Arvid's Fishing Report All About Fishing & More on the Rainy River & Lake of the Woods

There is still a bite on the outside of Pine Island. Tuesday morning, Willard and I pulled some crank baits along Pine Island and caught a limit of  nice walleyes including one 25″. There were a number of boats in the area bait fishing; most were drifting and we we saw some fish being caught. It is surprisingly good fishing close to shore for this time of the year.

Willard with a nice 25″ walleye

On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, Jodi, Scott and I went to the Lake mainly to let Scott play on the beach on Pine Island.  After an hour of doing that we decided to fish for a short time before heading home. Out on the water, I handed Jodi her grandfather’s rod that I had put a line counter reel on and told her that we were going to fish a way that she’d never fished before. I put a small Rapala on her line and told her to take the counter to 120 and we’ll see if anything happens. We had not gone five minutes and she said, “Dad! I got a fish”. Well, when the smoke all cleared we had this 40″ Northern Pike in the boat. At one point we thought the fish had gotten off because the drag loosened completely and the fish swam towards us and the line went slack. That big old fish had a lamprey on it and a couple other scars, but after we measured it and took a couple of pictures we released it no worse than being a little tired from the fight.

Fishing for walleyes was a little anti climatic after that, but we did for a very short time at the Morris Point washout. The water is still a little riled after that four day blow from last weekend, but we did see a few fish being caught in 15′-17′ of water. We caught one 14″ walleye on a crawler; then tried pulling a Rapala up by the Lighthouse Gap without success so we headed for home.

Jodi with her 40″ Northern Pike

Jodi, Steve & Scott are in Minnesota on vacation; getting away from the heat of the southwest for a few weeks and we are happy to have them with us for some of that time.

Fishing is good and we have been out to the lake to take advantage of  it.  On Monday, Steve, Scott & I fished the outside of Pine Island during the middle of the day; caught a limit of nice eaters and released that many or more. We were drifting in eight to fifteen feet of water using a spinner with a shiner. Pink and hammered gold seemed to be the best colors. Wednesday evening after the Take-a-Kid Fishing event; Jodi, Steve and I went to the lake and fished from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the same general area using spinners, shiners and some crawlers. We kept nine nice walleyes, three saugers and released several small ones. Jodi, however, had the hot hand. She caught and released walleyes of 19″, 21″, 23-1/2″ and 31″. I’ve had that old boat a long time and that’s the largest walleye that’s ever been in the boat.

Jodi with her 31″ walleye; a beautiful fish

Scott with a nice 16″ walleye

Willard and I tried pulling plug again on Friday for a couple hours, and except for a real nice 27-1/2″ walleye Willard caught on the outside of Pine Island fishing with plugs wasn’t good. The fish we  caught were small and we kept one walleye and one sauger.

Willard with a nice 27-1/2″ walleye

It should be the time of the year when pulling plugs is an effective way of getting a few walleyes, but I don’t think that we are quite there yet. Willard and I have been out a couple times this week and pulled plugs around Four-Mile-Bay and on the outside of Pine Island with limited success. Neither time have we got a limit to bring home, but we have gotten some nice eaters. The first trip out Willard caught one in the slot and I caught a nice small mouth bass.

I understand the hot ticket is to be out in front of the Lighthouse Gap about four miles anchored up in 30 feet of water using jigs tipped with a minnow. Zipple Bays is supposed to be good, also.

Willard with one to big to keep

A nice smallmouth bass

Jonathan, Allison, Rachel & Britta are here for a nice long weekend and they brought great weather with them. They got here and were able to meet uncle Noie and Janice before they left for home. Thursday evening Noie, Janice, Jonathan, Rachel and I fished by the mouth of Baudette Bay for a couple of hours. I was pleasantly surprised; we must have caught twenty walleyes and saugers; most of them small and were released, but we kept a few eaters and Janice had one that was 17″. Rachel caught her first walleye; it was small and she had no trouble releasing it. On Friday morning Jonathan, Allison, Rachel and I fished the same area for just over an hour. Rachel caught two northern in the 20″-25″ range that we released and two walleyes; one 18″.   But, it gets better. This morning the four of us fished the river for about an hour with Jonathan catching a eater and Rachel catching a small northern and two walleyes; a nice eater and a dandy 21″ that she released. On one of the northern she caught the previous day she said she needed help, but we didn’t give her any; she hooked and brought in those fish all on her own. She handled that new rod that we made her this past winter just like an old pro.

Rachel’s first walleye

Rachel with a dandy 21″ walleye

My uncle Noie and his wife Janice are here visiting from Michigan’s U.P. Everybody knows that we are not having summertime weather, but we are dodging some light rain showers and fishing the river in the late afternoons. Tuesday evening we caught about ten walleyes and saugers, but kept only three eaters. The excitement came, however, when Janice hooked and with Noie’s assistance, they caught a 45″ sturgeon. Wednesday we caught eight nice eaters in a couple hours before dark.  We’ve had a nice fish fry and are looking forward to the next couple of days.

Noie with the 45″ sturgeon that Janice and he caught

Janice with a nice Rainy River walleye

Daughter Julie took a break from work and all those daily family activities to go with Diane to a 8oth birthday party for Diane’s mother in ND. They have returned to Baudette and Julie will be here for a couple of days before flying back home.  It gave Julie and I a chance to go fishing together. We both tried to recall the last time that just the two of us went fishing and came to the conclusion that it was a long, long time ago.

Thursday, after lunch, we put the boat in and went up river and anchored in about 15′ of water. There was a cold front coming in and the weather was changing, but it was nice for the two hours or so that we fished. For the middle of the afternoon the fishing was quite good. We were using spinners with shiners; hammered gold seemed to be the color that worked best. We caught about 15 walleyes; kept a limit of nice eaters and released the others. Julie kept track and claims that she caught eight. That’s the story of my life; the women in my family always catch more fish than I do.

Julie with a nice walleye

The Memorial Day weekend; two days  sunny, one rainy. Two out of three; that’s good for northern Minnesota.

I gave Whitey a call on Sunday. It was over due that  I take him fishing again. We met at the boat ramp and were fishing shortly after 5:00 pm. Fishing wasn’t fast, but it sure was ok. By a little after 8:00 we had eight nice walleye which we find out when we arrive back at the dock was pretty good. Reports from two parties that went to the lake were not very good and we did not see  many fish caught by the  boats in our area. So, we were happy and Whitey had what he said was enough to stink up the pan.

Whitey with a nice walleye