Canadian Trip

[Jason Essary]

Just returned from a wonderful trip in canada. Walleye everyday in the 20"s, pike in the 30"s. Great place. Ive been there many times and they still do a wonderful job. Great food, great hospitality, great fishing. Weather could have been a little nicer, but fish on. wanted to share some pics. kcrcamp.com is the website for the resort. Anyone ever want to go, id give high marks and I can give more info for anyone wanting it.

[bigredbirdfan]

Awesome Pictures. I am going to Minnesota on a fishing trip next month. Can you tell me what tackle and methods of fishing you and if you had one your guides found to be effective? Live bait is what I am hearing from a few people who have gone on northern fishing.

[Jason Essary]

Awesome Pictures. I am going to Minnesota on a fishing trip next month. Can you tell me what tackle and methods of fishing you and if you had one your guides found to be effective? Live bait is what I am hearing from a few people who have gone on northern fishing.

Ill tell ya all i know. but first where are u going and what are u fishing for?

[bigredbirdfan]

Ill tell ya all i know. but first where are u going and what are u fishing for?

Rainy Lake. I am assuming we will be using bait (although i prefer lures)...but i haven't met with my fishing partners yet. Just trying to get a basic idea of what gear to start assembling. I never been fishing up north before so if you have a list of basic stuff (ie rain gear and the like) I would appreciate all of your help. So far i've been told a good med action spinning rod, but thats about it.

Fishing for walleye, small mouth, muskie, pike and crappie.

Thanks,

BRBF

[Paola Cat]

Never fished Rainy (I've driven by it several times) but have fished north of there near Dryden, ON at Dinorwic/Wabigoon. I take: 1 medium to medium/light spinning rig for walleye/perch. Lots of jigs heads (1/8 - 1/4), fuzzy grubs, and grub plastics in multiple colors and sizes. I also bring some lindy spinner rigs. Bring an assortment of hooks, weights, and a few slip bobbers. I bring 2 Medium 6' 6" baitcasters for smallies and smaller pike. I use husky jerks, wiggle warts, X-Raps, tubes, spinnerbaits, and few poppers (Pop R's, Skitterpops, Ricos ..... etc). I bring 1 Medium/heavy 7' baitcaster for big pike and muskies. I like to use Mepps giant killers and the old standby Johnson silver minnows (3/4-1). I bring some large grubs to use as trailers on the Silver minnows. The only bait I use is a few minnows when walleye/perch fishing. I tip the jigs/jig heads/spinner rigs with minnows. I bring a jaw spreader for the pike .... and a glove is good also. Bring a good pair of needle nose. Bring a rainsuit and don't forget the deet insect repellent. You'll need a flow troll type of minnow bucket of some sort. Also, a portable depth finder is good if there's no electronics on the boat. I like to use Power Pro line on all my rigs. I hope this helps. PC

[Jason Essary]

Paola Cat sounds right on track. I do a lot more of the power fishing for large northerns and muskie myself. The best bait i had this trip was the 6" storm swim baits. The pike and one muskie would not drop it for the life of them. You could take your time, reel down and really get a good hookset (other than i missed a lot of small fish that just held it in in the tip of there mouths, and the large single hook missed its mark on the set, but no real loss for me). Large mepps inline spinners are a must for large pike, along with 3/4 to 1 oz dardevil spoons in different colors (the classic five of diamonds seems to always produce), if your in weeds, 1/2 to 3/4 oz spinnerbaits (white is good) with as large of a willow leaf as u can find. Silver minnows are great also, with a white or yellow grub for a trailer.

I do not leave home with less than two and normally 3 pairs of needle nose (some always go to the bottom of the lake), same with sunglasses. And two rainsuits are not a bad idea. we fished in 43 degrees and 40 mph gusts for two days with a light rain. Be prepaired for anything, no matter what the weather forcast.

hope this helps.

[techo]

Wow! You will be busy fishing for all of the species. Check Airplane Island for smallmouth and pike.

Walleye are med light spinning reels, jig tipped with minnow. Some folks say color matter, some don't. I liked the yellow with red eyes, but really don't think color matters. A good depth finder to mark them matters. A good walleye chop on the water is helpful. There are two islands on the way to Brule Narrows that are usually good with some humps nearby. Just run your depth finder out from the islands until you see humps or dips with fish stacked on them. Cast out and reel to the area the fish are stacked. I am not a fan of the walleye fight, but love to eat them.

Smallmouth are the best fighters. The bigger ones will be deep, but we used jointed Rapalas on a med light spinning reel for them too. We would cast to the bank and let the bait set until the splash went calm. Twitch it and hope for a top water hit. If that didn't work then strike the rod down and reel in at a steady rate. Sometimes they would hit close to the boat. I liked the islands around Mermaid Rock, but they are on the Canadian side. Mepps spinners worked well too.

Crappie are sweet. Red Gut Bay on the Canada side was my favorite place on Rainy for crappie. Smaller jigs tipped with minnows were the way to go. If you stop by the Holiday Gas Station (used to be Rainy Lake One Stop) and ask for Dave he is an awesome fisherman and might help you out. Tell him the old Holiday manager, Carpenter, recommended him. The Rainy Lake Sportfishing Club puts crappie cribs out every year on the USA side. I would find a map of them if I wanting to catch crappie.

Pike are easy. I think you can throw a coat hanger in the water and they will attack it. Any little cove with trees, rocks or weeds will work. They are icky slimy fish that ruin lures and have red meat. Fun to catch though. We hated them when I lived there.

Musky fishing is tough. You cast a hundred times with big buzz baits or buck bait spinners hoping for one bite. Not my favorite fishing.

ShaSha resort has some good burgers and a ton of chipmunks. Thunderbird Lodge had the best steak I have ever eaten in my whole life. I am not sure of she still works there, but the kitchen manager found a hair on a plate and had every dish washed again one time.

[bigredbirdfan]

You guys rock . Thanks for all the sweeeet advice for a newbie .

[bigredbirdfan]

Wow! You will be busy fishing for all of the species. Check Airplane Island for smallmouth and pike.

Walleye are med light spinning reels, jig tipped with minnow. Some folks say color matter, some don't. I liked the yellow with red eyes, but really don't think color matters. A good depth finder to mark them matters. A good walleye chop on the water is helpful. There are two islands on the way to Brule Narrows that are usually good with some humps nearby. Just run your depth finder out from the islands until you see humps or dips with fish stacked on them. Cast out and reel to the area the fish are stacked. I am not a fan of the walleye fight, but love to eat them.

Smallmouth are the best fighters. The bigger ones will be deep, but we used jointed Rapalas on a med light spinning reel for them too. We would cast to the bank and let the bait set until the splash went calm. Twitch it and hope for a top water hit. If that didn't work then strike the rod down and reel in at a steady rate. Sometimes they would hit close to the boat. I liked the islands around Mermaid Rock, but they are on the Canadian side. Mepps spinners worked well too.

Crappie are sweet. Red Gut Bay on the Canada side was my favorite place on Rainy for crappie. Smaller jigs tipped with minnows were the way to go. If you stop by the Holiday Gas Station (used to be Rainy Lake One Stop) and ask for Dave he is an awesome fisherman and might help you out. Tell him the old Holiday manager, Carpenter, recommended him. The Rainy Lake Sportfishing Club puts crappie cribs out every year on the USA side. I would find a map of them if I wanting to catch crappie.

Pike are easy. I think you can throw a coat hanger in the water and they will attack it. Any little cove with trees, rocks or weeds will work. They are icky slimy fish that ruin lures and have red meat. Fun to catch though. We hated them when I lived there.

Musky fishing is tough. You cast a hundred times with big buzz baits or buck bait spinners hoping for one bite. Not my favorite fishing.

ShaSha resort has some good burgers and a ton of chipmunks. Thunderbird Lodge had the best steak I have ever eaten in my whole life. I am not sure of she still works there, but the kitchen manager found a hair on a plate and had every dish washed again one time.

FYI we are staying at Thunderbird Lodge. Do you have any guide recommendations? We are considering one the first few days.

[techo]

My friend recommends Scott Matthews. He guides out of Thunderbird. I never used a guide up there and I might have the seven maps for there. When are you headed up?