Summertime Rainy Lake Smallmouth Bass
Smallmouth bass bite well here in the summer. Typical summer patterns will work on smallmouth bass here. Bass will school up in open water and stay near bait fish, although, there will still be plenty of shallow water bass to catch also.
Find weed edges that have access to deep water close by. Rocky areas near deep water will also be productive. Some bass will be in big schools just roaming deeper water following schools of bait fish. Use your electronics to find deeper fish and start throwing crankbaits, x-raps for suspended fish, live bait on jigs or drop shots, weighted tubes and jigs or any other good deep water lure that you may use for smallmouth bass. Worms, leeches and minnows will all produce during the summer time.
For shallow water summer fishing, try crankbaits, tubes, x-raps, 4 inch finesse worms, sinking rapala minnows and spinnerbaits. Live bait will also work.
If you are a patient fishermen, spend the time in deep water trying to locate schools of fish. It will take time to find them, but smallmouth bass will school up big time. I’m talking 50 to 60 fish in one spot.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Smallmouth Bass Spawn
Rainy Lake has excellent spring fishing for smallmouth bass. The South Arm has darker water than the North Arm, so the water warms faster in the South Arm. Fish this area early in the spring and as waters warm to the temperature needed for spawning, smallmouth bass will begin to stage onto shallow, rocky points in the 6 to 15 foot depths. Based on the water temperatures, you can catch fish shallow from mid-May in the South Arm until the end of June in the North Arm.
Some good baits: tubes, crankbaits, topwater lures, rapala floating minnow, in-line spinners and poppers.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Crappie - Spring and Fall Are Best
The spring is an excellent time to catch crappie. Shallow, weedy bays hold lots of crappie. Some good baits are small jigs or spinners and live baits such as minnows and waxworms fished on bobbers will also work.
In the fall, fish deeper. If you can find these fish schooled up in 20 to 40 feet of water, you can catch a mess of them by vertical jigging. Small jigs tipped with a tube or minnow will produce some big crappie.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Winter Ice Fishing
Rainy can be awesome through the ice. Take a look at www.fairlyreliable for your winter reports and make sure to ask Woody how the bite is. He’ll help you out.
When we were up there, we went after pike and we fished fairly shallow. With a mild winter, pike stay in depths 10 feet deep or less. As the ice gets thick, fish will go deeper though. Some of the good bays for shallow water pike fishing are Cranberry Bay, Jackfish Bay, Lost Bay and Saginaw Bay.
Smelt and suckers are good baits as well as jigging rapalas and rattle spoons.
Some walleye were caught as well on suckers and we even went after some slab crappie as well. What a great fishery.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Ice Out Pike
April is a good time to fish some of the shallower bays on Rainy Lake for ice out pike. Some of the big boys will come really shallow and you can actually see them darting away from the boat. It’s tough to plan an ice out trip because the weather might throw you for a loop. If you can plan a trip last minute, Rainy is a good place to go for early spring pike fishing. Most fishermen overlook it.
A good guide to ask about when to fish ice out pike is www.fairlyreliable.com
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Spring Walleye Fishing on Rainy Lake
The walleye fishing can be incredible in the Rainy River and in the bays of Rainy Lake during the spring time. Get up here at the end of May and enjoy some excellent walleye fishing. Walleye should be shallow and if you can time it right, you may experience 50 FISH days.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Trolling For Crappie on Rainy Lake
A good summer through fall technique is to troll beetle spins close to weeds, reeds or over some rocky areas on Rainy Lake for crappie. This lake has some big slabs, but you need to cover some water to find the schools of fish. Reel tiny crankbaits are also a good trolling bait.
Once you find the fish, sit on them with some slip bobbers and minnows.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Summer Pike on the Reefs on Rainy Lake
The reefs produce some big pike (30 to 40 inches) every summer on the reefs. Most people fish walleye, but I target pike. Try drop shotting big soft plastics minnow baits. It works and you’ll catch an occasional trophy walleye or smallmouth bass.
Drop shotting does not mean finesse fishing. I’m using heavy line and a 30# flourocarbon leader. I use an erratic jerk and pause method and it seems to work well for the bigger fish.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Summer Walleye - Fish the Reefs
Rainy Lake has some awesome fishing. I get up here every summer and the pattern is always fairly consistent. Target the submerged reefs in 35 - 40 feet of water.
Some good baits - jigs and minnows, jigs and leeches, jigs and nightcrawlers.
We also troll bottom bouncers and spinner rigs with live bait and that also works really well.
Rainy Lake Resources:
- Rainy Lake Bait Shops
- Rainy Lake Boat Rentals
- Rainy Lake Fishing Guides
- Rainy Lake Lodging
- Rainy Lake Lake Maps
Rainy Lake Walleye - Spinner Rigs With Nightcrawlers
Spinner rigs with a half nightcrawler seem to do the trick. Green blades seem to produce best with a bottom bouncer to keep the bait close to the bottom. Shorelines, islands and reefs all produce well up here. Mark fish on your fish finder and keep trolling through the walleye. They will bite eventually and when they are on, you can catch a lot of them.
Rainy Lake Resources:
