Rainy Lake is a premier multi-species lake. This first-class fishing experience attracts many TV fishing personalities including Lindner, Winkleman, Stange and Furtman. Each of them has filmed many times on Rainy Lake knowing they will get a high quality show every time. The lake has incredible scenery, phenomenal fishing and reasonable accessibility. Your fishing opportunities are endless with literally five different lakes in one – 225,000 acres of water with twelve hundred islands and a National Park!
Rainy Lake’s summer fishing season starts right after ice out with Northern Pike fishing as a huge attractor. There is a tremendous amount of large northern in shallow water for at least a month after ice out. Pike have a protected slot where all northern from 27.5 to 35 inches must be released. This conservation practice has allowed the population of big pike to increase their numbers tenfold.
Casting lures is the most popular and fun way to catch these toothy critters. Fly rods are quite exciting to use. We suggest a minimum of an 8-weight fly rod loaded with a 9-weight pike musky weight forward line. Dalberg divers, streams and foam poppers all work great and of course pike/musky leaders are necessary.
Smallmouth bass start moving into bays about 10-14 days after ice out. Early May through June is prime time for spectacular smallmouth fishing. Pre-spawn, you will find big smallmouth schooled around points leading into their spawning beds. Then, topwater action begins once the bass move to their spawning beds. Smallmouth action stays steady throughout the entire season. Many different presentations are successful including plastics, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and topwater baits.
Walleye fishing is unreal from opening day in May until late October. Presentations vary depending on the time of season, but we see excellent action using both artificial and live baits. There is also a protected slot for walleye with fish ranging from 17-28 inches being released back into the water. This ensures a healthy fishery with plenty of eaters and many larger walleye that are fun to catch.
Rainy Lake is known for large crappies with some exceeding the magical two-pound mark. They spawn from mid-May to early June depending on the arrival spring. After spawning they inhabit cabbage edges, shallow river channels, around dead heads and submerged timber.
