Spring is here; first fishing report!

Rainy Lake has endured a long and cool spring. Ice out was May 14th, almost twelve days later than normal. On May 11th Cam Hardwig and I went to check the ice on May 11th. We were able to get to Brule Narrows, it looked ice free in the distance. I motored through the Brule, no marker buoys on the United States route; once through the lake looked open past Manitou Rock. I told Cam I have a feeling we might be able to get to KettleFalls. We had to turn into Moose Bay, travel thru Cormant Bay and Friendly Passage to avoid large main lake flows of ice. Once we went through Friendly Passage and passed Lindoo Island we could see open water all the way to Sand Bay Island. We arrived at kettle Falls at 12:45 PM; the first travelers of the year to traverse Rainy Lake. It seems funny but once Rainy Lake freezes in December you can’t wait for it to open back up. This spring the wait was a little longer than we like.

My first fishing excursion was Friday May 16th, Scott Sandelin (University of Minnesota Duluth Men’s Hockey coach) Dean Blais (former University of North Dakota Men’s Hockey coach) Ben Blais, Ricky Fritz and myself journeyed to Kettle Falls at 6:00 AM. Walleyes were active right away; we were using 1/8 and ¼ oz. jigs tipped with minnows. The bite slowed by 7:30 AM and we were off to Saginaw Bay. Nice walleyes from 20 to 24 inches were active. We were only able to keep ten out of thirty to forty fish. Fishing has steadily picked up all week, warmer weather has arrived, we are catching fish on Lindy’s or jigs tipped with minnows. Artificial baits such as Husky Jerks and X-Raps are working well casting windy points and shorelines. We started catching smallmouth bass on Thursday May 22nd. Our houseboats returning to base on Saturday May 24th reported steady walleye action (slower than most Ontario openers, due to colder water temps) and pretty good northern fishing. The pike moved up into the weeds on the sunny afternoons.

As always we will have a current fishing report available in our office upon your arrival.