rainy lake

[Headhunter]

Great trip. my dad turned 80 July 1. our average smallie was close to 3-1/2 lbs and caught them by the bunches, 75-80 per day between the 3 of us. 20+ smallmouth in the over 4 lb range. Nothing that made 5, my dad had one on that was for sure over 5 but it got off with a huge jump. They were just starting to spawn so they were hungry and shallow. Many times, when someone had a fish on, you just threw in behind it, and you would hook up also. We had many doubles and even some triples. Most of the time when I caught fish on a spinnerbait, another smallmouth would be hitting the blades trying to take the spinnerbait away from the smallmouth I had on. It was good to say the least.

Wore the walleye out also. My brother had the largest that was 7 lbs but we averaged about 30 per day between my brother my dad and myself. Average walleye was close to 4 lbs. Tough to catch keepers. You can only keep 2 per day and they have to be between just over 13" to just over 17" or 1 of the 2 can be over 27". We caught plenty to eat though and you know, they are ok to eat. We do not troll, caught them all casting. Caught more pike than we cared to and even perch, some just shy of a pound. Saw a world of eagles and it is by far my favorite place to fish there is.

My dad will not stay in a lodge. We tent camped on an island as we have for over 30 years. My brother got a yamaha generator, super for charging the 2 trolling motor batteries in my boat.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

great trip! I fished Clearwater lodge on the Pipestone chain of lakes several times. It is hard to imagine the smallmouth fishin if you have never been! I didn't fish Rainy Lake but I drove by it every time I went to Clearwater.

 

[Headhunter]

I have canoed the pipestone lakes several times, we never fished pipestone, but fished despair, stonedam, footprint, loonhaunt, etc. Stonedam was my favorite. Did not catch many out of stonedam that were under 4 lbs. That was a "few" years ago.

 

[SilverFox]

Awesome trip!

 

[RUGER]

That is wild man.

 

[Crosshairy]

Who's jealous and has two thumbs?

This guy.

 

[Headhunter]

The rock behind my dad and myself in the picture with each of us holding a smallmouth was just polluted with walleye. We caught them around it for about 45 mintues as fast as we could throw and obviously a smallmouth or 2 would show up.

Fishing was off the chart good. We were worried the first evening. A massive mayfly hatch had just happened. By the second evening it was on though. If you like to catch smallmouth Ontario is the place.

One of the best things was the lack of bugs. Very few, I went barefooted in my boat the whole trip. Very few black flies or mosquitoes. Very little trouble in camp also.

 

[Dbllunger]

Wow! Sounds like an awesome trip. Great pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

[mossyhorns300]

What does your trip up there each year cost you, if you don't mind me asking? I always see your annual post about going up to Rainy and would love to do that sometime.

 

[easy45]

awesome

 

[Headhunter]

Gas there and back is around $600. 8 day non resident license was $51.28, outdoors card (valid for 3 years)is $9.68, and backcountry camping permits (many lodges to stay in, for Rainy, I will eventually stay there, I would contact Tom Pearson at Camp Narrows, great guy) are $10 per person per night and you need to check the maps for any restrictions to non residents camping on crown land. Rainy lake is pretty open except for the privately owned islands. We eat fish every meal so I am not sure how you would calculate food cost. A friend of mine and his son were at Zup's last week and they really enjoyed it, lodging, food and boat rental is what he paid for. I do not know what it cost him. We stay in a hotel one night on the way up and back, usually somewhere around Champaign, Ill. pm me and I can give you my number and give you more info by phone. I will go every year for the rest of my life if I am physically able. We have never had bear problems of any kind and as far as bugs go you get inside right before it gets dark, the mosquitoes for sure show up then. During the day we rarely have trouble and I always carry bug spray but never wear it. It is a very inexpensive trip, my brother and myself took care of most of the costs for this trip for my dad, but if you split our costs 3 ways, we spent right at $600 each for the week. Gas in Ontario is $6 per gallon so we filled the boat up before we crossed the border and had to fill my boat one time while there, $70 for that. We cross at International Falls, MN. We launch at Labelle's Birch Point camp and it is right 17 miles by boat to the island we camp on. It does cost $10 per night to leave your vehicle at the ramp. For sure get good maps, and use them. Those lakes have many large rocks (rocks bigger than your average house here) that are just under the surface everywhere and not all of them show up on map cards for depthfinders, but they do seem to be on the maps you can buy there. No need to be in a hurry there because is can be dangerous running a boat and you can get lost in a hurry. This year we led a a guy and his wife back to where he was camped because he was lost, about 7 miles from where he needed to be, and it was right at dark. He was for sure lost, luckily he knew what island he was close to and it was on the map. There are over 1500 islands on Rainy and much of it looks the same. Glad to help any way I can.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

awesome fish

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Did you ever fish Kishkatena? I think that is my favorite lake up there. Feather and Quill lakes are great also.

 

[Headhunter]

My dad has. He said it was great, but that essox and the manitou were better. Havent' been to essox or manitou in many years becuase non residents are not allowed to back country camp there. They closed that area off to non resident camping because at ice out the americans would almost take the place over. we almost always have went the first week of July and where we put in on Essox there is a giant parking lot with over 100 garbage cans and we have almost never seen another vehicle in the parking lot. We asked at the ministry of natural resources back in 2004 and they told us at ice out there would be over 100 vehicles there and 90 + percent of them would be from the state so they closed that area off to non resident camping. I will go there soon though, best smallmouth fishing I have ever seen. Alonghill and dogfly lakes are loaded, you have to portage into them but it is awesome.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Beautiful!

 

[Winchester]

Awesome brother!! I wish I would have taken my boys back again this year as we fished some of the same water as you last yr (Loonhaunt, Stonedam, Schistose, etc.) along with the Pipestone chain and several other portage lakes (Watson, Dash, Arlington, Darrow, the Britton chain, etc) Some of the most beautiful places and incredible fishing!! Best trip of my life with both my boys in the unspoiled water and wilds of Canada! I would highly recommend this area and this trip for anyone who loves the outdoors! I definitely plan to take the boys back and hopefully my Dad as well next time! Congrats on a great family trip, love seeing this and can only hope Im still going with my Boys at 80!!

 

[Headhunter]

My dad had a blast, he is still telling me his arm is shaking from catching bass. I would recommend a #4 jointed shad rap in crawfish color. My dad wore them out and the walleye loved it. I caught bunches of fish on stan sloan spinnebait 3/8 oz, chartruese/white double gold colorado blade, tiny torpedo, the shad rap, #11 floating rapala in gold color, x rap in clown color, rebel craw, and paca craw.

 

[thirdwilliam]

Great to see your dad still having a great time. memories you will have forever. he is a good guy

 

[Inkstainz]

Who's jealous and has two thumbs?

This guy.

haha x2

 

[Bone Collector]

Awesome!