When is the best time to come to Rainy Lake? That’s an easy answer; come when you can! I have many favorite times because each time period provides many different fishing opportunities on Rainy Lake. My first pick is spring because it comes first and I am raring to go!
Spring is the time of year that causes the highest populations of big fish to be in shallow water and they are very easy to fish. Walleyes, northern pike, smallmouth bass, and crappies all use shallow water for an extended period of time. There are many presentations or techniques that work for each species. Live bait presentations are probably the most widely used but not necessarily the most effective. Artificial baits provide a very wide range of techniques and presentations that are both fun and highly effective. Plastics, stick baits, crank baits, buzz baits, spinner baits, and spoons, are excellent choices.
First I will touch upon plastics baits; they include grubs (twister like tails), tube jigs, jerk shads, jig worms, shad imitations, and many others. If you have never done this I would start with the grubs. During the first few weeks of the season I use 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 jig heads. The jig heads have either a lead barb or wire barb on the shaft of the jig, this helps the plastic tail to stay on the jig. I prefer wire barbs but use lead barbs as well.
In recent years plastics have been impregnated with scents and are highly effective. The hottest has been the Gulp products. They have one large drawback however they are stiff and lack action. Action must be created by the fisherman, intense jerking, rise and fall of jig.
This spring it all changes! Northland Fishing Tackle will release their IMPULSE series of plastic baits and they are called Impulse Swim’n Grub, Impulse Smelt Minnow (jerk shad), Impulse Jig Worms and for the smallmouth bass aficionados Impulse Dip-stick Worm and Impulse Ribbon Worm. I had the opportunity to try the Swim’n Grub and Jig Worms last August. Northland Tackle claims that fish hold on to Impluse Baits 143% longer than the competitions scented products. I was skeptical trying these baits out in August; past history has shown me that the scented baits worked much better in colder water, not as well in warmer water.
Was I ever shocked yes I will use the word shocked. Not only did walleyes hit the impulse jig Worm, they hit it while the rest of the boat was using fresh live crawlers at the same time. Walleyes hit the Impulse more than the real crawlers but amazingly they would sit and hold the bait for a long time. The same scenario occurred when fishing the Impulse Swim’n Grub. They hit it hard and often, after awhile when I would feel the strike I did not set the hook but waited to see if they would spit it out, some swallowed the bait and were hooked in the throat, rarely did they drop it.
While the scent part of this bait is remarkable the action is incredible as well, you do not have to work these baits hard to instill action. They are every bit as soft and pliable as normal grubs and jerk worms. They are very durable as I caught many fish on one bait before having to change the bait because it was torn up. Looks to me like Northland Tackle has hit a home run!
I will write about how to fish the different baits in a series of posts on our Fishing Reports Page.
