Fished mid lake reefs west of brule last week with good success. No pigs, but lots of slot fish up to 24 and some perfect two man limits in the 15.5-17 inch range. Pics attached. One-eyeing that last picture due to my limit on coors light,sha sha tea and mosquitos the size of june bugs.

Watch for the floating bogs. We watched this football field sized mass get hung up on the north side of Steamboat Island.

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Schmitty – South shore, are you fishing east of the brule in the channel? Looks nice and calm!

You know damn right Sinister. I felt that I should be rewarded with a big girl fishing in 32 degrees, 15 mph winds, with sleet and rain. I think that the violent changes in wind direction, and temps and low pressure turned them off. It was a timing issue, and we still had a great time.

Thanks F.Bart. We did discuss this on the long drive home. My counterpart often fishes the NW bay and is convinced that it is better there, and based on his results not only this year, but every year I would have to agree.

I don’t know if there is a difference in water/current, or perhaps the one fish slot regulation but it will be a good option as fishing simply seems to shut down somedays on MN side.

Well… no pictures to post, unless you’d like to see your daily limits of 15 inch walleye and 3-6 pound Northern.

I am curious to get any/all feedback with respect to the MN side of Rainy Lake. We worked our tails off in big winds, snow and sleet to get some fat walleye in the boat and they simply would not bite. We found reefs with fish all over the place in good structure, but simply would not feed. We used gold jigs, purple jigs, lindy rigs, phelps floaters, bottom bouncers, 4 inch white moxies, and every damn thing possible and couldn’t get walleye to bite.

We found a few spots where we could count on a 13-15 inch walleye every 5-10 minutes, so our consolation was taking enough home for a fresh fish fry during the drubbing of the vikings.

There were probably a dozen times where we set the hook and finally had some weight on the other end. Each and every time it was a northern. Frustration ran high, as we were convinced that this would be a trip where we raised multiple 24 inch+ goldenboys.

I said goodbye to my favorite body of water and gave it the middle finger as we drove away. Open water 2014 will be here soon enough…

Rainy is a fickle lover… this I understand. That said, if there are any words of wisdom out there – fishing the MN side from Grindstone all the way east to Kettle I am here to listen and learn.

I will post a video we took as we got hung up in a sleet storm on Saturday about 11am. Wild stuff…

Thanks guys! Looks like wind and rain/snow so will be working where we can and close to home base. Fish/weather gods have been working against me all season but we’re going to give it hell. Will post a picture of the fall pigs upon my return next week.

BB2 – i’m going up for two nights 10-25 and 10-26. Can you still get shiners at the one stop, or are you using strictly artificial? Fishing the MN side, around American Narrows and East to Fox Islands.

Fox Islands are just to the west of the entry into Brule Narrows. West side of Brule. Big set of islands right on Canadian Border. Lots of Structure.

I just got back from 4 days on Rainy and we battled and found/caught fish in 25-30 feet of water around Dryweed, Big American and Reefs off Little Grindstone. Lots of 14-16 and several over 22. Friday was absolute hell on the water.

Interestingly during a lull in bites I switched to crawlers on a light jig, and started pounding them again. All of our big fish were caught on large shiners.

Leaving tomorrow at noon – looks like 15 mph wind the next couple of days… that will make things interesting.

What kind of water temps are you looking for to keep the fish on mid-lake reefs? Currently at 67, and shouldn’t change much looking at the next week of weather.

Sinister – you were fishing east of the Brule and has success last weekend? Did you try any spots around Kempton Channel? I hope to find fish west of the Brule, but have a feeling we may have to muscle up for the long haul east.

Wayne – Sounds like you’re staying near Kettle? We find Crappies in Black Bay this time of year, and if not back there yet, out on Crappie cribs to the west of Dryweed.

Sinister – I am pushing off from Grindstone for four days starting September 19th. A lot can change in 10 days, but i’m curious if you spent anytime west of the Brule? Blueberry is a haul, but often worth the trip.