Fly Casting Unpredictable Weather on Rainy Lake

We left Rainy Lake Houseboats dock at 7:30 AM with the Art Kammer group with Brule Narrows as our chosen mooring site. Guides on this trip were Joey Dougherty, Jon Balaski and Bill Dougherty.

The forecast was for westerly winds with a mixture of thunderstorms and rain. We were not out for long when we had to sit on shore while a lightning storm moved through the area we were fishing. Winds were actually quite calm.  Winds stayed out of the south for most of the day.

Smallmouth were locating within two feet of the shoreline using a mixture of rock and weeds. A mayfly hatch had started and bass were periodically rising and sipping them off of the surface. We were casting Shenandoah Chuggars made by Murray’s Fly Shop in Maryland. The best colors were the white gray scale and green chartreuse scaled versions #4 size.   The guide boats worked slowly down different shorelines trying to stay on hatching bugs.

The patterns emerging were different than we have ever had in June. The bass bedded, spawned, and left spawning areas by June 5^th, maybe the fastest ever. Spawning areas are loaded with tine bass fry, great to see.  Smallmouth were starting to gather in groups, often catching several on a small piece of shoreline.  Between Jon, Joey’s and Bil’s boats the group boated about seventy plus bass.

Day two saw the three boats separate and all fished completely different areas on the lake.  Wind conditions were good but switched to four different directions during the day. We were supposed to get large amounts of rain but did not see any until after 5:00 PM.  Jon’s boat had bass coming up to the fly but not taking. They boated ten bass and decided to move across a bay to the next area to fish. The guys were casting to keep their lines abreast of the boat while Jon moved with the electric. Ed ‘s fly landed in the cabbage bed and a huge pike tried to hit the fly.

They decide to add wire leaders and switch to a white Dahlberg Diver and a homemade foam block popper that would be used as a slider. Chuck was casting the diver and a huge pike took the fly on the tenth cast.  The battle began and after five to six runs and ten minutes of fighting Chuck led the 41” pike into the net!   Ed and Chuck continued to cast for pike and boated a total of five pike from 32-41 inches. If you have not caught a pike on a fly you don’t know what you are missing.  The month of May is an awesome time period for pike on the fly. June can provide excellent pike fishing also.

Ed's pike coming to boat!

  

Art and David fished with Joey in an area that had some flowing water, very scenic and had awesome smallmouth fishing. They used poppers and fished primarily rock walls with scattered flat weeds and cabbage. The bass ran nice size 17-19 inches. (Joe's pics to be added, he's up  guiding)

Bill, Peter and Bill fished a large shallow water bay with different leads heading towards deeper basin in the lake.  We started on a long point working towards the end; the last 50 yards and the inside of the point were loaded up with bass.  Pete and Bill landed a bunch and a few bass had poor eyesight missing the fly.

We worked over two similar looking points and caught only a few missing none. There was a cut leading to the open lake that had a few in it but nothing like the first spot. We moved to the bottom of a close by bay on the main lake.  There was a sand beach in the bottom of the bay and we caught a couple of bass on the sand almost like bonefish in the Bahamas’. The sand transitioned to rock and rock walls. Mayflies were hatching out from the walls in 4 feet of water. We caught smallies for two straight hours fishing almost 300 yds. of shoreline.

Wednesday started with a steady rain that lasted almost three hours. Winds were from the east. We started on a cove that has beds during spawning time and feeding areas also. We fished the bay catching just five bass but one was a dandy male 18 ½” long, he was all rubbed up on his sides from fanning the nest he was sitting on.  The wind died and I opted to move to another area in the bay.

Guiding always produces challenges and Wednesday was looking like one of those days. We propped the back portion of a narrow bay that had been very good seven days before. We caught a couple little ones but no numbers or size. I noticed with the trolling motor off we were being pushed by current at a rate of 0.4 mph. Was the current affecting smallie location? As we worked down the shoreline towards the end of the point current dropped to 0.2 mph and a shelf extended under the water with a four foot depth. Smallies were all around the are and three were quickly hit Bill’s home made fly. We moved around the point down the shore to a longer wall with similar shelf rock, many more bass hit both Bill’s and Peter’s flies.  We worked the area over good continuing to find bass on the same type of structures and the rain quit! By the end of our day Peter and Bill boated 25 bass.  We had to be back to the Chairman II by 4:00 PM. We moved to one last area to finish up. One more shelf area, both Bill and Peter caught bass on their last cast.

Bill hand tied the fly he was using. It is one of the better flies I have seen, catches lot's of bass and is literally indestructible, and easy to cast!

When we got back to base we found out about the terrible flooding in Duluth. We were fortunate to have fished through one inch of rain. The group had to route themselves through Grand Rapids  and go to Minneapolis via U.S. Highway 169.

Chairman II Fly Fishermen Score Often and Big

Pete Ankeny, Phil Ankeny, Steve Wilson, and Dave Ryerse joined us for 3 and 1/2 days of smallmouth bass fishing. Joe Dougherty and Jon Balaski would be the guides. The technique we planned on using were popping bugs on a fly rod. Usually we are fishing bedded bass at this time of the year. This year was different as the bass had bedded, spawned and moved on to pre summer movements. Most flyanglers use a #8 or #6 weight fly rod. The eight weight is a little easier to use in the wind. Weight forward floating lines are best. weight forward means the first thirty feet of line is thicker and heavier than the rest of the line. This allows the weighted end to help cast the fly line.

Generally when fishing out of a boat on a lake the cast are longer than if you were stream fishing. Today's gear has made it much easier to cast flies at greater distances.  

Tuesday started out with a twenty mph wind making conditions tough. The islands on Rainy Lae's south arm run primarily east and west. West winds sweep the islands making it difficult to find good water to cast flies in. We fished the east ends of islands and boated twenty bass for the day. Every one was earned the hard way.

Wednesday the forecast was for southerly winds, just what the doctor ordered. Jon and Joe fished around spawning areas even though the bass were done spawning. Fishing was unbelievable. Eighty eight bass between them, many over 19" and 20". Pete said it was the most big bass he had ever caught on Rainy. They were using #4 popping bugs. A cast then pop, pop, hesitate and bang bass on, time after time.

Thursday was a day of more southerly winds with very similar results. Joe and Jon opted to fish a different area of the lake. They fished in similar types of water with the similar results as Wednesday, may be more big ones than the day before.

Friday morning the Chairman II headed back to base after breakfast. Pet, Dave, and Phil opted to fish until noon and then head home. A southwest breeze made things alittle more difficult. Twenty bass ere caught between the boats.

Lower popper looked like top one when we started! 

A&A Comes to Rainy Lake Houseboats

Jim Ridling’s party arrived Thursday afternoon for their 26^th annual Rainy Lake Houseboat fishing trip. Tony Casereto took them out on their first Rainy Lake Houseboat trip on one of our Kempton Cruisers. This year’s group had Jim, Phil Pyeatt, John Crawford, Doug Inman, Jim Wilson, and Ken Upchurch. Jim Ridling and Ken Upchurch live in Alabama, Phil, John, Doug, and Jim Wilson live in Arkansas. Guides for the trip were Jon Balaski, Joey Dougherty, and Bill Dougherty.

Smallmouth bass is their main target, along with walleyes caught accidently for lunch. We drove the Chairman II to Anderson Bay for a four-day stay. We arrived about 10:45 AM and ventured out for an hour and fifteen minutes before lunch. We found smallmouth immediately in shallow water. They were aggressively hitting Tiny Torpedo's (top water prop bait) and also John Doug Toney’s homemade Doug spins.

Phil and his Eagle Claw rod!

At lunch the banter was heavy, all three boats had good bass fishing.  The afternoon was awesome, there was calm winds allowing us to fish anywhere we wanted to. The bass were locating in new weed growth with rocks and gravel. It was strikes galore, many missing but plenty being caught.  The first day we caught over a 100 smallies! I fished with Phil Pyeatt ( he has made his yellow Eagle Claw spin cast rods with Diawa spincast reel famous).

Saturday we were greeted with a top water fiesta, totally calm winds, pick your spot and have at it. Doug Inman started with a silver Doug Spin (silver blade) and John was fishing a Torpedo. Smallmouth were feeding on the surface everywhere. They missed the bait constantly. Doug was catching dandies on the spinner even with no wind.  A person often thinks they are not touching the bait just going over it. A Torpedo has a reputation for dull hooks compared to most hooks now days. Do yourself a favor and sharpen them with a Luhr Jensen file. Once John’s hooks were sharpened it made a big difference.

John Doug Toney's Doug Spin

After a walleye lunch we headed to a different area about four miles from the Chairman.  We started on the west edge of a good smallmouth bay. Right away the Doug Spin was hot, totally calm and getting very hot.  John switched to the small spinner and it became a circus. ½ way around the bay we started catching walleyes mixed in with bass.  Temperatures hit 90 degrees and no wind; surface water temperatures hit 82 degrees. We worked to the eastern edge of the bay and hit big bass on the point, then one walleye after another without a breath of wind.  We had a forty fish afternoon.

Back at he houseboat each boat had similar action, may be not as many walleyes but more bass.

Sunday brought more hot weather with 10-15 mile per hour south winds. We fished strictly top waters, (all three boats) easily 70-80 bass between the boats before lunch.  The heat and a little detour to the Kettle Falls Hotel started to take a little toll on our guests. Afternoon heat provided more bass but a little shorter afternoon for the fisherman.

Monday morning started with a brisk south wind that would eventually swing to the southwest and finish the day off with a 20 mph northwest wind with a temperature drop of 36 degrees from Sunday’s 90 degrees. Jim Ridling and Ken Upchurch still wanted to try the bass on top water baits. We started on some cuts that transition from the bay to the main lake.

Dandy bass were found along the whole southern cut. Overnight they had sharpened their sights. We had less strikes but almost every fish was a solid hook up. We worked the Torpedo’s with a few sharp jerks then a pause and bang the smallies would hit the Torpedo. We boated about 30 bass in the AM. During the afternoon Ken opted to fish 4” Kalin white grub and Jim opted to try a Rattlin’ Rap in blue chrome with an orange belly. Ken wanted to catch a larger size Northern Pike before we finished the afternoon. E hooked up with a very nice 34” pike on the first spot we tried. The wind had shifted to the northwest and with it came a big temperature drop. Jim was tossing the Rattlin’ Rap and nice size walleyes were liking the paint job! 

With the wind came rain. We tried top water one were time before going on and caught four more on Torpedo’s.  Back to the Chairman II for cocktails and a steak dinner and a breakfast cruise back to port. 

      

John Kangas Chairman II Fishing Trip

June 4, 2012

We left the dock at 7:15 AM on the Chairman II with long time friend and customer John Kangas. John has been bringing his business associates to Rainy Lake Houseboats every year since 1978. We cruised to Brule Narrows having breakfast underway and tied up at Brule Narrows South. We were off and traveling to fishing areas by 9:25 AM.

A northwest wind of 10-15 mph was forecast. Shorelunch was to be at 12:30 pm. The lake was flat as pancakes no wind what so ever.  We opted to fish some reefs and points in current.  Dragging jigs 3/8 oz. on the bottom was really effective.  We caught lots of walleyes for lunch the largest was 22”.  We have five guides on the trip. We all met and cooked a shore lunch for fifteen people.

During the afternoon the wind picked up.  We trolled emerging weeds with hammered gold Northland Fishing Tackle Crawler harnesses at 1.4 mph. Fishing was great, the walleyes were super aggressive.

Back to the Chairman at 6:00 PM for Chef Bernie’s chicken and rib dinner!

June 5^th another beautiful day in paradise.  Our guests had breakfast at 7:00 AM on the water heading to fishing spots by 7:45 AM. Forecast today was light southwest winds. We were all headed to current areas but the wind started to blow about 10 mph out of the southeast. Change the plans and hit the shallow water easterly facing points.  Walleyes were very hungry 30 in my boat by 10:AM. I asked Jim and John if they would like to fish pike for a while before shore lunch. We went to a pencil reed bed about 300 yards long. Jim started with a buzz bait and John used a ¾ oz. gold Johnson Silver Minnow tipped with a white Northland Fishing Tackle Impulse Paddle Minnow.

The pike absolutely crushed the spoon. Jim switched to the same only using a white twister tail. No strikes put the Impulse on and bang a pike. Scented plastics make a difference. The pike hit steady until lunchtime. We did more pike fishing after lunch. Fellow guides John Balaski, Joey Dougherty, Kevin Erickson and Cody Christenson had great fishing. Huge smallmouth, 30” walleye and pike up to 37”.

Another great day in the book! Back to the Chairman II for Bernie’s signature barbecued thick cut pork chops, fabulous wild rice, fresh green beans and a caeser salad.

June 6^th


This was the guest’s last day of fishing. We will meet at 12:00 PM for shore lunch and fish until 4:00 PM.  A dinner cruise is planned for the trip back to base. The fishing contest ends also. Each fisherman can claim his largest northern pike and walleye for the three days and declare one of each for the daily largest fish.

We ran into a storm right away in the morning and spent sometime on shore because of lightning. The front was not moving out so we decided to head back west away from the bad weather. Walleyes bit like crazy all morning, on plastics, night crawlers, and minnows. 

After shore lunch we had about two hours of fishing before heading in. John Kangas and Bill Huganin were fishing in my boat. Bill wanted to fish pike as John had claimed a 37” pike for the three days and was in the lead for the big pot!

We stopped to fish a fairly large wind blown reed bed. I suggested Bill cast a Flat Rap and John use the Silver Minnow that was so hot the day before. Bill had one swipe at the bait by the boat. About four casts later a decent pike ponded the Flat Rap, it put on quite a show. We measured it and it definitely tied John maybe even a 1/ 4” longer. We moved along the reed bed making casts and Bill goy hit hard again. This one jumped out of the water twice, ran several times before ending up in the net. John breathed a sigh of relief as the pike was only 34 ½” .  We were about ¾ down the reed bed when Bill said shit, I got a weed, and I yelled fish, fish, set the hook. I was dead positive that I saw a large boil just as he contacted the reed.

The pike shot out towards open water, went on several runs and took a cruise about 2 feet under the water right by the boat. I stared in disbelief the Glide Rap was sticking hallway out the gill. I was worried that the fish might be gravely wounded. We put the pike in the net and got the mouth open. I looked down it’s throat and could see that the front hook was not in the fish at all. The back hook was out side of the gill. I was able to put it back inside the fish’s gullet and pull the bait out with out any injury whatsoever. John groaned, Bill’s fish was 38” beating him for the big pike of the trip. Bill also claimed the 37” for the daily winner. Great finish to a great trip.

    

   

  

Smallmouth Bass Hit the Beds!

Smallmouth bass hit the beds big time on Friday. Joey Dougherty and his friend and mentor John Peterson from Northland Fishing Tackle fished smallies on Friday. The day before John and his brother Duane caught a large number of smallmouth in 5-10 feet of water just off spawning areas.   

We had a crazy week of weather last week. Sunday was driving cold rain with strong easterly winds, Monday and Tuesday was cold and windy. The fronts passed and in came high blue skies with little wind and warming temperatures, throw in a full moon and you have a great recipe to start the smallmouth spawning period. Amazing what a difference one day makes. 

Joe and John used Nortland Fishing Tackles  1/8 oz. Bug-A-Boo jigs in olive, crawfish and black colors. Casting the jigs into the spawning areas with a slow steady retrieve was the ticket. Smallies cannot stand anything near their nests. The jigs imitate crayfish, a favorite food and enemy of bass eggs.  John and Joe saw as many as five bass around one spawning bed.

They caught between 40- 50 bass on Friday, many of them Rainy Lakes famous giant smallouth.

Smallmouth Bass on bed just to left of boulder.