There are only four fishing seasons that close on Rainy Lake; walleye, muskie, sauger and lake sturgeon. Smallmouth bass, northen pike, crappies and white fish are open year around. There is spectacular fishing to be had. The Rainy River had a spectacular spring walleye run again and the sturgeon are really biting right now.
Rainy Lake has been unreal for large northern pike. Yesterday Tom Herzig and I took a ride up to the Kettle Falls area. Walleye season opens May 12th. Walleyes were in spawning mode. The water temp was 45.6 degrees. Current flows are excellent. There are two gates open on the Americam Dam and three gates open on the Squirrel Falls Dam. Bays had temps from 48 to 54 degrees. Fisherman will have good choices on where to go on the opener. The bay walleyes will have been done spawning a little longer but the current will attract alot of walleyes and hold them for at least a couple of weeks or more.
Tom and I fished northerns for a couple hours on our way home. The spotted critters acted like they had not dined in awhile! We caught plenty of pike from 30-39 inches. It is amazing how they locate themselves. We were fishing in 1 1/2 to three feet of water.
Northern pike are very sensitive to the warmest water in the bay. The bays are completely devoid of bait fish. The pike use the bays to digest the baitfish they eat in open water away from the shallows. The prey they have ate digests the quickest in warm water.
We were casting Glide Raps up to the weed edges and into the pockets. You had to watch your temp readout closely. We were only talking three and four degree variations in temperature. The best way to find the warmer water is to fish the side of the bay that the wind is blowing towards or into, just like fishing walleyes; concentrate on where the wind is blowing. It is worth while to fish with a Rainy Lake Houseboat fishing guide. You will learn so much and have a great time catching large northern pike. Our guides have you catch the pike, not watch a guide catch them!
Hopefully I will get out once or twice more before the opner. I will keep you updated maybe test the crappies and smallmouth. Those pike are just like Sugar Crisp, just can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp!