Jackfish rapids Hofer

[ssaamm]

Heading up to Clearwater-Pipestone chain again this weekend. Was up in late June. Had a good time and got a few walleyes every evening on Clearwater to eat. My buddies cabin is near the S portage, and he likes to run to Jackfish and go through the rapids. I saw his prop when he got back. 2 of the 3 blades were in bad shape and the other one was gone. I would think there are fish to be caught w/o going that far. Maybe my buddy is just a bad driver, and it's worth the risk to run up there. Anyone been up here lately? Thanks. Sam

[Hoffer]

ssaamm

Yes! Just got back from a week up there. We cam back last Wednesday. The rapids was VERY opposite of last year. Last year it was the heaviest flow through there I can remember. I wasnt ready for it and didnt have enough throttle going and got pushed to the side and half my prop was gone on all 3 blades. This year its running very slow. I dont know if your friend "runs" the rapids or how he approaches it. We dont "run" it. We just give it enough throttle - slow and steady - to keep things going at an even pace and just inch up it. The issue this year was to actually raise the motor enough so you dont hit bottom - but yet have enough throttle to not get stopped by the flow. I found it about the easiest its been. I wouldnt recommend you trying to run the rapids - unless you have a smaller boat and a tiller - and even so i wouldnt reccommend it! Another helpful hint is to make sure you have lots of weight upo front. The added weight up front helps the bow to stay in the middle and not get swayed side to side. We had temps in he mid 80's the first 3 days then it dropped to like 50 for the highs the last 2 days. Even so , the eyes were biting just fine. The first day in I caught a 29 inch 9/10 pound walleye right off the bat. we caught many, many between 15 and 21. I did most of my walleye fishing in deeper water looking for the big one - but when i would stop in 20 feet of water and mark fish - they would for sure bite - without much effort at all. Found 2 or 3 new good spots and also had some good luck with the larger norts. Still looking for a 40 up there but caught many around 31 to 35. Let me know if you have any more questions and good luck to you! send a report when you get back

[john 613]

Thanks for the info on the rapids, we are heading up Monday and plan on going over to loonhaunt for a day. Very good idea to place more weight in the front, you may plow more water but your prop will be higher and have less of a chance to get snagged on the rocks. John

[Hoffer]

Hey John

Do you mean you are going up the loonhaunt portage area? or actually into loonhaunt itself? If your going to loonhaunt - do you have a smaller boat you portage in or something - cause I think its a ways!

We went all over the place this year - but didnt go through the black narrows and into that "pre-loonhaunt" area. We were going to do that the last day and the weather turned too unpredictable. I had my downrigger on and we were going to fool around for some trout in there. Heard a few rumors that a few trout had been caught in there - apparently coming downstream from loonhaunt at some point in time. We have fished up there a few times in past years and have picked up some decent walleyes. Also some nice smallies up against that large rock of an island. As you enter into that area and look to the right down a ways - you cant miss it.. You staying somewhere around the area or are you just making a day trip? Let us know your success. Wish I was going - the weather is supposed to be aweseome!

[john 613]

I plan on going to Loonhaunt itself. I have not been there in a couple of years. I have a small 12 foot boat that is light enough to carry. If I remember right the portage is about 100 yards long. I had also heard that there are some lake trout in the pre-Loonhaunt area, it would be neat if there were. I also had seen an old post card of lake trout being caught in Rainy but from what I have heard that there are not any left due to over fishing and predatation from other species. It is just a day trip, my cabin is on the way up to Lake Despair on the right before you get to the launch on Christy Creek that leads out to Rainy. I leave Monday in the AM, can't wait I had wanted to go to Loonhaunt last year but the weather was crappy the whole trip except for the last day. Figures, right. John

[Hoffer]

John-

Hey, sounds like fun! I am thinking that portage might be kind of long even with a lighter boat? I could be way wrong - and would really love to know if your able to get up there. I am basing my thoughts on a trip we took years ago. There is a river that flows down from loonhaunt. I think the portage is on one side or the other of that. Last year when I went there the river was flowing so much that it was like white water coming down. But the year we went there (many years ago) the river was all dried up and we walked along the rocks and boulders up stream to check out what the other side looked like at Loonhaunt. I remember the walk up those rocks and boulders being a ways to go. However, maybe the portage is different? We never actually have walked up the portage and would love to know more about that! be sure to post when you get back and good luck. There is also a cabin over on what i will call the "north side". Looks like a cool spot 0 and have never seen anyone there - I would love to know more about that place and who has it too...

[john 613]

I will let you know. If I remember right the portage is on the left river/stream. There is another stream to the right. First there is the beaver dam and a short section of river and then the boulders strewn rapids with the portage to the left of it. The last time I was there was in 2008. I am so looking forward to it. We portaged the small boat there that time but the time before we took a canoe and a kayak. I have tried submitting a picture, it is of my wife in the kayak on the loonhaunt side. We leave in the morning. John

[john 613]

All right the picture thing did not work out. I will try when I get back. John

[Hoffer]

Hey John

You may not get this in time...but knowing you are a smallie guy - if you are going to go to jackfish and want to do a portage - you should consider going West once you hit jackfish and try for Smallies on Ottertial or Albert. Both are short portages and apparently have some great smallie fishing. i think there are even boats already on the other side - you would only need to portage a motor - and its a short one. Sorry for the late email - but just thought of this.

[ssaamm]

It was a quick trip w/ some late nights. You were right the rapids were more tame than I remember. We didn;t get to Jackfish until about 11 am. The walleye bite was slow by then. 70 dgrees, no wind, and blue skies. Did get into some nice smallies by the Hideaway Lodge outpost cabin. We did well enough each evening on Clearwater jigging for walleyes- 2 per guy with the conservation license. Pretty good pile of fish when you have 8 guys. One of our guys shot a grouse w/ a pellet gun. Through it right in the frying pan w/ the wallyes. Tasted pretty good. A black lab from the S portage on Clearwater got into our cabin at night and gorged on our junk food. Someone taking a leak must of left the door open. He ate a couple of bags of Power Bait out my boat, too. I would do it again.

[Hoffer]

Ssaamm

interesting report!

How long of a run is it for you from clearwater to jackfish? we have always wanted to make the opposite run and hit clearwater from jackfish. Of all the years going up there this is the first year that I never even went into west jackfish - even though our cabin is like right there. We had a little green bloom going on and I just stayed out to the east and in the deeper water out there. In past years we have had good luck around that hideaway cabin area for smallies. There are a few spots where there is pencil reeds that grow around there and we have caught smallies around that area. I kind of wish I would have tried that now this year...How were you catching them?

Sounds like a good trip - sure wish I was up there this week!

[ssaamm]

My boat said it was about 9miles from where we fished on Jackfish from the S side of Clearwater--about half hour?? It was greener than I remember. Got the first smallie on an X-Rap. Slowed down and used a whacky worm in the same areas to get the rest. Reeds standing in the water were the key. Clearwater, I have found to be tough during the day. Evening bite is pretty good for walleyes.

[Hoffer]

Yup. Those pencil reeds are where we found the smallies too. If you hit it right - the topwater action around that area in the evening can be really great too. For years, the west part is all we ever fished. I found out a while back though the bigger eyes like the deeper water on the other end. You can catch lots and lots of 15 to 18 inchers in almost any spot that has 15 to 18 feet of water on the west end. But you have a much better chance of a trophy on the East end out on the bigger lake. I also think the smallie fishing is better on the west end too. However, we have noticed now for the last few years in the Fall there are groups of boats out in the middle of the east end. I thought they were always fishing for tullibees or something. I finally talked to one of the boats the last year and they are catching big smallies out in the deeper water jigging up and down on the reefs. Still havent tried that yet either - but next year am going to do it. Too many areas - too little time!

[Hoffer]

PS next time you are on the clearwater/pipestone end you should see if you can hook up with Superbee. He will get you on some big eyes. Right Superbee?

[john 613]

The weather had turned from warm and no wind to colder and windy. I took a boat over to Loonhaunt and will go up later today and tomarrow Fishing has been slow, caught a pig smallmouth in Northwest Bay of Rainy. John

[Hoffer]

John-

Good luck! I think the wind is supposed to go down tomorrow and sunday is also supposed to be nice!

when you go into that preloonhaunt area and kind of start to veer over to the NE - there is a weedline straight accross - by some islands. It comes up pretty shalloow right away. But we have started right out from that in 15 feet or so and trolled along that weedline - just out from it - and caught some nicer eyes in there. You will know your in the right spot if you are trolling along and you will that larger island down further - you should kind of be trolling straight for that island. It does get real weedy to your boats left hand side (north) so you just have to watch that and keep moving out a ways to avoid the thicker weekds - but they seem to like to hang out right in that area.

[john 613]

We got back Friday. The fishing was slow everywhere I went. Went into Loonhaunt and started marking fish everywhere there was deep water. I used a white jig and twister tail and caught a lake trout in the first 5 minutes. I thought this is going to be great. Then nothing for the next 3 hours. I tried Jackfish one day and caught only a small northern. Fishing on Rainy was slow too, only caught a couple of walleye. The best part was the weather it was great every day. It gave me time to work around the cabin. John

[Hoffer]

John

Hey - thanks for the report!

When you say you caught a trout in loon haunt do you mean the actual loonhaunt or that area before? if was the actual loonhaunt how was the portage? The reason i ask is that we have heard that there are some trout in that pre loonhaunt area. Thanks again...

Hoffer

[john 613]

It was actually Loonhaunt. I did fish around the preloonhaunt area but did not catch anything. I saw some minnows rising to the surface thinking that a northern was chasing them around but I could not get anything to take my offerings. Where I caught the lake trout was 90 feet deep there was another spot that also looked good (130 feet) but to windy. The portage was easy. Before you get to the actual portage you need to travel up a creek for maybe half a mile. The spot with all the boulders that you mentioned in a different post is to the East. If you have access to Google Earth you will see the narrow channel that gets you to preloonhaunt, travel straight across about 200 yards to the creeks mouth then up the creek to the portage. If you zoom in on Google Earth you will see about 2 dozen boats scattered along the shore on the Loonhaunt side. I have heard the same thing about the trout in the bay I found a spot that was 65 feet, could be enough. I don't know for sure. I am already planning for next year. John

[Hoffer]

I am waiting for next year too! I had brought up my downrigger and had planned to use that and we were going to do that on our last day. however, that day the weather turned on us pretty bad and we didnt make the trip. next year though! The narrow channel leading up to "pre loon haunt" is called the "black narrows". Someone should come up with the name of the "lake" that area goes to - I just call it pre-loonhaunt. There must be a better name for it though!

[SimilarIsland]

My Garmin Topo Canada calls that area part of Jackfish Lake.

[john 613]

Yup, thats right it is part of Jackfish, just a remote section of it. How accurate is the Garmin map of this area? I use a Garmin 5000 in the car and it accepts SD cards. I use the Rainy/LOTW chip in it when out on Rainy. It is not waterproof so I put a plastic bag over it and jip tie it shut around the base. John

[SimilarIsland]

I haven't been to this area before, but it is accurate for the Manitou area. It doesn't have any depths, only the shape of the lakes. But, before the Manitou was put on the navionics chip, it was the best I had found.

[Hoffer]

Hey similar-

That area is part of Jackfish - but just like Manitou we have "pet names" for all the different areas and spots. There are names for just about all the areas up there including the narrow channel ("black narrows") going into that little "lake". But nobody as far as I know has coined a name for it - and it is for sure a "destination" and it should have a name. Maybe i will just have to name it myself

Hey, if you have the know-how to do it - can you post that walleye pic I sent you on here?

Thanks!

Hoffer

[SimilarIsland]