I had the opportunity to make a trip up to Rainy Lake last week. Our group stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge out of the International Falls area. The T-Bird is the perfect place for a bunch of guys fishing. Nice access ramps and a ton of dockage and a full service bait/gas/ice shop all tucked into a protected harbor. No doubt we will be back! Here is Greg with his 24 incher.
As many of you know, Rainy is littered with islands, rock piles, and submerged hazards that pop up from nowhere to take out a lower unit. Having never fished this area of the lake, I could have spent the entire trip just “Feeling my way around” before actually catching a fish. But thanks to my Lowrance GPS with the Navionics chip, I was able to navigate safely and confidently from the get go! I can report that my prop did not take a beating on this trip! Dave B takes a nice one to start day two.
Ok, on to the fishing. Reports of fish being caught on the main lake basins anywhere from 25-45 feet of water. We started our search near Dryweed Island and marked fish scattered at various depths. Our best depth overall depth was in the 35-40 foot range. Most of our catch was in the keeper slot of less than 17 inches. We did bump into an occasional 19-21 with the biggest fish of the trip hitting the 24 inch mark. We had no problem getting enough fish for the Friday night fish fry!!! Here is my contribution.
We caught fish on several presentations. Jig and minnow/crawler/leech or lindy rigs both put fish in the boat. However, once we switched all of our rods over to lindy rigs and kept on the move, we were upping our numbers over a jig presentation.
Fun trip and I look forward to doing it again next year. A big thanks to Dave B for putting this trip together.
Looks like fun Jon!
I miss those trips like that.
By chance did you guys get into any smallies up there in that deep water?
I have heard some of those bruiser bronzebacks up there can be found real deep when the waters cool.
The only smallies we caught were dinks. We never took the time to try and target them. Time just flies by too fast up there.
-J.
Jon,
Is Rainy Lake part of the Voyagers national park? We are considering a houseboat trip next fall.
Yes. Most of the lake is in the park. There are a couple housboat rental companies near where we stayed including “Rainy Lake Housboats” located in the same bay as the Thunderbird. Here is a snapshot I took one morning of the bay.
My wife and I did the houseboat thing for 3-4 years straight after we were married. Real good time and a perfect way to travel the lake.
-J
Looks like a good trip, I’ll be up there in a few weeks, can wait.
Jami
Awesome
Your pics bring back alot of great memories…I swear the second one is sitting over a rock pile NW of Enos Island ?? Spent 5 days up there this past July, and it is hands down the best fishery I’ve ever been on. I too was planning the next trip as soon as I got home.