Rainy Lake Houseboats

I had the pleasure of guiding Darv and Marcia Habben and their tow grandsons Payton and Payne. We met at the Thunderbird Lodge for breakfast and headed up the lake about 8:30 AM for some walleye fishing and a traditional Rainy Lake shorelunch. I opted to try an island instead of a reef.  We looked […]

Larry Keep and Steve VanHeel hosted customers from around the State of Minnesota. Jon Balaski left the dock with John and Ryan. I piloted the Chairman II up Rainy Lake to a mooring spot on the west side of Brule Narrows. Jon met us as we touched shore, tied the sidelines of the houseboat to […]

Wes from Cabela’s brought outdoor journalist Mike Pehanich founder and publisher of Smallwatersfishing.com, Steve Quinn Editor Infisherman Magazine, and Gary Lewis Author, Speaker, TV Host from Bend Oregon. We had breakfast underway on our way to the Brule Cove mooring site.  We loaded up our Lund Pro V’s and headed out to explore Rainy Lake. […]

I left the dock at 7:00 AM bound for the mouth of Kettle River to meet the Cardelli family for a day of fishing.  Roxanne, Gio, and Marliss went in my boat. Nick preferred to fish in the area, fewer boats than further west. We had a nice south wind about ten mph. We stopped […]

Pete Ankeny and his friends joined us on Rainy Lake Houseboats Chairman II for three days of fly-fishing for smallmouth bass July 13-15.  Guides Jon Balski, Kevin Erickson, and Bill Dougherty had the task of locating smallmouth that would be willing to take poppers off of the surface. We decided to meet for lunch and […]

Our guests Tim, Bryce, Nick, Shane, Joe, Tyler and Deke arrived Sunday evening about 5:30 PM. Their gang decided to dine at Thunderbird Lodge before leaving on the Chairman Monday evening. The engines were fired up and we left port at 7:45 AM. Breakfast was served on the way up to our mooring destination. Coolers […]

I left Duluth at 6:00 AM. I was on my way up the lake by 9:30. I met James and his friends at their Lady of the Lake houseboat at the Brule Narrows Central mooring site. We had a pretty steady rain going and opted to just fish and not film.  We decided to cast plastics, stick […]

I fished with my old friend Ladd Ojala, His friend Bill and Bills dad.  Ladd and I guided together on the Chairman II back in the early 1990’s. Bob Jornlin, Ladd and I made in quite a threesome back then. We stopped on a favorite reef from the old days and there were some fish […]

Brad called me earlier this spring looking for a guide to take his dad Jim and friend Rich, and Adam Rich’s son. They were staying in the north arm of Rainy Lake. I met them about 7:50 AM. They had fished the day before and had reasonable fishing trolling spinners tipped with Gulp Minnows. I […]

Kip Zent called me this past winter. He told me about the time he had with his father thirty years ago on a houseboat trip on Rainy Lake. Kip wanted to have the same kind of experience with his son. We talked often and I assured Kip that we would do everything we could possible […]