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.
