It is that time of the year.  Each fall, the Rainy River experiences a right of nature, a tradition of sorts for outdoors minded anglers who don’t mind fall fishing in chilly fall temperatures for the chance at a walleye of a lifetime.  The emerald shiners run up the Rainy River.

We really don’t know why they swim up river but some believe they are in search of food.  Others believe it is to toughen up for the upcoming winter.  While we are not certain on why the emeralds enter the river, we do know why the walleyes enter the river, to eat one of their favorite forage, the emerald shiners.  This natural pattern triggers that itch for many anglers leading to great memories and the Rainy River tradition.

On a recent year’s outing, Greg Jones of Midwest Outdoors and myself had the opportunity to do some fall fishing on the Rainy River.  If you got on the fish, you would catch them.  If you could not find the fish as they are moving around, sometimes pulling cranks is a good strategy to put walleyes in the boat.

We did both and had to be flexible.  Trolling a relatively shallow flat against the current, we caught some nice fish.  We then jigged and caught a few more including a huge 30″ walleye with a big girth and not on purpose, a sturgeon that went over 60 inches.

This given day on the Rainy River really reminded me why anglers love fall fishing and the Rainy River tradition.  Check out this episode of Midwest Outdoors from the Rainy River.

Fishing the Rainy River.  The first thing to say is don’t sit all day in the same spot if you are not catching fish.  Move around and try and find fish.  Try up river, down river, deeper, shallower, different techniques.  Ask around, find out what the trends are.  This will lead to more success.

The thought is as the water cools into the low and mid 40’s and the larger emerald shiners will begin to run as will the larger walleyes. 

Some years, bait dealers have some live shiners for fall fishing, other years, just frozen.  These sleep deprived entrepreneurs work very hard and are often out all night in search of shiners.  Anglers love nothing more than having fresh live shiners to tip their jig with.  Most don’t realize the efforts bait dealers go through to actually catch them this time of year, checking nets and key shiner areas often three or more times throughout the night.

Typically, good numbers of walleyes with some big walleyes show up in the river.  This is what sustains the tradition.  Will the run continue all fall or stop and start up again?  Only Mother Nature knows, but anglers realize, there are normally shiners and walleyes in the river each and every fall.

Into October and then pushing into November, the days will get shorter and the water colder, things will start to shift.  Normally bigger fish will continue showing up for anglers more hard core for fall fishing and big fall walleyes.

Big walleyes during deer hunting.  It is common to hear about huge walleyes being caught during the weeks most are sitting in tree stands looking for venison or horns.  It is definitely a tough choice as the deer hunting season is short.

Most anglers are targeting walleyes jigging.  Typically a 3/8 or 1/2 ounce jig will give you control in the current of the Rainy River.  If water is really rolling, don’t be afraid to go to a 3/4 or even ounce.  It is important to maintain control and feel the jig occasionally bounce off of the bottom.  The walleyes don’t mind a larger jig.

Colors vary but you can’t go too wrong with colors like gold, orange, glow, pink, white, peacock or combinations of such.  Area resorts and bait shops have a good selection of heavier jigs in the good Lake of the Woods colors.  The local tackle company, Tom’s Tackle, has a wide selection of jigs that just work on these waters.

Stinger hooks.  I am a big believer in stinger hooks this time of year.  Hook a stinger up to the hook of your jig.  This 2″ line attached to a small treble hook can be the difference between a so-so day and a great day.  Hook the small treble just in front of the tail of the shiner.  It amazes me how big of fish can be taken on the small treble.

While fall fishing, work holes, current breaks or even flats.  Anchor up in a spot and wait for walleyes to move through or slowly motor up current and down current with a controlled drift.  Change colors of jigs until you find out which color is preferred that day.

One method of fishing on the Rainy River one shouldn’t overlook is trolling crankbaits.  This past week was a perfect example.  Although I stuck a big 30″ walleye on a jig and emerald shiner, we actually caught more walleyes trolling that given day.  In our case, on that day, we targeted 9′ of water and caught keepers and a 20″ and 26″ throwback.  We did hear of a couple of big fish taken trolling as well.

Leadcore line will allow you to troll the deeper holes in addition to the shallow stretches.  When fishing the shallow water, we simply long lined Rapala Shad Raps and Wally Divers.

If you aren’t an avid deer hunter or perhaps get your deer early, you may want to consider a trip to the river.  Dress warm, be safe and make some memories that only can be made late fall.

To learn more about Lake of the Woods, check out the Lake of the Woods Tourism website.

To find a guide, charter boat or lodging, check out the Lake of the Woods Tourism lodging page.

Grouse hunting season starts back up on Saturday, September 19th! Lake of the Woods is known for its walleyes but the grouse numbers are phenomenal in the area. With hundreds of thousands of public land even the most avid grouse hunter will never run out of land to hunt. There is an area just to the west of Baudette, Beltrami Island State Forest has thousands and  thousands of acres of land, dirt roads, ATV trails and walking trails which is very good grouse habitat. There is so much habitat and such a variety of habitat that grouse have everything they want and need to flourish.

Whether you own a dog or not, grouse hunting success can be had by all. The grouse boom to bust cycle is continuing its cycle up and the numbers are great.  Getting off the trail is key to getting more flushes in this area. Not many hunters will go break brush so many of the birds go unseen and don’t flush.

It seems there are two criteria very important for grouse hunters looking to bag some “chickens of the northwoods”.   First is the availability of public hunting land.  The second, a lot of grouse.

There is an area just to the west of Baudette that has both.  Beltrami Island State Forest is an area with thousands of acres of land, dirt roads, ATV trails and walking trails which is very good grouse habitat. There is some much habitat and such a variety of habitat that grouse have everything they want and need to flourish.  That means success for would be grouse hunters.

Getting out with some friends in the forest during a grouse hunting season Typically does not disappoint.  Most hunters shoot mainly ruffed grouse with a couple of spruce grouse thrown in.  With such a beautiful area, hunting is a success from just the sheer beauty and getting out into the woods.

The area offers 3 different type of grouse along with snipe.  The Ruffed Grouse is by far the most popular and to most hunters, tastes the best.  Some say it is the best eating game bird out there, but of course that is personal opinion.

The second type of grouse is the spruce grouse.  As a rule, ruffed grouse and spruce grouse roam the same type of habitat.  Spruce grouse prefer more of the coniferous forest or pine trees.  The meat is darker than a rough grouse and some consider it a stronger or “piney” taste.  There are a few in the north country who enjoy a good spruce grouse.

The third variety of grouse around Lake of the Woods is the sharp tailed grouse.  Sharpies primarily hang out in more agricultural settings, hence, are a bit more challenging to target as private land is best.  It is also helpful to have an idea where the sharpies are living as there are tens of thousands of acres of farmland across the Lake of the Woods region.

As The Walleye Capital of the World, Lake of the Woods is known for it’s fishing.  Consequently, grouse hunting does not garner the attention.  Many, however, have discovered an area off the radar screen to most that is absolutely a hunting gem.  There is a huge amount of quality public hunting land, lots of birds and fewer hunters.

The ability to go smack a limit of walleyes and enjoy ruffed grouse hunting in the same area the same day is enough to get sportsmen and sportswoman blood pumping. Fall is a a neat time up at Lake of the Woods.  A combo of great fishing and hunting speaks highly of the wonderful natural resources in this neck of the woods.  Grab your shotgun and head north to hunt grouse at Lake of the Woods.

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Aquatic Invasive Species or AIS efforts continue to be strong around Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River.  Through a combination of education, promotion and organization of AIS inspectors, there continues to be consistent messaging and frequent boat checks by AIS inspectors for those angling and boating in the area. 

Efforts for the AIS efforts around the Lake of the Woods Area is overseen by the Lake of the Woods County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Resource Conservationist Mike Hirst.  Hirst works closely with Roseau County Soil and Water Conservation District’s District Manager Scott Johnson as well as leads a group of stakeholders from around the lake and river on current and ongoing efforts.

Currently, Lake of the Woods has a couple of concerns regarding AIS.  Spiny water fleas are present in Lake of the Woods and have been for some time.

In addition, zebra mussel veligers were found this past year in Muskeg Bay which is located in the southwest portion of Lake of the Woods.  Free-swimming microscopic larvae, called veligers, drift in the water for several weeks and then settle onto any hard surface they can find.   Adult zebra mussels have not yet been found, but due to the veligers which have been located, the body of water is now determined as having zebra mussels.

Biologists have stated that an adult population is present in Lake of the Woods based on the volume of veligers found during the sampling conducted in 2019.  However, Lake of the Woods has lower levels of calcium, which may aid in hampering the productiveness of zebra mussels as calcium is vital for shell growth.

Secondly, Lake of the Woods has stained water due to the tannins in the water.  Will the stained waters affect the growth, spread and maturation process of the mussel, currently it is unknown.

Finally, in other bodies of water with sturgeon, it is noted sturgeon actually end up eating good numbers of zebra mussels.  Perhaps this would not eliminate the AIS if things go that far, but again, it is a hope if things would progress, this would slow the spread and keep the zebra mussel population in check.

Ongoing AIS efforts are in place to stop or at least slow the spread of AIS, whether entering Lake of the Woods or leaving the body of water.  Zebra mussels, as an example, can tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions, and adults can even survive out of water for about 7 days.

It is widely known the spread of aquatic invasive species are not good for bodies of water they spread to.  They can change the entire ecosystem, cause various problems and diminish values of property on the body of water.

As anglers and boaters, we all have a responsibility to do our part when it comes to the responsibility of making sure we are not transporting AIS.  Taking a few extra minutes to check and double check for water, weeds, lowering your motor to drain water, making sure your livewell empties properly, looking for mud on your anchor that might harbor invasive species are all noble measures.

There are many reasons to continue strong efforts to keep anglers and boaters cognizant about preventing the spread of AIS.  In a nutshell, clean, drain and dry is the way to go.  Clean, Drain, Dry is a simple three step process that boaters can follow every time they move from one body of water to another. When boaters take action every time they leave the water, they can stop the spread of harmful aquatic invasive species!

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If you like fall fishing for walleyes, perhaps you have heard something about shiners running on the Rainy River.  It is a tradition for anglers that is, well, just special.

Fall in MN is an incredible season all by itself.  “Sweatshirt weather” as some call it features the changing colors of the leaves, the migration of birds coming from the north and in these parts, the shiner and great walleye fishing on the Rainy River.

When will the shiner run start?  Has it started some?  With the colder nights and warmer days, Mother Nature has a way of kicking things into gear.  Was it any surprise there were a number of boats starting to fish Four Mile Bay and the mouth of the Rainy River this week?  Every year, it seems you hear a couple of weeks after the fact of the good early fall bite.  Hmmmmm.

Check out this weather forecast!  With some colder nights, many think that will get things rolling, if they are not rolling already.

It’s a fall tradition for many.  Coming to the Rainy River to take advantage of the fall run of walleyes chasing the millions of emerald shiners running up the river.  Something about the leaves changing and the smell in the air.

Fall on the river is also a fun opportunity for those with smaller boats to access some of the best fall walleye fishing in the Midwest.  The river is small in comparison to the lake and even on windier days, there are plenty of twists and turns where a person can find a nice break out of the wind and jig for some fall gold.

If you chat with a resort owner or bait dealer, they talk about the shiners in terms of “gallons”.  This is the time of the year folks in the bait business really to stock up on the effective and popular bait that is used four seasons per year.  Emerald shiners are an awesome bait both alive and frozen.  These minnows are normally netted off the ends of docks with big lights at night.  When the shiners are running, literally huge schools of bait will swirl under the lights.  As we have seen over the past couple of weeks, walleyes and pike are often mixed in with these minnows.

There has been a couple of good runs of shiners this fall so far.  Anglers are excited as some walleyes have started coming into Four Mile Bay and up the river.  Walleyes are being caught from the mouth of the river all the way up river to Birchdale.  These fish are a combination of local fish that live in the river along with the new walleyes coming in from the lake chasing the shiners.

Most anglers will go after these walleyes with a jig and minnow.  Often a frozen shiner is the bait of choice.  The shiners are a staple for Lake of the Woods walleyes, they are flashy and have a great stink to them in which the walleyes can hone into in the stained waters of this body of water.

Some anglers will actually pull crankbaits for these fish.  A few years ago on a nice fall afternoon while I was jigging up a few walleyes jigging, a couple of Ranger boats slid by me trolling.  The boats had Iowa boat licenses and were consistently catching walleyes as they approached.  In a kidding manner, I commented to them, “You can’t catch walleyes trolling now, the water is too cold.”  They smiled as they reeled in another fish, “Yeah, we know.  And so do the two trophy walleyes and dozens of other fish we caught today.  We actually target the Rainy River trolling each year as we have such good luck.”

Charter boat captains comment they can tell when a shiner run has entered the bay and river as they drive out in the morning, they can see clouds of bait on their electronics.  There is a ton of bait and walleyes staged in front of the Lighthouse Gap currently waiting to enter the river.  The entire south shore of the lake has had a good bite in 15-24′ of water depending upon the day.  This also bodes well for ice anglers for the upcoming ice season.  If the walleyes are along the south shore in the fall, they normally stick for the ice season.

Many anglers enjoy the small water experience of the river vs the big open water of Big Traverse Bay, especially if they have a smaller boat.  The river is a great asset for small boats.

As a bonus this year, the City of Baudette has installed floating docks which are available for public use at Willie Walleye Park on Baudette Bay.  Anglers fishing near Baudette will now have the option to tie up and slide up to the VFW or Main Street businesses for a sandwich, snacks and some shopping if they want a break.

Fall is a great time on Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River.  The fish are biting nicely.  A mix of walleyes, saugers, jumbo perch and pike are being caught on a consistent basis right now.  Fall is clipping along and now is a good time to get that last special fishing trip in.

For more info on fall fishing on Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River, check out some of the great fall specials offered by area resorts.

Go to the Lake of the Woods Tourism website for info about the area

Go to the Lake of the Woods lodging page for a list of resorts, hotels, charters and guides

64 teams had their sights on winning the MN Championship of the AIM Walleye Weekender Series MN Championship, but only one could claim the title, champion.  Teams put up big weights and the competition was strong, but this year’s winners were Bob and Hunter Nitti, an uncle / nephew duo with a two day, ten fish weight of 88.24 lbs.  That is an 8.82 lb average per walleye!  Impressive to say the least.

In a post tournament interview hosted on the AIM Walleye Facebook page, the winners had a certain crankbait with specific colors dialed in.  After losing that crankbait that was most effective and having no others available, Hunter went on a hunt.  He called and drove to many bait shops, tackle stores, etc looking for this specific bait.  With no luck, he finally resorted to purchasing spray paint and doctoring up the lures himself.   His fishing buddies said it would never work.  After testing it out prefishing that first morning after the paint dried, he boated a 30 inch walleye.  As the story goes, a short video was sent to those skeptics, out of fun of course.

Nobody knows what that special lure nor the color combination was.  It was said anglers were looking at Hunter’s hands at the championship weigh in for some clues on the colors, but that paint had already worn off.

Even for great walleye anglers, the opportunity to win a championship tournament of this caliber is special.  The sun, moon and stars have to align for sure.

Think about the details.  Working with a small group of anglers as a team sharing information.  Breaking down what lures, size, color, speed, area are getting the best bites.

Regardless of how “dialed in” an angler is, one still needs the “luck” factor.  Luck in the sense of getting your presentation delivered to the right fish.  The luck of hooks not popping out when reeling a big walleye in big waves that is shaking it’s head and running hard when it gets close to the boat.  Many anglers talked about big fish getting un-buttoned right at the boat.

This championship win also secured Team of the Year honors for the duo who are no strangers to fishing tournaments throughout Minnesota.  Congratulations!!!

Second place honors in the AIM Walleye Weekender Series MN championship went to Jeff Holz and Andy Hage with 86.19 lbs.  Third place went to Chad Bleeker and Jeremy Stoner with 83.54 lbs.

Lake of the Woods as a fishery had the chance to show off it’s strong reputation and healthy population of big walleyes to the AIM Walleye anglers.  The tournament is a catch, record, release format meaning, anglers will catch the walleye, take a picture of it on the bump board or ruler issued by the tournament with a second picture a hero shot showing the markings of the walleye to ensure that same fish is not used a second time.  This format means slot limits for lakes, including the slot limit on Lake of the Woods is not in play as fish are released.

This style of tournament is also popular as the walleyes are returned to the fishery will little mortality vs fish in livewells all day.

A big thank you to all AIM walleye anglers, staff and participants for coming up to Lake of the Woods.  During a strange year in so many ways, the tournament went on, memories were made and once again, a champion was crowned.

Go to the Lake of the Woods Tourism website for info about the area

Go to the Lake of the Woods lodging page for a list of resorts, hotels, charters and guides

One year ago, the Lake of the Woods community welcomed the world as host of the World Ploughing Contest.  Contestants, judges, VIP’s, World Board Members, sponsors and spectators came together just outside of Baudette on the Arnesen farm to make history.  The World Ploughing Contest goes to a different country each year, hence, it won’t be back to the U.S. for a few decades.

As we look back on the event, one of the great memories was having the privilege of sharing this event and this area with viewers of the TV show Small Town, Big Deal.  Over a million viewers had the chance to take in the personalities, sights and sounds of the 2019 World Ploughing Contest.  The TV show Small Town, Big Deal  attended  and filmed this international event just outside of Baudette, MN in Lake of the Woods County.  With the World Ploughing Contest coming to the U.S. but once every 30 years, this national show thought enough of it to attend!

The area will be forever grateful for the many sponsors, volunteers and those who although didn’t receive credit or recognition, helped in any way.

The world ploughing episode started airing across the U.S. November, 2019 and is now available on YouTube.

All of this excitement taking place in a farm field just miles south of the Canadian border and a couple of miles south of Baudette, MN.  To compete in this event, competitors had to win their nationwide contest to represent their nation.  This contest is serious business.  In fact, more than half of the competitors shipped their tractors and ploughs across the world to be here.

Not as popular in the U.S. as other European countries, ploughing contests in other areas of the world draw huge crowds.  In the Republic of Ireland for instance, their annual nationwide contest draws 300,000 spectators.  This is not a typo, 300,000!

With that said, many Americans really didn’t know what a ploughing contest is all about.  For the 7,000 or so that attended, they were in for a treat.  For those who couldn’t make it, Small Town, Big Deal gives them a front row seat.

In addition to the actual contest, folks who attended enjoyed a daily parade of tractors, horse drawn carriages, demonstration of plowing with horses and mules, five live bands, antique tractors and plows, and a nice mix of food and merchandise vendors.

The producers of the show were also very interested in the other aspects of Baudette and the Lake of the Woods area that make it special.  One of those activities, of course, is walleye fishing.  The crew had the chance to jump on a Lake of the Woods charter boat and try their luck at walleye fishing.  From the sounds of it, there were some big ones that got away!

The two hosts of Small Town, Big Deal are Rodney Miller and Jann Carl.  Rodney Miller has a true passion for shining the spotlight on the amazing and inspiring things going on in our small towns and farm communities, and in 2005 he had an idea for a TV show to bring those stories to the world. And he went on to turn that idea into reality.

Small Town Big Deal originally aired on cable station RFD-TV, where it grew into one of that station’s most popularly rated programs. With its broadcast syndication in markets from New York and Atlanta to Philadelphia and Dallas, the show now reaches over three-fourths of the nation. It airs in the majority of U.S. major TV markets and on over 160 local stations.

Best known for her 14 years at “Entertainment Tonight”, Jann Carl has traded in the red carpets of Hollywood for the backroads of America. She’s now criss-crossing America on the nationally syndicated television show, Small Town Big Deal. “This is the show I’ve been looking for my entire career!” says Jann. Created by her co-host Rodney Miller, Small Town Big Deal shines a spotlight on the fascinating events, places and people from all across the United States.

Jann has built a distinguished career in television.  She began as a news reporter at WLS in Chicago.  Her next move was to Los Angeles, where she reported for KABC, and hosted KABC’s “Eye on L.A.” magazine show.  Her work in the market culminated in her selection to co-anchor “News At Ten” at KTLA; during her eight-year tenure she earned three Emmys for news coverage.

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It’s that time of the year with water temps in the high 70’s and low 80’s that some anglers prefer to do what the charter boats do, put their walleyes in a cooler full of ice.  And it’s also the time of year crawler harnesses on Lake of the Woods absolutely shine.  Learning a few nuances of pulling spinners for walleyes, also called crawler harnesses or simply snelled spinners with a crawler, minnow or leech can have big advantages.  The bottom line, summer walleyes can’t resist crawler harnesses.

Spinners for summer walleyes really kicks into gear as the water begins to warm up.  Normally when water starts to hit the mid 50’s, it is time to start considering drifting or trolling with spinners.  This pattern can be effective all the way into the fall.

This video was not filmed this year but it has some good info about pulling crawler harnesses that is pertinent all of the time.  Check it out.

First off, a crawler harness and snelled spinner are basically the same thing.  When you are not using a night crawler, we don’t call is a crawler harness anymore, thus it’s a snelled spinner.  Semantics out of the way, these set ups are effective for summer walleyes.

Why are spinners for walleyes so effective?  A lot of reasons, the flash of the blade.  The different color combinations of the beads and blades.  The vibration of the spinner is sensed by the walleyes lateral line much like that of the prey they feed.  You can put crawlers, minnows, leeches and plastics on a harness.

My go to set up is a two ounce bottom bouncer with a harness between 4-6′ long.  It is conducive to use a longer snell in clearer waters, thus on Lake of the Woods, I normally go about 5′ or so as the water is stained.  In a nutshell, the key with this presentation is to slowly be pulling this through the water column where the fish are so the blade is spinning and a desirable speed the walleyes want that given day.

What that looks like is drifting or trolling your set up with a desirable 45 degree angle.  When I am trolling in my boat, my goal is 1.25 mph.  You don’t want the harness way behind the boat like when you are trolling with a crankbait.  You want that 45 degree angle and have total control.

Keep the sinker just off the bottom, not dragging the bottom, but rather touch the bottom once in a while to know you are down there and lift just off so you avoid snags and other debris.

When a walleye grabs it, it loads up like a wet sock.  Normally they don’t hammer it.  Simply lower you rod tip back at the same speed of the boat so the walleye doesn’t feel anything change for two seconds and swing the rod with a mild hookset. 

When using a crawler, I suggest a two hook harness and pinch off the crawler once hooked on the harness so only about 3-4″ of tail hangs off of the back hook.  This will avoid missing walleyes that grab the back of the rig.

This set up covers water.  It can be used from shallow to deep.  It will catch everything that swims.  And for the folks who go fishing with you less experienced, is a relatively easy way to get walleyes hooked up.

There are many good brands of snelled spinners or crawler harnesses you can purchase with length, fluorocarbon line and quick change clevices.  Some anglers like to tie their own crawler harnesses as well which allows creativity in the bead pattern, length of snell, etc.

Give spinners for summer walleyes a try this year, you might be surprised how many more fish end up in your boat!

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There is a tradition many anglers in the north country look forward to.  Each fall, there is a run of emerald shiners up the Rainy River that flows into Lake of the Woods.  The shiners are headed upstream, driven by biology but we are not exactly sure why.  The DNR Fisheries office in Baudette point out fish will not expend energy for any reason, so they are after something.  Possibly it is a good food source, possibly a different temperature of water.  Whatever the reason, they typically move upstream in the fall and it can lead to some hot and heavy walleye action.  With this tradition, plan for some epic fall fishing on the Rainy River and all around Lake of the Woods.

Every year is different.  Based on weather, flow of the river, how much daylight remains throughout the day, etc.  Some years the shiners run so thick it looks like you could walk on them at times.  This is when you hear splashing fish busting up through the schools of minnows.  Other years, the run of shiners is more tamed down.  Either way, there are walleyes that come out of the lake and enter the river and this leads to some great fall fishing.

There are a number of methods to catch these walleyes, but the most common is a jig and minnow.  Anchoring up on the edge of some structure and vertically jigging while watching the migration of a variety of waterfowl is a great day to spend a fall day.  Some anglers use fatheads or rainbows.  Others prefer a live emerald shiner if available.  The second choice for anglers wanting to match the run is a frozen shiner.

This is the time of the year local bait dealers are busy working to net these shiners supplying ice anglers with a supply of frozen shiners through March.

Some anglers have learned how effective trolling in this cold water can be.  I was anchored and jigging on one fall day and had the chance to have some chit chat with a passing troller.  They were in a big Ranger boat that had Iowa tags on it.  Kiddingly I said, “You can’t troll for walleyes this time of year, the water is too cold!”  My reply with a smile, “Tell the three walleyes over 28″ and the many others we caught today that.”  Obviously, walleyes still chase and eat minnows in the fall and crankbaits are still effective.

From the mouth of the Rainy River near many of the resorts up river through Baudette all the way over to Birchdale to the east, there can be great fall fishing.  There is about 42 miles of very navigable Rainy River.  This provides anglers with many great opportunities.  Some walleyes will be moving upstream using current breaks, holes and rocks as they migrate upstream.  Others will be staged feeding heavily in areas where the emerald shiners are hanging out.  There is lots of water to fish and many techniques to catch fall walleyes.

If you haven’t been up, fishing is very good on the lake as well as the river.  Many areas offer extremely good fishing.  Charter boats at the south end resorts and guides up at the NW Angle offer anglers not only an experience but a very high success rate for good catches of walleyes and other species of fish.

If you have your own boat, the Rainy River is small water compared to the lake.  Even on a windy day, there are opportunities to get out of the wind and find fish.

Now is a good time to start planning a trip.  Grab some loved ones or friends and experience a beautiful time of the year and some of the best fishing of the year.  Plan for some epic fall fishing on the Rainy River!

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It’s the northernmost point of the Contiguous United States.  It is where the 14,552 islands of the lake begin.  It is surrounded on three sides by Canada.  It is Minnesota’s Northwest Angle.  This area is special all of the time, but fall up at the NW Angle is definitely one to add to your list, it’s spectacular.

Sometimes reading about something from the eyes of someone who lives it every single day is enlightening.  Such is the case in remembering a short update from a past fall up at the Northwest Angle from Deb Butler.  Some might remember Butler as the person who ran Islander Passenger Service amongst the islands before stepping into another chapter of life.  Others know her as a fun conversationalist with a wealth of knowledge.  Some know Deb as a friend and neighbor.  Here is a recent passage from Butler… enjoy!

It’s Sept and fall is in the air. Jeans and sweatshirts are what’s in the laundry now. A little welcome rain last night and a great light show but, seriously, we could do without all the wind!

Tonight’s sunset at the Point brought an ominous ‘woof’ from the woods that had us scurrying to the cabin before sunset. The bears are on the move and looking to bulk up before winter. If you, a screen door, screen window or other flimsy barrier are between them and something that smells like food, they’re going to prevail. Fact. If they want to open it and can hook a single claw in it, they can. Fact. Their sense of smell is phenomenal. The best defense is a good offense… do not have garbage bags outside – a bag of garbage or cans (beer, pop) smells like food, as does a grill or a deep fryer or a container of used oil. Shut doors and windows at night. Play a radio in unoccupied buildings or when you’re gone for any length of time. Keep in mind that bears think it’s theirs unless you convince them otherwise. Noise is a very good deterrent.

Anytime up at the NW Angle is special.  Fall is really something.  The muskies put the feed bag on and many catch them trolling this time of year.

More anglers are coming up solely to target big black crappies.  These fish get schooled up and they are big, often averaging 12 inches and larger.  It’s fun to get into a school of crappies with the changing foliage and migration happening around you.

Walleye fishing remains excellent and most have no problems finding limits for a fish fry.

Duck hunters also show up this time of year with visions of blue bills buzzing between the islands.  This is a cast and blast mecca.  Imagine shooting a mixed bag of diver ducks while hunkered down amongst boulders on a point of an island.  After the hunt, many go back and grab breakfast and head out fishing.  What a day for an outdoorsy person.

Yes, it’s fall on The Walleye Capital of the World.  Don’t let the tagline fool you, there is a lot more to offer than just walleyes!

Currently, the U.S. / Canada border is closed.  Consequently, the way folks are traveling to the Angle is across the lake as they can stay in MN waters.  For some, the 40 mile trip with the right boat and experience is no big deal.  For others, hiring a passenger service or working through your favorite NW Angle resort for options is the safest way to go.  Either way, fall up at the Angle…  It’s something special!

The Northwest Angle

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