Lynn & I recently had a vacation touring some of the absolute best walleye waters to be had in the upper Midwest.Where would we be going? We departed from Pool#4 which is no slouch in walleye world and Lake Millelacs would be our first stop for the annual IDO GTG hosted by Hunters Point this year. The food was fantastic and was a beautifully evening on the launch boat that evening a beautiful sunset! Fishing was a bit on the slow side due to a recent bug hatch,but that did very little to prevent a good time had by all!
Stop number 2 was to Rainy Lake and Rainy Daze was to be my host and guide on the water for day 1.After meeting Chris and his gal for a fantastic dinner lakeside,I could only hope for as good of fishing as the view and scenery that Rainy is famous for. Like a lot of you,I have been reading Mr Dazes reports with great anticipation.
Now, I don’t know about the rest of you,but when I am going on a new body of water, several concerns enter my mind . Boating safety,where and how to fish are at the top of my concern list. Chris made all of those concerns minimal for Lynn & myself with a day of his expertise on the water. This is one place that the true value of good electronics and mapping chip pay off huge dividends ! These tools along with Chris in the boat allowed us to much more comfortably experience our own time on this massive body of water.
We set out for our destination in the morning for a reef that had been producing well for Chris as of late. If I remember correctly,his first cast produced this fish. A true golden beauty to the boat landed on a ¼ oz H2O precision head. It took me a few more casts to get “game on” but my Everts gold glitter head with a Shiner got me on the board as well. These pictures show the aggressiveness of the fish with how they literally in-haled our jig and bait offerings. Also shown here is a picture of a shiner coughed up demonstrating the actual forage base that the fish dine on. After going through 2 scoops of Shiners and 2 doz crawlers, plastics were our only option without quitting way to early in the day. A great problem to have as Chris finally won our little two-man tourney for the day.If August is the dog days bite wise, you would never know that to be true with our day on the water! What an outstanding first day ever on Rainy Lake! Although not imparitive by any means,I did find switching from the elite 6’6″ Ml to the medium action, my hooksets were much better when the fish strike came away from the boat.
Lynn joined me in the boat for day two and we quickly duplicated the patterns of the day before thanks to Chris. One thing though,the fish do move on these reefs,so believe what your electronics are telling you. Do not just count on your previous way point as the automatic location to set your boat up on. The fish do move based on wind,bait, and other factors. Thanks for a great trip Mr Daze!
Having been nearly a dozen years since I have been up north, I really wanted to take in as much of the north country as possible. The Rainy River and Lake of the Woods would be our next destination. An old family friend,Carl Smith recently contacted me to let me know he was managing a small resort motel right on the Rainy called the Royal Dutchman. Although it had been many years since we have seen each other,it didnt take long to exchange a few jabs and insults and soon realized that neither of us had changed to much in the years passed!
The River of course like Pool #4 gets lots of boat pressure in the early spring and rightfully so has much press of its catches. This time of year like here, very scarce boat pressure is the norm not the exception. Our day was certainly a Multi-Specie day for us! Walleyes, sauger , sturgeon, small mouth, sucker,pike and the biggest rock bass I have ever witnessed all were present at our boat side.
Most of our fish were caught long line trolling just like here at home. We also caught some fish on 3 & 4 inch K – Grubs. They are certainly a universal plastic no matter where you are fishing. Thanks again Carl for a great day on the water and wish you well on your new job up in the north country!
Our trip was outstanding weather wise and it was all the better to have a mix of meeting up with new and old freinds. IDO has certainly brought me to meet great folks that I probably wouldnt have met any other way. It sure has helped me catch more fish too! But sometimes catching up with a freind,old or new, in the boat is truly the real personal best!
More Rainy Lake fish&a cool sunset!
My Freind Carl showing Rainy River Multi-Species day! These shown with saugers and walleyes as well.Ya never know what you can catch on a river system!
It looks like you finally got your much awaited vacation time. Great looking bunch of fish, and some good tips.
Great job Dean
A guy like you needs a good weeks vacation. Looks like Lynn’s got walleye fishing down. Glad you two had a good time.
Wallster ><((((>
Looks like a GREAT trip Dean…thanks for sharing and HB buddy !!
Hey Dean!!
I had a great day with you also. It was nice meeting both you and Lynn!!! Great fishing and Great company. A couple things I’d like to share that are pretty fresh in my mind are the Medium strength St.Croix Elites, and the Gold Glitter Jigs. The way we were fishing by long casting jigs the Medium power had an obvious advantage on hook sets. We were also dealing with a little current flow towards us, so making up any slack line when feeling a tick was imperative to putting that barb in those big walleyes, and the medium Elite was awesome. You can bet I’ll be stacking my pennies together for a Medium strength 6’6 St.Croix Legend Elite. Second off that Gold Precision jig was a big producer. Fishing continues to be fantastic, and promises to only get better until I head to Deer Camp. I have so much fun fishing with people who have the passion not only for fishng, but for the pristine backdrop in which we are spending the afternoon.
Fantastic report Dean!
New friends made along with catching up with old pals……wow, what a trip
When you were having hookset problems with the med.light Dean, were you spooled with braided, mono or flouro? Just curious.
Hi Jeff,
For me when I’m long casting jigs over structure often times I am either dealing with a little wind or current flow. Upsizing a jig will often lead to less time in the strike zone in my opinion, so I am very cautious in doing so unless imperative. With that being said when needing to make up a little slack quick or deal with current flow the medium stick really helps drive that barb into the hard walleyes mouth. Especially when on big fish as we were. There mouths can be pretty boney, and a heavier stick seemed pretty effective. I was using a 10/2 powerpro braided line. I feel pretty strongly that it is the best jigging line being produced right now.
Great report Dean! I am heading up to pepin the 17-24 of this month for a little R&R, I am going to come in a steal all of your cookies, or maybe bring you some? Your call…
Welcome back,glad you two had a good trip.
Sounds like a great trip Dean!
Enjoying beautiful scenery while sharing a boat with new & old friends, plus lots of nice fish to boot. That’s the kind of vacation many of us dream about.
Great report Dean some really nice pics sounds like you had a great time
well deserved vacation see ya this fall 
Wow! It looks like some awesome fishing up that way!!!
Glad you guys had a great trip!! You deserved it!
Great report Dean
It sounds like that was just what you needed, a well deserved vacation.
Looks like a good time. As I sit here in my office, I kinda get a feeling of jealousy. Thanks for the reminder, I need a vacation as well! Nice fish
Nice report Dean! Looks and sounds like you had a great time!
Eric
Sounds like an awesome time, glad to see you hit the road and kicked your feet up for once–your getting to be as bad as a farmer, oops, I forgot–you grew up on a farm.
Don’t worry, nothing ever goes wrong with Brian around the joint.
I, for one, appreciated that the big tootsie rolls came out from hiding and made their way into the candy basket by the door,
Welcome back Dean. Now, when will that fall walleye bite start?
Glad you had a great time Dean! You deserve it.
I’m gonna have to come see you soon because I miss you, I miss pool 4, and I snapped the Elite (in a boat cleat)I bought from you this spring…….
Joel