Rainy Lake in early July?

[wisconsinteacher]

My wife and I are heading to Rainy Lake in early July. I know it is not the best time to fish but we are looking for crappies, walleye and small mouth. Any hint, tips or tricks on lures, technique or things we need to know. We will have a house boat and my fishing boat for 4 days on the water. Thanks

 

[MNElkNut]

Yes, watch for rocks! Bring plenty of bug repellent. as for fishing, find windy, rocky points and vary your depth. dont be afraid to go shallow early and late in the day. caught a 40" pike and 30" walleye on back to back casts on a windy rocky point late in the day when the wind came up.

 

[mn taxidermist]

For walleyes I'd fish mid lake reefs in 20-30 feet. Use your electronics to find the fish and use live bait rigs with minnows, leeches or crawlers to catch them.

 

[Northwoods]

Early July is a great time for walleyes. I’d start by fishing shallow on mid lake/main lake stuff (8-14’). Careful though, walleyes get really spooky when they are that shallow. A lot of the bigger smallmouth will still be relating to shoreline stuff. If I had to pick one week to fish big walleyes on Canadian Shield lakes it would definitely be the first week of July. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[forrestleitch]

Awesome lake, and the ability to fish the Canadian side is cool. I’d hire Donne O’Bert for one day or half day even just to get a good feel of things, he is the man up there

 

[Gellar]

We used to fish the east end on the american side every year around July 4. We’d portage over from Namakan at Kettle Falls and camp. Most walleyes were in the slot, plus big smallmouth every trip but we’d always have enough walleye to eat.

 

[rjthehunter]

Mid lake humps should be full of fish at that time!

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Thanks for all the info. If you had to pick 3-4 must have lures or presentations for walleye and bass what would they be? I'm guessing slip bobber, lindy rig, plastic swim bait and hard body jerk baits? What about color?

 

[Camdu7]

Top water smallmouth When the sun gets higher grab some jerk baits like an x rap.

 

[Gellar]

We will be in voyageurs national park next week. Mostly fishing Kabetogema and Namakan but we may make it over to Rainy lake for a day.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

Just wanted to report back on our trip to Rainy Lake. Day 1 was really windy and we tried to fish midlake structure and go a few smaller walleyes. Day 2 we decided to try for small mouth and they were on fire. We fished 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon. We guessed we caught 70-80 bass total that day. All of them were on top water baits right next to shore. Day 3 was the same with the bass. I would have probably fished for walleyes more but my wife was having a blast catching bass on top water. Thanks for all the info and help. Other than the bugs, it was a great trip. We learned quick that you better by in the houseboat at sunset or else!!!

 

[MontanaMuley]

Great fishing and time of year IMO. My family and I fished this lake for years. Walleyes on reefs in the early morning/evening. Smallies in bays late morning/mid day.

 

[Gellar]

We never portaged across but we made it to Kettle Falls. 30 years ago we were fishing in the background of this picture and my grandpa, who we called Fuzzy, had a “snag” that towed us around the harbor for 20 minutes. The snag ended up being a 41” pike. I was able to show show my wife and kids some of the places where classic family stories took place during my childhood. Priceless memories!

 

[Bonasababy]

Been awhile but I think this still applies--don't neglect pike if you like fun! Caught 3 over 12 pounds in a few houseboat trips there and the ones about half that size were numerous. Spoons and big plugs--not musky size but bigger than average--were all it took. The bigger ones tended to be not far from deeper water and over submerged cabbage or other weed beds.