Just got back from the Rainy Lake Gathering...

[Kylersk]

Even though the fish didnt participate, it still was a great time! We had a great Fish Fry Saturday night, thanks to Dave (I think?) who brought the fish, and Jeff for frying it up. Also, thanks to everyone who brought something to share! I'm terrible trying to remember names..

My buddy (Paul) and I arrived up there on friday afternoon. We headed out to Sands Bay to try our luck. Right off the bat, my buddy pulled up a 4ish pound Northern and we thought it was going to be a great night of fishing. 4 hours later, we headed back to the motel, during that time 2 more fish were caught (6-8" saugers).

Later that evening met up with a bunch of FMers for an all you can eat walleye at a local resteraunt. So, at least we ate a bunch of walleye.

Saturday Morning, we all met up and headed out for rainy. Again, we tried Sands bay. My buddy did Ok as far as action was concerned, but everything was 11" or less. It didnt sound like anyone else was doing any better. Then, finally, I pulled my first Walleye (EVER!) through the ice. It was a nice 18.5-19" walleye. But, just like the 11", this was just as bad bacause of the slot limit. So back in the water she went (after a picture of course). Around lunch time, a group left Sands Bay and headed to rainy city. A few, including myself, decided to stay in sands. I'd guess by the time we decided to call it a night (6:30 or so) Paul and I caught about 30ish fish, but only one that we decided to keep (smaller sauger). I also caught a 2-3#ish sucker like fish. I'll have to post pictures so someone can tell me exactly what it was.

I had a great time and It's true.. FMer's have more fun!

[Tom Linderholm]

Yeah, I got back last night. Had some stuff to take care of. Me, Northlander, Matthothand, & BD110 arrived Thursday eve. Fishing was slow over on the Rainy City side Friday. Saturday proved more eventful. No fish over 13.5" for me on the trip, except for the whitefish. More than likely what you caught Kylersk. Good trip, and good fun. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet more of you.

Paul, did you contact Otter about that new canvas? Or don't you need it anymore.

[Kylersk]

First walleye I've caught:

What type of fish is this?

[hanson]

What the heck is that white stuff in the background of the photo?? Snow? Haven't seen that in awhile now.

Looks like some species of sucker. I'm not up to speed on my roughfish but it is not a tullibee or a whitefish or an eelpout.

[Surface Tension]

Kylersk, Thats a Buglenosed Trout.

[Tom Linderholm]

You got me on that one.

[hanson]

Not a Mooneye, Goldeye, or Sheepshead either.

I think we'll have it narrowed down pretty soon.

[Kylersk]

After a bit of searching, I think it's just called a 'white sucker'..

[Captain B.R.K]

Nice eye for your for walleye thru the ice!!!

[lars0926]

It's a white sucker. Nifty little fish. The males grow a hook called a pearl organ that keeps the female from swimming away while they're going at it. Evolutionary S&M.

[Northlander]

White sucker. Must have been those leftover night crawlers you had.

Rainy and LOW were duds. Company was great as was the food. I just got back from Red and limited out on Crappies in 10 minutes once we found them. BD110 and Matthothand were still fishing when I left. They were looking for something but the monster pike BD110 caught and his noodle rod and 4# test. Im guessing it was in the 38-40" range? Nice job Tom. How many feet of twisted line did ya wind up cutting off?

Great weekend guys! Im way tired its nighty nights for me.

Oh by the way if anyone sees Little Perch 1 tell him I have his house. I think he got lost and wound up in I-Falls instead of Red Lake! LP! E-mail me and we will get ya your house somehow. I hope everything is ok and nothing bad happened to ya!!!

Ill save ya some Crappie fillets too.

[walleyejon]

Hmmmm, Little Perch got lost? And here we were trying to ditch Northlander at the bait store.

Walleyechar and I had a great weekend, and as usual all the FMers I met were awesome.The fishing on Rainy was poor, but walleyechar did manage to land a nice 18" eye. I think someone has some pics they can post??? Sunday was a much better day. Jeff Beckwith, Kyle, Brian, Old Guide, walleyechar, and I headed to the east where the road splits at Long Point. I set up in 27', with Old guide to the west of me, and Jeff to the east. The fish were biting right off the get go, and I had five in the bucket, released three or four, and lost about a 20" at the bottom of the hole in the first hour or so. The fish got less and less agressive as the day progressed, but I ended up with 14 in the pail by the end of the day, with 90% coming on the jigging rod. I think Jeff had six or seven tulibees he brought home to smoke along with 8 or so eyes/saugers. We did try in shallow (15')for the last hour and a half or so, without much luck.Kyle's little walleye from the cab of the pickup made it worth moving though. All in all, an awesome weekend, I just wish I had a chance to spend more time talk'ing with more of you. If any of you wanna head back to LOW or Rainy River (ice or open water), I'll be happy to fish with ya. Thanks to everyone who made it, and a big thanks to Warren and Mary for putting up with Hemlock and his crew for two nights at the Rambler.

Paul or Rick---I have Paul's radio. Email me at eyeslayer at hotmail dot com with an address to send it to.

[fisherking01]

I made it home at 11:30 last night, No sign of Little Perch to the south! I kept my eyes open too. The fishing event was yet another great outing. Arriving on thursday at noon, I found the bite tough, landing two fish in sand bay. Friday was a lot of fun and as the bite proved slow, I opted for more socializing in the great sunshine. Saturday was a great experience trying many spots on Rainy Lake. Sunday I caught lots of fish on LOW, most in the 8-13 inch range, with a 16 inch eye and a 16 inch sauger, no pout, oh well next time. URL last night was good, I did not limit out, but managed to ice a bunch of walleyes and five or six crappies. They are fun to catch and fun to release. I would like to thank all who attended and look forward to the next event. Thanks FMers for the great time! Brent Olson

[Scenic]

Wow. I am still beat. Fishing at Rainy was not good at all this past weekend. I know Fisherking and I drilled so many holes in that ice one day it should have sunk. We fished hard and the fish just would not cooperate with us up there at all.

LOW started out real good and then the fish just became sniffers. My son and I did end up with a good meal of fish and that is why they call it fishing. It was great fishing with WalleyeJon, WalleyeChar and Old Guide yesterday.

But the company on this trip was great and we did have a lot of fun up there. Thanks to everyone who came up and to those who brought food for the pot luck on Sat. night. We may not have caught a ton of fish but we sure ate good and it was great to put some more faces and names together.

I would also like to thank Warren and Mary at the Rambler Motel for their hospitality. They pretty much let us do what we needed to do there and could not have helped out or been any more accommodating. It was great to have you two join us for the fish fry as well.

Holehopper drop me an email when you get back please.

[wallydiver]

Icehook and I went to the west of long point. For those of you who also went west, we were the (Contact US Regarding This Word) that drove over the breaker and got stuck about 20 times. We we're pretty dead set on getting over to the islands. We mainly targeted northerns and only got 1 flag. by the time icehook got there though, the 14" sucker on the hook was gone. Must have been somthing big under there! I'll be going out for Norhterns the rest of the year if anyone cares to join me.

[Old Guide]

The weather was perfect and the company was great! Although the fishing did slow down in the pm the talk kept coming! Jeff B. showed his jigging skills showing everyone how to pull a walleye up off the bottem 6 ft before setting the hook. On his tiptoes noless!! As walleyejon mentioned Kyle used the DL perch patrol thing and caught a walleye out the window. Isn't that kind of like shooting out of the car? Ah those Bemidji guys. About 2pm we moved to the group fishing to the west and ya that guy was fishing without a shirt on!! The "west" group had some quality eyes. We also viewed our first "farmer" tan of the year when removed his hat. It was great meeting some new faces. I'll bet the tall dude from Omaha will be back! Rick how'd you do at RL? Sounds like Around June 19th is going to be the "soft" water getogether on LOW. Kaz, I hope Harry's got the potatoes ready! Brian, I'm bringing the Capt. along this time.

[greggles]

hey guys it was great to meet some of you and I wish I could have met more walleyes but you cant catch them all right. Northlander that fish bright I got from you works great. I will definately have to go to more of these events as long as I can sneak out of the house.

[Kylersk]

One thing I forgot to mention, the line of vehicles heading out to the lake saturday morning! I cant think of any other way to explain it other than, it was like a funeral procession. Except, there was a big blue chevy (I think??) tackle box like truck leading the way. (after he passed about 7 vehicles)

[hip_hop_fisherman]

Thanks to everyone who helped organize the trip and help guys like me get to a lake I've never fished before and see some new locations. Fishing wasn't the greatest but anytime out of town is a good time for me. We decided to stay on Rainy Sunday instead of heading to LOW. Met up with an older local on the ice who was a heck of a nice guy. Gave us some tips on presentation. The guy swore on a plain hook with a chartreuse sinker stating he never fishes that lake with jigs. He even gave us some of those sinkers to try and they definitly worked. He also told us anywhere you're running into the smaller fish is a good a spot as any this time of year. We managed to pull 5 fish between 14 and 15 inches up mid afternoon after dealing with all the small ones everyone seemed to be catching. We also got two nice perch and one of those suckers that had us huddled around the hole waiting to see a lunker 'eye come through. Major disappointment. Now for the crazy story. One of my buddies that was there with me ended up having a fish drag one of his rods down the hole and an hour and a half later I noticed my bobber was underneath a ring of ice that formed around my hole. Wondering how it could have gotten under there, I picked up a little on the rod and felt some weight and set the hook. After fighting it for awhile, we noticed my line was hooked to someone elses line which I started pulling up to find not only my friends pole he had lost but a 23 1/2 inch 4-5 lb northern! Of course as soon as his head got towards the top of the hole the line snapped so we had to go shoulder deep after it but managed to land it! That made our whole trip right there. That fish couldn't have been happy swimming around down there for nearly two hours dragging a rod! Craziest thing I've ever seen ice fishing. Defintily would have a hard time believing the story if I wasn't involved. Thanks again to everyone involved in the get together, it was a great time!

[BD110]

Hey Guys and Girls,

I was to tired to post about the trip yesterday. As Matt and I stayed very late Sunday night on Red. I was not leaving for home until I was able to land some crappies. It was a tie Matt and myself both left with three Red lake crappies. I had a great time meeting and talking to different people during the four day outing. Warren thanks for showing us such a good time at your motel. I plan to make a trip to your area again. And you know I'll be staying at the Rambler. Jeff, Bob and Paul thanks for all your hard work cooking for the group. Buz thanks for keeping everyone in sweets. I only wish I would have brought more pickeled Northern on the trip. There is always next time. To eveyone that was around me helping or just watching while I landed that big Northern on Red with my carppie rod. Thank you for being a part of that. That made my trip for sure. Again thanks to everyone that took part in this outing it was a great time. Most of all a big thank you to Matthothand for making the trip with me. That young man can fish. It was a tuff trip home Sunday night but with many stops and someone to talk to we made it safe and sound.

Take care,

Tom (BD110)

[Hemlock]

Well, I'm back at the grind this morning. Everyone hit the nail right on the head with their summaries of the weekend. Sorry if Room 2 got loud....we really weren't that bad, I just have a bad reputation.

We sure didn't have the luck on Red that some did. I was trying the radio on the same channel as we were on all weekend....nobody was out there.

Fisherking01, sorry but I'll have to mail you your radio. Where were you located? We went out of West Wind, and fished towards the end of their road. Good to hear some found the crappies.

Fun Weekend!

[fisherking01]

We went out of Hillmans, near the end of the road. From Westwinds we were a long ways away. If you happened to see where the two airplanes landed, we were in that area. I cut out early, around 7:00 and made it home by 11:30, I felt obligated to get to a funeral yesterday. Last night I took my daughter out and got into some 8-9.75 inch bluegills. Keep your mind on an outing for next year, maybe Whitefish bay, Yellow Girl bay and finish up on Sabaskong! In any order of course. Looks like the Fishmeister and co-horts found the Crappies on Sabaskong. Thanks for the (perogies?) and the other stuff. Brent

[Hemlock]

Alright Brent... thanks for the use of some of your gear. I can mail the radio if you want, or give it to you when you come up here for a trip. Your call. I'm headed down to Wadena for Easter, and mailing it from there would be no biggie.

Again, it was dissapointing not hooking up on Red, and not being able to find anyone on the radio. Would've loved to have given that LOW map to someone.....Next time.

[Northlander]

Hemlock you were out of radio range I guess. Too bad maybe you could have ran over and joined the fun. Or at least help me shovel out my truck 1 of the 3 times I got stuck.

Hey if you want you can send that LOW map down with my print when its done. That would look cool down on my den wall along with my print. E-mail me when the print is done and Ill send ya my adress to ship it to. Thanks a lot your a class act and a huge help! [email protected]

[ZapBranigan]

I didn't get back until 3:00 am this morning Tues. I was ruuning about a day behind you guys the whole trip. I went out on Rainy off Birch point with the caravan. Not too good nothing keepable. Met a bunch of really great guys and gals on Sat. Thanks to the group who went up into Canada for getting us a great batch of crappie plus misc perch and Eyes. Good cleaning up that batch with you. For anyone who can remember I'm the one who broght in the chili that made a mess out of your room (Sorry about that). Should have had that out on the back of the truck too.

So anyway after that night I had been up for 35+ hours couldn't get up at 4:00 to join you. I went out to Long point at Noon on sunday got some goods eyes in 30 ft. Then I moved into 16ft right by the ice heave. from 5:00 to 6:00 pm I had to go to a single rod the bites came as quick as I could get a line down. all 12 to 18 inch. Nice eyes. FUN.. Like I said I was a day behind you all. Monday I took off for Red. Wow it took a while but about 4:30 pm I hooked into some of those crappies ended up with about ten. kept none. I can't even count the number of walleyes I let go. None under 16 inches. Someting I set the hook on broke my line on the hookset above the slip bobber knot. Lost it all. No idea what that was. Left the Lake about 10:00 pm long drive home. No good route back from there.

Thanks too all involved on this one I had a wonderful time. Greatest trip with these guys to date.