Bob On Rainy Lk

We're actually from the Minneapolis area, 300 mi from International Falls and Rainy Lake. But we have a small, old houseboat up there that we finished rebuilding a couple years ago. So we travel to Rainy at least every other weekend from late April through Sept, and boat into the beautiful Voyageurs National Park. Rainy has an incredible fishery for walleyes, small mouth, northern pike, and crappies. Although I target mostly walleyes, I'll have fun with anything that hits. With only a half day or so to fish on a lake I've never been on before (or anything similar to it), I'm not expecting much. Trolling allows us to explore some of the area while searching for an occasional fish. I had major surgery on my right hand (guess which hand is my dominate one?) 8 weeks ago. Casting will be difficult, but trolling may be do-able. I have well over 100 crankbaits to choose from, mostly shads and stickbaits. It is generally tough to catch walleyes on cranks in very cold water, but I have done it down to at least the mid-40 degree range. I may also jig some plastics. Thanks everyone for your tips. I'm printing them out and taking them with us tomorrow. I have to get some maps and study them to find the areas you've offered. I'm offline for at least a week now....

Thanks everyone for your tips. I'm printing them out and taking them with us tomorrow. I have to get some maps and study them to find the boat rentals and fishing spots you've offered. I had major surgery on my right hand (guess which hand is my dominate one?) 8 weeks ago. Casting will be difficult, but trolling may be do-able. Trolling also allows us to explore some of the area while searching for an occasional fish. With only a half day or so to fish on a lake I've never been on before (or anything similar to it), I'm not expecting much. Although I target mostly walleyes, I'll have fun with anything that hits. I have well over 100 crankbaits to choose from, mostly shads and stickbaits. It is generally tough to catch walleyes on cranks in very cold water, but I have done it down to at least the mid-40 degree range. I may also jig some plastics. Thanks everyone - I'm offline for at least a week now.

My wife and I are making our first trip from Minnesota to the Branson area and camping at Table Rock State Park next week. We're mostly touring, and not towing our boat along. 1) Any suggestions for renting a fishing boat for a day? The State Park marina has boats, but some resorts advertise lower prices. My wife wants to mostly tour the lake, but she'll tolerate some time for trolling or casting. So we need enough hp to travel some distance, and locator and trolling motor for fishing. We've done a lot of boating on large bodies (>100,000 acres) of water. 2) Any suggestions of areas to try for walleyes? Especialy for crankbait trolling? Thanks, Bob

My wife and I are making our first trip from Minnesota to the Branson area and camping at Table Rock State Park next week. We're mostly touring, and not towing our boat along. 1) Any suggestions for renting a fishing boat for a day? The State Park marina has boats, but some resorts advertise lower prices. My wife wants to mostly tour the lake, but she'll tolerate some time for trolling or casting. So we need enough hp to travel some distance, and locator and trolling motor for fishing. We've done a lot of boating on large bodies (>100,000 acres) of water. 2) Any suggestions of areas to try for walleyes? Especialy for crankbait trolling? Thanks, Bob

Hi all, My wife and I are making our first trip to the Ozark's (Table Rock Lake) next week. We know very little about the area. We're from the Twin Cities area of MN. Our favorite fishing area is Rainy Lake (www.rainylake.org) on the MN/Ontario border. From May through Sept we frequently travel 300 miles to our small re-built houseboat, docked at a marina just outside of Voyageur's National Park. Rainy is about 220,000 acres , with about 54,000 acres in Minnesota. Its an incredible fishery for Walleyes (and sauger), Northern Pike, Small Mouth Bass, and Crappie. I mostly target Walleyes. We're looking forward to getting to know more about Table Rock as a late winter get-away for us this year and possibly future years. We're mostly touring and camping this year, not towing our boat. We will probably rent one for a day. I'm glad I found this forum - seems like lots of good folks willing to share and help others out. Thanks for letting us join you.