Rainy Lake, Minnesota fishing report 8-17-09

As anglers we never want to forget while fishing big waters there seemingly is ALWAYS a bite taking place, but sometimes that isn’t directly under your boat. Walleye seekers know that switching patterns and techniques can make a critical difference in success or failure when fishing complex fisheries teaming with big walleyes. Our fly hatch situation has taken a back seat to rod bending drag screaming action once again for many lucky bait soakers. This year we found fishing the balls of mayflies seemed to be vital for success. Keeping tabs on the wash movement of the flies no doubt was the key ingrediant to photo opportunities all week. In previous years I would have suggested to fish different patterns that allowed you to chase fish that weren’t stuffed with bugs, but this year we seemed to have a universal hatch that had most fish full of the tastey critters in many parts of the lake. Understanding it might be a bit difficult to find pods of fish not feeding on the flies we chose to find the highest concentration of bugs with noticeable arches mixed in and fish them slow. We were blessed with some incredible action all week once again with close to 250 walleyes exceeding the 20 inch mark in the past 5 trips!! Eating size fish were iced about 1 out of 5 caught with the Fun meter pinned!! Doubles and even triples were relatively commonplace in the "Daze Fish Casket". My hands look as if I was playing with razor blades which is always a true sign of whether your handling many big walleyes that week!!

Sometimes anglers fail to realize that a big producing day on the water doesn’t always run hand in hand with an aggressive bite. This bug hatch period had many fish filled to the brim, and it took some fine enticing to get these big bodied fish to eat another little snack. Somedays we found 1/3rd crawler threaded on a precision jig was the key fished vertically, and otherdays we found fishing big shinners with jigs in the grouping of mayflys would prove to be too much to resist. The pattern of fishing where the fish are feeding seems to be a universal one that produces "Eager Eaters" most everywhere. Mud rock transition areas seemed to hold the biggest concentration of flies/fish. I would venture to say that these fish might migrate from this are to the nearest pods of baitfish from here. This week we also stumbled upon a few colors outproducing others you might want to take note of. I think my buddy Bill will tell ya Purple was a big producer for him, and Pink had been killer all week prior to our trip together. Although this is surely been discussed before I think it is vital in saying that often times it might be prepard to fish for nuetral fish. Cracking the pattern in always more productive than waiting for conditions to change. Most everyone will boat fish that are snapping, but many walleye hunters quickly become discouraged when fish are in a more nuetral mood. Being realistic here in Minnesota we’ve been fishing around fronts all year. Becoming versed in techniques to boat big fish during inclimate weather or bug hatches will drastically increase anglers catch rates. As fisherman we cannot control the weather or hatches that might align themselves with our trips, but knowing how to fish them and where will seperate yourself from many fishless boats.

Sometimes I think forecasting the bite in the next weeks is almost more important as letting you know about the previous. I like to think of it as "Here’s what you missed vs. Here’s what to expect!! As we are boating into the end of August the super freak walleyes which have been finning in cool waters all summer long will likely begin to enter some early fall patterns. Fall here on Rainy Lake has fish looking to build up fat reserves like local residents to draw upon come mid-winter Viking woes. Forage fish like ciscoes and smelt will become quite tough to resist for the biggest and baddest, so imitations of these patterns in both size and color is a wise decision. For some reason here on Rainy Lake I have had my best success on color matching my presentations vs. wild color combinations. It could very well be that I fish the whites/silvers and golds in artificials with more success because I’m sold on it!!Afterall as anglers we’re the easiest catch!! Either way I wouldn’t come up here pitching plastics without a nice selection of Pearl, white, or gold color combinations. No secret about it…….smelt, ciscoe and lake shinners are not snubbed very often by hungry eyes as the leaves begin to change in fall!!

We’ve enjoyed an unbelievable summer of fishing thus far in which has found us boating incredible amounts of big fish with nice eating fish for shorelunches. We’ve got another few weeks of similiar patterns and success!! Looking farther ahead I envision another fall beatdown like we’ve experienced the past 4 years where big walleyes and big "SUPER DONK" slabs are the order for the day. Fall football fishing season which has walleyes resembling pig skin will become talk of the lake. If I could fish one month every year only………NO DOUBT IT WOULD BE SEPTEMBER!! September can have you fishing in you bibs or your shorts, but most always has you on top of big fish needing to eat. Big fish NEEDING to eat is like stacking the deck for the trophy hunter!! Come on up here and go "ALL IN" we’re dealing pretty good hands!! Looking forward to fishing with you!! We’ll be the boat with the net out!!