site the bold heading just below the image of the GPS says it is a color unit:
“Lowrance GlobalMap 4800M Color GPS”

Nothing else indicates it is color, so I assume that is an error?

Getting in just under the wire!

Fished Fri nite. With only one line, it took a long time to find a pattern. I had it in my head to use dark lures for dark nights, and generally followed that approach as I tried numerous lure styles, colors and locations. Finally returned to Pike point and tried a blue/silver plated HJ #12. Caught a very fat 26″ followed a little later by her sister at 25″+. About 8′, sand/gravel, 1 mph. Moved to the N shore just east of Garrison to try one more spot before leaving and quickly caught a 23″, same lure, depth, speed, etc. Probably could have caught more if I had tried bright lures sooner or stayed longer. I did NOT try clown. Two boats were catching some fish on Indian Pt but I did not find the right lure then.

Do you think it will be worth it to fish Fri night 11/14? The moon will be over 70% visible, but the forecast is for mostly cloudy starting about 8:00 pm. Since most of you are done for the season are you willing to name some specific spots to try on the West/NW side of the lake?
Thanks!

I’m strongly considering going out Sat night. My regular partner will be deer hunting up there that day and he just declined my fishing invitation. I would probably launch at or near Garrison.If you check out James Holst’s report from 10/09/03 I’m the funny looking guy in the blue parka.

Send me an email at [email protected].

I’m in. Thanks Dustin! Is there a specified date for the trip?

I’m in. Thanks James!