Rainy Lake Minnesota fishing report 5-12-09

You know it’s GO TIME when fishing reports need to be written in the down time of DARKNESS here in Borderland. Each year anglers are discovering fishing large bodies of water like THE Rainy Lake can be very rewarding early in the season, but can also increase taxidermy bills. Is there any better way to spend your hard earned cash?? As our main lake surface water temps read 48 degrees some back bays made it to 55 yesterday. BTW 56 degrees is a estimated water temp that when held with some consistency will have crappies moving shallow!! Rainy Lake continues to kick out Trophy caliber fish while providing visitors with breathtaking scenery and solitude. Seems like this is the first year in the past many that has our water levels in good shape early in the season. I guess all we can talk about is dropping the hammer on the biggest and baddest Minnesota has to offer!!

Rainy Lake Giant pike continue to break both hearts and tackle and while putting a serious burn in peoples arms as I type this report. Deb either hooked a Blue Marlin or one of the biggest pike in Rainy Lake the other day as it screamed a good 45 yards before before ripping her 30lb leader in two!! Uhhhhhh……..We got the short half!! We also refused to dangle toes in the water after this spooky experience!! I am considering contacting the DNR posting Beware of GIANT PIKE in and around swimming areas!! In the past 10 days we’ve been fortunate enough to pose with 16 pike over 14lbs and 22 over 10lbs!! The two Biggest Tooth critters have matching weights of 18.5lbs. Though 20lb fish have eluded the “Daze Casket” at this point I offer this warning to all literate fish…..Remain scared. Congratulations to customers Bill and Deb for both boating there Personal bests in the pike department this past week with a 16lb and 16.5lb fish. I look forward to seeing the paired up mounts when completed!! We’ve had our best luck fishing weed breaklines or “First breaks” zinging and slinging a variety of perch imitation baits. Retrieves triggering strikes seem to vary with the weather as does the precise location of the fish. Sunny and calm seems to have fish move onto secondary deeper patterns while a nice breeze coupled with some cloud cover will have fish holding tight in shallow perch hunting ambush points. We cleaned a 5lb pike for shorelunch the other day and found 7 perch of varying sizes in the stomache. Hmnnnn Seems like a perch imitation might work well!! With that being said we cleaned a 4lb pike finding a 14 inch Eel Pout in its stomache, and apparently it thought it had room for another perch snack!!

Walleyes are to be caught in transition at this point early in the season. Shallow water weeds will hold a number of big fish early in the season along with cuts with increased current. Smaller eating fish can be found in deeper water around 35 feet depending on weather conditions. Look for fish to be in the transition mode as bigger fish begin to join the boys not invited to the spawn party in deeper water over the next few weeks. Techniques for boating a nice walleye meal or digital for the office vary early in the season. We’ve pulled some beauties working stickbaits, and have also dropped put the smackdown on some with jig and plastic combos. I personally like to use plastics such as paddle tails with out too much crazy action early in the season working it pretty slow. As always I’m a firm believer in natural colors with the Pro Blue being a early season personal favorite.

For those of you looking to get in on the Daze Crappie “DONKEY HUNTING” look for the fun to start soon. Nice thing about mid May and early June is it often makes for unbelievable combination trips. Crappies, Eyes and Pike make for happy customers!! As the Crappies move in to spawn locating the fish can be a bit tricky. Last years hot spots can be void of fish this year due to different water levels and weed growth. Once locating the structure that the crappies are holding in it is much more simple to duplicate the pattern in various locations. Carefully working a 1/8 oz. jig under a small float tipped with a crappie minnow is both deadly and efficient. Through a Captains meeting with the Big Lake Fisheries specialist on hand we’ve learned that our Crappies are in VERY good shape, and we have a nice population of 13-14 inch fish in the lake right now. ALRIGHT!!! I’ve got to wrap this up there are fish to be caught!! As always…..Take the next couple days off…..Call in sick…..QUIT WORK….Whatever it takes!!!! You owe it to yourself to experience Rainy Lake this summer!! Rainy Lake is much to large to be in your bucket list!! A big shout out to our customers, and thanks soooo much for giving us a reason!!