Tony Dahl's July 22-25 Chairman II Trip

July 22, 2013

Tony Dahl and guests Tom, Mike, Tom, Al, and Gary arrived Sunday evening.  The group dined at Thunderbird Lodge and spent the night on the Chairman II.  We left port at 7:30 AM and headed for Brule Narrows. We had a forecast calling for some rain and 10-15 mph northwest winds.  Half way out it looked like we were going to get more than 15 mph wind speeds, and we did.

We left Brule Narrows South houseboat mooring site and headed east. It would be to rough to fish the west of Brule Narrows. Jon Balaski, Ryan Schmidt and myself all agreed it might be a trying day with the weather conditions. We went to three different areas, each spot had different characteristics; Ryan as on a break line with an under water point, Jon was on a rubble pile in 23 feet water, I fished a shallow water reef in 18 feet of water.

The walleyes were hungry for leeches and large! In fact the under 17” keeping size walleyes did not start to bite until afternoon. There is nothing wrong with burning through fourteen dozen leeches while catching 18-25” walleyes. We all met back at the Chairman a little after 5:00 PM. It was Chef Bernies turn. He had spent the day getting his barbecued ribs and chicken ready for the evening meal.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. Ryan, Jon and I all went to different areas of the lake and fished reefs in about 24-25 feet of water. It has been the same typical pattern with the leeches. We are using MinnKota Terrova’s on anchor lock and fishing the walleyes directly below us. It was just plain crazy fishing. One walleye after another, plenty of keeps but really big beauties 22-25 inches long. My hands and fingers are cut to ribbons from the big walleyes.

 Jon Balaski

During the afternoon we trolled with Storm Flatsticks for pike. We caught three but the action was slow compared to the walleyes. Ryan trolled small crank baits and lit up both the walleyes (a 28” walleye) and one nice pike 40” long.

Wednesday was our last day with Tony’s group.  We left right off with Tuesday’s walleye fishing. Jon and Ryan fished reefs, I fished an island break lines.  Once again they went nuts again. I hope it keeps up the rest of the summer. We ended the day at 3:30 PM and had a dinner cruise in, Bernie served up barbequed kebabs fresh off the grill.

Ryan Schmidt

Bill Watkin's Family Trip July 19-26, 2013

I have been conversing with Bill for a good part of the winter about him bringing his daughter's, their husbands, and grand kids to Rainy Lake Houseboats for a week. In the past I have fished with Bill during the month of  May.

Kevin Erickson and I met them at the Idle Hour Bay mooring site at 8:00 Am Sunday morning. Kevin took Bill, his daughter Tiffen and 5 year old grandson Willum. I took Tom, Matt and Margaret and granddaughter Sophi. We were blessed with another beautiful Rainy Lake day.  I went east of the houseboat and  Kevin went north. Fishing was good with the same baits and patterns intact as the day before.

We met Kevin out on the water about noon and oh boy was Willum ever excited. He and Kevin had hit it off really well. Everyone had caught a lot of fish and you could just feel the excitement.

The afternoon was every bit as good as the morning. Fishing was incredible, we even got Tom to put on a leech.

I always enjoy my time with Bill, it was absolutely wonderful to meet his family.

Jason Gatts Financial Group July 18, 19, 20, 2013

Jason and his customers came from all parts of Texas, Grapevine, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston. We left port on the Chairman II Thursday morning. Breakfast was served under way and our mooring location was Hitchcock Bay East.

Jason had set up a fishing contest for the trip. Every walleye over 15” was measured and recorded for each guest. The first morning 3” of rain fell by 12:30 PM then the shies cleared. Fishing was wild in the downpour. It was tough to record in the rain but the boys got it done. Obviously pictures were hard to take too.

Day two brought high winds pushing the low-pressure system out. Day two was tough fishing as many of the locations we were fishing had way too much wind and waves. We did catch plenty to put on a nice shore lunch for Jason, Steve, Jerry, Mike and Mike, Jerry, and Scott.

Day three started out with beautiful weather and more incredible walleye fishing. Slip sinkers and 48” snells tipped with leeches or slip bobbers tipped with a leech was killer! 

At the end of the trip there was 3300” of walleyes caught. Unreal considering day two was limited. Chef Jim laid it on wonderful, he is not bashful. He served our Texas  guest’s ribs and chicken on the first night. They were delighted!

I wish we had shot more pictures but 35mm cameras don’t’ like rain.

A big thank you to Jason, Steve, Brian, Jerry, Mike and Mike, and Scott. We can’t do it without guests like you!

Is this the largest spinning reel back lash ever?

Larry Keep Rainy Lake Oil July 10-14

We hosted Rainy Lake Oil for four days on the Chairman II.  Larry and Steve have been using the Chairman for the past three years. The trips are different than regular trips in the respect that they bring in guests for a day and a half and then bring in new guests. We get to meet new people; most are from northern Minnesota although this year we had a father son from the Eau Claire Wisconsin area.

 

We left port a little after 12:00 PM on Thursday. Our mooring site was Harbor Island East. We were off fishing by 2:00 PM. Fishing was pretty good on the west side of Brule Narrows. Both island points and break lines were good using ¼ ounce jigs tipped with leeches. Sunken islands on the high spots were good also, ¼ oz. slip sinkers with a 48” snell and leech seemed to be better than jigs. Steve Vanheel had the big walleye of the day, 28 ½ “.  Several large pike would grab on to the walleyes and guess what the walleyes would vacate the hump in short order.

Friday was even better, limits of walleyes; shore lunch, a 6:00 PM dinner and a trip back to base. New customers came back to the Chairman and it was back to the walleyes Saturday morning. We fished new humps and found massive schools of walleyes. Snell’s were hot but slip bobbers were hotter. Fishing could not get much better. Ryan had to leave after breakfast on Sunday morning even, Mike and Carol, and Dan stayed for Sunday fishing.  It was unreal; Mike, Carol and Dan fished with Jon Balaski Sunday morning. Dan said he had to quit, as his elbow got sore! Mike said it even better “ I have never had that much fun with my clothes on”.

Thanks Larry and Steve! We can’t do it without you.

Ladd Ojala July 7&8, 2013

I had a treat in store for me on this trip. Ladd Ojala a former guide at Rainy Lake Houseboats was coming to fish with me for two days. He brought Reynold Lofgren from Littlefork, Minnesota and Tom Jackson from Minneapolis.

Ladd last guided with me in 1994. He moved on to a successful career in the chemical business. It makes a person feel good when a young man grows into a great person and is in the middle of a very good career. Ladd has never lost his love for Rainy Lake.

We found walleyes on main lake reefs on the very tops of reefs and sunken islands. Most of the walleyes were holding in 15-18 feet of water. The mayfly hatch was in full swing about ten days later than normal. We had to fish vertically using the Minnkota I Pilot to spot lock right on top of the walleyes. We caught fish on jigs and minnows but they seemed to really hit a Lindy rig tipped with a leech. It was a strange way to fish a Lindy Rig. Virtually holding it completely still maybe raising the rod tip a ½” and lowering it back to the bottom.  You would feel a sharp peck and set the hook. Walleyes were running really nice size 21-25” with some nice eating fish for shorelunch.

We stopped in Anderson Bay for a nice shore lunch in one of Rainy Lake’s scenic bays. After lunch we did a little scouting and fishing farther east towards Kettle Falls. We had glorious weather.

Day two the weather was not nearly as nice. Ladd, Gary Schnabel, Bill Mossior, and I fished in a lot of rain and a little thunder. Walleyes were cooperating in the rain. The same pattern as the day before worked well but the fish were on different reefs.  Bill  had the hot hand in my boat. Bill’s dad and son were fishing with guide Jon Balaski.  It was raining hard at lunchtime and we opted to run back to Rainy Lake Houseboats and cooked a shore lunch on the Chairman II.

By the end of lunch the rain had broke and we ran back out for more walleye fishing.